England v USA

[LeazesMag 0]

You're never going to have an easy time of it supporting England so this was to be expected! Not a bad performance all round, just not good either.

 

Problem is the two best chances fell to Heskey and Wright-Phillips. Does anyone know how the hell Wright-Phillips got into the squad ahead of Johnson and Walcott! People say Walcott has no footballing brain but Phillips is the definition of headless chicken, gives the ball away, runs up blind alleys and no composure or thought whatsoever.

And Heskey cannot finish. Its a shame because i actually thought he was arguably man of the match and he'd set up our goal, but he will always miss chances like that and come quarters and semis you win or lose on the one chance a striker gets, he won't score it.

 

Heskey had a good game and started as I predicted (and was laughed at ), created the goal and was a general nuisance. The thing is in front of goal he just freezes and hits it (normally straight at keeper or over the bar). I would continue with Rooney and Heskey, but bring on Defoe who can score from abywhere and in strange ways rather than the almost stationary Crouch. Johonson had a good game and Cole didn't make enought forward runs for me, but that might have been tactical. This result isn't any kind of indicator how England will do, still expect big things, teams like Italy can play through a whole tournament like this and under Capello we might have learnt how to as well.

 

MOM Gerrard.

 

the commentator remarked about Heskey (making excuses, see earlier point about Capello), that Gui'varch was a non scoring striker when France won in 98. Fair comment, but such things are rare. I understand the work ethic, and the teamwork angle, in fact I agree with it, but I expect a striker to score some goals, its normal for one to be more prolific than the other if you play with 2 out and out strikers.

 

I like Defoe, I like his single minded attitude to scoring goals, but also wonder if playing Gerrard or Joe Cole to link with Rooney wouldn't be a better option. It's too late for experimenting now though.

 

Joe Cole may also be the best option on the left, as he understands how to link with his Chelsea colleague, partnerships like this in football are important.

 

I think England will still go through and probably top the group, which makes Greens howler irrelevant in the long run, better he does it now than later, unless he is dropped. But they still give the ball away too much to win the tournament for me, although Rooney can win a tight game, or Lampard can hit a shot out of nothing and win a game too.

 

It's the same old teams, every time. Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy that need to be beaten.

[ewerk 31226]

For the next game I'd go for:

 

-----------James----------

 

Johnson--Terry--Upson--A.Cole

 

Lennon--Barry--Lampard--J.Cole

 

-----------------Gerrard-------

-----------Rooney------------

 

 

Though Capello obviously won't.

Edited June 13, 2010 by ewerk

[Craig 6700]

Green made a mistake - but it was the only thing he did do wrong all game - saved us big time when Carragher was skinned.

 

He just about tipped it onto the inside of his near post, it wasn't the world class save ITV would lead you to believe.

 

He kept the ball out of the onion bag which is good enough for me...

 

World class or not, whilst he's the difference between us having 3 points and 1 he's also the difference between us having 1 point and none.

 

Obviously he saved it, but I fully expected him to, if he hadn't then it would've been classed as another clanger.

 

Dare I remind people that we didn't go to the World Cup in 1974 on account of our goalkeeper fucking up... his name??

 

Peter Shilton and he continued to represent us for another 17 years - often considered the best in the world.

 

Green made a mistake - yes. But as I've said he did fuck all else wrong all game. A mistake that was most likely on account of nerves so the last thing he needs is his confidence shooting to hell by being dropped on account of it.

 

As for 'if he hadn't saved it it would've been classed as another clanger' then i go back to the point that if the howler hadn't happened - we'd all be bigging that up as a magnificent save.

 

You can't compare Robert Green to Peter Shilton

 

A comparison with Paul Robinson or Scott Carson would be much more appropriate.

 

Yes, he did fuck all wrong for the rest of the game but that's because, apart from the save at his near post, he had fuck all else to do.

 

He was never my first choice keeper anyway.

 

You can easily compare him to the Peter Shilton of 1973

[Craig 6700]

I can't remember that much about the game, apart from screaming at Green.... The games a blur...

