The Arrogance of the English Tabloids

foxtrot

foxtrot

Shoe bomber
24 December 2002
Glasgow, Scotland
Rangers FC
It must be around that time again where there's been a draw for a national tournament... I don't know for sure, I'm Scottish. It's been a while since we last savoured such a moment.

The ITV News has just been on with their look at tomorrow's newspapers including the Daily Mirror which describes England's group as 'relatively easy' and everyones favourite tabloid, The Sun, featuring the headline, 'Three Lions in a Cert.' They claim that England's progression to the knockout phase is guaranteed.

Why is it that the English media hype their country so much? Patriotism? Maybe. It's just not true though is it. The people get so caught up in the hype that they just set themselves up for a massive let down. It's arrogant, and disrespectful to the other countries in their group. Don't get me wrong, England will hump Trinidad & Tobago. Wayne Rooney vs Marvin Andrews is a no brainer really. But Paraguay and Sweden are two great teams. You can bet that I'll be cheering on everyone thats playing against England in the summer.

"At least we got there you stupid jock!"

Well done. :roll:
 
I remember before Euro 2004 about England vs France, "The Sun" says "they will kick your ass"

everyone knows what happened...:lmao:
 
I'm definitely confused of British/English media too. Once a big tournament is coming in space of one year, all this crazy hype starts. Media raises the expectations to unrealistic level, builds it, builds it, builds it and then if the team fails, they start to knock down individuals of poor performance, red card, high profile mistake - there always has to be one scapegoat BUT WHY??. It's not like the world cup is there for England to own or they would be the best team by far, there's 31 other nations too, some better some worse than three lions. In my opinion it's totally BIZARRE to expect Wayne Rooney to win the world cup on his own - and that's exactly what the media is expecting...Stupid media.
 
English Tabloids - and well most of the media over here really - is just cack. If you want my honest opinion, I reckon England will struggle. We seem to play best when we're really up against it. Sweden is class and so are Paraguay but I'm honestly not surprised at how the media is reacting sadly. It'll be the case of us underestimating the class and kicking our own arses yet again about the "golden generation"
 
It's no surprise really, is it?

Sorry guys if it wasn't for your media I wouldn't be fussed about how you fared but they just go on and on and on about themselves so much that I enjoy seeing you get beat.
 
yeah i agree rockyabir england seem to do better when up against the bigger sides. The worst thing to happen is the players start to belive the hype and then get complacent believing that they should and have right to win group and win tournament.
 
Well England really should finish ahead of Paraguay; and Trinidad and Tobago are utter crap so England should be assured of at least second.

I watched both T&T games vs. the USA and although the USA only won by a goal each time the winner of the games was never in doubt. The USA completely dominated play and probably should have scored quite a few more. England and Sweden should destroy 'em.


Also what makes it an easier group for England is that Sweden should beat both Paraguay and T&T as well... thus making it harder for the other teams to get points... England and Sweden should cruise.

On a side note, I've always thought it best if you are a good second pot team to be in a group with a top Pot 1 team but only mediocre pot 3,4 teams... because when the top seeded team cruises through the mediocre teams then the Pot 2 team almost finished second by default.
 
ClassicD said:
It's no surprise really, is it?

Sorry guys if it wasn't for your media I wouldn't be fussed about how you fared but they just go on and on and on about themselves so much that I enjoy seeing you get beat.
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I totally get why you and your fellow scots (as well as the rest of the world) hate England sometimes.

What really pees me off is when the media involve quite sensitive historical issues into games. I mean, this whole England-Germany rivalry is unnecessarily intensified cos of the World wars. It just promotes racism and illogical hate. Kids nowadays automatically hate any Germans without any reason to do so - it is sad but what makes it pathetic is that it is these same papers who criticise the racist killing of Anthony Walker.
 
