Holland vs England Tonite

[Ben Wah Balls]

Johnson shouldn't be playing in any position.

[Spud]

Johnson shouldn't be playing in any position.

Of course he should be, ok his form of late has been shite but he's scored a fair few this year and deserves a place upfront not out on the fucking wing.  :evil:

[McLovin]

It would make sense to play everyone in their rightful position... gives them a fair chance to show what they've got. Of course, knowing that Terry and Ferdinand are the 1st choice centre backs, it also makes perfect sense to never try anyone else there in friendlies.

Steve MacLaren frustrates me just as much as Sven, but has done it in only 4 games or so.

Note to Lampard: Put some fucking effort in!

[quinnismyhero]

I watched this half-heartedly last night and was totally fucking under-whelmed by what I was watching.

The goal we scored was from a glorious pass by Cole and finished by Rooney (luckily) almost facing our own goal.

What a shit goal to give away.  Sweden in WC06 again - except different centre backs.
Lampard crap.  Johnson was a waste of space.

Lets finally bury this fucking idea that we are a world class football side - we aren't.  FACT.

[Rich Pullen]

I watched this half-heartedly last night and was totally fucking under-whelmed by what I was watching.

The goal we scored was from a glorious pass by Cole and finished by Rooney (luckily) almost facing our own goal.

What a shit goal to give away.  Sweden in WC06 again - except different centre backs.
Lampard crap.  Johnson was a waste of space.

Lets finally bury this fucking idea that we are a world class football side - we aren't.  FACT.

Yep agreed.

Andy Johnson will be filed with the likes of Andy Cole, Kevin Phillips and James Beattie in strikers that didn't make the grade at international level.

Micah Richards did okay - inexperience showed but nothing that can't be sorted out as he's only 18.

Lampard seems to get worse but as I read somewhere - anyone would look world class with Makelele, Essien, Ballack in your midfield.

We woke up when Holland scored which isn't new for us. I've seen no significant improvement under McClaren... Has he had enough games now to make such a judgement?

For a friendly like that I would have liked to see some new faces other than Richards in the squad/starting line-up - Foster, Dawson, Reo-Coker, maybe Baines... We need to look at other options without throwing them into the deep end.

[quinnismyhero]

Good final point Rich but consider the rest.

Ball retention - poor
Passing - poor
Final ball (except J Cole for goal) - poor
Set piece defending (mostly) - poor

Our keeper's confidence is shot away, Ferdinand and Terry looked like strangers at times, no service to the front 1/2/3 (depending on what we play)

These are supposedly world class players.

Mind you, Holland weren't much better except Robben didn't dive so much

[Piemonte]

Good final point Rich but consider the rest.

Ball retention - poor
Passing - poor
Final ball (except J Cole for goal) - poor
Set piece defending (mostly) - poor

Our keeper's confidence is shot away, Ferdinand and Terry looked like strangers at times, no service to the front 1/2/3 (depending on what we play)

These are supposedly world class players.

Mind you, Holland weren't much better except Robben didn't dive so much

We were far from great but Holland were worse. Frankly compared to the Croatia perfomance we looked like 1970 Brazil last night

[quinnismyhero]

Frankly compared to the Croatia perfomance we looked like 1970 Brazil last night

Pushing it!  Point taken tho'

[Sharky]

Ball retention - poor
Passing - poor
Final ball (except J Cole for goal) - poor
Set piece defending (mostly) - poor

Joe Cole's cross may have been good but he was falling over at the time which was the only reason it was.

The rest of the game he ran around with effort (more so than any of the others can say) but he was a diving little shit - I've never before wanted one of our own to be booked for being such a diver, but I almost did last night.

The simple way of putting it is that we as a team do not play to our strengths and I said this to my friends when Mclaren took over and dropped Beckham in an act of desperation for individuality!

we play dull, slow football, so why drop the man who is slowest and can deliver the best cross in the game???

If he was wanting to chance things to be more creative and pacey then dropping him was the right move but I certainly havent seen an ounce of difference in play since then other than some useless formations and rubbish results - this to me suggests one thing, McClaren is not the man for the job - end of.

And I dont see why he should be given years to prove himself, all he is going to do is dig our team further into the ground until its too late to repair it, he simply cant cut the grade i'm afraid!

[mattboyslim]

I beg to differ on Johnson, he's played 5 matches mostly as a sub and nearly always out of position, a pretty auspicious start to any international career.  Last night was a chance to see him in his favoured position against decent international opposition, yet we wasted it.  I feel he shouldn't be written off yet, if you look at many players 5 caps is hardly career defining, if I remember correctly Steve Stone scored 2 in his first couple of matches, but IMHO he was never exactly a superstar.

[Rich Pullen]

I beg to differ on Johnson.

Johnson's main advantage is that we have a lack of WORLD CLASS strikers at the moment so he has a good chance of staying in the England set-up.

He's not had the best of luck but you can be sure that when the next "Rooney" shows up he'll be gone and forgotten.

[STFC Village]

To be fair on the Dutch, that was practically their 2nd side, whereas we had 8 or 9 of our (supposedly) strongest 11 out there.

[jayohaitchenn]

Well looks like I was wrong about Johnson, completely anonymous last night, along with our midfield. Micah Richards impressed me, definately one for the future.

Not very exciting though, I feel quite apathetic about the whole international thing now.

[Batch]

na it was the keepers fault. like lawrenson says, if Robinson comes out and gets the slightest touch it changes the path of the ball. Hes got no hope rooted on his line

It was to risky, 4 or 5 players between him and the ball for the flick on. Second ball, maybe, but a) the first flick should have been cut out, b) we should still have dealt with the second ball.  Shit defending.

[RobertT]

I love the fact the biggest Johnson knocker is a Crouch fan.

He is not top international class, but he should at least be given a chance to play in his position.

Lampard should be given the Beckham treatment.  The only thing he ever offered was an ability to turn up on the edge of the box and out away a goal every few games.  it did enough to just about justify his selection but now that's vanishing he offers absolutely nothing.