England v USA

[Saint J 77]

Is that why he dropped the ball?

 

Obviously I meant Harsh... but yeah maybe he was smoking something. Maybe Capello was smoking something when he picked Green in the first place. I really do not know why Capello has chosen Green he is no Peter Shilton thats for sure and we will not go very far in this world cup with him in goal.

[Saint in Paradise]

Highlights for those who couldn't suffer live

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEivFWrdPxQ

 

 

Greens mistake was even worse that I thought it was when I read about it

[dune]

Settle down children, both of your teams were gash!

 

That's worrying. When i see the team and see Heskey up front it tells me that England need to look outside the top flight and we need a manager with the balls to pick form championship players on the ladder to sucess and hungry to fight for the country.

[Smirking_Saint]

Well, IMO, not read the thread.

 

I thought we played pretty well, looked pretty creative, Heskey had a really good game, as did Johnson.

 

Rooney tried his hardest but was marked out of it pretty much, except for a little few cameos in teh second half, i fear this may be a precedent for the rest of the tournament.

 

We need to become more clinical infront of goal, we made a lot of chances that i saw, but just could not convert, a bit like saints eh, always the hard way.

 

Defensively we looked pretty strong, i was p*ssed off that Terry didn't even go and console Green after the mistake, a mistake is a mistake, they happen.

 

Much happier with Gerrard tonight, partly cos i won a ton with him first goalscorer at 10-1, secondly because he seemed a lot brighter.

 

SWP confuses me, would much rather J.Cole left mid, why does SWP not come to the back post when we are attacking down the right ?? Like you would expect most wide midfielders to do ??

 

ITV, well, its as expected isn't it ?? Everton, Champs league and now this !!! And we have to put up with Adrian 'crushed testicle face' Chiles and Andy 'I never played for saints' Townsend.

[Smirking_Saint]

That's worrying. When i see the team and see Heskey up front it tells me that England need to look outside the top flight and we need a manager with the balls to pick form championship players on the ladder to sucess and hungry to fight for the country.

 

Heskey was fantastic tonight, i would argue best player on the pitch

[dune]

Heskey was fantastic tonight, i would argue best player on the pitch

 

That's just ****ing typical, give me another player to use please.

[Smirking_Saint]

That's just ****ing typical, give me another player to use please.

 

Personally, think Milner was a mistake, after Coles cameo against Japan i wonder why he was not included.

 

Why King was even in the squad and Jagielka or a more mobile and frankly injury free CB was not included is a mystery.

 

I like Carragher but he and Terry are not mobile enough.

 

Green is getting too much stick, he made a mistake but has looked good up until now. It was a big mistake though, but he knows it and should respond.

[Barry the Badger]

I thought Heskey played bloody well but should have put away his chance. Same old Heskey, frustrating.

[Barry the Badger]

Why King was even in the squad and Jagielka or a more mobile and frankly injury free CB was not included is a mystery.

.

 

If you think that Jagielka is injury free you are living in a f**king dreamland mate. It's so easy to pick out the name of this player or that player, but mostly it is bull****.

[kenneth_kenobi]

Has anyone EVER seen Lampard play a good game for England? He should be left out for sure.

[Smirking_Saint]

If you think that Jagielka is injury free you are living in a f**king dreamland mate. It's so easy to pick out the name of this player or that player, but mostly it is bull****.

 

Difference is he can actually train regularly and play regularly, he has had his surgery, he has done his rehab so he should be fine.

 

Do you not agree our backline looked f*cking lethargic tonight ?

[Smirking_Saint]

Has anyone EVER seen Lampard play a good game for England? He should be left out for sure.

 

The problem with F**** is everyone confuses the Lampard for Chelski for the Lampard for England.

 

Chelsea build a team around him, playing at least one defensive midfielder and a striker that can hold up and play it back to him in space.

 

England do not do that, so he has to try and play as a more complete midfielder, which he isn't. A great goalscorer yes, but Gerrard is a more creative and better all round player, all IMO of course.