ThomasGOAL said:
I remember before Euro 2004 about England vs France, "The Sun" says "they will kick your ass"

everyone knows what happened...:lmao:
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yeah well in 2002 before the wc even started french medias were already calculating who they could play in the final, everyone knows what happened... :lmao:
 
ThomasGOAL said:
I remember before Euro 2004 about England vs France, "The Sun" says "they will kick your ass"
everyone knows what happened...:lmao:
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SunArcDeTriomphe.jpg

« 12 June 2004, Sun’s mark de Triomphe »
Alien_ said:
yeah well in 2002 before the wc even started french medias were already calculating who they could play in the final, everyone knows what happened... :lmao:
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nelson-preview.gif

« Ha ha ! »
 
Alien_ said:
yeah well in 2002 before the wc even started french medias were already calculating who they could play in the final, everyone knows what happened... :lmao:
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And ? it's totally different, it's no like they will kick your ass" :roll: that is arrogant

in 2001/2002
when you have the best player on the planet (Zidane)
when you have the best striker in England (Henry)
when you have the best striker in Italy (Trezeguet)
when you have the best strker in France (Cissé)

ask to Brazilian players now for 2006...
just statisques, but is nothing
 
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Hi EatonTJ,

I think you and English media might be under-rating Paraguay a bit here. I don't know about others but when my own team was getting drawn I was praying to god we avoid this group and the Holland/Argentina group.

Sure T&T is no doubt in my opinion the weakest team in the cup and in fact if draws had been different and Fifa hadn't awarded one too many space for Concacaf I believe there's plenty other teams that are better than them like Uruguay, Turkey and even Uzbekistan who got screwed by Bahrain :roll:.

So that's that I expect each team to with no real difficulty outplay T & T and win by a margin of 2 at least.

But after that you got 3 capable teams and it's all about whether England is first best in these 3, 2nd best or 3rd best in which case it's not good enough and it'll end their hopes of reaching knockoutstages.

I myself think Sweden is strongest team in group and will go the furthest (dark horses for WC I say) in this cup and England and Paraguay to battle it out for 2nd place.

EatonTJ said:
Well England really should finish ahead of Paraguay; and Trinidad and Tobago are utter crap so England should be assured of at least second.

I watched both T&T games vs. the USA and although the USA only won by a goal each time the winner of the games was never in doubt. The USA completely dominated play and probably should have scored quite a few more. England and Sweden should destroy 'em.


Also what makes it an easier group for England is that Sweden should beat both Paraguay and T&T as well... thus making it harder for the other teams to get points... England and Sweden should cruise.

On a side note, I've always thought it best if you are a good second pot team to be in a group with a top Pot 1 team but only mediocre pot 3,4 teams... because when the top seeded team cruises through the mediocre teams then the Pot 2 team almost finished second by default.
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It's not only tabloids, it's ppl too.

I remember Dumbass Keegen in press conference before euro 2000 clash with portugal showing disrespectful surprised when a portuguese reporter identified himself as belonging to the 3rd portuguese channel, which Keegan commented saying: "3 channels in Portugal already hein?".

In Euro 2004 a lot of garbage was written in english press before Portugal - England. Then England took the now usual beat.But the arrogance is there, all over the papers and some ppl minds.
 
We have to live with it. Anyone intelligent enough to form their own opinions feel the same way as everyone outside England except for the fact that we'll still want us to win.

Though to lay the blame for wanting us to lose solely on the gutter press' coverage is a bit too convenient for my liking. You'd need to add the BBC's match commentary to it as well. :)

Spare a thought for the England fans that have brains and have to put up with everyone else's hatred through no fault of their own. Not reading the shitty tabloids helps as well.
 
the same peolpe who wrote that shite about us already qualifying from the group will no doubt already have their "sack sven" articles written for when he fucks it up

the tabloids are the lowest of the low as far as i'm concerned, just ignore them
 
All crying about the evil English media.... If you don't like it, don't read or listen to what they have to say. That's what I do..

Oh, and yes I will say it. At least we're there Jockos, enjoy supporting whoever we play. :p

Cheers.
 
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I see your point Fishcake and Mart! Not everyone inside England I assume is stupid enough to actually think of Paraguay and Sweden that lowly or think they're already through cuz that'd be a BIG mistake!

