Thetownend.com

Ok, think we'll win this but not as easily as we beat Israel.

I guess the main selection problem for MacLaren is between Crouch or Heskey.

Lampard and Hargreaves have still been ruled out also.

I'd go with Heskey as Crouch can be clumsy and I thought Heskey did enough to keep his place Saturday - He will cause their defence problems.

I'd personally keep the squad unchanged from Saturday.

I wouldnt call that a selection problem personally. Heskey all the way.

The team did nothing wrong last game and even I thought they played well, no need to change it at all.

The problem is that Mclaren won't.

It will be a draw i reckon, im going for 1-1.

Owen to score i think.

Well MacLaren has hinted at changes..............That is what I would consider to be the main position of speculation.

Course MacLaren won't - he won't be able to resist tampering with it.

I'd bring Crouch back in for Heskey. We've won all 6 games where Owen & Crouch have started up front

Id put crouch in, im going to this and cant wait! Should be ace!

Same 11 for me, if either Barry or Heskey are dropped it will be a disgrace as far as I'm concerned.

There is no need to change it. I see a 2-0 win...

Crouch every time, gonna be close but hopefully a 1-0 win.

england will win, you shouldn't change a winning team

spookey same here.

i'm excited

completely agree

Unless there is a late injury then the team should be the same as Saturday!

can't see any reason to change it seeing as the game vs israel was one of the best performances from england for years.

if he does tinker, and we lose, he'll get castrated.

Win win for us then

Russia will be much more up for it and probably flood the midfield.  I'd like to see England start unchanged but bring Crouchy on after 65mins if it;s all going tits up

Russia are not very good and you will win

Just a small point...

We're not very good either.

:D

I can see no reason to change it from Saturday and will actually be surprised if McClaren does make changes. I know it's only to be expected from him, but not only is it harsh to drop anybody....there's nobody good to bring in!

Except Crouch, but I think Heskey earnt his place

The sun is reporting an unchanged side. not sure how true that is though...

I think Heskey should start, and Barry for that matter. Both had an excellent game on saturday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/6991315.stm

Wouldn't suprise me one bit to be honest!!!!!!!!!!

He would only offer as he knows he won't need to pay out a penny!

If we win with an unchanged team-what about the next game when Lampard Hargreaves Neville beckham Rooney are fit,what then?The fucking underachievers will all get back in!

You wouldn't get Ken Bates to make an offer like that!

Side unchanged

0-0 or Russia 1-0

i got 19/1 on kerzakhov to score first, he's really good at scoring first i hear.

owen wooooooooooop!

Ummm waste of money then!

perhaps but i also had a fiver on owen  8)

would i be right in thinking because kerzakhov didnt start i get my stake back?

Yep

Is he on the bench

yep, if he doesnt get on i should get it back?

Yey Owen again!!!!!

michael owen is mint

Albeit a little less pace, Micheal owen is back!!!!

is it just me or is he built like a brick shit house now?

i cant wait to see him take his shirt off at full time  8)

i recon he's just grown up, he burst on the scene as a youngster. shearer was a runt at southampton, but by the time he got to newcastle he was a big old boy.

saying that if i had a fucked up leg and couldnt concentrate on my game, i'd spend hours in the gym bulking up.

We're defending abit shit. Ferdinands having a bit of a shocker.

i got the kerzakhov stake back  8)

I've been impressed by Russia, England haven't even got out their half yet!

Jocks are winning :shock:

Yup. He's had a mare tonight.

Frank and Wayne Who?

Barry > Lampard  8)

phil neville MOTM

i think my internet is broken, it's saying that scotland beat france?

Get rid of Ferdinand and A.Cole and we have a half-decent team.

Good result that, a couple of dodgy moments at the back but 2 must win games have been won at a canter.

So does he change it for the next game. I don't think he should but I think he will.

 Decent performance....as often happens at international level, a manager can stumble on a winning formula.....McClaren didn't have the bottle to drop Fat Frank.....but Barry has been highly impressive.  Without injury to Rooney and the Crouchmeister being suspended he wouldn't have picked  Heskey, who Owen likes to partner.

   It will be difficult to not play Rooney.....but by the time the next game is played then injuries may well dictate the side.

Rooney is shit and over rated IMO. Not a natural goal scorer like the english media keeps wanking over. Heskey despite being a Trevor Benjamin clone is shit hot with Owen.

Watch the pressure to put Lampard and Rooney back in. Fucking leave it alone we're winning.  Well played the lads and lets hope some loyalty is shown

shit...no
overrated...yes

How did the Poles get on tonight, away weren't they?

0-0 with finland

2-2 with portugal on sat.

Not a bad set of results as Portugal dew with serbia today so still leaves us top of the table.

good, hope you qualify, always liked Poland!

I thought there were no playoffs this year?

Quality result, England back to their best.  McLaren's going to have a serious headache when Lamps, Roonster, G.Neville and co. come back.  I can't see how he can drop anyone on the back of the last 2 performances, but Rooney is pretty special...  Meh shove him in at centre-back and drop Rio...   :D

we'll qualify, but we'll still be the first to be knock outs.

happens all time.
WC06 and EC04 both times the first team to qualify, anihalated any team that came in out path, we were tiped to be one of the giant killers,, what happens, we get beat by the lies of costa rica, usa etc etc and never make it past group stages.

hopefully with leo calling the shots we shuold do ok.

