Declan Rice | Switches international allegiance to England four years ago

Dave89

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Gap between Ireland and England is way bigger than the gap between United and Madrid.

It's like comparing crab sticks to having crab at a 5* restaurant, or a fine red wine with ribena.

England and Ireland football teams barely play the same sport.

Declan made the only sensible choice. :)
Not that big a difference, neither of them could beat a team in the world top 15 in the last world cup.
 

Dave89

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No salt here, I couldn't name 5 players from the last Ireland match, International football holds little appeal to me. Instead, I amuse myself during international breaks by laughing at the English arrogance that they, perpetual also-rans just like Ireland, claim to have something more to offer players by virtue of the fact that if you join up for them you can lose more prominently.

That arrogance was somehow boosted by fecking up a free pass to a world cup final.
 
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RochaRoja

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As a proud Irishman who isn't bitter at all about this :angel: I can only say I look forward to 60 years from now when post Brexit England's football team is made up of 11 lads called Smith who's parents and grandparents never even left the country and were reared on Vimto and pork pies.
To quote a young Declan "Tiocfaidh ár lá" ;)
More chance of Ireland putting out an all homegrown XI than Brexit ever happening tbh.
 

Alex99

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Not that big a difference, neither of them could beat a team in the world top 15 in the last world cup.
One just topped a group having beaten both Spain and Croatia, and the other finished bottom and winless having faced Denmark and Wales.

One has also just scored 10 goals in two games to kick off their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, while the other picked up a plucky 1-0 over Gibraltar.

The differences are stark.
 

Dave89

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One just topped a group having beaten both Spain and Croatia, and the other finished bottom and winless having faced Denmark and Wales.

One has also just scored 10 goals in two games to kick off their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, while the other picked up a plucky 1-0 over Gibraltar.

The differences are stark.
Neither of them are going to win a major tournament. It's nothing to be ashamed of, we can't all be winners and sport needs also rans. But "our failure is better than your failure" is what I expect from RAWK, not here.
 

Alex99

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Neither of them are going to win a major tournament. It's nothing to be ashamed of, we can't all be winners and sport needs also rans. But "our failure is better than your failure" is what I expect from RAWK, not here.
International football is an entirely different ball game when it comes to competition victories than club football. One trophy up for grabs every two years, compared to four or five every year for clubs.

Even without that, you wouldn't argue with an Everton fan for claiming that their side was markedly better than that of Tranmere Rovers just because neither are winning the Premier League any time soon.

Just playing in the major tournaments at international level is a huge thing in most players' careers, and Rice has a much better chance of playing in them with England, with a slim, outside chance of winning one.

Your arguments and line of reasoning is nonsense, and screams of bitterness.
 

RochaRoja

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Neither of them are going to win a major tournament. It's nothing to be ashamed of, we can't all be winners and sport needs also rans. But "our failure is better than your failure" is what I expect from RAWK, not here.
By this logic, Tottenham and Macclesfield are the same level.
 

Champagne Football

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Coming from Ireland I'm delighted Rice made the right choice. Would love to see England win the next World Cup and having a born leader like Rice will only boost that chance. This is hopefully the real golden age of the England team and they are a joy to watch.

Ireland are a mess now but the current John Delaney drama is hopefully the start of a positive new chapter. Ryan Johannson is our big hope for midfield now and if he becomes a regular in the Bundesliga soon then Rice won't be missed.
 

Dave89

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Coming from Ireland I'm delighted Rice made the right choice. Would love to see England win the next World Cup and having a born leader like Rice will only boost that chance. This is hopefully the real golden age of the England team and they are a joy to watch.

Ireland are a mess now but the current John Delaney drama is hopefully the start of a positive new chapter. Ryan Johannson is our big hope for midfield now and if he becomes a regular in the Bundesliga soon then Rice won't be missed.
The thing is, you're right. Southgate seems like a gentleman, so do most of the team. They're not the ones perpetuating the hype and arrogance.
 

PoTMS

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No salt here, I couldn't name 5 players from the last Ireland match, International football holds little appeal to me.
Sure. And yeah, that's because you're shite. You'd find it a while lot more appealing if you were any good.
 

SilentWitness

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If there was ever a photo that could validate how old i now feel at 25 in respect to football it is this one. Kane isn't even old ffs. :(
 

cyberman

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Gap between Ireland and England is way bigger than the gap between United and Madrid.

It's like comparing crab sticks to having crab at a 5* restaurant, or a fine red wine with ribena.

England and Ireland football teams barely play the same sport.

Declan made the only sensible choice. :)
Can't wait until the multi page arguments your fans have when someone dares say Kane will leave Spurs for a chance to win the major trophies.
I'll save this post for further use.
 

purgethefallen

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No salt here, I couldn't name 5 players from the last Ireland match, International football holds little appeal to me. Instead, I amuse myself during international breaks by laughing at the English arrogance that they, perpetual also-rans just like Ireland, claim to have something more to offer players by virtue of the fact that if you join up for them you can lose more prominently.

