Emile Heskey tribute thread

[Terminal Boardom]

So why give Heskey the abuse? Is it because elements of the print media choose to do so and a number of people follow like sheep? I think that we could still have played 442 had we played Crouch instead of Heskey and possibly produced better performances.

Y21 is also spot on with the inference to inflexible tactics. One of the reasons we had a good second halfto last season, I believe, is because the players were easily adapted to play in either a 442 or a 433/4231 type system. Flexibility was introduced.

Or is it because there are just not enough good quality English players about? lampard looks good for Chelsea because he has Drogba in front of him and Ballack/Essien/whoever alongside. gerrard looked great for Liverpool when he had Torres in front and Alonso alongside/behind. Would a different man in charge of the national team have done any better? I don't think so.

Sure Heskey has not scored enough goals in his career but he must have been doing something right to have been selected so many times.

[papereyes]

It was odd - my memory of his qualifying campaign was that he got players to essentially play a 4-2-3-1 Gerrard away from Lampard etc

[Wax Jacket]

It was odd - my memory of his qualifying campaign was that he got players to essentially play a 4-2-3-1 Gerrard away from Lampard etc

but then froze in the finals - although that wasn't the only big decision that he ducked during the tournament

[Thomas L'Heureux]

So why give Heskey the abuse? Is it because elements of the print media choose to do so and a number of people follow like sheep? I think that we could still have played 442 had we played Crouch instead of Heskey and possibly produced better performances.

Y21 is also spot on with the inference to inflexible tactics. One of the reasons we had a good second halfto last season, I believe, is because the players were easily adapted to play in either a 442 or a 433/4231 type system. Flexibility was introduced.

Or is it because there are just not enough good quality English players about? lampard looks good for Chelsea because he has Drogba in front of him and Ballack/Essien/whoever alongside. gerrard looked great for Liverpool when he had Torres in front and Alonso alongside/behind. Would a different man in charge of the national team have done any better? I don't think so.

Sure Heskey has not scored enough goals in his career but he must have been doing something right to have been selected so many times.

First you started off by suggesting there was no better alternatives to Heskey, but now you're saying we would've done better by playing Crouch rather than him...

England's problem is that the last three managers we've had have all pretty much picked exactly the same side playing in exactly the same way. There is no way to differentiate between them other than McLaren's 3-5-2 against Croatia which failed due to only being introduced for one game (the most important one of the qualifiers).

Capello played a suitable formation to get us to the World Cup but ditched it at the last minute. The reason Heskey was then picked for the main competition is because he was arguably the best partner for Rooney seeing as his hands were tied for deciding to play with two strikers.

[soggy biscuit]

Fair play to Heskey. He may have failed this summer in the World Cup but he came home, donned a skirt and won Wimbledon.

[Terminal Boardom]

So why give Heskey the abuse? Is it because elements of the print media choose to do so and a number of people follow like sheep? I think that we could still have played 442 had we played Crouch instead of Heskey and possibly produced better performances.

Y21 is also spot on with the inference to inflexible tactics. One of the reasons we had a good second halfto last season, I believe, is because the players were easily adapted to play in either a 442 or a 433/4231 type system. Flexibility was introduced.

Or is it because there are just not enough good quality English players about? lampard looks good for Chelsea because he has Drogba in front of him and Ballack/Essien/whoever alongside. gerrard looked great for Liverpool when he had Torres in front and Alonso alongside/behind. Would a different man in charge of the national team have done any better? I don't think so.

Sure Heskey has not scored enough goals in his career but he must have been doing something right to have been selected so many times.

First you started off by suggesting there was no better alternatives to Heskey, but now you're saying we would've done better by playing Crouch rather than him...

England's problem is that the last three managers we've had have all pretty much picked exactly the same side playing in exactly the same way. There is no way to differentiate between them other than McLaren's 3-5-2 against Croatia which failed due to only being introduced for one game (the most important one of the qualifiers).

Capello played a suitable formation to get us to the World Cup but ditched it at the last minute. The reason Heskey was then picked for the main competition is because he was arguably the best partner for Rooney seeing as his hands were tied for deciding to play with two strikers.

I think you will find that I said that by selecting PringleMan we may have

possibly produced better performances

. As the last 3 managers have all picked pretty much the same players, what does that say about the strength in depth? Where is the competition? The Premier League was created to make the national side better. How did that work out then?

[Victor Meldrew]

Doesn't matter who it is I never like it when a player retires from international football

Well said HB. Representing your country is the biggest honour going. To then turn your back is wrong and should be regarded as a form of treason. To me it smacks of arrogance and this is regardless of the sport. For once, I have to side with Beckham and his approach to representing his country.

