Owen Hargreaves

[berlinhammer]

Agreed that sven us a total w*nker and his tactics were absolutely poor!

But I feel hargreaves is being treated disgracefully! He is suffering from poor confidence! What is happening to him is known as self fulfilling prophechy in psychological terms, which is why he cant perform, not necessarily a case of not taking the pressure! I feel everyone is going to be split in this! If you feel him personally getting booed is justified than thats up to you!

i agree with your points! but why do you end every sentence with an exclamation mark! I just don't understand it! ok then! that's all i wanted to say! boo!

[whufc martin]

as many peopelk have said in this discussion its not his fault for being in the squad. its not liek he forced sven to put him there wasnt his decision. the boy is just playign his footballand deserves respect for that. Cheering him will do so much for him as a player then booing will ever do for him. Show him the respect he deserves. Debating weather he deserves to be ther eor not is another matter. But well done to the boy for making it. He deserves our support. If you want to boo anyoen it should be sven

[WestHamByTheSea]

I'm no fan of Hargreaves and personally don't exactly feel my spirits lift when i see him coming on,but booing him???...when does that ever work in anyone's favour?
It never helped any of our players in the Coca-Cola when they were booed...how can it?...sure i'll give the likes of Ince,Lumpard and Defoe the bird as and when required,but that's a different matter..but to boo your own player can only be counter-productive..forums such as this are the place to vent spleen,but no player on earth is gonna think "..hmm,i'm being booed..i'd better pull my socks up!!!.."...maybe they should do,but in reality ,they won't...

[Kludgehammer]

To be honest, I think most people were booing the (incomprehensible) substitution rather than the (useless) player.

[homebrew]

Anyone who boos a player from the team that they supposedly support in my book is a twat. Pure and simple

IMHO of course.

[James P]

To be honest, I think most people were booing the (incomprehensible) substitution rather than the (useless) player.

Exactly.

The substitution was being booed, not the player.

Hargreaves is w*nk. He gives the ball away time and time again, he runs around like a dog in the sunshine but never actually makes a tackle, and evrytime he comes on England sink even deeper inviting even more pressure onto themselves. It happens every single time and yet every single time Sven does it.

Whilst on Saturday it ultimately didn't prove too costly you just know he will do it again and again in the knockout stages, and just like against France and Portugal in 2004 England will end up losing a game they were winning because they will crawl back into a shell around the 18 yard box when they should be trying to kill a game off.

[Orange Hammer]

He should start ahead of FFL in my opinion against T&T. Let Gerrard have the free role and OH can play in his prefered position. Got to be worth a try

I know peopel are not too keen on him being in the england squad . But i do not understand how he can get booed by his own fans when he coems on. hats just sickening

[hadleighhammer]

But if he was wearing a west ham shirt, would you be booing that?

I just disagree with booing. If I don't like the substituion, or selection, it isn't the players fault, it's the manager. And as for West Ham, when a player pullls on the shirt, he has my support.

Same goes for England.

Imo, anyhoo.

Nope. But then again I'm nowhere near as fussed at seeing England do well than I am at seeing West Ham do well.

England, I feel wrong supportin with the likes of Lampard, Neville, Beckham, Rooney, etc playing, but it fills the time until the season starts again and gives me an excuse to go on the lash.

And I would never boo a West Ham player as long as they gave 100%

[simon hammer]

I'll NEVER boo Owen Hargreaves, simply because, as a player, he's a **** sight better than I am. He's probably a **** sight better than anyone on here too. Face it, the guys got several Bundesliga Champions medals and a Champions league medal or two, and you don't get them by being a ***** player.

Personally I'd have him at West Ham like a shot.

[simon hammer]

He should start ahead of FFL in my opinion against T&T. Let Gerrard have the free role and OH can play in his prefered position. Got to be worth a try

Excellent point, but surely it would be better to start him against Sweden when we are already assured of qualification. Not that I doubt Hargreaves' ability for one second, it just seems more sensible to leave it till the last group game.

[James P]

I'll NEVER boo Owen Hargreaves, simply because, as a player, he's a **** sight better than I am. He's probably a **** sight better than anyone on here too. Face it, the guys got several Bundesliga Champions medals and a Champions league medal or two, and you don't get them by being a ***** player.

