Sven-Göran Eriksson | diagnosed with terminal cancer

[horsechoker]

Spoiler: Stats

P.67
W.40
D.17
L.10
W%.59.70

WC 2002 - Quarter Finals
EC 2004 - Quarter Finals
WC 2006 - Quarter Finals

Considering nobody has really matched his consistency, was he a lot better than he was given credit for or was he somebody that couldn't lead England's supposed golden generation to glory?

I personally think he has looked a lot better than he was because of what followed him, I wonder what a greater manager could have done with this team.

Spoiler: World Cup 2006 team

All of these players except Cole and Robinson were considered amongst the best in the world, I remember Rooney had some injury troubles at the time but it is still 7 players who would have gotten into virtually any team in the world.

I think Sven's legacy has been protected by the shower of shite that followed him, he should have achieved more. I would however take a manager who could match Sven's record right now.

Sven's greatest achievement as manager

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

He managed one of the most talented squads we ever had, came pretty close to doing something good but ultimately failed.

Then again we'd take Sven's brand of failure any day of the week compared to what has come after.

 

[Art Vandelay]

He did well enough and actually tried using Hargreaves to offset the problem of Lampard and Gerrard playing together. Suffered from at the time over inflated expectations lead by the media and being a bloody foreigner.

He did well off the pitch too with the women folk, despite looking like some sort of human bird hybrid. Well played.

 

[Hammerfell]

He did well enough and actually tried using Hargreaves to offset the problem of Lampard and Gerrard playing together. Suffered from at the time over inflated expectations lead by the media and being a bloody foreigner.

He did well off the pitch too with the women folk, despite looking like some sort of human bird hybrid. Well played.

He's part of the same species as Wenger.

 

[Wumminator]

Best England manager I've known.

 

[gormless]

Needed to be braver with Gerrard/Lampard tripping over each other as they raced into the opposition box. Literally only his last two matches were when he attempted to use Carrick or Hargreaves to remedy this. Shoved Scholes out to the left wing. Hopelessly loyal to an out of form Beckham at times.

Best manager England have had in about 25 years, but this is due to what preceded and followed him

 

[charlenefan]

2002 was the year and I believe had Gerrerd not been injured and we played him as oppose to Trevor Sinclair we'd of won that World Cup

 

[macheda14]

The subject of one of the better football songs as well (maybe I'm confusing better with jokes, but still)

 

[Oscie]

I think he did alright. Three quarter finals.

People can't have it both ways and insist that the 'golden generation' were massively overrated but also good enough to reach the semi-finals of major tournaments.

 

[Eriku]

I remember that the tournaments England played in, they immediately stopped playing when they went ahead.

Should have done way better with the players at his disposal, and could have. It was blatantly clear that the players were told to reign it in once they had the advantage.

 

[Successful]

I think England had some great squads from 1996-2006 with the 5-1 German game making the transition from the Shearer generation over to the golden generation. Both generations were absolutely stunning.

It's only bad luck and extremely idiotic decisions that kept you away from winning something during those years. I'm still convinced 98 was Englands year had it not been for that red card by Becks. Euro 2004 out on penalties against Portugal after a fantastic tournament. Becks having to rush back from injury 02.

Ericsson had to leave because of all the controversy. He had no clue how to handle the english press. He just went about with his business of fecking women and living life as a guy who comes from a small village in Sweden. Probably a lot of people in England didn't want him there because they thought they had better people within the country.

I think his only really big mistake was to underrate Scholes. He was below Carrick, Lampard and Gerrard. Played him out wide just to fit him in, and eventually he quit.

 

[Manny]

Allowed the press to pick the team.

 

[WhoDaGOAT]

England basically suffered from a lack of bottle at penalty shootouts. Germany and Italy have always had more bottle.

In 2002, they went out to the eventual winners. You need a bit of luck, and they didn't get it when the Ronaldinho goal went in. There's no shame in bowing out to a side consisting of Cafu, Lúcio, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and Ronaldo.

Sven was no mug. An eccentric character, but clearly a very good manager. His Lazio winning sides were excellent.

 

[buckooo1978]

Allowed the press to pick the team.

this

weak manager and should have played a team based on ability/balance rather than reputation

 

[Kag]

He grossly underachieved with a squad of fabulous players. Cup competition is a lottery by nature, but we really should have been knocking on the door. In his defence, when the going got tough, our players wilted under the pressures of penalties, and he was by no means a poor manager.

 

[ForeverRoma93]

It's sad we view him to be the best England manager in the last 17 odds years because he really did fail in my opinion with the squad he had. Now I'm not a United supporter but to shun out Paul Scholes was appalling as he was the type of controller England were missing. If England had him in the team with a competent goalkeeper (admittedly England were not blessed with top keepers in his period), I reckon England would've been more comfortable in the 2006 World Cup.

With that being said, he easily looks good considering the managers that came after him (including Capello).