[dune]

The problem with F**** is everyone confuses the Lampard for Chelski for the Lampard for England.

 

Chelsea build a team around him, playing at least one defensive midfielder and a striker that can hold up and play it back to him in space.

 

England do not do that, so he has to try and play as a more complete midfielder, which he isn't. A great goalscorer yes, but Gerrard is a more creative and better all round player, all IMO of course.

 

I cannot argue with that, but what do think as Gerrard as a captain. I really admire Gerrards attitude, but I just don't think he's a captain.

[Smirking_Saint]

I cannot argue with that, but what do think as Gerrard as a captain. I really admire Gerrards attitude, but I just don't think he's a captain.

 

Good attitude, good captain, he isn't vocal but he plays as he wants everyone to play, with attitude.

 

I never accepted Terry as captain as he is clearly an up himself tw*t

[hutch]

Just got home from the game. Not often I can say that on here.

 

There's nothing I can say to make it any better. You all saw it (well bits of it) on TV. Here's my summary anyway, FWIW:

 

Great start. Job done. After the goal England decided to play out the last 85 minutes. With the exception only of Rooney, no England player wanted the ball during the game. It was one of those games where they seemed to have at least 4 players more than us on the pitch. It pains me to say that our best player in the first half was Heskey.

 

Johnson was OK, but A.Cole is scary, in the wrong way. The trouble with our overlapping fullbacks is that you end up with 4 wingers who can't cross a ball, and no defence. Whatever you think about John Terry, he is an immense defender, and the timing of his tackling is perfect. I don't know what happened to King at HT. He didn't do much wrong in the first half, but he didn't have to do much. Carragher got skinned by pace every time, and very nearly cost us the game.

 

We had no creative midfield. Stevie G gave the ball away with dangerous sloppy passes at least 3 times, but I forgive him for the goal. At least he tried. Lampard? Every time Lennon got the ball, he looked behind him to see who he could pass it back to, WTF? Milner was lucky to stay on long enough to be subbed. SWP looked OK amongst a poor lot when he came on. The only time ANYTHING happened in midfield was when Rooney dropped back.

 

Rooney tried up front, but it was one of those nights for him. Heskey was the only one who could read the flight of the ball in the air. Crouch wasn't on long enough to have any real impression, but in similar circumstances in other games he's done better.

 

With what we've got, I would have gone radical and played Crouch/Heskey up front with Defoe, dropped Rooney into forward midfield and dropped Lampard down the nearest local Platinum mine shaft. Find somewhere in that line up for Joe Cole as well, and we just might have a future.

 

Green? Unforgiveable (and I haven't seen it again yet on the telly. I smoked a fag between his first touch and it rolling over the line). Must have been something to do with the "special relationship". He MUST not play again in this tournament. No second chances at this level, not with what they earn.

 

Despite the pre-match hype, everybody EXCEPT Rooney got booked. F*ck knows why. Milner deserved it, but the rest? But I would have booked that USA No 17, whatever his name is (I didn't have a programme, they were sold out when I got there 2 hours before KO, or maybe they were withdrawn) who took about 20 minutes to get off the pitch when he was subbed. And their keeper, who took 15 minutes for every goal kick in the second half. Not impressed with the ref. I was going to say officials, but I think the linesmen got just about everything right (apart from sending Ashley to the sin bin for picking his nose).

 

The USA are not a good team, but they try hard. If we were a good TEAM, we would have put them to the sword. They came for a draw at best, and won their "world series". Their fans are the pits. Four "neanderthals" shoving everybody out of the way in the queue for the park 'n ride bus to the stadium, draped in the US of A's finest Stars 'n Stripes and top hats and dribbling Budweiser or saliva (or both), shouting "all you f*cking South Africans are a bunch of assholes" set the scene. If I had an AK47, I would gladly have shot the c*nts. It went downhill from there. On the other hand, the England fans were fun. A bit inebriated, and boisterous, but not offensive. A bit like the Barmy Army. Times have changed.

