Emile Heskey tribute thread

[Ferris]

Tis a sad day, the great man has retired from international football. Thank you Emile, for everything.

[Wax Jacket]

purveyor of some fine flick-ons

[BobKnows]

If only that two faced pcunt Carragher had stayed retired.

[Big Foot]

The right decision for all parties

[Barry the bird boggler]

If only the rest would retire...

[Tony Le Mesmer]

I kind of feel sorry for the bloke. Bit of a fall guy for cnts like Carragher who didnt even want to play for their country.

If someone with such limited ability keeps getting picked for England, he must have been doing something right.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm probably in a small minority here, but I think it's a shame. I think he's done a sterling job for his country and given his all when called upon. Unfortunately, since Shearer also retired, we've rarely had anyone better to lead the line in the way he did but also to chip in with more goals.

Doesn't matter who it is I never like it when a player retires from international football because I think that they shouldn't turn their back on their country, but at least the likes of him, Scholes and Shearer did it because they're getting too old to deal with it. That's much more palletable than someone like Carragher who just threw his toys out because he didn't play enough.

[Baines]

Never really good enough and the inability of successive England managers to look beyond him "doing a job" has held us back.

At fault (along with Beckham) for the 2004 defeat to France.

[Wax Jacket]

I'm probably in a small minority here, but I think it's a shame. I think he's done a sterling job for his country and given his all when called upon. Unfortunately, since Shearer also retired, we've rarely had anyone better to lead the line in the way he did but also to chip in with more goals.

agreed really - he was always called upon to do a specific job and he generally did exactly what they all wanted - create a shitload of space to allow the more talented players (I think we can all say LOL now) the chance to play a bit.

[Terminal Boardom]

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.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

This is a sad day for every other international football team in the world.

[Y21_Royal]

Heskey was always made a bit of a scapegoat by the press but the honest fact was that with him in the side, England played negative football. Whilst the rest of the world developed fast, counter attacking football, we stuck with the long ball/target man system of which Heskey was pivotal. That was never his fault. The fact that he played so much was just indicative of negative tactics and, for a long time, no real alternatives.

[Terminal Boardom]

Heskey was always made a bit of a scapegoat by the press but the honest fact was that with him in the side, England played negative football. Whilst the rest of the world developed fast, counter attacking football, we stuck with the long ball/target man system of which Heskey was pivotal. That was never his fault. The fact that he played so much was just indicative of negative tactics and, for a long time, no real alternatives.

Germany 1 England 5
What was the line up?

[Thomas L'Heureux]

Heskey was always made a bit of a scapegoat by the press but the honest fact was that with him in the side, England played negative football. Whilst the rest of the world developed fast, counter attacking football, we stuck with the long ball/target man system of which Heskey was pivotal. That was never his fault. The fact that he played so much was just indicative of negative tactics and, for a long time, no real alternatives.

Germany 1 England 5
What was the line up?

How many England caps does big Emile have, TB?

[Y21_Royal]

Heskey was always made a bit of a scapegoat by the press but the honest fact was that with him in the side, England played negative football. Whilst the rest of the world developed fast, counter attacking football, we stuck with the long ball/target man system of which Heskey was pivotal. That was never his fault. The fact that he played so much was just indicative of negative tactics and, for a long time, no real alternatives.

Germany 1 England 5
What was the line up?

Exactly, nearly 10 years ago and whilst Germany developed and improved, we stayed still.

[Terminal Boardom]

Heskey was always made a bit of a scapegoat by the press but the honest fact was that with him in the side, England played negative football. Whilst the rest of the world developed fast, counter attacking football, we stuck with the long ball/target man system of which Heskey was pivotal. That was never his fault. The fact that he played so much was just indicative of negative tactics and, for a long time, no real alternatives.

Germany 1 England 5
What was the line up?

How many England caps does big Emile have, TB?

A lot more than you and me!

Question is, who else could we have called upon? Bobby Zamora? Darren Bent??? fact is, there is a distinct shortage of ENGLISH centre forwards playing in the PL. Unless this is addressed we will not improve.

[Handsome Man]

Irrelevant. He wouldn't have played for England anymore and probably won't play too many more times in the premiership.

Overall, he was a mediocre player who fluked his way to a huge number of caps.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

Question is, who else could we have called upon? Bobby Zamora? Darren Bent??? fact is, there is a distinct shortage of ENGLISH centre forwards playing in the PL. Unless this is addressed we will not improve.

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.

[Y21_Royal]

Question is, who else could we have called upon? Bobby Zamora? Darren Bent??? fact is, there is a distinct shortage of ENGLISH centre forwards playing in the PL. Unless this is addressed we will not improve.

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

[Barry the bird boggler]

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.