 

[Judas]

Never understood the hate. Best England manager in my lifetime, yes we underachieved under him, but we weren't as woeful as under everyone who has followed. Got some rotten luck as well, be it injuries or on the pitch.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

He grossly underachieved with a squad of fabulous players. Cup competition is a lottery by nature, but we really should have been knocking on the door. In his defence, when the going got tough, our players wilted under the pressures of penalties, and he was by no means a poor manager.

I agree with this.

You look back at our squads then and it's filled with fantastic genuinely world class players. We don't have anyone in the current squad anywhere near the likes of peak Rio, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Scholes, Gerrard, Owen , Rooney etc.

 

[BlueCelery]

People saying he overachieved need to give their heads a wobble.

He clearly failed, no two ways about it.

 

[Mr.Plow]

I look back on his term as the glory days of England. Everyone since him has been shit and I was too young for anyone before.

 

[Chorley1974]

He did well enough and actually tried using Hargreaves to offset the problem of Lampard and Gerrard playing together. Suffered from at the time over inflated expectations lead by the media and being a bloody foreigner.

He did well off the pitch too with the women folk, despite looking like some sort of human bird hybrid. Well played.

spot on

 

[Chorley1974]

Spoiler: Stats

P.67
W.40
D.17
L.10
W%.59.70

WC 2002 - Quarter Finals
EC 2004 - Quarter Finals
WC 2006 - Quarter Finals

Considering nobody has really matched his consistency, was he a lot better than he was given credit for or was he somebody that couldn't lead England's supposed golden generation to glory
I personally think he has looked a lot better than he was because of what followed him, I wonder what a greater manager could have done with this team.

Spoiler: World Cup 2006 team

All of these players except Cole and Robinson were considered amongst the best in the world, I remember Rooney had some injury troubles at the time but it is still 7 players who would have gotten into virtually any team in the world.

I think Sven's legacy has been protected by the shower of shite that followed him, he should have achieved more. I would however take a manager who could match Sven's record right now.

Sven's greatest achievement as manager

Was a very good manager comparing him to his successors. I think the golden generation is overhyped, the Italia 90 squad was better in my opinion, the golden generation media was media hype, in a generation that was the first to have that level of media, and internet hype.

 

[Steven7290]

Looking at stats one might say he did well.
Looking at the squad, however, he had 7,8 world class players who were arguably the best in their positions at the time. FFS Spain in their domination didnt even have that. Germany in the world cup winning squad didn't even have that. Perspective.

 

[Judas]

If we knew how to take penalties, it would have all ended very differently for the silver fox.

 

[Gio]

He did fine. Look at the three tournaments:

2002 - Knocked a hugely talented Argentina out of the groups before succumbing to a Brazil side whose five world-class players (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Cafu) were different gravy.
2004 - Played the best football of his reign and a little unlucky to go out to a strong Portugal side on penalties.
2006 - Cancelled out by Portugal in the quarter-finals.

Clearly England had some outstanding players founded on a very robust defence. In midfield though they had too many similar players and lacked balance. Elsewhere they sometimes lacked depth and had to rely on the likes of Phil Neville, Darius Vassell and Trevor Sinclair at the business end of major tournaments. Ultimately Eriksson did fine because England were not good enough to beat that Brazil side nor could they claim to be that much better than Portugal to the point where they would not to have to rely on penalties to progress past them.

 

[rcoobc]

When he arrived, world football was different.

European nations still hadn't won a world cup outside of Europe. Brazil were runners up in 1998 and desperate to make amends. Their 2002 squad included Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Dida, Kaka, and also Kleberson was there. No shame in losing to Brazil. fecking Seamen.

By the time he left, European nations were dominant. All 4 semi finalists were European in 2006, and 3 would be semi finalists in 2010 (the other being Uruguay who didn't beat a single European nation).

He was in the right place at the right time really. England were very strong, and no one else was dominant. If we'd found a way past Brazil, England would have been favourites for the tournament (heaving beaten Germany 5-1 a year before). 2004 and 2006, I think they'd have got found out, even if they'd beaten Portugal.

7/10

 

[red_devil83]

He was alright. Should've done better with the players available to him though.

6/10

Did a lot better than all the muppets since though

 

[clarkydaz]

Allowed the press to pick the team.

And had a man crush on his captain

 

[Snow]

2002 was the year and I believe had Gerrerd not been injured and we played him as oppose to Trevor Sinclair we'd of won that World Cup

Or, you know, not play 4-4-2 with Sinclair as the LM in the latter stages of the tournament and playing either Vassell or Heskey up front.

Neville was also missing, played with Mills as a right back. 2004 team was significantly better.

 

[Paxi]

Played Scholes in left midfield.


Without derailing the thread why was Scholes so.. ..not underrated but under appreciated for England? It's a fecking Joke.

Edit :
I'd swallow my own tongue if someone did that from my own country.

 

[clarkydaz]

Played Scholes in left midfield.