 

In conclusion, I think Capello's having a "Burley" phase. Just pick the f*cking team, let them do the job and get back to the hotel for a few beers.

Edited 13 June, 2010 by hutch

[chrisobee]

Just got in and watched the "highlights". Poor game, poor performance, wrong team selection. Hopefully Barry will be fully fit soon as we need a more defensive midfield player if Ashley Cole is going to play as a left winger. Would have Joe Cole on the left and would have started with Crouch though Heskey did Ok and if only he could score goals he'd be excellent. Lampard just has to be dropped, it's been obvious for years that he and Gerrard don't play well together, Gerrard is far better and I reckon would play better without Lampard trying to do the same job. My team would include Green despite his error though Hart I like also.

We should go with something like this, maybe Capello will have learnt the lesson by now :

 

Green

 

Johnson Terry King A Cole

Lennon Gerrard Barry J Cole

Crouch/Heskey Rooney

 

Whatever you think of Ferdinand he is for me easily our best CB in an area where we have few options so he's a big loss.

Am confident we'll beat Algeria and Slovenia comfortably and once you get to the knock out stages all things are possible. France and Argentina didn't really impress though the 1st games in any WC rarely give a true guide to a teams chances, USA were the only half decent team in our group and though we should beat them 9 times out of 10 we didn't and a draw is not the end of the world. Having said that England at 8/1 to win the WC is ridiculous, more like 25/1.

[TijuanaTim]

I said the USA were gash. I mean as a team. No one in particular. Just their aggregate effectiveness and team ability. They would be a bottom third Prem team. Pretty gash for a country that's playing in its fifth consecutive World Cup. They were dominated throughout the seond half by a poor England side and only got a point due to a massive individual error. Yes, I saw Altidore's bustling run. Pretty swell, huh, making a b!tch of the UKland's fourth choice centre defenceman? What a stand-up kinda guy. I remember it clearly as it was the only time in the match they managed a decent attack. They defended ok. None of the better teams will be the least bit concerned about playing them though.

 

I realise my opinion on the England team was in a different post to my "gash" verdict on the USandA (yeehaa) but if you've seen that post you'll realise that I am of the opinion that England are also pretty gash, just a fair bit less gash.

 

FAF...even so wasn't looking to catch a raw nerve mate, not looking to anger you. Howard had a excellent game despite being studded by that don(Hes)key, Cherundulo was the best player on the park - so much so that the (how many millions) Milner was withdrawn and equally over-priced SWP was invisible. Second tier DeMerit and still injured Onweyu were almost never bothered. Fulham reject Boca snuffed out Lennon and the ineffective England attack including potential World player of the year contestant Rooney (what exactly did he do?). Bradley at 22 was, along with Gerrard, the best midfielder on show...at about 1/20 of the cash value of Lamps would you say that Clarke was 1/20 of his value to today's game...no I thought not. Only an opinion but if Buddle had started instead of Findley the three Lions would have lost. England's best player was the flawless Terry (that says something right there). The excellennt Glen Johnson and the World's best left back Ashley Cole had to moderate their games and stay home most of the game due to the neutralizing threat of the outstanding Donovan and Dempsey.....so obviously, we have a difference of opinion, fair enough - I respect your opinion, just do not agree.

 

Mate...England are World class and supposed to win, they have up to half a dozen World class players and this is their prime, US have one pretty good player and a great 'keeper and were supposed to be cannon fodder.

 

England started as per with passion and that is what continually costs them. Teams and organized teams win WCs not groups of passionate individuals, right? This was the best game of the cup so far, ask any neutral. It was a great result for the US and one they thoroughly deserve...it was this time last year that they spanked Spain, so England went one better you may say. That is the way that this 'organized' US 'team' plays, it is effective.