I personally myself don't mind their arrogance though and don't hate England because of what media says, I just hope best 2 teams out of those 3 come out and we're totally ignoring T & T here lol, what if they pull out a miracle and get out of that group :lol: but honestly I don't see that happening. They really do look like by quite a bit the weakest team in this year's World Cup finals to me.
 
Another interesting issue I've come to think about it's the value of the EPL itself.

I nowdays fancy EPL the most, but I suspect about it's value, or at least the value of EPL teams abroad.

I leave you examples:

Last year a faible Sporting, in economic crises was able to show Middlesborough and Newcastle out of UEFA Cup with unexpected easy games.

This year it was ManUtd to be shown off by a benfica far from being a superteam and with 4,5 essential players out.

Just 2 years ago ManUtd had already been shown the door by a then more powerful but not necessarely enriched FC Porto, by Mourinho. Not only that but they were also defeated 3-1 in a friendly match by SCP, far from being played as a friendly, a game that motivated ManUtd to buy Cristiano that same week.

Now... this doesn't tell me portuguese teams are that good, because we are not. Our clubs are in crisis, we have to settle for bargain deals and loaned players from everywhere and still... these fragile portuguese clubs have been able to perform such quantity of upsets for EPL clubs. What does that say about the true global value of EPL teams?

I confess I feel divided cause although what Liverpool did last year my feeling is that EPL is a great domestic tournament but that english clubs misteriously lack "something" when compaired with other european clubs.
 
PLF said:
Hi EatonTJ,

I think you and English media might be under-rating Paraguay a bit here. I don't know about others but when my own team was getting drawn I was praying to god we avoid this group and the Holland/Argentina group.

Sure T&T is no doubt in my opinion the weakest team in the cup and in fact if draws had been different and Fifa hadn't awarded one too many space for Concacaf I believe there's plenty other teams that are better than them like Uruguay, Turkey and even Uzbekistan who got screwed by Bahrain :roll:.

So that's that I expect each team to with no real difficulty outplay T & T and win by a margin of 2 at least.

But after that you got 3 capable teams and it's all about whether England is first best in these 3, 2nd best or 3rd best in which case it's not good enough and it'll end their hopes of reaching knockoutstages.

I myself think Sweden is strongest team in group and will go the furthest (dark horses for WC I say) in this cup and England and Paraguay to battle it out for 2nd place.
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PLF,

I suppose I was a little hard on Paraguay as from what I've seen (American sports press has told me nothing about Paraguay) in the one game I watched them play, they are a very hard working team with pretty good skill but w/o any super exceptional players, at least when I watched them play (Santa Cruz was out).

But still, I don't think Paraguay will upset England (who would surely be favorites) and England will progress.

I agree that Sweden being strong is good for England getting in because Sweden won't give points to other teams.
 
@EatonJ, American sports press isn't best as you know mate but I know Paraguay and most these other teams player by player and they do have some good capable players even with Roque Santa Cruz always injured :(.

But I agree with you there is no doubt that in most casual fans view and the press/media England ARE favourties in this group. Of course this doesn't mean much. France were also favs to win their group in last WC by most but as we knew they didn't even get past that stage. Same way Lyon were favourties to lose when facing Madrid but I thought that's quite funny seeing as how Lyon has better squad in MY opinion and also better depth and I bid on them and made some money of course :).

So I think there's no doubt England will be favs but I'm not sure this is such easy group. I think Sweden is strongest team in here and England and Paraguay will battle it out for 2nd place and hopefully England going through as I'd like to see them in at least Q-finals ;)

@Mauras, I agree with a lot of things you say mate but recently after Benfica's win over Man Utd, I also see you make a bigger deal out of some things that then they really are in my opinion or maybe you just see your own league and team Sporting and Benfica as TOO LOW!

This week Benfica beat Man Utd by 1 goal IN Lisbon and they won and deserved it and to me that's not such a big deal or shock. But from your posts I've seen you seem to make it as if it's SHOCK OF CENTURY that Benfica beat Man U in their own stadium! :roll: what's the big deal?