 

 

Heskey was our best player fwiw.

.

He was average, and should've definitely scored.

 

[Guest The Three Lions]

I can't remember that much about the game, apart from screaming at Green.... The games a blur...

 

 

Heskey was our best player fwiw.

.

He was average, and should've definitely scored.

 

I remember that

[Jimbo 175]

The 66 world Cup if ITV HD had broadcasted it.....

[Cid_MCDP 0]

Piece of piss, huh boys?

 

Howard is awesome.

Bocanegra nearly lost us the match twice.

Best I've seen Gerrard play in quite a while.

Lampard was invisible.

Donovan had one real good look in the first, then was for the most part, ineffective.

Did Rooney get a touch in the first half?

Glen Johnson had the game winner on his foot from that corner late in the game and completely shit the bed.

 

I know most of y'all are all worried about your goaltending and defense, but if I were and England supporter, I'd be wondering what's up with nobody trying to involve Rooney for the majority of that match. You've got a ton of offense on paper with that squad and not much of it showed up yesterday at all.

[Park Life 71]

Performance more disappointing than the result: disjointed & scrappy, too much giving the ball away (the cardinal sin at international level) and still using the 'lump it up to the big man' option far too much instead of playing through sides. Have we learnt nothing in the last 20 years?

 

Questions need asking of Capello: SWP on the left? Twice he went round in a little circle to get back onto his right when a left footer would have first-timed it. Are Milner and Wright-Phillips both better choices on the left than Joe Cole (arguably our best player in last two tournaments)?

 

King: this nurse him through on swimming and exercise bike routine has kept him fit for precisely 45 mins. Was it wise to bring him when Rio had been so shaky on fitness all season? Our choices are now Carragher (slow, old and would rather be in liverpool), Upson (turning circle of an atlantic liner) and Dawson (went to school with a mate of mine). I'd go with the form player who is Dawson.

 

Likewise, I'd go with the for keeper, Hart. But Green needs to be handled carefully to avoid shattering his confidence Scott-Carson-stylee (His fuck-up looked v similar to Carson's, except he didn't have the excuse that it was pissing down).

 

Is it being overly optimistic to think everything will click once the workmanlike Gareth Barry comes back?

 

Hart and Dawson for me as well fella.

[Park Life 71]

Piece of piss, huh boys?

 

Howard is awesome.

Bocanegra nearly lost us the match twice.

Best I've seen Gerrard play in quite a while.

Lampard was invisible.

Donovan had one real good look in the first, then was for the most part, ineffective.

Did Rooney get a touch in the first half?

Glen Johnson had the game winner on his foot from that corner late in the game and completely shit the bed.

 

I know most of y'all are all worried about your goaltending and defense, but if I were and England supporter, I'd be wondering what's up with nobody trying to involve Rooney for the majority of that match. You've got a ton of offense on paper with that squad and not much of it showed up yesterday at all.

 

Offense?

 

 

The thing is the first game is always shaky, Serbia played average today and France played shit the other night. The biggest lions come out of the cave last...

[Park Life 71]

You're never going to have an easy time of it supporting England so this was to be expected! Not a bad performance all round, just not good either.

 

Problem is the two best chances fell to Heskey and Wright-Phillips. Does anyone know how the hell Wright-Phillips got into the squad ahead of Johnson and Walcott! People say Walcott has no footballing brain but Phillips is the definition of headless chicken, gives the ball away, runs up blind alleys and no composure or thought whatsoever.

And Heskey cannot finish. Its a shame because i actually thought he was arguably man of the match and he'd set up our goal, but he will always miss chances like that and come quarters and semis you win or lose on the one chance a striker gets, he won't score it.

 

Heskey had a good game and started as I predicted (and was laughed at ), created the goal and was a general nuisance. The thing is in front of goal he just freezes and hits it (normally straight at keeper or over the bar). I would continue with Rooney and Heskey, but bring on Defoe who can score from abywhere and in strange ways rather than the almost stationary Crouch. Johonson had a good game and Cole didn't make enought forward runs for me, but that might have been tactical. This result isn't any kind of indicator how England will do, still expect big things, teams like Italy can play through a whole tournament like this and under Capello we might have learnt how to as well.