That arrogance was somehow boosted by fecking up a free pass to a world cup final.
At least those "perpetual also rans" have actually won the world cup in their history.
 

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I wouldn't mind us going for Rice, he looks like he's going to be a top class midfielder. Reminds me a bit of Hargreaves.

My only worry is that he starts buying into his own hype and his form falls off a cliff - whatever happened to the last West Ham midfield hype job Reece Oxford?
 

Champagne Football

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The thing is, you're right. Southgate seems like a gentleman, so do most of the team. They're not the ones perpetuating the hype and arrogance.
I'm not sure England will ever be in a position again where the senior team are not only world Cup semi finalists, but the u17's and u20's are world Cup winners and the u19 Euro champions. It's exciting following the ride of where it all could go.

The closest Ireland ever got to that was when we won the U16 and U18 Euro Cup in the same year when the likes of John O'Shea, Damien Duff, Richard Dunne, Robbie Keane, Liam Miller were all coming through at the same time. But what England are doing right now is frightening and enjoyable to observe.
 

KingMinger22

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As someone whose mother is Irish and father is English, maybe I am a little biased but...

Ireland is a tiny country with no chance of competing in Football against countries with 10x and more population.

With that in mind, I don't understand why more Irish lads don't want England to do well, given the cultural ties and that probably a quarter of the blood in any England team is of Celtic stock.

But each to there own.
 

sullydnl

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Meh. Slagging the England football team is only really fun in a tournament context, when both hype and the inevitability of them being knocked out combine to make one of the tournament highlights.

Focusing enough to slag them during the joyless wasteland of qualifiers as they breeze past smaller nations with ease is much less fun. Especially given our own team is inevitably doing much worse at the same time.
 

Djemba-Djemba

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As someone whose mother is Irish and father is English, maybe I am a little biased but...

Ireland is a tiny country with no chance of competing in Football against countries with 10x and more population.

With that in mind, I don't understand why more Irish lads don't want England to do well, given the cultural ties and that probably a quarter of the blood in any England team is of Celtic stock.

But each to there own.
It doesn't bother me, I'm used to Irish fans hating England and wanting us to fail.

I used to want Ireland and the home nation sides to do well but I don't anymore, I thought it was hilarious how they all failed to qualify for the last World Cup.
 

Zebs

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It doesn't bother me, I'm used to Irish fans hating England and wanting us to fail.

I used to want Ireland and the home nation sides to do well but I don't anymore, I thought it was hilarious how they all failed to qualify for the last World Cup.
Just because we want you to fail doesn't mean we hate you.
 

Cascarino

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As someone whose mother is Irish and father is English, maybe I am a little biased but...

Ireland is a tiny country with no chance of competing in Football against countries with 10x and more population.

With that in mind, I don't understand why more Irish lads don't want England to do well, given the cultural ties and that probably a quarter of the blood in any England team is of Celtic stock.

But each to there own.
If Wales don’t qualify I support England and the other home nations. Most don’t though.

Belgium's 2018 team would've had the 2016 Welsh side on toast.

The team Wales beat was so much weaker.
Sure mate :lol:
 

SquishyMcSquish

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Not that big a difference, neither of them could beat a team in the world top 15 in the last world cup.
Aye. No big difference between World Cup and nations league semi finalists who boast a front line of Sancho, Kane and Sterling and smash sides for 4 or 5 whilst in third gear in qualifying, and a side who beat GIBRALTAR 1-0 and will probably never again make a World Cup.

Oh, and boast a front line of 'nobody knows they're all terrible'.
 

SquishyMcSquish

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If Wales don’t qualify I support England and the other home nations. Most don’t though.



Sure mate :lol:

You disagree? Belgium changed manager and introduced a lot of new players for 2018, as well as had a lot of injuries vs Wales.

It's like comparing England 2016 to 2018 .. clear strides were made.
 

Roy'sMagicHat

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First of all, I'm Irish. Secondly, it's embarrassing how much the Irish despise the English so much considering how passionate we all get over here about English, yes, ENGLISH clubs. Idolising the likes of Rashford, then hating him in an instant when he pulls on an English shirt. Irish fans hate England more than they love their own team.

We are crap, I mean useless. If 'fans' started supporting our own league and grassroots we might have a chance of developing in the future. However, these 'fans' are mere pawns for the English, ploughing hundreds of millions of euro into the English economy, heading over on flights for games every weekend.

When England do win a trophy, even if it was the Nations League, the meltdown here would be glorious!!
 

Cascarino

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You disagree? Belgium changed manager and introduced a lot of new players for 2018, as well as had a lot of injuries vs Wales.

