England V Algeria

[Barry the Badger]

That was utterly awful. As per usual when it comes to the big games England look absolutely crippled by a fear of doing anything wrong.

 

The pub were showing the qualifying dvd before the game and we really did play some great football, some lovely one and two touch moves that led to goals. Last night there was nothing of this, the players were just going through the motions, but doing it badly.

[moon monkey]

The pre match interviews were embarrasing. Footballers shouldn't give interviews because they speak in one tone, they say the same things and there is never any emotion in their facial expressions. They were pretty much saying, 'we drew, so what? we can win the next game, if not, then so what? I got a lovely job to back to in august.'

[moon monkey]

Post match interviews not pre match

[EastleighSoulBoy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8749232.stm

 

Ha, and he has the cheek to question the loyal support England are given? Look around the stadium mate - infact, look around any stadium where England are playing. There is no substitute for our support. Allegedly, the US bought the most tickets but there is no better supported following around the world. Yes, the dutch travel well and yes, the Brazilians do too - but England's following is always exceptional.

 

That said, booing doesn't do anyone any favours...

 

It helps vent a few spleens though!

 

Come the 24th they'll all be sat on the plane homeward bound, thinking about two weeks on the beach and then back to training.

 

Our fans who travelled will have used up their holiday entitlement, their savings and will probably have some lacklustre job to return to.

 

What does the twohat expect? Applause?

 

That performance was bereft of poise, power and passion. Three Lions on the shirt? Meh, three sleepy pussycats.

[Evil Monkey]

Glad I was so drunk. I dont remember a single minute of the game.

[SuperMikey]

Maybe they were shouting "boo-urns boo-urns" ?

 

"I was shouting boo-urns..."

 

Best scene ever.

[Secret Site Agent]

Do you know what I have been saying for a long time? Drop them. Have the guts to drop Rooney or sub him. What of the out cry across the country? Yeh, I can see the headlines now, 'Capello in dropping player for not playing well enough' shocker. Rooney, Lampard, Terry, etc don't have to play well, and they always get picked. They are already picked for the 2012 European cup team anyway, so why bother.

 

I would rather see a team full of youngsters play their hearts out, and draw, than this bunch of overpaid, unenthusiastic tossrs. Rickie and Kelvin to the world cup? Don't farking laugh, they would have made impressions their, more than this lot. There must be a decent 22 from the CC and league 1 that would run around the tossers we have in the team. And they would give anything for the chance.

Perhaps that is the way forward. Give us a team, not of the 'TALENT' from the Premier League, but from the ones that want to play, and play well for their country. What's that you say, we won’t win anything without Rooney and CO? Well, we aren’t winning anything with them, only becoming laughing stocks.

We may have new managers but it's still the same old players failing, isn’t it? They should learn if they are playing badly, they are dropped. Each one of them should be forced to play for their places. I guarantee if Capello drops Rooney just once, Rooney will scream-and-shout-and-cry until he is sick. And then he would work his ******** out in training and go on to become the tournaments biggest scorer. These players play without fear because failure has no negative consequences for them.

 

AND SING THE F KING NATIONAL ANTHEM. If you don't know it, learn it. You never see any other national team, including ours like the rugby y and hockey teams with only one or two singing, or just mouthing the words.

 

Oh, and England Rugby team beat Australia 21-20 yesterday and all 15 of THEM sang the national anthem.

 

And I was shouting Boo-urns as well.

Edited 19 June, 2010 by Secret Site Agent

[Lord Duckhunter]

Poor England performances have been blamed on Keegan, Sven, Maclearn and now a guy whose won everything. The "golden generation" is just a joke, bigged up by people like Redknapp, the journo's who want to suck up to the stars and the TV media, wanting to make money on the back of our domestic game.

[dubai_phil]

Glad I was so drunk. I dont remember a single minute of the game.

 

+ 1

[Dark Munster]

It's silly. Not so many years ago, England beat Germany 5-1, in Germany. You could see, even back then, how surprised the England players were in scoring as many as they did. It had nothing to do with Owen, Heskey, or any individual players, it was about what they had achieved. They simply didn't quite believe they were worthy of the 5-1, in the same way as the present team don't believe they are quite upto the task. It's a confidence issue, as it has always been with England sides. They are good enough, they just don't believe they are.

