Thetownend.com

Thoughts then people? We only need a draw but I hope we play to win. Looking like Sheva is out with fluid on the knee, can't see them really hurting us with the rest of their rather average looking squad.

I think the system with Rooney will help us play to win, but also retain some defensive shape at the same time.

Gerrard and Parker to sit in front of the back 4; Young, Rooney, Walcott & Welbeck to do the damage up front.

2-1 England.

Rooney to get sent off

I wouldn't start Rooney. He's not played in weeks and history shows he struggles for form and goals after a long lay off, plus I can't see how you can drop either striker when they both scored in the last game.

 :nod:

He's not scored at a major tournament since 2004.

Time to right a few wrongs, Wayne.

The Ukraine will be worried about Rooney after all of the hype. Having him start will have their defence concentrating on him leaving the rest of our boys that bit more space.

3-0 England

Agreed, but think Hodgson will start Milner rather than Walcott to ensure that defensive shape.

Imagine Rooney will be fired up and think he'll cause the Ukrainians lots of problems.

England 2-0 Radiation Raiders

Looking forward to this.  Rooney will have a point to prove.  On paper we should win.

Agreed...on grass a lot tougher.

The last time on paper we should have beaten Ukraine, but we lost....

Think the heat, travelling and the disfunction to the squad of Rooney will catch up with our boys, expect an inquest into what's wrong with English football from the FA, and nothing to be done about it.

True, but as ever I'm going in to the game with an open mind (rose tinted specs) and believe we will win.

Will be more than happy with a draw....and qualification.

Then like Denmark and Greece before..........who knows.

I have a feeling that Ukraine will come right at us from the off so we need to keep it together defensively and hit them on the break with the speed of Welbeck and Young, and possibly Walcott. But I think that Roy will go with Milner as he offers more defensively from the off than Walcott offers.

I do think Walcott will come off the bench in the 2nd half though when the pattern of the game unfolds, but if we are struggling to hold on for a draw then Milner may well stay on the pitch longer.

I think that it will finish 0-0 but would love to be totally wrong and we go at them from the KO in an attacking formation with Walcott starting and running them ragged and getting some great balls in the box to Rooney who is on fire.

Head ruling heart on this one I am afraid.

From the Telegraph web site.....

No suprises in that. I'd have liked walcott to start, but Glenn Johnson can't be trusted to go 90 minutes against a left back on his own

All change up front -  Pyatov, Gusev, Rakitskiy, Khatcheridi, Selin, Yarmolenko, Tymoschuk, Garmash, Konoplyanka, Milevsky, Devic.

Am I the only person that thinks Glen Johnson has done reasonably well the last 2 games?
I don't understand why he gets so much stick.

May as well have been typed in Japanese!

Hmmm , seen better starts.

We're getting a mild rogering.

Just starting to improve. Rooney missed a sitter. Vincent Rooneycard.

its been all ukraine, but i can see us scoring soon though we've been rather patient in the build up.

thats worse than Aljokefree

Starting Rooney is looking a poor choice right now

Milner also doing sod all. Theo needs to come on surely

its like watching West brom, mediocre but you know there is something coming

It's scrappy. Ukraine have been told to shoot on sight while we're trying to walk it in.

I'd take off Rooney and Milner and bring on Carroll and Oxlade-C

I'd maybe leave Rooney but indefinitely take off Milner. I think the back 5 and Gerard have done well

He is a poor right back, the worst player of our 11 by far.

We have not done enough so far, need to attack more.  The best form of defence and all that..

agreed. ukraine are pushing high and will tire. let's just keep in it and stretch them in the last half an hour

can't agree with you there, I think he is pretty decent. The back 5 as a unit have done well

 Not based on this tournaments games so far he aint.
Underated player

Come on then England, nick an early goal & settle the nerves

yeah

Just like that :)

good goal

Dodgy keeper.

Get in.

Lovely :)

why are there shit loads of stewards infront of our fans and not in front of the ukraine fans?

So they can say that we tried to invade the pitch again.

To stop us encroaching he pitch when we celebrate a goal, otherwise we might be charged by UEFA again!!!

the fucking racists, dont they nothing of our fans?

Haha the frogs are losing

 :clap: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Having not seen any news are they referring to the dozen fans who lept over the barrier when we played Sweden? We got fined?

get out of jail free card used

Bet Blatter's found that fucking hilarious.

Wembley tor

That'll be goal line tech at the next World Cup then. Blatter hates us.

Need to get carroll on to start holding the ball up here.