Personally I'd have him at West Ham like a shot.

If Sven picked his team on number of medals won then Phil Neville would be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

The bundesliga is pony and winning the championship there does not automatically make you a player good enough to get into a world cup challenging team. Don't believe me? Watch the games where the genuine world cup hopefuls are playing and tell me how often you hear the phrase "he plays his club football in Germany". Won't happen too often!

I too would have him at West Ham. I love Hayden Mullins at West Ham, but I don't want him playing for England in the world cup either.

Hargreaves will never come to the Premiership because he knows he would be found out for what he is. A better than average holding midfielder who'd probably play at Blackburn or Boro or maybe Newcastle at a push. Certainly not deserving of a place in the England team ahead of the likes of Carrick.

[simon hammer]

If Sven picked his team on number of medals won then Phil Neville would be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

The bundesliga is pony and winning the championship there does not automatically make you a player good enough to get into a world cup challenging team. Don't believe me? Watch the games where the genuine world cup hopefuls are playing and tell me how often you hear the phrase "he plays his club football in Germany". Won't happen too often!

I too would have him at West Ham. I love Hayden Mullins at West Ham, but I don't want him playing for England in the world cup either.

Hargreaves will never come to the Premiership because he knows he would be found out for what he is. A better than average holding midfielder who'd probably play at Blackburn or Boro or maybe Newcastle at a push. Certainly not deserving of a place in the England team ahead of the likes of Carrick.

Fair points, but if Carrick is so good, how come he only plays for Spurs when Hargreaves is a regular for one of the worlds biggest clubs (certainly way bigger than Spurs)? As said above, I'd drop Lampard for Hargreaves for the last group game, but that's probably way to controversial for Sven to do, and there'd probably be rioting on the streets if Sven did do it. And why? Simply because the name Lampard carries more weight than the name Hargreaves. Nothing to do with 'Team balance' or 'Players in their best position', it's all down to the fact that Lampard is a favourite and Hargreaves isn't.

[James P]

Fair points, but if Carrick is so good, how come he only plays for Spurs when Hargreaves is a regular for one of the worlds biggest clubs (certainly way bigger than Spurs)? As said above, I'd drop Lampard for Hargreaves for the last group game, but that's probably way to controversial for Sven to do, and there'd probably be rioting on the streets if Sven did do it. And why? Simply because the name Lampard carries more weight than the name Hargreaves. Nothing to do with 'Team balance' or 'Players in their best position', it's all down to the fact that Lampard is a favourite and Hargreaves isn't.

One of the biggest clubs, yes. One of the best clubs, not in a million years. Bayern Munich would not finish in the top 4 of the Prem with their current team and I reckon Tottenham would give them a fair run for their money for 5th.

As for why does he play Lampard over Hargreaves, it is because Lampard is a far far better player than Hargreaves and a Lampard/Gerrard midfield will always be far more productive than a Gerrard/Hargreaves one.

[Hambrosia Stu]

it's all down to the fact that Lampard is a favourite and Hargreaves isn't.

What???

Hargreaves isn't a Sven favourite?!?!

Well what the hell's he doing there then? No-one else would have picked him for the squad, except Sven

No-one else would have Jenas, Hargreaves and Carrick, but no options up front

I think it has more to do with the fact that Lampard (and Gerrard)is a genuinely world-class player(could play for pretty much any team in Europe), whereas Hargreaves can only be described as the best of a bad bunch. I'm not saying he's awful, but he's hardly world class, and were we to have a holding midfielder of genuine world-class, he wouldn't get a look in

But I agree with something from your post. It does seem Sven picks the team by the players, rather than picking players to fit the team.

I mean why was Joe Cole used as 2nd striker? Us Hammers surely know that's not his position. Yet Gerrard plays there excellently, but is wasted in the holding role. He's not picking his team to get the best out of any formation, but seems to pick his players, then try and find a system to accomodate them. As with J.Charlton in 1966, sometimes you pick a lesser player, so the team as a whole will benefit, from the solidity of the formation

[simon hammer]

What???

Hargreaves isn't a Sven favourite?!?!

Should've made that point clearer....I was talking about him being a 'fan' favourite in the sense that IF Lampard was dropped for Hargreaves, there'd be an outcry REGARDLESS of if that gave us a better balanced team or not.