England v Slovenia

[John B]

Rooney had a knock and Defoe had run so much that he was unable to get to the first ball and hold it up, calming things down, very effectively any more.

 

I agree quite Obvious I would have thought

 

Heskey is stronger than Crouch

[Ponty]

But why didnt he put Crouch on ?

 

Of that I have no idea.

[alpine_saint]

I agree quite Obvious I would have thought

 

Heskey is stronger than Crouch

 

Whoopee-sh*t.

 

We badly needed to try to get a second, even if just on the counter.

[SuperMikey]

But why didnt he put Crouch on ?

 

My point exactly. As I said above, if Slovenia had equalised, England would've been screwed with Heskey as a lone striker. Should've put Crouch on.

[Dark Munster]

But why didnt he put Crouch on ?

Because, unlike the rest of the world, Capello thinks the donkey (7 goals in 61 appearances) is better than Crouch (21 goals in 40 appearances - some for a few minutes).

[John B]

Whoopee-sh*t.

 

We badly needed to try to get a second, even if just on the counter.

 

I dont think that was how Capello saw it.

 

 

The Slovenian CBs were winning everything in the Air and we were not surrending possession too easily and putting pressure on our defence

[John B]

My point exactly. As I said above, if Slovenia had equalised, England would've been screwed with Heskey as a lone striker. Should've put Crouch on.

 

Because he bought on Heskey we did not concede a goal but of course if we had he could have still brought on Crouch

 

 

Heskey does a particular job reasonably well but I agree he is not an out and out goal Scorer

[harvey]

I agree quite Obvious I would have thought

 

Heskey is stronger than Crouch

 

I'd disagree with that, for his size I'd say Heskey is lightweight.........always falling over when crouch seems to stand his ground much better.

[John B]

I'd disagree with that, for his size I'd say Heskey is lightweight.........always falling over when crouch seems to stand his ground much better.

 

Well the Daily Telegraph think Heskey did a good job

 

Emile Heskey had little time to make any real impact, although did hold the ball up effectively during the final minutes to ensure England closed out a tense victory.

 

Fabio does know what he is doing you know - one of the best coaches in World Football

 

By the way it is a shame that Lambert does not have Heskey's pace because he would be in the England team but probably not Saints

Edited 23 June, 2010 by John B

[hamster]

Brilliant to be in the knock-out stages, I am made up. Must get stocked up with beer and bbq grub tomorrow, ASDA will be heaving on Sunday if the weather is like it was today. The scene is set.

[Saint_Jonny]

Looks like we'll be playing Germany then, S H I T! Ganna be a tense fookin day!

[Thedelldays]

oh crap...the germans

[Ponty]

They've got nothing. Ghana defend like a League 1 side but the Germans were forced to score from outside the area.

[Turkish]

Looks like we'll be playing Germany then, S H I T! Ganna be a tense fookin day!

 

They are beatable, at least it is a game to get excited about.

[Thedelldays]

ironically...we would probably rise to the challenge against the germans..but be poor against ghana

[latter day saint]

this ^^^

bring 'em on!

[St Landrew]

There is that Saints v England thread hanging around on the main forum, which several of us have contributed to, and earlier it reminded me to have a look at Saints in action, after the England match. Bearing in mind that England were supposed to be playing a traditional fast Premier League game, according to the pundits, I wondered how ponderous and slow Saints would appear if I watched some highlights. The only DVD I had to hand was highlights of the JP Trophy. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The pace of the, essentially League One, game was far faster than the England/Slovenia match I'd just witnessed. The other thing was the quality. I thought it was going to stink, but it held up well. Today, Rooney would have paid a mint to have had Lallana's first touch of the JPT Final, and the pace and accuracy of Antonio and Lambert's crossing was excellent. As to Lambert winning all the first phase balls, well it is why people jokingly suggested him for England in the first place. The work rate of all the Saints players was easily comparable, and I'm not surprised at all that we hammered Carlisle. We would have beaten a fair few supposedly better teams that day in March.

 

I suppose what it really told me was, if England want to progress in the World Cup they are going to have to get a lot better.

[harvey]

Well the Daily Telegraph think Heskey did a good job

 

Emile Heskey had little time to make any real impact, although did hold the ball up effectively during the final minutes to ensure England closed out a tense victory.

 

Fabio does know what he is doing you know - one of the best coaches in World Football

 

By the way it is a shame that Lambert does not have Heskey's pace because he would be in the England team but probably not Saints

 

Ok, but I tend to go with what I see with my own eyes.............I don't particularly rely on what a 'newspaper' tells me what I should be thinking.