 

MOM Gerrard.

 

the commentator remarked about Heskey (making excuses, see earlier point about Capello), that Gui'varch was a non scoring striker when France won in 98. Fair comment, but such things are rare. I understand the work ethic, and the teamwork angle, in fact I agree with it, but I expect a striker to score some goals, its normal for one to be more prolific than the other if you play with 2 out and out strikers.

 

I like Defoe, I like his single minded attitude to scoring goals, but also wonder if playing Gerrard or Joe Cole to link with Rooney wouldn't be a better option. It's too late for experimenting now though.

 

Joe Cole may also be the best option on the left, as he understands how to link with his Chelsea colleague, partnerships like this in football are important.

 

I think England will still go through and probably top the group, which makes Greens howler irrelevant in the long run, better he does it now than later, unless he is dropped. But they still give the ball away too much to win the tournament for me, although Rooney can win a tight game, or Lampard can hit a shot out of nothing and win a game too.

 

It's the same old teams, every time. Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy that need to be beaten.

 

 

This is the first time in a long time I have seen that Italy and Germany are both beatable and also if Capello has ironed out some of the frantic stuff and shown the players just knocking it around a bit is just as effective than even more so. It is a real shame we don't have a Gazza or a Beardo playing behind Rooney, cause then I think we would be more likely to destroy good but not great opp like USA. It was a very succinct performance and but for a lack of quality I had the feeling they had moments when they could have snatched the game.

 

I am seriosly thinking we should play Rooney as an inside left (drifting in and feeding) and play Defoe and Heskey upfront. But then of course I am a genuis and Capello is a mortal.

433. Ouch.

 

 

 

Lennon.....Barry....Gerrard...

 

.......................................Rooney

 

 

..............Defoe....

 

.......................Heskey.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Park Life

[Guest The Three Lions]

Watched it again well the highlights, we were better than I thought we created a lot, I'd say we were as good as Argentina played, and we dominated the yanks more than they dominated Nigeria.

 

Carragher needs to fuck off, he's like a tortoise, mullered by someone who scored one goal for Hull last season oh dear. All our centre halfs are shite, apart from King and Terry, how we need a fit Woody.

 

People are saying they 442 is predictable, fuckin Hansen, someone needs to tell him to pipe down, we always start tournaments indifferent. "You cannae win the World Cup playing 442" why not? It's been done plenty times before.

 

My team for Slovenia/Algeria

 

James

 

Johnson

Terry

King

Cole

 

Lennon

Gerrard

Lampard

Cole

 

Crouch

Rooney

 

 

Against anyone decent....

 

James

 

Johnson

Terry

King

Cole

 

Lennon

 

Lampard

Barry

Cole

 

Gerrard

 

Rooney

[Park Life 71]

Watched it again well the highlights, we were better than I thought we created a lot, I'd say we were as good as Argentina played, and we dominated the yanks more than they dominated Nigeria.

 

Carragher needs to fuck off, he's like a tortoise, mullered by someone who scored one goal for Hull last season oh dear. All our centre halfs are shite, apart from King and Terry, how we need a fit Woody.

 

People are saying they 442 is predictable, fuckin Hansen, someone needs to tell him to pipe down, we always start tournaments indifferent. "You cannae win the World Cup playing 442" why not? It's been done plenty times before.

 

My team for Slovenia/Algeria

 

James

 

Johnson

Terry

King

Cole

 

Lennon

Gerrard

Lampard

Cole

 

Crouch

Rooney

 

 

Against anyone decent....

 

James

 

Johnson

Terry

King

Cole

 

Lennon

 

Lampard

Barry

Cole

 

Gerrard

 

Rooney

 

King wasn't jumping freely for headers forget about him Stevie.

