*Official Euro 2008 Qualifying Thread*

[Iplayboard]

[ QUOTE ]


Im not slating the manager for failing to win a trophy, but for failing to even qualify. England might not be world beaters but at the least we should have qualified from the group.

Yes Sven came in for criticism, some of it deserved some of it not.

The scope of Mclarens failure is well beyond any of Svens short comeings.

Also if a team is consistently playing below its capabilities then that is totally the responsibility of the manager. That is what being a manager is all about. A good manager gets his team to raise its game and uses tactics that fit the strengths of his squad. This is exactly what Mclaren has failed to do.

[/ QUOTE ]

England did fail, but several European giants (France, Spain, Italy,etc) struggled at times with qualification. Every World Cup or Euro there is often 1 or 2 powerhouses that don't make it. Europe simply has a lot of good teams.

National team success is somewhat complicated because expectations of a team are based on the accomplishments of the individual players competing on separate club teams. These players often have to play different roles on the national team.

The recent English team has been playing below expectations since 2002's admirable quarter-final defeat to Brasil. I think this has more to do with the expectations being too high than lack of finding the perfect manager.

It isn't the manager's fault that there isn't a single decent English keeper or that first choice strikers and defenders suffered a rash of injuries.

If England suffers from these same problems then they will continue to struggle regardless of their manager.