Platini will be pissed off...

yep. Ball aint sticking and it needs to as ukraine will need to up the anti. Engalnds passing is shite so keeping the ball as high up the pitch as possible is a must

How is that not a penalty?

Blatant push on Carroll in the box.

France losing by 2 now :toocool:

So, if we concede, are France out?

If so, someone score an own goal quick!

happy with that, its a nice big fuck you to the red tops  :smugfu:

I have Italy to win the whole competition so Sunday will be interesting.

I thought Ukraine did well tonight, England were professional and did the job. Dire but effective. Will definitely need to up their game.

We're top of the group,
We're top of the group,
We are England,
We're top of the group.

Sounds quite catchy, I'm sure I have heard something like that before somewhere :)

We're top of the group,
We're top of the goooooooup,
We are England,
We're top of the group.

That's better!

You know what, with a bit or luck i reckon we could win this.

Just desserts and all that.

Call me mental.

You're mental.

Balotelli is a sending off waiting to happen.

The Italians were not tht impressive against the Irish yesterday, whilst we regularly raise our game aginst the bigger sides.

Didnt stop you liking it on facebook did it ;)

If Greece can win it like they did in 2004, anything can happen.

Hell, we could even beat the Germans in the semis on penalties !!

Been fortunate so far. It's England so it's bound to run out. Thought we were quite poor tonight but the shape is good as is the spirit. Got us this far so who knows?

We're not playing fantastically well, but still won the group by 3 points and are proving hard to beat.
Think we can beat Italy, then a tough game against Germany beckons.

We're working very hard as a team. Thought Gerrard, Cole, Terry and especially Parker were great tonight.

Exceeding expectations so far, long may it continue.

I'm not buying all this Rooney hype, scored a tap-in and missed two relatively easy chances.  Carroll played much better against Sweden than Rooney did tonight.  Thought Gerrard had one of his best games in an England shirt, the whole defence played well and certainly improved from the Sweden game where I thought only Glen Johnson had a good game.  Strange that Milner saw a lot of the ball yet when Walcott came on he hardly got a touch!

I think we've done as well as could possibly be expected.  The game against Italy will probably be a close one - two very cagey teams playing each other, and we have a chance.  If we do manage to win that one, we will have to face Germany (or, at least technically, Greece).  I couldn't see us winning that - but if we got to the semi final I would see that as a success this summer.

Tell you what I think Milner should play right back

Its nice to see England playing as a team instead of as individuals, it was nice to see rooney get on the scoresheet, hopefully that'll give him a boost for the next game, there is still room for improvement we can't keep giving the ball away as easily as we did, we'll get punished by better teams. Cole was unlucky with his chance. Terry can't stand the bloke but fair play to him he worked his nuts off.

I'm looking forward to the Italy game on Sunday.

You probably are, but I thought he done well tonight

Only saw the second half tonight, but sounds like I didn't miss much.

Got to give Gerrard credit, 3 assists in 3 games now isn't it? Agree that Cole was unlucky with his chance - it was a good save and I thought it was in. As for their goal that wasn't, they may feel hard done by but we've been on the other end of it. And there was an offside in the build up anyway.

Definitely looking forward to the Italy game. Think it's 15 years since we last played them in a competitive game? That qualifier where Wright hit the post on an open goal...

It was nice that he scored, because that's why we won.
But, he had 3 chances that I would have scored, and the one he actually scored could have been scored by my grandmother (and she's dead)
Trouble is, that means he'll get picked on Sunday, and he is the most over rated player I can remember

Why do I bite?

Bollocks!

Your wasted being on here when you should be abroad scoring goals for the national team. :)

Now you've made me bite............

Apart from a great Euro 2004, and a single overhead kick............what the fuck has he ever done apart from flatter ??

Fair comment

Nothing, absolutely nothing. Fergie just whispered in my ear.

If you can't see son, give up watching football.

You're right, missing open goals and giving the ball away about 50% of the time should be given more credit.

Maybe if I read the Sun more often, I would understand

I bet you were among the fans that booed when Connell was substituted too weren't you ;)

To be honest mate, I think you read The Sun far to much as it is!

They like to pat themselves on the back too.

Rooney Did come across as a bit rusty tonight with a few wayward passes but did what he was put in the side for and scored a winning goal. Saying you or your grandmother would of scored doesnt help in your assesment of Rooney though.

You don't know my Grandmother (she's not dead by the way, just put that in there to make a point - sorry gran), I honestly belive she would have got atleast two of his gult edged headed chances.

Andy Carroll would of had a hat trick given those chances.