Apart from Heskey, you mean?

[JackFrost]

The root of the problem is arrogance and money.

 

The players are overpaid and only care about one thing, their bank balance. They are ruled by money. This causes arrogance. They are hyped up by the media before it all begins and subsequently think they have a god given right to beat any country who they've never heard of/can't automatically point to on a world atlas with little effort, just because they earn £100,000 a week.

 

What they and the English media as a whole don't realise is the top South American/Asian/African teams and top European teams (and I don't include France & England in that bracket) have improved their game massively in the last 10 years and us and France have gone backwards. 11 world class players don't necessarily mean a good team and that's if we had 11 world class players which we don't.

 

Man for man we have more talent overall than a lot of teams we face but they make up for it through passion and hard work and better technical ability. As for teams like Spain, Argentina, Brazil, the gap between them and us is a yawning chasm of class.

 

I thought us not qualifying for Euro 2008 was a significant wake up call but obviously it wasn't significant enough.

[OldNick]

The root of the problem is arrogance and money.

 

The players are overpaid and only care about one thing, their bank balance. They are ruled by money. This causes arrogance. They are hyped up by the media before it all begins and subsequently think they have a god given right to beat any country who they've never heard of/can't automatically point to on a world atlas with little effort, just because they earn £100,000 a week.

 

What they and the English media as a whole don't realise is the top South American/Asian/African teams and top European teams (and I don't include France & England in that bracket) have improved their game massively in the last 10 years and us and France have gone backwards. 11 world class players don't necessarily mean a good team and that's if we had 11 world class players which we don't.

 

Man for man we have more talent overall than a lot of teams we face but they make up for it through passion and hard work and better technical ability. As for teams like Spain, Argentina, Brazil, the gap between them and us is a yawning chasm of class.

 

I thought us not qualifying for Euro 2008 was a significant wake up call but obviously it wasn't significant enough.

 

I think Beckenbauer's comments about kick and rush really hit the spot and the players tried to play an alien game. As for not qualkifying for Euro 2008 , luckily we got rid of all those players.........ohh

[aintforever]

I don't think Capello's style helps, he seems to add pressure on the players instead of trying to do he opposite.

 

England will never be one of the best countries but should be able to beat Algeria easily despite our lack of attacking talent.

[OldNick]

I don't think Capello's style helps, he seems to add pressure on the players instead of trying to do he opposite.

 

England will never be one of the best countries but should be able to beat Algeria easily despite our lack of attacking talent.

it didnt effect them until last night.

[aintforever]

it didnt effect them until last night.

 

Didn't you watch the US game? That was gash as well.

[stockportsaint]

The thing with lampard, gerrard Rooney et al is that they play with bloody good team mates, it's just that they're not English.

 

They're made to look better than they actually are.

 

+1 - Lampard looks good cos he plays in a midfield alongside Essien, Ballack, Kalou, and feeds/feeds off Drogba.

Gerrard - plays off one of the best strikers in the world (Torres), and until this season was fed by Alonso.

 

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

Johnson---Dawson----Terry-----Cole

 

Lennon------Barry---Lampard---Cole

 

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

 

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

 

Would get my vote, although you could consider dropping Fat Frank and play e.g. Carrick in there to have two holding midfielders - would allow Joe Cole and Lennon to get forward more.

 

Shocking! But not as shocking as Gareth Southgate's shirt!

 

reminded me of the old Liberal Party leader David Steele, who used to wear striped shirts with a white collar:

 

 

 

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

Johnson - Dawson - Terry - A Cole

Lennon - Barry - Gerrard - J Cole

---------Crouch - Defoe -------------

 

For me next game.

 

interesting shout - see you drop Lampard (agree) and Rooney (tend to agree).

[dubai_phil]

..............James................

Johnson - Dawson - Terry - A Cole

..............Lampard - Barry...........

Lennon...........................J Cole

................Gerrard...................

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

 

 

Is what I think will happen.