 

England's possible downfall will be the same as the other really great team, Argentina, they will fail because of the own disorganized 'passion', despite both being the best set of players.

[TijuanaTim]

Just got in and watched the "highlights". Poor game, poor performance, wrong team selection. Hopefully Barry will be fully fit soon as we need a more defensive midfield player if Ashley Cole is going to play as a left winger. Would have Joe Cole on the left and would have started with Crouch though Heskey did Ok and if only he could score goals he'd be excellent. Lampard just has to be dropped, it's been obvious for years that he and Gerrard don't play well together, Gerrard is far better and I reckon would play better without Lampard trying to do the same job. My team would include Green despite his error though Hart I like also.

We should go with something like this, maybe Capello will have learnt the lesson by now :

 

Green

 

Johnson Terry King A Cole

Lennon Gerrard Barry J Cole

Crouch/Heskey Rooney

 

Whatever you think of Ferdinand he is for me easily our best CB in an area where we have few options so he's a big loss.

Am confident we'll beat Algeria and Slovenia comfortably and once you get to the knock out stages all things are possible. France and Argentina didn't really impress though the 1st games in any WC rarely give a true guide to a teams chances, USA were the only half decent team in our group and though we should beat them 9 times out of 10 we didn't and a draw is not the end of the world. Having said that England at 8/1 to win the WC is ridiculous, more like 25/1.

 

Rio was badly missed, he is one the only CBs that can calmy come out of defense and ping an inch perfect 50 yard ball, starting a subsequent attack.

[Saint Paul C]

What surprised me was that living in Aus and not seeing England play since Capello took charge I don't honestly think that we have improved much if at all. Most of the play, especially in the 2nd half, reminded me of the limp performances in 2006.

 

We're bound to make it out of the group stages but unless we improve massively in the next couple of matches a knock-out by the Germans in the 2nd round is looking on the cards.

[TijuanaTim]

Just got home from the game. Not often I can say that on here.

 

There's nothing I can say to make it any better. You all saw it (well bits of it) on TV. Here's my summary anyway, FWIW:

 

Great start. Job done. After the goal England decided to play out the last 85 minutes. With the exception only of Rooney, no England player wanted the ball during the game. It was one of those games where they seemed to have at least 4 players more than us on the pitch. It pains me to say that our best player in the first half was Heskey.

 

Johnson was OK, but A.Cole is scary, in the wrong way. The trouble with our overlapping fullbacks is that you end up with 4 wingers who can't cross a ball, and no defence. Whatever you think about John Terry, he is an immense defender, and the timing of his tackling is perfect. I don't know what happened to King at HT. He didn't do much wrong in the first half, but he didn't have to do much. Carragher got skinned by pace every time, and very nearly cost us the game.

 

We had no creative midfield. Stevie G gave the ball away with dangerous sloppy passes at least 3 times, but I forgive him for the goal. At least he tried. Lampard? Every time Lennon got the ball, he looked behind him to see who he could pass it back to, WTF? Milner was lucky to stay on long enough to be subbed. SWP looked OK amongst a poor lot when he came on. The only time ANYTHING happened in midfield was when Rooney dropped back.

 

Rooney tried up front, but it was one of those nights for him. Heskey was the only one who could read the flight of the ball in the air. Crouch wasn't on long enough to have any real impression, but in similar circumstances in other games he's done better.

 

With what we've got, I would have gone radical and played Crouch/Heskey up front with Defoe, dropped Rooney into forward midfield and dropped Lampard down the nearest local Platinum mine shaft. Find somewhere in that line up for Joe Cole as well, and we just might have a future.

 

Green? Unforgiveable (and I haven't seen it again yet on the telly. I smoked a fag between his first touch and it rolling over the line). Must have been something to do with the "special relationship". He MUST not play again in this tournament. No second chances at this level, not with what they earn.