I bet you weren't saying that when you were celebrating those goals he banged in during Euro 2004!  :roll:

I told you Russia were shite :wink:

Team should not be change for nthe next game in october no reason to apart from injuries. Barry + gerrard play well together in the midfield so no need to bring fatty frank lampard back. Richards should stay at right back done more the neville has ever done. Neville is just Mr reliable.

Beckam
Lampard
Rooney
G neville
Woodgate
Crouch

Thats not a bad bench to have really is it.I will not be happy if he changes that team unless its due to injury.For the first time in years we seem to finally have the balance the team needs.

And we're playing a proper 4-4-2, no stupid diamond shit or 4-5-1/4-3-3.

Exactly sam the amount of times gerrard got further forward than his own forwards was good to see last night.With Lampard in the team he could not have done that

Atmosphere was absolutely awesome last night and a real sense of optimism has come back to people as we were leaving the stadium. How things change quickly after leaving the Germany game it was all doom and gloom.
It would be so nice to see 35000 town fans in that stadium singing their hearts out after winning the playoffs believe me when the whole ground is singing the national anthem the noise is unbelievable much better than the old stadium

Got back from the game at 12.30, amazing ground the atmousphere at England games isnt all that though! We out thought played and outdid them in all areas of the park!!!  

Glad we didnt change the team as for once I couldnt pick out a bad player.  Heskey was immense and should have got MOM

The funniest part of the night was meeting up with Gazzas Fat Mate on the train home - he entertained the whole carage as was ruined!

Can we have that again in English, Ash?

Hope thats better for you Samuel

Much. Thankyou Ashley.

Me and Bennett managed to get the 22:45 train to Swansea home, which was a bonus... we got vertigo in our seats, but it was a great game!

Was impressed with the performance last night and was always quite confident we would win, if not quite so easily. On the whole everybody played well although Rio and Ashley Cole did have their moments. I can't see how some reports have said Robinson was unconvincing, he was only beaten once and that was a one-on-one which was ruled out anyway!

It will be hard to change that team now. Injuries aside, the only player I would consider bringing into the side would be Rooney. Not sure if I would play him or not yet though!

I made the schoolboy error of driving to Watford, train next time 100% was it packed?

Trains are fine... last one home is at 23.30, and most people get a seat.

I used the national express bus. Quite a few empty seats on it. Got back at 12.30.

The only way I would put Rooney back in the team if Heskey and Owen are both still fit, is if Joe Cole gets injured, i'd play him out on the left as he does it a lot for United and there is not really anyone else for the left who could light up a game like J Cole or Rooney

Wouldn't change any of the back four to be honest....Micah has shown he is good enough to keep Neville out the team or at least push him right to the wire, Terry and Rio despite a couple of miscommunications yesterday again have a good record over the last few games (remember we have hardly conceded all qualifying - other than Croatia) and Ashley Cole is quite simply the best left back we have....he may have shown a couple of nervy moments, but we didn't conceed and no one else could do his job better when he gets forward.

Surprisingly I was very happy with Barry in the middle over the last two games so i'd have to say that similar to Phil Smith, it should be his place to lose, not Hargreaves/Lampard etc, to win.

Gerrard, we know what he can do if he is given the role he has been now so leave him be and he'll find his shooting boots next time around.

Wright-Phillips i'm not convinced is the best option on the right, he has moments of brilliance, but is it enough? Maybe a fit Lennon should be pushing him for the spot, but Beckham should be no more than a substitute that can change the style of play if its not working.

In fairness to Mclaren though, and I hate being fair to him cause I think he is a media puppet....he should not HAVE to stick to the same team even if they do win.  the difference between a a good manager and a GREAT manager is being able to pick the best team for each individual game/opposition and the tactics to go with it, the style we just played for the last two games wouldn't beat everyone so we shouldn't have to find that out the hard way by losin.  If he truly was a great manager then he'd pick the right team and tactics everytime! - unfortunately he has stumbled on this team, just as he will stumble into a different one with injuries and media pressure next time.

My optimism has grown with the recent great results don't get me wrong, but whilst Mac the Dong is still in charge it will always remain slightly curbed.

Sorry Chubski, Ukraine beat you all by a month for the WC qualification, and we got to the Quarter finals. :P

I'm not going to talk about this qualifying campaign however...*fingers in ears* lalalalalala - Ican't hear you.

Cheers

Monkey

heskeys appraisal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/football_focus/6994766.stm

spot on. good man, emile.

I would have given him an 8 out of 10 at least.

Hes a nice chap.

I met heskey once he is a absolute gem of a bloke.When he left lpool for birmingham and then to wigan and also in that time get left out the england squads it would of been very easy for his head to drop so fair play to him for that.

Someone said the other day if confidence was money heskey would be skint but i think that may have changed now.

how long before Big Sam tries to get him up at Newcastle....

Heskey has suffered a suspected broken metatarsal - that's an avoided headache for McClaren.

agreed. Heskey or Rooney? hmm...