I was impressed with the team performance tonight - more so than most people, but Rooney was distinctly average.

The longer people keep making excuses for him, the longer we will be treated to his "potential"

Believe me, i would love to be proved wrong - I am England through and through, and used to be a massive Rooney fan but he's done fuck all for ages and we have better tallent sitting on the bench waiting for him to "reach his potential"

Please respond with the usual abuse

Rooney was average or worse, but since it was his first game for 5 weeks I think you have to make some allowances.

Gerrard is really turning in some consistently high performances. He gave the ball away quite a few times against France, though still played well. I didn't see the Sweden game apart from some highlights but was told he was good in that too, and tonight again he was superb. Parker of course is the disciplined partner who allows him to roam about the pitch.

I also think Ashley Cole has been very good. Defends our left solidly and gets forward to good effect.

If somebody on the right and a striker can hit consistent form we could go a fair bit further.

I thought Ashley Cole did well tonight, but his first two performances were below par for his usual high standards IMO.

First half was shocking, thought we were good in the second half though. Go back to what I said before about confidence, the goal seemed to totally change the way they were playing and that wasn't just down to Ukraine changing their game.

Still don't see the point in Milner, or Young to a lesser degree.

Reckon we should be going with Carroll and Rooney against Italy. Not at all impressed with Welbeck, he might have a good partnership with Rooney at Man Utd but that's with a different team that play different football. The big man up front works well for England, might be old fashioned but if it works why fuck with it.

I know some people don't rate the FIFA rankings, but they've got a predictor for it now. Based on the current Euro results we're currently ranked 3rd in the World behind Spain and Germany with Brazil a distant 13th. Seems a bit fucked up.

Thought the level of football played by England for all the first half and half the second half was rubbish.  Why is it that the most basic task of passing accurately - even when there is no particular pressure on a player - just doesn't seem to happen.  From the general criticism, I exclude Gerrard who was outstanding again.  I jut don't know about the rest.  I thought Young was better than in the Sweden game, but welbeck was lost mostly.  the back four were the same mish-mash as previously - all of them.  Parker was strong, Milner completely ineffective.  Trouble is I can't see who could make the difference, either in the squad or beyond it.

I fear they will/would be torn apart by Spain or Germany.  Lets hope Italy are as pedestrian as they were last night.

Rooney and Carroll for the Q/F would be my choice too but I'm happy to trust that Hodgson has got his selections right and fair play to him for dampening down quite a few of the doubters. Winning when not at your best can sometimes be a good thing but think we will now have to step up a level to go on to the Semi's.

Well, we are through and won the group....job done!

First half was a stifling exercise that worked well.

Milner piss poor all game, young decided that it was better to stay on his feet and improved...Rooney looked like he was back from injury after a two year lay off rather than a two game ban.

Bring on the Italians......who knows...it's cup football after all.

Getting to the quarter finals is a success. Can't see us beating Italy to be honest.

I think we've got a great chance, especially with Chiellini injured for Sunday.

Rooney looked extremely rusty but did the thing he's there for. Well, one of them; his hold up play and ball retention was below par all night and at this level you expect better.

He's becoming the new John Barnes; brilliant for his club, never matching it at international level.

Agreed, getting through the group stage as winners exceeds my expectations.

As Sweden showed against France, anything is possible as most teams are evenly matched.

Post deleted because many people did not like me putting my honest opinion of it on here, I will not do it again so don't worry that I was a little critical.

England won we were great end of subject.

Jesus JJ, does anything please you?

From that scathing assessment you'd think we lost 3-0. We won. Be happy with it.

I would of prefered it tbh if we had finished top of the group by 3 points,top goalscores and joint less goals conceded

Spot on!

We've won the group and haven't played like Spain.....Nevermind eh?

Fair play to England a group win at these championships are a great result. No doubt Roy has the team mores organised, yeah the tactics aren't particularly easy on the eye or as euro friendly of his predecessors style of football, but I always thought it was wrong to try and copy the Europeans' style. British teams fair better when you play the British way.

England haven't really got going and are safely through the groups, unbeaten. Anything could happen from here in. Will enjoy the quarters.

True. I think another part of the equation is that Rooney/Gerrard aside there are no superstar ego and no expectations from the fans. Instead of going out thinking we can outdo the opposition for skill  we go out onto the pitch trying to outdo the opposition as a team, with hard work and discipline.

Ah yes, forgot about Milner. Started against France and Ukraine and was shocking in both. Is he more of a natural central midfielder? He's hopeless out on the right. Where does he play for Man City, and how does he get into their side?