 

Despite the pre-match hype, everybody EXCEPT Rooney got booked. F*ck knows why. Milner deserved it, but the rest? But I would have booked that USA No 17, whatever his name is (I didn't have a programme, they were sold out when I got there 2 hours before KO, or maybe they were withdrawn) who took about 20 minutes to get off the pitch when he was subbed. And their keeper, who took 15 minutes for every goal kick in the second half. Not impressed with the ref. I was going to say officials, but I think the linesmen got just about everything right (apart from sending Ashley to the sin bin for picking his nose).

 

The USA are not a good team, but they try hard. If we were a good TEAM, we would have put them to the sword. They came for a draw at best, and won their "world series". Their fans are the pits. Four "neanderthals" shoving everybody out of the way in the queue for the park 'n ride bus to the stadium, draped in the US of A's finest Stars 'n Stripes and top hats and dribbling Budweiser or saliva (or both), shouting "all you f*cking South Africans are a bunch of assholes" set the scene. If I had an AK47, I would gladly have shot the c*nts. It went downhill from there. On the other hand, the England fans were fun. A bit inebriated, and boisterous, but not offensive. A bit like the Barmy Army. Times have changed.

 

In conclusion, I think Capello's having a "Burley" phase. Just pick the f*cking team, let them do the job and get back to the hotel for a few beers.

 

 

Thanks Hutch, nice insight...oh and Terry, you're bang on there mate!!

[Big John]

Joe Hart to start next time or even put the Skate in goal. But no more Robert Green please!!! Hash but true

 

tbf Green did flap at the ball like a skate out of water.

 

Got to stay positive though, no point watching if you're not positive imho.

 

I'm sure Capello didn't plan to draw this one but maybe, just maybe, Rooney was instructed to play dead? The USA coach did say in the build up that to have any chance they'd need to tame Rooney, so it might figure that we gambled on letting him jauntilly run around, thus staying out of trouble.

 

From here on in there are no second (or third) cmances and hopefully we can come out all guns blazing next week....

 

.........with a change of keeper, but I think that goes without saying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought:

Has 'flapper' Green just added a couple of noughts to Kelvin's price tag?

[Big John]

Anyone au fait with the red/yellow card rules? what was our final tally?

[chrisobee]

Anyone au fait with the red/yellow card rules? what was our final tally?

 

I know 2 bookings lead to a one match suspension, I suspect a sending off for 2 bookings in the same match is the same. As for a straight red I'm not sure and it may depend on the nature of the offence but I'm guessing.

Gerrard, Milner and Carragher got booked for England, don't think there was anyone else.

Edited 13 June, 2010 by chrisobee

[Legod Third Coming]

Heskey was fantastic tonight, i would argue best player on the pitch

 

When I used to say that Brett Ormerod was one of our better players I was lambasted...

 

Heskey cannot score in any level of football.

 

He is picked because he helps Rooney score... well in that case, how did Rooney manage 30 goals for United?

 

I like Heskey but he is not a international striker as he proved again last night - when he could have scored and settled the tie.

 

The lack of a settled back five is also a key problem - we've seen it at our club - and although you could say Capello was unlucky (James illness, Ferdinand injury, King groin) we will be torn to shreds with Terry alongside King/Carragher when we play a decent side - even the yanks had ample opportunities first half. James is also prone to Howlers but he does command both his box and his back four. I would rather play a 90% fit James than a 100% fit Green - although neither are international standard in my view.

 

I am as patriotic as the next man, but I backed Holland for this Championship and saw nothing last night that tells me England could beat them...

 

It's a shame. Our golden generation was wasted by Eriksson and McLaren. This time around there are just too many good teams.

[1976_Child]

Facking **** west ham no good t0sser. A primary school keeper would have done better.

 

The one time you want a Skate in goal and he ain't there. Why the fack wasn't James playing.

 

The rest of the game was carp. But that daft facking muppet ***** in goal needs to learn how to do his job. ****.

