Why do we compete as Great Britain in the Olympics and stuff, but field four separate teams in the Rugball?

If we sent just one team with the best players from each nation we'd actually be pretty fucking good.

>>7826
Because we invented football and at the time we got it on a proper footing there was only us to play it, hence playing against each other.

>>7826
>If we sent just one team with the best players from each nation we'd actually be pretty fucking good.

It'd just be England plus Bale and possibly a couple other Welsh players like Ramsey and Williams.

>>7827
I get annoyed at all the nonsense about Team GB. The Home Nations' special status is guaranteed in FIFA's constitution, and control half the votes on the IFAB (FIFA gets the other half). IFAB predates FIFA, and FIFA has no power to dissolve it. If FIFA did decide to de-recognise SFA, FAW and IFA, they could retaliate by making life very difficult at the IFAB with the help of the FA (the "England" thing is central to their image).

In rugby, we have previously competed as Great Britain at the Olympics while the Home Unions competed separately. The Lions are an institution almost as old as what was then the IRFB. Granted, we dominated the IRFB until it expanded from eight unions to sixteen in 1987 (and now over a hundred). Sevens is on the programme in Rio, but there's no talk of Team GB changing the situation of the Home Unions there.

>>7828
Look how far that arrogance got your shitty team.

>>7830
It's not really arrogance mate, that is simply what the case would be. We still deserved to lose, unless you can identify any other British players who'd make the squad. Don't bother naming one or two, be meaningful.

>>7830
No, lad. It's a fact. Kyle Lafferty isn't good enough for the England squad nor is Jonny Evans. Scotland have Andrew Robertson who could be good enough but the rest of their team are mediocre. Wales have Bale, Ramsey and Williams and that's it quality-wise, maybe Allen at a push.

>>7831
>>7832
Wales are still in the competition, so obviously they are better than the English team.

Less arrogance please. Maybe then you may make it to a quarter finals.

>>7833
You need you head checked, the logic bit isn't working.

>>7833
>Maybe then you may make it to a quarter finals.
You mean semi-final.

DON'T TAKE ME HOME

Now to dig out my family tree.

That second goal by Robson-Kanu was just beautiful.

>>7837
My missus has as much interest in football as the average cat does in the history of the tuba and even she was impressed and wanted to see another replay.

Croeso y Cymru bitches.

They say everything is political.

The DM have a big graphic on their site about how Robson-Kanu and Ashley Williams "only" earn 10k and 45k a week respectively.

>>7841
And? They quite probably deserve more.

>>7841
It's all relative, especially when other footballers earn over £300k a week.

>>7842

Don't get shirty with me, you cunt.

>>7843

I know, but the suggestion seems to be that their wages are low enough to be deemed measley.

>>7844

Don't get cunty with me, you shirt-lifter.

Sam Allardyce: Sunderland boss in talks over England manager's job

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36783415

As someone who isn't interested in football at all, and hence I can offer a completely unbiased opinion, I think they should offer Gazza the manager job.

>>7848

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-mTZykSHGM

No thanks. Why would we want that relegation scrapper.

>>7850
Because he's good at polishing turds and England can't even get the basics right at the minute.

Allardici to be confirmed tomorrow.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jul/20/sam-allardyce-england-manager-set

Might as well give us the world cup now.

>>7940 Christ, football fans are as bad as Labour voters.

>>7941
Football fans have better reason.

Test ⚽

>>7942
Oh what have you started.

>>7941
Under Woy we couldn't beat Slovakia at the Euros. Under Big Sam we scraped a 1 - 0 victory in injury time when they were down to 10 men. Everyone knows the hallmark of champions is being able to grind out wins when you're playing shit.

>Atalanta 2 Torino 1: Joe Hart has debut to forget with mistake for equaliser and then beaten by a penalty

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/1764858/atalanta-2-torino-1-joe-hart-has-debut-to-forget-with-mistake-for-equaliser-and-then-beaten-by-a-penalty/

I really hope Hart and his Billy Big Bollocks act fucks off and he never plays for England again.

What's going on with this new England kit? The red away kit's always been my favourite and now there's this dark blue nonsense?

It's enough to make me want to stab several dozen Londoners.

>Phil Neville has been confirmed as the new coach of the England women’s football team.

>The former Manchester United, Everton and England player has signed a three-year deal and replaces Mark Sampson, who was sacked from the post last September for “inappropriate behaviour” with a player in a previous job.