I'd also consider Carroll/Rooney in the next game, and I think Hodgson is probably thinking about it too after last night. I think he dropped a little nugget after the Sweden goal that Welbeck certainly isn't considered a regular starter. So those two up front, Walcott on the right, and the rest as it was please.

Young and Milner have been very poor all tournament, I would drop one of them at least for the next game

Going?

I suspect it's pretty had trying to teach Ashley Young to defend as well as doing it yourself.

We will get fisted by the Italians.

Decent effort to end up topping the group but I think the fact we topped it is testament to what a poor group it was.

Start Theo, shift Milner to the other side, drop that diving spastic Young and we might have half a sniff. Thought Rooney was awful as well but they'll never not start him so it's pointless analysing that.

I've never been convinced by him in an England shirt but Gerrard has been the cheese.

Tainted victory.

Why?

I hope seep splatter and arrogant French cunt platini are having a word with themselves.

How many more fucking times does this goal line shit have to happen?

Both wide players aint done enough imo. That said, at least Young put a few crosses in last night. If Carroll played some might have been dispatched? I'd make the 2 changes i would have yesterday. Walcott for Milner and Carroll for Wellbeck. Don't think Rooney and Wellbeck linked up well at all so get the big man on and feed him crosses. Our link up passing has been shite so get it wide and pelt it in the box.

I don't know how much the changing of Milner for Walcott would affect out defencive shape. Milners done fuck all with the ball, but without it he's done a lot of good defensive running - which is why he always looks knackered after 60 minutes.

Giving our game is based on defensive shape, i'd be very suprised if Milner doesn't start the Italy game

This is true... he needs to help out Glen Johnson for the entire game.

[url width=900 height=506]http://static7.businessinsider.com/image/4fe0deae6bb3f70f64000000-960/england-ukraine-goal.jpg[/url]

We'd still have topped the group regardless...

there was even an offical on the goal line he didn't give it, it was just over the line these things happen. it happend to us in south africa and that was an obvious goal. as was the goal that never was at old trafford.

The ball through to the man was offisde anyway, so it shouldn't have counted in the first place. Also the point blank header that their player missed just before was 2 feet offside too, that linesman was a shocker.

So not a tainted victory at all.

See also: '66.

When will you guys be able to get through without the help of FIFA.  :no:

Could've been 1 metre over, it was offside and shouldn't have stood anyway.

How is than an injustice?

Fuck them.

It's justice for Lampard is what it is.

Lampards was a small justice for 1966 :-)

I believe you're not quite even, with Germany's disallowed goal being over the line in '66.

It's a shame that this decision will be forgotten about by next week, whereas lampards will be wheeled out as often as possible.

You're either German, Ukranian or a moron.

Joycie

Why are you choosing to ignore that IT WAS OFFSIDE

Slight amendment.

Worse - Scottish.

[url width=17 height=17]http://i28.tinypic.com/2ekrya8.gif[/url]

The point is no Offside was given, so in fact it was in 'live' play and should have stood.

What goes around comes around, and need a bit of luck now and again

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12016/7829244/Blatter-Technology-a-necessity

The man is so obvious

Yes and no. Given that the offside flag never went up, the goal shouldn't have been given. But the only reason Ukraine were in the position to score was because of a failure on the part of the linesman. I'd say that on this occasion two wrongs made a right.

We had 2 keepers?

worse than German? Not sure about that

Exactly as I predicted then. Typical Blatter, predictably anti-English.

If it were the other way round (we were denied a goal) he wouldn't have even batted an eyelid.

To be fair to the extra ref, the ball only just went over the line and it took them a while to figure it out with the replays. But it was his positioning that was to blame, from his angle it would have looked like the ball didn't cross the line as the post was in the way.

Not sure why everyone is going on about it so much. Shit happens. We've been on both ends of bad decisions and it does all even up at the end of the day. We had a couple of good shouts for penalties that weren't given.

'We're' not, Joycie is

[url width=17 height=17]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/arucho/paforo/Grin-1.png[/url]

If it should have stood then offside should also have been given, both are retrospective decisions.

I can't get my head around this.

If one decision should be given, then why not the other?

As the Dutch say, "if my aunt had a dick, she'd be my uncle."

Things were missed in the incident, no goal was given.

Spot on.