Same with Sporting knocking out Newcastle and Boro last year in Uefa cup? again I don't see what the big SHOCK here is? There's not as much difference in those players/squads as you seem to think there is.

Overall in past 5-10 years not only clubs but also nations have become much closer in terms of ability to each other. Just look at how many Big thrasings we have had in recent WC's before last decade or so and how many we'll get this year and did last WC?

Same goes for Club teams really, nowadays when CL group stage starts the difference between best teams (Juve, Lyon, Chelsea, Barca) in my opinion is not THAT much or more than the weakest team (let's say Anderlecht or Sparta Prague or FC thun) and I certainly don't EXPECT a thrashing even though it does happen a few times like with Bayern vs. Rapid or Werder vs. Pana but in general this type of thing doesn't happen as much as it used to when even the strongest and weakest team face. Reason for this is football has changed. Yeah 10 years ago when strongest and weakest team in CL grou stage would face, there was much bigger difference but nowadays teams levels are more closer that's why football is more competitive, more surprising and a joy to watch! :)
 
PLF,

I understand your point of view mate but... although Sporting and Benfica are big names in european soccer history, the truth is that the finantial differences between these teams and EPL teams is too much. EPL teams have other finantial resources, allowing them to buid squads that are simply impossible in Portugal, with only Porto as an exception due to the great income they got after the CL win.

Some players in england earn as much as the whole Sporting or Benfica team mate.
 
I know about that stuff mate. I also know that Benfica is no longer the former "Great Benfica" they were and they're still living off their reputation/history and OLD achievements.

But sometimes you make it sound as if Sporting vs. Boro or Sporting vs. Newcastle is supposed to end with Sporting losing!?? I don't think that.
 
Mart said:
We have to live with it. Anyone intelligent enough to form their own opinions feel the same way as everyone outside England except for the fact that we'll still want us to win.

Though to lay the blame for wanting us to lose solely on the gutter press' coverage is a bit too convenient for my liking. You'd need to add the BBC's match commentary to it as well. :)

Spare a thought for the England fans that have brains and have to put up with everyone else's hatred through no fault of their own. Not reading the shitty tabloids helps as well.
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Hi Mart

I couldnt agree more mate. The BBC are equally as bad not to mention ITV etc.. just a more subtle/high brow kind of the same xenophobic nonsense.

During the draw Motson kept talking over the Fifa chap who was speaking impecable English (along with a fair few other languages), Lineker/Hansen & Lawrenson were sitting in the studio basically dismissing the vast majority of teams that England could face as inferior - Portugal for one weren't considered a problem which is devoid of all logic considering the last two meetings and I doubt they even knew Santa Cruz & Valdez play for Paraguay as they certainly didnt mention it.

Even Sven the bloke whose on X million of pounds admitted this week (pre-draw) that he didn't know Australia and England had a major rivalry and that he knows basically diddly squat about the African teams but was going to the AN Cup to find out. Perhaps it's just me, but I'd of thought a fairly decent knowledge of the top 40-50 counties in the world isn't too much to ask of a national manager - christ I reckon even the FA could shell out for the cost of a World Soccer subscription.

Oh and to top it all off Lawrenson considered the Italian's group as the 'Group of Death' rather than Argentina's which quite frankly says it all!

good to get that off my chest! :)

db
 
^^

Agree totally, just to make it clear I did say media and not tabloids, I meant the whole lot. Motson was infuriating at the World Cup draw, firstly because he wouldn't shut up and let the other guy speak and secondly he's a bumbling fool, he said the Ivory Coast had been drawn in England's group when they first came out. :roll:
 
I cant stand motson, his commentating is always biased and sucking owen like he is his son, not to mention beckham and now rooney. When england beat argentina 3-2 in the friendly the guy went overboard and almost choked when owen scored twice and was saying things like ;bring on the world cup blah and he always got to dramatise everything.
 
When england beat argentina 3-2 in the friendly the guy went overboard and almost choked when owen scored twice and was saying things like ;bring on the world cup blah and he always got to dramatise everything
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:lol: absolutely right! hahhaha bring on the world blah blah.
 
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