>Neville’s appointment is a controversial one. While the 40-year-old holds a pro licence qualification and has previously served as a coach under David Moyes at Manchester United, his brother, Gary Neville, at Valencia and with the men’s England Under-21 team, he has never been a manager in his own right and has a total lack of experience in the women’s game.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jan/23/phil-neville-confirmed-new-coach-of-england-women-team-football

>It is understood the 40-year-old’s name was initially suggested to the Football Association in a lighthearted manner by a well-known broadcaster at a drinks reception last month.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/jan/17/phil-neville-fa-england-womens-football

Giving the job to someone who didn't apply for it and whose name was put forward as a joke. Nice to see the FA take women's football seriously.

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).

Standby: Lewis Cook (Bournemouth), Tom Heaton (Burnley), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), Jake Livermore (West Brom), James Tarkowski (Burnley).

Not too bad, although there's a distinct lack of creativity in the midfield; I'd have probably taken Shelvey over Welbeck.

Five midfielders and eleven defenders is kind of shocking, I imagine they're going 5-2-3 or 5-3-2.

>>8298

Apparently that Trent lad can play midfield. Err, as seen in Liverpools away match against Roma...

>>8298
There's no wingers in the squad. It'll be a 3-5-2 with the wide positions covered by full-backs bombing forward.

It's coming home, lads. Euro 2021 won't no wots hit it.

>>9097
It'll be nice when the tournament starts and I start supporting England again. I've noticed that while I cheer for England in actual World Cups and Euros, I always want them to lose during the qualifying stages, just for banter and because I want San Marino and Albania to shit all over ITV's Union Jack bunting and general delusional arrogance.

>England manager Gareth Southgate has signed a new contract to keep him in the role until December 2024.

>Southgate, whose previous contract was set to run out after the 2022 winter World Cup in Qatar, has been manager of the national side since November 2016. It has been widely reported that this new contract will increase Southgate's salary to between £5-6m a year.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/59371397

I'm not sure why they've done this now instead of waiting until after the World Cup next year and I don't know why they've increased his salary by c. £3million. It's not like he's in demand from other sides, then again Man Utd paid Ole £7.5million a year when he'd otherwise have been on a fraction of that at Molde.

I don't think enough defenders have been called up.

>>9905
England's greatest flaw is the team's arrogance. They always think that winning is a formality, and then they're shocked when teams actually play better than them. Luckily, we have the genius of Gareth Southgate to call up Marc Guehi and remove any sense of certainty at all.

>>9906
That hasn't really been England's problem for quite a few years now.

>>9906

The greatest flaw of English football fans is entitlement. Our national team is perfectly good, it's ranked fifth in the world, but there are a lot of other good national teams. Southgate is a terrific manager, but he can only work with what he's got. The FA might talk about developing domestic talent, but nobody is willing to change the structure of domestic English football to promote that aim. The women's game shows what we could do if we actually cared, but we consistently choose to prioritise the quality of the domestic game. There's nothing wrong with that, but you can't have it both ways and affecting an attitude of victimhood doesn't win any friends.

I blame Baddiel and Skinner.

One goal from the five competitive matches played this year, which was a penalty awarded after a dive. Southgate making people play out of position or selecting people who are either out of form or have barely played this season just because they're at a big club.

This World Cup is on course to be an absolute shitshow. If Maguire is anywhere near the starting line-up we are proper fucked.

>>9909
I watched the first half and might have forgotten all about it, so bored was I, if you hadn't made this post.

It's perfectly fine to grind out wins and be boring, but if the wins don't come then what's the point? I checked the line-up and it's not as though it was full of first-timers or an experiment in new tactics. I'm not going to make out like I'm Jonathon Wilson after barely remembering half a match, but watching England this year is taking me back to the unpromising and unprosperous days of 2016. Oh, well, maybe I'll head down to a fan zone this World Cup and just try to take each match as it comes, enjoy the experience for what it is; a big laugh. That's what I'll tell myself as shards of frozen lager fall like yellow hail onto my face after England snatch one back against Iran.

>>9910
You do get teams which are completely written off before the tournament who manage to turn things around, so I'm clinging to that.

Five at the back is too cautious, particularly when paired with defensive midfielders, it isn't used by the clubs we've called players up from and they don't have a clue what to do when they've got the ball. It's essentially hoping for a moment of individual brilliance when Southgate is doing his best to stifle any creativity from them.

It's also a big brain move to play away against Italy and leave on the bench Tomori, who's just played a pivotal part in Milan winning Serie A. Arsenal are top of the table but Ben White doesn't even get a call up because he wants to start Maguire even though Man Utd have only turned things around once they dropped him. It's fucking clown shoes.

Never doubted SouthGOAT for a second.

I'm DMing him knife emojis on Twitter right this second.