They both should, let them retrospectively have the goal, then retrospectively revoke it for offside.

on another note, whats with the refs on the goal lines...I have watched most of the games and havent seen them make a single call yet...unless they are communicating to the ref via his ear piece...

however, there have been two blatant fook ups by them...
the 'goal' last night and some other game I was watching, a missed corner where the line ref was stood no more than  a metre away, the ball crossed the line by probably its diameter before being cleared but no corner was given...


oh, and for what its worth, my thoughts on last night:  
I thought we were mostly dire but just scrpaed through, the inability to keep possesion was frightening...a massive improvement need for the Italy game...

They are doing that. It's difficult to notice, although you could see the ref the other night (Scotland's very on Craig Thomson) giving a by kick and then changing it to a corner on the advice of the guy on the line.

You're right in saying they seem to miss an awful lot.

I think my main observation on last night is that we needed Carroll to start and keep hold of the ball when it got forward. There wasn't anyone beyond the midfield who could get the ball and keep it. We therefore spent too long defending the last third of the pitch.

For an old cunt, Terry did a fantastic job denying them the goal that wasn't.

Rooney looked slow and off form. I don't like him so won't say more.

The team performance was average for spectacle but A** for grit and determination.

From now on, anything can happen (and probably will).

When will you guys be able to do ANYTHING? EVER?

Agree with Samdy, it's classic Blatter! What a cunt that man is!

Although we kept giving the ball away far too easily and it wasn't a magical performance. If you actually looked at the chances created we restricted them to long range shots almost all night. Both teams missed a header 4 yards out, apart from that they had the one on one which crossed the line. People are forgetting or ignoring the fact that we needed a draw and we didnt have to go out and attack them leaving ourselves vunerable. In a way its the same with the spain croatia game. Croation needed the win and went for it, spain did not need to.

Weren't Scotland only beaten to qualification by a diving Czech who 'won' a penalty against them?

This is a bit different to the Lampard non-goal as that one was very clearly over, whereas this one was tough to see in real-time and the extra ref guy was too slow in moving his head to see around the post.

The fact that it was offside is a little bit irrelevant as you see refs miss fouls and offsides in the build-up to goals all the time, but he fact that it wasn't a goal and is being looked at as some kind of injustice means it's easy to refute.

Even with all their English-born players.

[url width=460 height=288]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/barnes_1655260c.jpg[/url]

That the best you could find? Thought you'd of gone for someone recent like Hargreaves   :D

Or Michael Owen.

Wasn't Owen born in Chester?

hmmm, when I lived in Scotland, I was always led to believe that Owen was 'Welsh'.

The morale of the story, never trust a Jock!!

:D

Didn't one of the goalline guys signal a corner when someone passed back to Hart and it went over the line ?

Discussing this with a Welsh mate some years ago, we concluded that Owen was a straight swap for Giggs, who (as Ryan Wilson) played for England at schoolboy level or some such.

How could it be a straight swap when Owen was born in England and his father is English as well? is his mother Welsh?

No idea. It was a pub conversation. The bigger point was that it can work both ways (losing Giggs to Wales)

How do you decide nationality though?  Place you were born? Place you grew up? Nationality of parents?

I also heard that anyone born in the UK and of British nationality can play for any of the home nations, despite having no connection to those states.  It's more of a gentlemen's agreement that means they (kind of) go with their 'proper' countries.

Giggs is welsh though

He is, born in Cardiff and Owen born in England, so the whole argument is flawed somewhat.

we do?

We beat Spain at Wembley in November. They're a pretty decent side.

And played for England at a Jr level

.....regularly?...in competitive games?

I'm always surprised to learn that the Giggs-for-England myth still gets discussed as truth by many. He played for England Schoolboys because that's where he was going to school.

As it stands (I think)...

I, of English parentage and birth, cannot play for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland unless I have lived there for a certain amount of time. Having a British passport will not automatically earn me a place in any other Home Nation side.

That is true but also to add to the mix you can qualify for a different country if your grandparents are born in that specific country, e.g. Vinny Jones who was born in England, to 2 English parents but qualifed for Wales via a Welsh grandparent.

But the grandparent level is the furthest back you can go for qualification so great grandparents would not qualify you for that country.

I forgot to mention grandparents. Although I'm as Wiltshire as they come so I'm still not applicable.

Anything beyond grandparents would be ridiculous. I think Kevin Horlock was the first Northern Ireland player to qualify for Northern Ireland under the grandparents ruling.

Trevor Wood, a goalkeeper who played for Port Vale and Walsall among others, played once for Northern Ireland qualifying on a British Passport alone, the was loophole was later closed and rightly so.

A friend of my is a die-hard Norn Iron fan... Don't get him started on the Republic vs. Northern eligibility debate.