 

Think the fundamental difference this WC to the last is that we are missing Owen Hargreaves, under rated but a damn good DM who was my MoM in the losing QF 4 years ago. Wouldn't pick anyone else in the squad to replace Lampard, think he will go for the 9-1 type formation with Gerrard dropping behind Rooney.

 

Why did he not take Adam Johnston?

[Micky]

The root of the problem is arrogance and money.

 

The players are overpaid and only care about one thing, their bank balance. They are ruled by money. This causes arrogance. They are hyped up by the media before it all begins and subsequently think they have a god given right to beat any country who they've never heard of/can't automatically point to on a world atlas with little effort, just because they earn £100,000 a week.

 

What they and the English media as a whole don't realise is the top South American/Asian/African teams and top European teams (and I don't include France & England in that bracket) have improved their game massively in the last 10 years and us and France have gone backwards. 11 world class players don't necessarily mean a good team and that's if we had 11 world class players which we don't.

 

Man for man we have more talent overall than a lot of teams we face but they make up for it through passion and hard work and better technical ability. As for teams like Spain, Argentina, Brazil, the gap between them and us is a yawning chasm of class.

 

I thought us not qualifying for Euro 2008 was a significant wake up call but obviously it wasn't significant enough.

 

Hate to say it but I totally agree with this. The premier league is very, very well marketed - hence it draws both millions on viewers and millions of pounds. That said, it breeds total arrogance and indifference to the 'real world'. Just look at Rooneys remarks the other day, yes he apologised (probably under orders from the FA), but it is indicative of how footballers actually see fans.

 

We may have the 'best league in the world' - but it is that purely because of the money that it pays to the stars and good marketing. Unfortunately English football players, when compared to those in the rest of the world, are not very good.

 

Count the number of foreign players that are playing in England, then count the number of English players that have been invited to play in any other league in the world. Why does nobody want English players in their country, league, squad or team? Perhaps it's time to face facts that we just aint really that good.

[SFKA South Woodford]

..............James................

Johnson - Dawson - Terry - A Cole

..............Lampard - Barry...........

Lennon...........................J Cole

................Gerrard...................

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

 

 

Is what I think will happen.

 

Think the fundamental difference this WC to the last is that we are missing Owen Hargreaves, under rated but a damn good DM who was my MoM in the losing QF 4 years ago. Wouldn't pick anyone else in the squad to replace Lampard, think he will go for the 9-1 type formation with Gerrard dropping behind Rooney.

 

Why did he not take Adam Johnston?

 

Agree with what you say there Phil, especially Hargreaves and Johnson. I would also add Becks to that though, we seem to be missing him badly, as someone else said earlier, imagine the difference it would make to Crouch, or Zamora or Carlton Cole if they had been picked, to have Becks whipping in those pinpoint passes and crosses.

 

I was discussing the game with one of my friends the other night, and we both agreed that this has to be the worst performing England team we have seen at a major Championships, and that includes the side of Euro 88 who were pretty much gash.

 

 

Can someone please tell me why Lampard gets in the England team, what does he bring to the side? I just can't understand it, other than a couple of goals I have never seen him do anything of note whilst wearing the three lions.

 

My two biggest frustrations with the team are these though.

 

1. Why do we have players in the team that cannot turn on the ball? During the game on Friday evening I lost count of the number of times the ball was played forward only to be played straight back again, that really frustrates me, you can call me tactically inept if you wish, but that sort of play to my mind is not going to win you football matches, possesion football is dead these days unless you have a team full of players like Barcelona that can keep the ball whilst going past the oppositions players and attacking. We should have players that turn on the ball and play much more decisively, not pass the ball back thirty yards like Lampard did in the second half. Which is why Joe Cole is screaming out to be included in the team.

 

2. The way the players are saying that it's down to them to sort it out, and yet they still go out there and look disinterested, i'm getting tired of hearing the likes of Lampard, Terry and Glenn Johnson saying how much it means to them to play for their country in tv interviews, but yet they still turn in weak performances in an England shirt. I and i'm sure everyone else on here would love to have the opporunity that they have to go and put things right. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words, so I and i'm sure the rest of the nation expect to deafened by them on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Come on lads, bust a gut, bleed like Terry Butcher, run yourslef into the ground and show us what the shirt means to you.