Excuse the belated thread, have been laid up with nasty chest infection!

As the final whistle blew on Eng 2 Coatia 3 it took me less than a minute to think "right I'm gonna set myself up as Eng manager + see what I can do!". Actually I havent done this as my QPR game has totally absorbed me and I dont need the added complication of being Englands virtual manager added to that, and the chest infection hasnt exactly focused my footy sim management skills either, but did anyone else think the same?

I was thinking up a counter attacking tactic that exploits the big teams that don't know how to play well together.

Yup... I thought exactly the same. It is a tough combination but I have managed it myself... Beating Russia 5 - 3 away?!

I think many people will have done the same!

I considered it, then decided to play my Arsenal game instead. Screw England...

I did that.

Got through the qualifiers easily winning all my matches, beating Russia 5-0 first time around and 2-1 next time. Croatia was demolished 5-1 in the final match (the one England failed on) And winning the Euro Championship was a breeze.
This led me to believe that theres something wrong with the way FM researchers have rated these players. I have yet to see anything I'd consider wrong, and have compared it to other players, it all seems correct to me...

So I'm seriously wondering what the crap is going on with the team and why it desperately needs Beckham on the pitch to even slightly perform!

If anyone has tried to do it themselves and failed to make it out of qualifying like McLaren did you should post here and tell us how it went plus a screenshot or two.

I did the same.

Beat Germany 1-0, Israel 3-1, Russia 4-2 at home and Estonia 2-0....then went to Moscow and lost 3-0 to the Russians!


Still expecting to qualify though.