I personally decide nationality through heritage. I was born to two english parents, all 4 of my grandparents are/were english - that makes me english.

In footballing terms its where you are born. If I was born to exactly the same set of parents but whilst living in bulgaria - in the footballing terms I'd be bulgarian. The best example being Chris Birchall born to two english parents who were living in Trinadad at the time, hence why he's a T&T international!

You are all missing the other eligibility criteria for Ireland.

Tony Cascarino qualified because his Dad once owned an Irish Wolfhound.


However back to Giggs, I thought his Dad was English so he could have chosen England. However as his Dad had walked out on his Mum & the kids when they were young he chose his Mum's nationality.   Might be another of those urban myths though.

I see te FA have been fined 5000 Euros by UEFA for the English fans celebrating against the Swedes.

Hopefully, if the FA doesn't win the appeal, they'll pay them in Greek Euros !!

Birchall's mum was born there which makes it gloriously vague.

Didn't Jordan Rhodes qualify after 5 years of schooling in Scotland? :)

5 years schooling in a country.

If anyone decides to ignore this rule, FIFA will be waiting to scrap the home nations and make a team GB.

Rhodes lived in Scotland while his dad was playing up here, schooled here and went straight into the scotland set up. Says himself that he is Scottish and will strike us all the way to Brazil. [url width=17 height=17]http://forum.football365.com/images/smilies/icon_proud.gif[/url]

If you've got a British passport, in the way of a Kevin Pieterson, then you're eligible for any home country, that wants you. Think this is why Eric Young played for Wales.

The Home Nations rule is long gone is it not?

Or he knows he will never get in the England team so has to settle for 2nd best...  ;)

So Scotland are pining all their hopes on a player that has never really been tested above the 3rd tier of English football?
Wow, your qualifying group must be quaking in their boots...

You may well be right....not something I've taken too much notice of....it used to be the case.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=2012/statistics/round=15172/teams/type=passes/index.html (http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=2012/statistics/round=15172/teams/type=passes/index.html)

Here lies the biggest problem so far.

Surely it becomes a problem when we are losing,Hodgson has only had a handful of games and has decided that making us hard to beat is a priority.If in 2 years he has us playing the same then yes people have a point.

Worked wonders for the Russians and Dutch :)

I'm not a fan of stats. Results over stats any day.

Dont get me wrong im loving the wins but we have been so careless with the ball and the further we go the more chance of us being punished by better teams. Average ball possession is 23%  :blink:

Stats or no stats the passing has been poor. That has been crystal clear. What got us through is a good shape,spirit and good luck.
The first 2 Woy deserves credit for. Heard many slating the 4,4,2 formation and Woy not adapting it. I like it as it's simple and every player knows their job. It doesn't stay rigid anyway as Rooney drops deep-Gerrard drifts wide which creates space.

I wouldn't pick the same team as he has but that is nit picking,and can see why he picks the players he does. I wouldn't change how they set up. He looks to be getting alot of things right.
That said, i don't think what has got us through will get us much further. The oppostion get tougher and I think the passing will have to improve and some players will have to raise their games. All possible

He'll be in the Prem this sesaon. Banging them in. [url width=17 height=17]http://forum.football365.com/images/smilies/icon_proud.gif[/url]

Rhodes and Harper (of Real Madrid) are the future of football. And Scottish. [url width=17 height=17]http://forum.football365.com/images/smilies/icon_proud.gif[/url]

I was born in Singapore, spent from 1 week old to 13 years old in Indonesia, then came back to the UK for secondary school.

My parents are Scottish and English, though my 'English' Dad was born in South Africa where he lived until he was 10.  His parents were Italian (born in Italy but grew up in England) and English (but born and grew up in India).

By grandparents I'm half Scottish, quarter Italian (but English really) and English (unless you're calling my gran Indian?).  By birth I'm Singaporean (but only because my folks didn't want to risk giving birth in an Indonesian hospital back then!).  My passport is British.

What's my nationality? And who can I play football for?

For me, it does not matter where you were born but (as mentioned previously) your heritage.
People say that I am not German because I was not born here, but given that half of my family are German - I am a damn sight more German that a number of people born here

Wish this Scottish CUNT would fuck off out of this thread. What a fucking pointless 'country.'

If Scotland is so fucking good, why do all you bitter cunts come to England to tell us about it? Fuck off back to your shitty country and shut the fuck up you cunt.

Samdy likes this  :thumb:

Boom!

Excellent application of the word CUNT Jayo.

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Jesus son, you are SEETHING.