Without derailing the thread why was Scholes so not underrated but under appreciated for England? It's a fecking Joke.

awkward and shy with the press, easier to play out of position. To be fair if memory serves, Keegan loved him

 

[Paxi]

awkward and shy with the press, easier to play out of position. To be fair if memory serves, Keegan loved him

Can't remember Keegan, I'm sure Hoddle would have too if he had the chance. Although I can't I'm sure who preceded who.

 

[Kasper]

People act as of the Golden Generation was the 1970 Brazil National Squad. I mean, yeah they were better than the squad England has now but by no means should've anyone expected a world/european championship right away.
I think he did a good job, ultimately he lost to the world champions in 2002 and twice on penalties. International Knock Outs are so unpredictable, hard to blame him for that.
And if it weren't for Ronaldinho's brilliance in 2002 England would've probably won the thing.

 

[SCP]

Was a very good manager comparing him to his successors. I think the golden generation is overhyped, the Italia 90 squad was better in my opinion, the golden generation media was media hype, in a generation that was the first to have that level of media, and internet hype.

Agree with you, prime Gascoigne, Chris Waddle who was an star at Marseille, who had an super team, Stuart Pearce, Lineker, Platt and so on.

 

[Paxi]

People act as of the Golden Generation was the 1970 Brazil National Squad. I mean, yeah they were better than the squad England has now but by no means should've anyone expected a world/european championship right away.
I think he did a good job, ultimately he lost to the world champions in 2002 and twice on penalties. International Knock Outs are so unpredictable, hard to blame him for that.
And if it weren't for Ronaldinho's brilliance in 2002 England would've probably won the thing.

England did have an excellent squad. I'd argue they underachieved from 2000 to 2008. They've had multiple ballon dor winners. Rio, Terry, Cole were all world class. They had prime Wayne Rooney. No they didn't have 1970 Brazil squad, lets not exaggerate but they had an extremely talented squad.

 

[Kasper]

England did have an excellent squad. I'd argue they underachieved from 2000 to 2008. They've had multiple ballon dor winners. Rio, Terry, Cole were all world class. They had prime Wayne Rooney. No they didn't have 1970 Brazil squad, lets not exaggerate but they had an extremely talented squad.

Do you really think:
Seaman
Mills - Ferdinand - Campbell - Cole
Beckham - Butt - Scholes - Sinclair
Owen - Heskey

is better than:

Marcos
Lucio - Edmilson - Roque Junior
R.Carlos - Gilberto Silva - Kleberson - Cafu
Ronaldinho - Ronaldo - Rivaldo

?

And England didn't have multiple balon d'or winners, they had Owen who was quite a questionable winner, thats it.

 

[simonhch]

As so many have said, the unbalanced team selections to quench the baying masses is what did him in. A midfield four of Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes is absurd. One had to be sacrificed for a more defensive minded CM who could work within a system. The only indispenable one to me was Scholes, and he was shunted to the left. I'd have stuck Butt in behind the midfield and had Scholes and Lampard in front of him. Pushed Gerrard into a more advanced role on the right where he was always best suited. Beckham just misses out. Just. And it's not hard and fast. The absence of a true left winger should've necessitated the move away from a flat midfield 4.

Our fecking back four in those days was: Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole. With Sol Campbell on the bench.

Look at what we put out now: Walker, Smalling, Cahill, Rose. Embarrassing drop in quality.

 

[Paxi]

Do you really think:
Seaman
Mills - Ferdinand - Campbell - Cole
Beckham - Butt - Scholes - Sinclair
Owen - Heskey

is better than:

Marcos
Lucio - Edmilson - Roque Junior
R.Carlos - Gilberto Silva - Kleberson - Cafu
Ronaldinho - Ronaldo - Rivaldo

?

And England didn't have multiple balon d'or winners, they had Owen who was quite a questionable winner, thats it.

Didn't Becks win the Ballon dor? Nevertheless, point still stands. World class players.

Is that the QF in 2002 World Cup? My memory is sketchy. Anyway, obviously Brazil had incredible individual players but so did England. As a collection of players they were excellent. As a team however, well that a different thing all together.

 

[simonhch]

Do you really think:
Seaman
Mills - Ferdinand - Campbell - Cole
Beckham - Butt - Scholes - Sinclair
Owen - Heskey

is better than:

Marcos
Lucio - Edmilson - Roque Junior
R.Carlos - Gilberto Silva - Kleberson - Cafu
Ronaldinho - Ronaldo - Rivaldo

?

And England didn't have multiple balon d'or winners, they had Owen who was quite a questionable winner, thats it.

Agreed. The 2004 squad was much better.

 

[SCP]

Didn't Becks win the Ballon dor? Nevertheless, point still stands. World class players.

Is that the QF in 2002 World Cup? My memory is sketchy. Anyway, obviously Brazil had incredible individual players but so did England. As a collection of players they were excellent. As a team however, well that a different thing all together.

Hmm, comparing Ronaldo with Heskey, Owen with Rivaldo, Beckham with Ronaldinho, Cole with Roberto Carlos or Cafú with Danny Mills, do you really believe they were on the same level of talent?