[Andrew 4872]

next game should be

 

----------------Hart

 

Johnson Dawson Terry Cole

 

Lennon Lampard Barry Cole

 

---------Gerrard

-----------------Rooney

 

if barry is back fit, if not then carrick or milner

 

 

next game will be

 

----------Green

 

Johnson Carragher Terry Cole

 

Lennon Lampard Barry Gerrard

 

---------Heskey Rooney

 

if barry is fit if not then gerrard in the middle and milner on the left

[Brock Manson 0]

Having watched Algerian play Slovenia, I can't see anything other than two wins. They're both shite.

 

A little reassuring to see the Algerian keeper have a howler as well, I think that could prove incredibly costly to Algeria progessing through. Bel Hadj looked fairly handy mind.

[manc-mag 1]

King would be shown up for a mug even when fit at this level.

[LeazesMag 0]

at least Emile Heskey isn't the only fucker who misses sitters

[Andrew 4872]

at least Emile Heskey isn't the only fucker who misses sitters

he cant score those though

[LeazesMag 0]

If you come off the line like that and don't get the ball you have to make sure you at least flatten the striker

[Barney 0]

Stevie, maybe Hansen is going with Mourinho who reckons that no team will win the Champs League playing 4-4-2.

 

Parky, did you really mention France and Serbia as the big lions of the tournament?

[Guest The Three Lions]

King would be shown up for a mug even when fit at this level.

Nah, great player.

[manc-mag 1]

King would be shown up for a mug even when fit at this level.

Nah, great player.

 

Not a sniff. Purely wishful thinking tbh.

[LeazesMag 0]

You're never going to have an easy time of it supporting England so this was to be expected! Not a bad performance all round, just not good either.

 

Problem is the two best chances fell to Heskey and Wright-Phillips. Does anyone know how the hell Wright-Phillips got into the squad ahead of Johnson and Walcott! People say Walcott has no footballing brain but Phillips is the definition of headless chicken, gives the ball away, runs up blind alleys and no composure or thought whatsoever.

And Heskey cannot finish. Its a shame because i actually thought he was arguably man of the match and he'd set up our goal, but he will always miss chances like that and come quarters and semis you win or lose on the one chance a striker gets, he won't score it.

 

Heskey had a good game and started as I predicted (and was laughed at ), created the goal and was a general nuisance. The thing is in front of goal he just freezes and hits it (normally straight at keeper or over the bar). I would continue with Rooney and Heskey, but bring on Defoe who can score from abywhere and in strange ways rather than the almost stationary Crouch. Johonson had a good game and Cole didn't make enought forward runs for me, but that might have been tactical. This result isn't any kind of indicator how England will do, still expect big things, teams like Italy can play through a whole tournament like this and under Capello we might have learnt how to as well.

 

MOM Gerrard.

 

the commentator remarked about Heskey (making excuses, see earlier point about Capello), that Gui'varch was a non scoring striker when France won in 98. Fair comment, but such things are rare. I understand the work ethic, and the teamwork angle, in fact I agree with it, but I expect a striker to score some goals, its normal for one to be more prolific than the other if you play with 2 out and out strikers.

 

I like Defoe, I like his single minded attitude to scoring goals, but also wonder if playing Gerrard or Joe Cole to link with Rooney wouldn't be a better option. It's too late for experimenting now though.

 

Joe Cole may also be the best option on the left, as he understands how to link with his Chelsea colleague, partnerships like this in football are important.

 

I think England will still go through and probably top the group, which makes Greens howler irrelevant in the long run, better he does it now than later, unless he is dropped. But they still give the ball away too much to win the tournament for me, although Rooney can win a tight game, or Lampard can hit a shot out of nothing and win a game too.

 

It's the same old teams, every time. Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy that need to be beaten.

 

 

This is the first time in a long time I have seen that Italy and Germany are both beatable and also if Capello has ironed out some of the frantic stuff and shown the players just knocking it around a bit is just as effective than even more so. It is a real shame we don't have a Gazza or a Beardo playing behind Rooney, cause then I think we would be more likely to destroy good but not great opp like USA. It was a very succinct performance and but for a lack of quality I had the feeling they had moments when they could have snatched the game.