Bit xenophobic as well. I might have met you in subway once, you told me to "fack aff and stop stealing aarrrr jaaaabs".
Want me to take Caddis and Ferry with me?

What are your views on immigrants from other countries? (Although you surely can't be so daft to think I'm an immigrant. That would just be silly).

What part of it was xenophobic?

You're just making shit up to suit your deluded fuckwittery.

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Not xenophobic, unless the word means something else in Scotland ;)

"an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange."

I'm taking from the fact he called Scotland another 'country', that I am a bit (hence why I said a bit xeno) foreign.

Anyway, some FIFA style carpet sweeping doesn't bother me, a bit of light hearted banter about the England game and you guys have turned it into full on abuse. You must really hate us lot. [url width=17 height=17]http://i29.tinypic.com/1z5td6p.gif[/url]

..............

I don't think his rationale was unreasonable.

I don't hate the Scottish, I'm ashamed of them as you would be if you had a retarded younger brother.

At least it gives us somewhere safe to keep our Nuclear weapons.

Don't flatter yourself - it's more pity

As a country that has been conquered and ruled by our Monarchy I hold Scotland as equals in standing with places such as Tuvalu and The Solomon Islands. And I don't hate Tuvalu and The Solomon Islands, in fact I don't know where Tuvalu is.

It's not hate, it's more not giving a flying fuck.

Heard on the radio the other day that if there was a poll on Scotland becoming independent across the whole of the UK, in Scotland the vote would be against it whilst in the rest of the UK it would be in favour of it. Think they said it was mainly due to everyone being sick and tired of the Scots moaning all the fucking time.

Conquered?

I think you'll find James VI (of Scotland, I of England) came to the English throne while on the Scottish throne, and united the kingdoms, creating the United Kingdom. No conquering involved.

I also don't know where Tuvalu is.

I think batch meant conkered.

Its here

And Scotland must be the little one next to it?

You can missguidedly claim
It was a merger all you like, but nobody speaks the queens scottish do they.

That's why my tan is so good.

Batch, misguidedly? Look it up. I have historical evidence to back that up. If you find me something that says England invaded the whole of Scotland, claimed it as it's own, then turned it back into Scotland and united them, let me know.

I must've been trying to catch a haggis when all this happened. They're fast little bastards.

I like Scotland.

Never been myself, the wife said it was beautiful

I went to Edinburgh once. I was shit, just like any other city but with an overpriced castle.

I do too TBH, I visit 3 or 4 times a year and have been every year for the last 5 years to the Edinburgh comedy festival.

Has some lovely parts, some less than nice places though.

Kenny Dalglish does

My (step) dad is from 'rough' Edinburgh. It's... interesting.

Most places I've visited in Scotland are great, border towns especially. Jedburgh etc

I'm not doubting your history, just that our Queen is English and our Queen rules Scotland. You can pretend the Scottish blood means she's our Queen, but its a fact she doesn't even like deep fried mars bars, Iron Bru and has hardly got drunk and headbutted everyone.
----

I really liked Edinburgh, didn't stray off the tourist trail mind. The zoo, castle, etc were great.

Niddrie?

Not sure, but I had grandparents born in Austria-Hungary and the USSR.  I was born in England.  I reckon I could play for most of Eastern Europe!

'The wee toons oh the Borders, are bonny toons tae see,
There’s Gala, Hawick and Melrose, tae mention only three.
There’s yin that stands upon a hill, looks doon on aw the rest,
And that’s oor ain dear Selkirk, the toon we lo’e the best.

Auld Selkirk, Auld Selkirk,
She’s ancient but she’s braw
‘Mang a’ the bonnie Border toons,
The fairest o’ them aw'

I loved Edinburgh. Although it helped that I got free entry into the castle as wiffy works for English Heritage, so that saved us around £35.00.
That aside, I thought it was a beautiful city and I enjoyed it more than London or Paris.

Planning on going back at some point.

Craigmillar.

In the late 80's my mum and dad were chased around Craigmillar by stray dogs :)

Spent a lot of time in Leith in and around the Easter Road area, some boozers around there are amazingly rough but brilliant for it.

The central tourist areas are a great place for weekend with the missues.

Something for everyone in Edinburgh.

Basically Niddrie area then. Yes its a fucking rough area, thats the area my Mother in law lives in, just down the hill from Craigmillar Castle.

Its under massive urban regeneration now and they are moving a lot of scum out of the area but it is still pretty rough there, druggies and drunks, but half a mile down the road its lovely.

I wouldn't live there though but enjoy visiting the city.