[hamster]

We have the opportunity to really put some ghosts to bed over the next week or two.

 

We could beat Germany this Sunday (get in), beat the Argies the following Saturday (get the **** in) and after a mid week semi go on to prove to the whole wide World that we THE greatest footballing nation ever on the following Sunday against the Yanks. It's called FOOTBALL you damned yankees, it's a game where you kick a BALL with your FOOT.

 

This WC really is set up for us, let it be written.

[Whitey Grandad]

We have the opportunity to really put some ghosts to bed over the next week or two.

 

We could beat Germany this Sunday (get in), beat the Argies the following Saturday (get the **** in) and after a mid week semi go on to prove to the whole wide World that we THE greatest footballing nation ever on the following Sunday against the Yanks. It's called FOOTBALL you damned yankees, it's a game where you kick a BALL with your FOOT.

 

This WC really is set up for us, let it be written.

 

So, who do you want in the final?

[hamster]

So, who do you want in the final?

 

The US of A.

 

Failing that...erm...erm......who else is left in?

[hamster]

I also predict that the team that comes through our section ie, argentine, england, germany and mexico will go on to win the thing. It is imho the toughest group of teams ith the eventual victors coming through beaten and bloodied ready for anyone.

 

Three distinct styles of football which on their day really do get the juices flowing.

[shurlock]

England blew it - within whiskers of an arguably easy passage to the semis (ghana, s.korea and uruguay) - even without the US winner, a second goal would have been enough to secure that route.

[Badger]

ironically...we would probably rise to the challenge against the germans..but be poor against ghana

 

Yes,that has occurred to me also.

 

Just hope we don't end up as failures but with heroic status intact,as per 1990 and 1998.

[RonManager]

England blew it - within whiskers of an arguably easy passage to the semis (ghana, s.korea and uruguay) - even without the US winner, a second goal would have been enough to secure that route.

 

Presuming that the Germany Ghana match ended the same way as it did. It might not have done as time/destiny etc etc may or may not have been changed (if you believe in that sort of stuff).

 

Zen and the art of football result prediction.

 

Deep stuff.

[Badger]

England blew it - within whiskers of an arguably easy passage to the semis (ghana, s.korea and uruguay) - even without the US winner, a second goal would have been enough to secure that route.

 

Yes England blew it but I don't agree - despite the final analysis of our group - that it was "within whiskers..".It was largely because of 90 minutes of dirge against Algeria that we are not top of our group.Had we won that todays USA fixture would not have influenced our route onwards.

[skintsaint]

Would be nice if the media would talk about other countries worrying about us on route to 'their' final. Already read a few reports on how England are basically already out. Just such bad negativity around. We are through the groups and a tie against another European team - which suits our football better.

 

Slovenia were poor as I expected and another day it would of been 4 or 5 to us. Made nice viewing although the hangover today at work is a killed

[OldNick]

Capello was correct to bring Heaskey on, Crouch is not that good at holding the ball up, wheras Heskey can.

As for Joe Cole, hos absence made him a better player than he really is.He came on and gifted possession time and again, then went for a pathetic shot when he should have taken the ball to the flag or at least held it up for support.

I know Im in the minority not rating him, but that does not mean I'm wrong. I really hope he proves me wrong and takwes us to glory but i don't believe he will.Milner for me every time

[Jesus Reigned]

God, talk about skin of teeth. England looked good after they scored, but when they came out for the second half they looked distinctly average. Milner was good on the right, best player was probably Upson imo. Glad to see that Capello's got the balls to sub Rooney, although Wayne looked pretty surprised when he saw he was coming off after a pretty poor game. Only thing I would've changed with the subs would be to put on Crouch instead of Heskey, because if Slovenia had got a late equaliser England would've been completely f*cked because Heskey has absolutely 0% threat on any goal.

 

Only thing, I expect England to struggle if they get Ghana in the next round.

 

I'm sorry but I can't agree with that; we were all over them for the first 20 minutes of the second half; it was virtually attack against defence, and if we'd have got the (deserved) second I think we'd have put them to the sword.

 

However, being English it was never going to be that simple of course.

Edited 24 June, 2010 by Jesus Reigned
Spelling typo.

[derry]

The key, apart from a solid defence, was filling the left side with Gerrard sometimes holding wide and when he came inside Rooney went wide, that meant Lampard was allowed the space to play and Barry got another game under his belt. Milner is a bit limited because of a lack of pace but is a good crosser and Defoe is a goalsniffer which brought us the winner.