[Cestrian Saint]

I'm still struggling to work out why Joe Cole wasn't brought on to replace Milner. We look like a different team when Cole plays. I didn't think Heskey was anything special. He did his usual thing of failing to take his chance and seemed to spend a lot of time on his arse, taking forever to get back up. Most players are striaght back on their feet. Not Heskey, he lies down, looks around and then does his best impression of a pensioner trying to get out of bed. There's no urgency about the bloke at all.

[70's Mike]

What is worst?

Green's mistake or Heskey and Wright-Philips failure to beat the keeper

[Gingeletiss]

I'm still struggling to work out why Joe Cole wasn't brought on to replace Milner. We look like a different team when Cole plays. I didn't think Heskey was anything special. He did his usual thing of failing to take his chance and seemed to spend a lot of time on his arse, taking forever to get back up. Most players are striaght back on their feet. Not Heskey, he lies down, looks around and then does his best impression of a pensioner trying to get out of bed. There's no urgency about the bloke at all.

 

Simple really, Capello likes pace, and thinks Cole is too slow. Alas poor Joe, he suffers from the 'Letiss' effect, deamed a luxury player, but the most skillfull one there.

[Kingsland Codger]

What is worst?

Green's mistake or Heskey and Wright-Philips failure to beat the keeper

 

I'd like to add Frank Lampard's dreadful free-kick to that list of shame.

[SnailOB]

I'd like to add Frank Lampard's dreadful free-kick to that list of shame.

 

Has anyone yet seen a free kick taken in this World Cup that hasn't gone 10ft + over the bar ? This ball doesn't seem to dip at all when its hit.

 

That said, no excuse for some poor performances.

 

Lennon & SWP - can't cross / can't shoot

 

Heskey - Striker who doesn't know how to score. Yes he held ball up well and did some good lay-offs but surely there must be someone strong enough to hold up the ball AND know how to shoot as well? Someone like Kevin Davies would do a better job.

 

Carragher - I hate the scouse ****. Over rated, very slow, dirty fouling b*stard. If he plays anymore games in this World Cup he will be a bigger liability than Green.

 

Also, Capello has some questions to answer. So far he has been pretty faultless for England but why start with Milner if he wasn't fit / hadn't recovered from illness (if that is the reason for his poor 'performance') and why did King come off ? I hought he struggled to play consecutive games, not consecutive halves.

And as others have stated, why choose SWP over Joe Cole when change needed to be made.

[markr27]

Does Capello now go for a keeper that is low on confidence (Green), a keeper that is carrying an injury (James) or the vastly inexperienced yet probably the best choice (Hart)?

Carragher over Upson and Dawson as well last night? Why is Dawson there then?

 

Friday I'd tweak it slightly and go for

 

Hart

 

Johnson Dawson* Terry Cole

 

Lennon Lampard Barry Gerrard

 

Rooney

 

Heskey

 

...*if King is not fit.

[hamster]

Agent Capello clearing a path for Italy perhaps?

 

Never trust Johnny Foreigner, short memories...the lot of them.

[Kingsland Codger]

Has anyone yet seen a free kick taken in this World Cup that hasn't gone 10ft + over the bar ? This ball doesn't seem to dip at all when its hit.

 

That certainly seems to be a discernable trend - all the more reason, therefore, to ensure when you take a free-kick you keep it low and DON'T balloon it into Row Z.

 

Given Lampard's awful attempt, the obvious conclusion one can draw is that he hasn't been practicing. Had he been doing so, he would have been only too aware of the ball's tendency to fly high.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

First time I've seen England under Capello - and very pedestrian they were. Problems everywhere:

Green - Should never wear the three lions again.

King - Injured AGAIN.

Carragher - If they used the super slo mo on him would he actually move at all?

Lampard - Can we have Chelsea's Frank please instead of his idiot twin brother?

SWP - Touch of a camel and couldn't beat an egg.

Heskey - Assists alone do not justify a starting position as ENGLAND STRIKER.

