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IF (and it's now a big if) England get through to the semis, with Owen back home and Rooney suspended, will we finally see Walcott come off the bench?

I can't wait to get this competition over and done with, if only to see the back of Sven.

The problem is, he's being replaced by someone with even less charisma and footballing brains.

im sure sven did voices for the smurfs in the 80s.

The only winner is Wenger who has had Walcott training with established international players for the last 3 weeks. Supposing that he doesn't train with the Arsenal first team it's bound to bring his game on.

Sven is a bluffer .. surely his success with Benfica and Lazio is attributable to other people. In the case of Lazio playing in a 'fixed' league must have helped, and I think Lazio are under investigation.

It's not the absence of heart or charisma that bothers me so much as the lack of tactical awareness and ability to change games. He's nowhere near the level of people like Hiddink, Scolari and Benitez in this respect. An astronomical salary for nothing !

He comes out today and asks to be judged as an 'honest man' ... ask Nancy if she thinks he conducts himself in an honest way !

steve56 wrote:

> im sure sven did voices for the smurfs in the 80s.


Maybe. But soon McLaren will be doing voices for the Muppets.

Personally I feel sorry for Theo Walcott. He now has immense pressure to deliver the potential the "new wonderkid" brings with it and so many do not live up to it....

Mainly, I feel sorry for him because everyone knows his name in a negative context something TOTALLY out of his control, the only way its gonna be reparable is if he does become an excellent player and joins England in a couple of years. I hope people don't associate his name with negativity because he didnt play/someone else didnt get to go etc....

I also think maybe Svens decision not to play him might have been a good one in the long run. Maybe when he is 21 he will be outstanding....pushing him into international football this world cup might have affected his development in a bad way. Having said that....returns to a bad decision to take him I guess

If Sven had no intention pf playing him why the f*** did he take him in the squad.

I can't believe that the supposed "Golden Generation" was managed by a tin pot manager.

This is the most disappointed i think i have ever been after any of the tournaments we've been knocked out of becuase of the squad we had.

We didnt perform in any game. We played not to lose and hoping to nick a goal when we should have been playing 4-4-2 and attacking.

Now all we've got to look forward to is at least 2 years of the same with Mclaren in charge. I hope I'm wrong.

We'll know soon enough. If Beckham starts in Mclarens first game in charge then we are well and truly in the blackest period for english international football.

Middlesborough have played some decent attacking football while Mclarens been there. They've had times when they were in ppor form but I've never seen them play long balls all over the shop. Even when losing they played their way back into games with a nice passing style.

No, I'm not a Middlesborough fan!

He knows the players better than anyone so I think/hope he's the right guy for the job. (I liked Hiddink though).

Sam Slater wrote:

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True, but with McLaren in charge, England will remain one of the "Middlesboroughs" of international football for sure.

Or since Boro actually got to the UEFA Cup final last season (where they were turned over) maybe I should say more like a Charlton Athletic or a Bolton (good enough to give the Big Boys a game on their day, but never gonna win anything).

Or maybe a better analogy would be a Newcastle: Haven't won anything since the '60s, but just because they're supposedly a "big" club think that they have a divine right to lift trophies - despite constantly under-achieving and flattering to deceive.

In any case, the prospect of McLaren in charge of the England team fills me with utter dread. It'll be "Sven Mark II" - except with more arm-waving.

Hmmmm, I dunno about that Eric.

Middlesborough was Mclarens first managerial job after coaching Man Utd to the treble. Some of the youngsters he's brought through are pretty good players from what I've seen. Just because he's won only 1 trophy in his first ever mangers job, isn't a prediction on future jobs. One thing Mclaren did do was turn around game's when they needed a goal, with good, clever substitutions. Something Sven had no idea about

He won the Carling cup 2 years ago, -something Man Utd only managed to win last time round with a much better squad-, and got to the Ueafa Cup final. He did this with an aging squad who're ready for retirement. They were turned over by Sevilla, true, but Sevilla are a very good side. (I'm pretty sure they beat Barcalona & Real Madrid last season !confused!)

I just think he'll be better than Sven, thats for sure.