England are looking for a new manager yet again after Roy Hodgson quit within minutes of the stunning 2-1 defeat by Iceland, the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, in the first knockout round at Euro 2016.
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“I thought my statement last night was sufficient”, Hodgson told the media in Chantilly as England’s players solemnly departed their luxurious hotel to return home.
The tool offers fans the opportunity to generate a completely random excuse for England’s losses, misses and general disappointments, with examples ranging from the players’ boots being too small and the balls being too bouncy through to more ethereal influences such as gypsy curses and Murphy’s Law.
“I just want people to know how much we put onto this tournament and it’s not down to desire or anything like that”, he said.
While Hodgson addressed the media, Wayne Rooney issued a statement to the Press Association to deny all reports of frustration among the players at Hodgson’s decisions.
“My emotions are obvious”.
The England skipper scored from the penalty spot early on in their round-of-16 clash before they conceded goals to Ragnar Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson.
Hodgson, who claimed full responsibility for the Three Lions’ latest abject failure, was concerned that his presence at the briefing would merely “fan the flames” around an England side he maintains showed encouraging signs in France and can perform successfully in the future. I am still fragile.
The FA’s CEO, Martin Glenn, didn’t rule out a non-English manager to replace Hodgson, saying the organization would look to appoint “the best person for the job”.
“If there’s one major thing I’ve learned about England watching as an outsider is that they have just stuck by the big names for too long, if it’s not happening then leave them out”. I suppose someone has to stand and take the slings and arrows that come with it. “One day I think we will do well and hopefully that can happen in 2018 (at the next World Cup)”.
“I know that the team has been producing good performances for a long time in qualifying”, Loew said at Germany’s tournament base at Evian-les-Bains.
” If you don’t turn up and play to your abilities, you can be beaten. If they’d played better last night, maybe it would not have needed repairing”. It wasn’t a good night, for anybody, because we wanted to stay in this tournament and do well. Bar a couple of semifinals in the 1990s, England hasn’t caused a stir at a major tournament since winning the World Cup in 1966, its only major triumph. “If selected, I’ll certainly be there”. “When it comes to the games that really matter at the business end of a tournament, we’ve come up short”.
“That will depend on the FA”, he said.
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“I didn’t see, and neither did the players, the sort of performance we gave last night that saw us knocked out”.