 

Enough there to give Capello a few sleepless nights.

 

Anyway, if you thought England were bad - here come Australia........

[dubai_phil]

First time I've seen England under Capello - and very pedestrian they were. Problems everywhere:

Green - Should never wear the three lions again.

King - Injured AGAIN.

Carragher - If they used the super slo mo on him would he actually move at all?

Lampard - Can we have Chelsea's Frank please instead of his idiot twin brother?

SWP - Touch of a camel and couldn't beat an egg.

Heskey - Assists alone do not justify a starting position as ENGLAND STRIKER.

 

Enough there to give Capello a few sleepless nights.

 

Anyway, if you thought England were bad - here come Australia........

 

Oi! How DARE you offend Camels.

 

SWP's FAR worse than that

[dubai_phil]

That certainly seems to be a discernable trend - all the more reason, therefore, to ensure when you take a free-kick you keep it low and DON'T balloon it into Row Z.

 

Given Lampard's awful attempt, the obvious conclusion one can draw is that he hasn't been practicing. Had he been doing so, he would have been only too aware of the ball's tendency to fly high.

 

The same applies to Corners AND long balls

 

The percentage of corners that have been overhit must be very high (Why have the coaches not noticed this and put a player outside the edge of the box opposite where the kick is coming from?)

 

And as for Long Balls, unless they go straight to feet they just zing off into touch or bounce about 20 yards away from the receiver.

[chrisobee]

Seems that most of our problems involve Man Utd and their players :

 

Ben Foster : Good young goalkeeper but never given enough games.

Rio Ferdinand : Injured.. AGAIN !

Owen Hargreaves : Don't think he's played since joining Man Utd.

Michael Carrick: Always thought he was a decent player but poor this season. Can't have helped that Capello reportedly tried to persuade yet another Utd player, Paul Scholes, to play for England again.

Wayne Rooney : May still come good but SAF played him far too often and even when not fully fit.

 

Therefore I blame Ferguson and not Capello !

[dubai_phil]

Meh, have slept on it.

 

Didn't expect us to play well, we are always rubbish in the opening games was what I had been telling everyone yesterday in the build up.

 

We didn't lose our opening game.

 

We've possibly had our horrible mistake/bad luck moment when it didn't actually matter in the long run (Beckham/Rooney sending off's, Seaman/Brazillian free kick) and hopefully he Cappello will pick more than two (alleged) midfielders for the rest of the tournament.

 

Damn glad I didn't go to the pub though, would have probably splatted some obnoxious ABE

[Thedelldays]

green did nothing wrong apart from that moment..

johnson was great going forward

stevie G was superb

lampard was terrible

milner..err no

SWP should not have been in the country, joe cole should have been on

heskey is turd

lennon did feck all

[alpine_saint]

Meh, have slept on it.

 

Didn't expect us to play well, we are always rubbish in the opening games was what I had been telling everyone yesterday in the build up.

 

We didn't lose our opening game.

 

We've possibly had our horrible mistake/bad luck moment when it didn't actually matter in the long run (Beckham/Rooney sending off's, Seaman/Brazillian free kick) and hopefully he Cappello will pick more than two (alleged) midfielders for the rest of the tournament.

 

Damn glad I didn't go to the pub though, would have probably splatted some obnoxious ABE

 

Agree with the sentiment of your entire post.

 

An Austrian work colleague texted me to take the p*ss at 11:30 last night. Glad he did it yesterday and not on Monday.

[saint_bert]

green did nothing wrong apart from that moment..

johnson was great going forward

stevie G was superb

lampard was terrible

milner..err no

SWP should not have been in the country, joe cole should have been on

heskey is turd

lennon did feck all

 

And a partridge in a pear tree

[Whitey Grandad]

green did nothing wrong apart from that moment..

johnson was great going forward

stevie G was superb

lampard was terrible

milner..err no

SWP should not have been in the country, joe cole should have been on

heskey is turd

lennon did feck all

An excellent and succint summary. Why don't the studio experts put it that way?