I think it sometimes coincides with age and a drop in form and to save the embarrassment of being dropped as was the case with Scholes.
I'm not sure that I follow your point about Beckham and his approach to representing his country.
Is this not a player who has been unfit but still played for England so that he can collect a few more caps and as for the bollocks about playing in the Olympics (for the good of a young team?) and the next World Cup and choosing to deny that he would be interested in being the next England manager-what a load of publicity tosh all over again.
Back to Heskey-a good trier and a player with a better touch and passing range than many give him credit for but you can't have a player in the side just to try and make Rooney's job easier-he has to do more than that and it is time for him and some of those other losers to move aside,i.e Heskey,Terry,Upson and Beckham for starters.

[Sun Tzu]

The Premier League was created to make the national side better. How did that work out then?

Really ?

I can't believe that !!!!!

[Terminal Boardom]

I thought Scholes quit international football as he was pissed off at being asked to play on the left instead of in his club position.

Sure Beckham was talking in soundbite but at least he comes across as sincere. He will never turn his back on representing his country - whether he will or not is another matter. Personally, I think his day has passed.

[Terminal Boardom]

The Premier League was created to make the national side better. How did that work out then?

Really ?

I can't believe that !!!!!

Not the sole reason but certainly used as an argument for it to happen.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Fair play to Heskey. He may have failed this summer in the World Cup but he came home, donned a skirt and won Wimbledon.

First time I laid eyes on him eight years ago, my first thought was of Sonny Liston

The intervening years, while not unkind, haven't improved matters

Anyway, best of luck to the man --and for a significantly better outcome than that which befell Sonny Liston, fo' shizz

[The whole year inn]

Emile Heskey's 62 caps -

More than Hoddle, Gazza, Beardsley, Sheringham, Des Walker,

Same amount as David Platt and Chris Waddle

One less than Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer

[sandman]

I completely and utterly disagree with you.

Out of all of the teams in the quarter-finals onwards, how many played with two up top? And even the one or two that did didn't do so in a traditional 4-4-2 formation.

Heskey should never have started for England in this year's World Cup simply because we should have got with the times and moved away from playing such a rigidly poor formation. The game has evolved, especially on the continent and further afield, and the need to pick Heskey would never have come about if we employed a manager that actually had some tactical variety and a bit of whit.

Exactly right. What's especially frustrating is the fact that the best PL clubs have done this. Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City all play a variation of 4-3-3 and yet at international level we haven't adapted.

Heskey often got the stick when what we should have been complaining about were the one dimensional tactics that necessitated playing him

Exactly, we supposedly have a world class Italian manager who has won things at the highest level yet he is rigidly sticking to that formation.

How many of the clubs in the Premier League have 11 Englishmen starting in 451 or 433? They can't do it without the help of foreign players. In Spain they're taught exactly the same way all the way up from junior level the same is true here, 442 get it forward as quickly as possible and if the little kid with asthma gives the ball away scream at him.

Capello tried different formations in his early games but they didn't work his job isn't just about winning games it's about changing a whole national ethos.As it says in 442 Magazine this month, We're talking about a man who changed his formation three times in one match when Milan were in danger of going out of the Champions League at the group stage in '94 and they got to the final. There is a vast difference between changing a formation when you have gifted players like Maldini, Baresi and Desailly and changing it when you have Upson, Johnson and Barry.

As for him only playing established players and being afraid to try newer ones He played young players like Raul and Guti at Madrid and gave a debut to De Rossi at Roma when he was 18. We do not have the talent pool to do try the youngsters the way Capello has done with his teams before.

[Wax Jacket]

Emile Heskey's 62 caps -

More than Hoddle, Gazza, Beardsley, Sheringham, Des Walker,

Same amount as David Platt and Chris Waddle

One less than Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer

if they'd made the most of their talent the way Emile did we'd have won the World Cup 5 times in a row

[Einstein agogo]

Capello played so many players out of position , Gerrard , Rooney , Milner , Terry , and Heskey.......6000 miles out of position !

[Royalee]

Thank you for ruining our chances at this world cup Heskey and here's to Peter Crouch.

[leon]

Thank you for ruining our chances at this world cup Heskey and here's to Peter Crouch.

you are being ironic aren't you?

[Maguire]

Heskey may well not have been good enough but he made the best of what he had. Played okay in the first two England games, certainly better than Rooney.

[Ian Royal]

Heskey may well not have been good enough but he made the best of what he had. Played okay in the first two England games, certainly better than Rooney.

Definitely. Rooney showed the odd touch of quality combining with Gerrard, but tbh I think we'd have done better with Heskey and one of Crouch or Defoe starting ahead of Rooney.

Heskey's lack of goals wouldn't have been much of a problem if Rooney played even half as well as he is capable and Lampard had actually turned up before Germany.

[frimmers3]

why would anyone blame english players for failing to "bring home" the world cup when they are in the minority in our domestic league at the top level?