After England's glorious, magnificent, world class 0-0 draw away to Ukraine, Roy Hodgson responded with puzzlement at being questioned by pretty much everyone as to why he was so pleased with himself. He said that before the game, everyone had accepted that a draw would be a good result and that's exactly what they got. He conveniently glossed over the fact that we played like none of our players were aware of what a football was and basically told everyone they were wrong and we should be happy.
So by that logic, Roy would say to you Gert-Jan: Damn well be happy with your AMAZING 2-0 victory and do not question the coach!
Of course, we all know the truth for both our nations and no amount of sugar coating or lecturing will hide the real facts. I tell you how turgid and boring the Ukraine v England game was: I fell asleep and missed the last 5-10 minutes lol. I had to go into the office the next day and was talking about the game to one of the guys who informed me I missed Lampard have a decent chance to win the game!
It's an interesting comment you make about thinking Holland will not make it out of the group stages in the World Cup. I say this because England, unless they get a real group of death, have historically shown that even with a very average side, we still usually make the last 16 or quarter finals. As much as you are down on Holland at the moment, it's still a no-contest as to who has the more technical and skilful side, but if there is disharmony in the team it's more likely that they will fail than the team full of brainless, yet cohesive English players.
I was going to ask you what is the current % of Dutch players playing the Eredivisie at the moment as it's been a talking point over here again during the international fortnight? I remember we touched on English teams have a home-grown quota these days and you saying it wasn't yet a rule in Holland. But then I realise that we can focus on the number of English players playing in the Premier League as we have literally none playing abroad, which of course, Dutch players are much more likely to do!
One more bit of international news before I move on and the Republic of Ireland have sacked Giovanni Trapattoni and are expected to announce Martin O'Neill as his replacement soon. I feel a bit sorry for old Trap, as he's done what I would perceive as a really good job with the quantity and quality of players available. Although I can also understand that he's being paid very handsomely and that he is now rather stuck in his ways.
Thankfully we are back to proper football this weekend! Although just my timing - the first time in ages that Spurs play on a Saturday at 3pm and I organise to catch up with my best friend. D'oh! We play Norwich, who have been a bit of a bogey side for us since they came back into the Premier League. But a win is important just to get us rolling again after the Arsenal setback, so hopefully we can finally get a few goals from open play and grab 3 points. I'm really eager to see Lamela and Eriksen start, but AVB has proven to be rather cautious in the past with introducing new players.
Will you be watching the Real Madrid game tomorrow? Ancelotti has confirmed that Bale will be making his debut, although wouldn't say if he would start or come on as sub. It will be exceedingly interesting to see where and how Bale plays. For some reason, Bale's debut has been the lead story on the tv sports news channel (possibly because they own the Spanish football tv rights lol) and they have been trotting out what there 'sources' have been telling them with regards to Bale's likely position. Hilariously, they have suggested he could even be deployed as a left back!!
![rotffl :rotffl:](./images/smilies/rotffl.gif)
Yep, this is kind of bullshit that we pay our subscription fee to hear.
Do you want to make a prediction on the Champions League? Maybe pick the semi-finalists and a winner? I'll go with: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Viktoria Plzen... Just kidding, Real Madrid. Winner: Barcelona.
Oh and I just remembered one more thing about the '94 World and the reason England were not there... Did Graham Taylor's infamous "Do I not like Orange" quote make it back to Holland?
![lmao :lmao:](./images/smilies/lmao.gif)
If you ever want to a laugh and an eye opener and have 40 minutes to spare, check out
Graham Taylor - An Impossible Job on Youtube...