 

I've slept on it and have come up with a couple of thoughts:

 

Green's mistake was due to poor technique and is quite common amongst British keepers. They put their hands down together to let the ball run up into their chest but if it deviates in any way it will spill off to one side of them. If the ball does kick-up towards their face then the instinctive reaction is to turn the head away. In most of these mistakes the keeper is already thinking about what he is going to do next and has literaaly 'taken his eye off the ball'.

 

Only scoring one goal is rarely going to be enough with our unsettled defence. Heskey, SWP even Lennon got into good scoring situations and fluffed it. That's not good enough in the World Cup Finals.

 

I'm desperately trying to make 'waste of space' out of the initials SWP.

[benjii]

If we don't start picking Joe Cole we have no chance. We need Barry back, Roo up on his own and Cole. I fear we are stuffed at centre back too. As soon as we come up against a good side we will lose.

[hypochondriac]

When was the last time Rooney had a good game for England? I knew he wouldn't be great at this world cup.

[Under Weststand]

It was a disappointing result however not unexpected. We still have the same questions about Gerrard & Lampard both being a similar type of player, they are both good attacking, but neither are a true holding midfielder. As for Robert Green I backed him for this game & although he made a good save 2nd half I think he should be dropped after the horrendous error last night. Now I'm one of the biggest critics of Hesky & although he did an OK job last night, he still did his usual pathetic miss which has cost us once again. He did nothing last night that Crouch wouldn't have done, but crouch probably would have stuck that chance away.

Capello has gone all conservative on us when the chips are down, I'd like us to go for it. This will be a slightly revolutionary team but a better balanced one.

- - - - - - Hart

 

Johnson - Dawson - Terry - A.Cole

 

Lennon (Lampsrd or Gerrard) Barry J.Cole

 

- - - -Crouch - - - Rooney

 

I'd go for Hart as its about time we picked on form he has been the best keeper this season. & has all the potential to become our No:-1 for a long time to come. probably radical but I'd go for a proper holding midfielder in Barry I'd keep Lennon in & go with Joe Cole Left wing. If he stays 4-4-2 then we just simply have to go with Crouch up front with Rooney.

Or alternatively you go 1 up front

 

- - - - - - - Hart

 

Johnson - Dawson - Terry - A.Cole

 

Lennon - Lamphard - Barry - J.Cole

 

- - - - - Gerrard

- - - - - - - - -Rooney

[Thedelldays]

If we don't start picking Joe Cole we have no chance. We need Barry back, Roo up on his own and Cole. I fear we are stuffed at centre back too. As soon as we come up against a good side we will lose.

totally agree...j.cole is a real special talent..

 

as for Heskey playing to get the best out of rooney...I dont buy that..Rooney was pretty darn good all season as a lone striker..

 

I too felt we missed a bit of toughness in the middle of the park.

 

gerrard though, was superb IMO

[JackFrost]

totally agree...j.cole is a real special talent..

 

as for Heskey playing to get the best out of rooney...I dont buy that..Rooney was pretty darn good all season as a lone striker..

 

I too felt we missed a bit of toughness in the middle of the park.

 

gerrard though, was superb IMO

 

I thought we saw the best and worse of Heskey, he was an absolute handful for the USA CBs and gave them a torrid time all night. But we all know what his problem is, he can't hit a barn door with a banjo.

 

He freed up a lot of space (illustrated perfectly with the first goal) but the problem was Rooney was dreadful, so a lot of Heskey's work went unnoticed. I thought barring Gerrard he was our best player.

[Johnny Shearer]

The sad thing is even teams like Algeria seem more comfortable about passing the ball around than England.

 

Said it would be a draw and it was (more due to one mistake than anything else). All those people predicting a thrashing for the US - I hope they didnt put money on it!

 

Saying that shouldnt have trouble qualifying from the group but finishing second will make it a lot harder.