 

I am seriosly thinking we should play Rooney as an inside left (drifting in and feeding) and play Defoe and Heskey upfront. But then of course I am a genuis and Capello is a mortal.

433. Ouch.

 

 

Germany looking very impressive here mate

[Park Life 71]

You're never going to have an easy time of it supporting England so this was to be expected! Not a bad performance all round, just not good either.

 

Problem is the two best chances fell to Heskey and Wright-Phillips. Does anyone know how the hell Wright-Phillips got into the squad ahead of Johnson and Walcott! People say Walcott has no footballing brain but Phillips is the definition of headless chicken, gives the ball away, runs up blind alleys and no composure or thought whatsoever.

And Heskey cannot finish. Its a shame because i actually thought he was arguably man of the match and he'd set up our goal, but he will always miss chances like that and come quarters and semis you win or lose on the one chance a striker gets, he won't score it.

 

Heskey had a good game and started as I predicted (and was laughed at ), created the goal and was a general nuisance. The thing is in front of goal he just freezes and hits it (normally straight at keeper or over the bar). I would continue with Rooney and Heskey, but bring on Defoe who can score from abywhere and in strange ways rather than the almost stationary Crouch. Johonson had a good game and Cole didn't make enought forward runs for me, but that might have been tactical. This result isn't any kind of indicator how England will do, still expect big things, teams like Italy can play through a whole tournament like this and under Capello we might have learnt how to as well.

 

MOM Gerrard.

 

the commentator remarked about Heskey (making excuses, see earlier point about Capello), that Gui'varch was a non scoring striker when France won in 98. Fair comment, but such things are rare. I understand the work ethic, and the teamwork angle, in fact I agree with it, but I expect a striker to score some goals, its normal for one to be more prolific than the other if you play with 2 out and out strikers.

 

I like Defoe, I like his single minded attitude to scoring goals, but also wonder if playing Gerrard or Joe Cole to link with Rooney wouldn't be a better option. It's too late for experimenting now though.

 

Joe Cole may also be the best option on the left, as he understands how to link with his Chelsea colleague, partnerships like this in football are important.

 

I think England will still go through and probably top the group, which makes Greens howler irrelevant in the long run, better he does it now than later, unless he is dropped. But they still give the ball away too much to win the tournament for me, although Rooney can win a tight game, or Lampard can hit a shot out of nothing and win a game too.

 

It's the same old teams, every time. Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy that need to be beaten.

 

 

This is the first time in a long time I have seen that Italy and Germany are both beatable and also if Capello has ironed out some of the frantic stuff and shown the players just knocking it around a bit is just as effective than even more so. It is a real shame we don't have a Gazza or a Beardo playing behind Rooney, cause then I think we would be more likely to destroy good but not great opp like USA. It was a very succinct performance and but for a lack of quality I had the feeling they had moments when they could have snatched the game.

 

I am seriosly thinking we should play Rooney as an inside left (drifting in and feeding) and play Defoe and Heskey upfront. But then of course I am a genuis and Capello is a mortal.

433. Ouch.

 

 

Germany looking very impressive here mate

 

They have started well against a 10 man Australia. Hard to tell as they could only but look impressive, shocking sending off. The thing about this German side is that it won't be so good under real pressure....But I have to agree they did what they had to do with good movement and style.

 

 

I'm going

Spain

England

brazil

Arg

 

2 from that 4 in the final.

[ewerk 31226]

Parky, RE: Rooney on the left

 

Fuck off.

[Kitman 2207]

Based on that performance, I can't see England getting further than the quarters. Carragher was shown up at the back, SWP was crap, Heskey is an ageing striker who can't shoot. We were generally ineffective up the middle and left sides in attack and lacked a cutting edge. Capello should shuffle the pack imo.

 

I thought a draw was a fair result.