It's like comparing England 2016 to 2018 .. clear strides were made.
It’s virtually the same lineup? I honestly thought you were joking
 

SquishyMcSquish

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It’s virtually the same lineup? I honestly thought you were joking
Boyata and J.Lukaku were trash players. Wales exposed a makeshift back line.

Also, Wilmots was a horrible manager (hodgson level) and there's a reason he got sacked. Belgium seriously improved by 2018 and finally came good in the tournament.

England's lineup in 16 to 18 wasn't all that dissimilar, you realise teams can evolve with a different manager/approach?

Wales in '16 even lost to England ffs. Belgium with the football they played in 2018 would have won comfortably.
 

cyberman

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As someone whose mother is Irish and father is English, maybe I am a little biased but...

Ireland is a tiny country with no chance of competing in Football against countries with 10x and more population.

With that in mind, I don't understand why more Irish lads don't want England to do well, given the cultural ties and that probably a quarter of the blood in any England team is of Celtic stock.

But each to there own.
You might want to ask yourself how those cultural ties came about..
 

T00lsh3d

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Not actually watched him that much. Playing style reminds me more of busquets than Matic, is that comparison in any way accurate?
 

SquishyMcSquish

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Can't wait until the multi page arguments your fans have when someone dares say Kane will leave Spurs for a chance to win the major trophies.
I'll save this post for further use.
Kane probably does have to leave if what he's interested in is winning the league/CL. Got no issue with people saying that, we're clearly not one of the favourites.

Being stuck at Spurs isn't comparable to the torture of playing for that Ireland team though. League 2 level.
 

NoPace

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Not actually watched him that much. Playing style reminds me more of busquets than Matic, is that comparison in any way accurate?
He's not the genius Busquets is but he's a fantastic ballwinner for a 6. Energetic, committed and brilliant tackler. If Pogba is sticking around, Rice makes a ton of sense as our 6 holding the fort down and letting Pogba and some other attacking oriented CM like Bruno Fernandes or Eriksen or whoever create.
 

Alex99

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Wales reached a semi final too, except they actually beat Belgium.
Aye, Wales reached a semi-final, then capitalised on that by, err... losing to Ireland at home in their must win clash to still have a chance at qualifying for the World Cup, in a campaign that also included a memorable 1-1 draw at home to Georgia, a memorable 1-1 draw at home to Serbia, a memorable 1-1 draw away to Serbia, and a memorable 0-0 draw away to Ireland.

As for your assertions that the Belgium side that faced Wales in 2016 being the same as the Belgium side that played in the 2018 World Cup, I'm not really sure what you're on there.

Kompany and Vertonghen are two glaring omissions straight away, with Jordan Lukaku and Denayer not even making the 2018 World Cup squad.

Comparing the line-up to the sides that faced England is also pointless, because the group game was a dead-rubber in which both teams weren't really bothered about losing, and the third placed play-off was also something of a dead rubber, and saw both teams rotate a bit.
 

Cascarino

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Boyata and J.Lukaku were trash players. Wales exposed a makeshift back line.

Also, Wilmots was a horrible manager (hodgson level) and there's a reason he got sacked. Belgium seriously improved by 2018 and finally came good in the tournament.

England's lineup in 16 to 18 wasn't all that dissimilar, you realise teams can evolve with a different manager/approach?

Wales in '16 even lost to England ffs. Belgium with the football they played in 2018 would have won comfortably.
So 2 players? Belgium went 2-0 down to Japan and got through narrowly

Aye, Wales reached a semi-final, then capitalised on that by, err... losing to Ireland at home in their must win clash to still have a chance at qualifying for the World Cup, in a campaign that also included a memorable 1-1 draw at home to Georgia, a memorable 1-1 draw at home to Serbia, a memorable 1-1 draw away to Serbia, and a memorable 0-0 draw away to Ireland.

As for your assertions that the Belgium side that faced Wales in 2016 being the same as the Belgium side that played in the 2018 World Cup, I'm not really sure what you're on there.

Kompany and Vertonghen are two glaring omissions straight away, with Jordan Lukaku and Denayer not even making the 2018 World Cup squad.

Comparing the line-up to the sides that faced England is also pointless, because the group game was a dead-rubber in which both teams weren't really bothered about losing, and the third placed play-off was also something of a dead rubber, and saw both teams rotate a bit.
Aren’t you the guy who kept writing dissertations about how England didn’t have an easy run?
 

Lookatu

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As someone whose mother is Irish and father is English, maybe I am a little biased but...

Ireland is a tiny country with no chance of competing in Football against countries with 10x and more population.

With that in mind, I don't understand why more Irish lads don't want England to do well, given the cultural ties and that probably a quarter of the blood in any England team is of Celtic stock.

But each to there own.
If your father was Irish and mother was English you may understand a little bit more.