Edinburgh's a great city to visit. Along with Cardiff and Bath, my favourite UK city.

Don't understand Caddiff, it is shitty.

I do like Bath, Its a lovely little city. The only problem I have with Bath is the fucking huge hill I have to go up every bloody day to work. aside from that though its got a fair bit to do.

Worst thing about Bath is the traffic getting in. Which is why it's always good to take the train, then you can have a few pints during your visit.

Used to live in Bath and loved it although there is no decent nightclub

Working in Chippenham is good for this if we go out after work. Hop on the train to bath, get bladdered, hop on the train to Swindon.

Always liked the pubs, but clubs were always a bit boring. Po Na Na's back in the day was good, used to like having a pissed up chat with Victor Ubogu (sp).

Whilst we are on the subject of places to see. I have booked a hotel in Stratford on Avon for my gf's birthday. I was trying to get somewhere nice in the Cotswolds but the Olympic Torch is in the vicinity and there wasn't a lot about.

Anyhoo, what is Stratford like? Much to see and do?

Shakespeare's town. Thats about it.

You could come to chipping norton and go on the lash with me and ralphy

Its supposed to be a romantic day/night away with the missus, not a piss up with fellow Town fans!! :)

Went there for an anniversary weekend a fair few years ago. Went on a bus tour, saw some street entertainers, went to Coventry shopping!

It was a fairly nice place to walk round, struggling to remember much,...

It wouldn't so much be a piss up with Tans and Ralphy, more like a double date :)

Much ado about nothing.   I did once shag a posh bird in a tent on the race course, after I'd cycled to Stratford from Swindon, which was a fun thing to do  :)

Fairly nice place to walk around ticks the box. Was in Dubrovnik last week, so I am expecting something similar!

Cunt

As this has turned into a Scotland tourism thread, has anyone done Shetland? Planning to visit next year. I also love Wales. Pembrokeshire is amazing.

I went to Stratford twice when I lived in Warwickshire. Once as a tourist, felt it was a bit false and tacky and couldn't stand the fact everywhere you went was literally swarming with tourists who had cameras as big as their upper torso. Don't go to Coventry. It's a horrible and awful place.

Cheers for the feedback. The hotel looks nice so if the worst comes to the worst we'll just chill out there!

You from Chippy then ?

Lived in Milton - u -Wychwood for a while when younger.

Chippy seems to have a posh image now, but when I was younger, if you went out in Chippy and weren't from there, you would be expecting a dust up

Don't get me wrong, Stratford is a really nice town but try to avoid the obvious tourist traps.

Leamington is nice too. Good for shops if your missus is into that.

Yeah, live opposite the fire station.

He only fight you are likely to get into now is either with a pikey or a horse racing owner 8)

Toff paradise, the cunts

I've been, got a ferry from Aberdeen, an interesting voyage, things had to be tied down, it was so rough. The most testing time my tent has had, at one point I dismantled and re-erected a stone wall inside to keep the thing on the ground.

You'll love it though...full of Norwegians,... well their descendants.

But tans lives there! :)

Went about 7/8 years ago with work as we had to visit RAF Saxa Vord which at the time was right at the tip of the most northern island, it was a radar centre that kept an eye on everything north of that.  It’s no longer there so one can assume Norway and Iceland are a threat to invade anymore!

Flew into Sunburgh from Aberdeen and then it took about 4-5 hours including 2 car ferry crossings to drive through the 3 islands to our destination,.  It was a pretty amazing place, 3 to 4 foot of snow everywhere bar the immaculate roads (Jan/Feb at the time).  With the exception of Sunburgh, which was a small town, the rest of the islands are real back to basic stuff.  We drove for miles at a time without seeing any form of life and then you see a little stonebrick house halfway up a hill with smoke coming out of the chimney miles away from any form of civilisation.

I imagine the place is ideal for some serious hiking/camping during the summer.

Actually she hates shopping thankfully so I am spared those sort of things!!

1 other question, how far is Birmingham New Street from Birmingham Moor Street?

Less than half a mile away mate, almost next door to each other, seperated by the Bull Ring.

Thanks JJ :)

There's a brilliant article about James Milner here, think Charlie Brooker does football:



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jun/22/euro-2012-james-milner-england

My abiding memory, was being up on Unst, and looking out north thinking, if I kept on going there's not a lot of civilisation up there.  In fact the first land fall was probably in the Soviet Union (now Russia), which probably why the watch was being kept.

A weird feeling of a vast emptiness, which is something you don't usually get in Britain..