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this is pissing me off now, firstly the performances arnt going to be pretty when you play two games where they set out with 10 ment behind the ball FACT. Portugal 1-0 against Angola, shock Angola 10 men behind the ball, where as Argentina 6-0 Serbia, Serbia cudnt just defend because they knew they would be knocked out it they lost hence getting hammered, we'll put in a performance against the better teams who try to attack us

the England performances have quite frankly been a joke

because it take time to break teams down, look at Mexico last ight against Angola 0-0, Mexico are ranked 5th in the world at least we are in the last 16 and the team can only get better with Owen and Rooney getting more minutes on the pitch

I think they've been ok, but we finally realised in the 60th minute that the long ball game does not work if the opposition put 10 men behind the ball.

Owen has been shocking and his injury is no exuse! he has had plenty of time to recover now. Rooney didn't look sharp on thursday but that's only to be expected. id like to see Rooney and Crouch up front against Sweden tbh. as for breaking teams down slowly what about Owens chance on 10 minutes against T&T and then Crouch's on 30 minutes? we made the chances but our strikers are a useless pile of shite at the mo. and its about time Gerrard and Lampard started performing

yeah so Sven changes it and we win 2-0, Sven gets slatted for his subs yet when he brings on Lennon and Downing who were involved in the build up to Crouchs' goal no one give him credit, yet every1 is wanking over Hiddink for bring on Cahill & Aloisi

 :soapy tit wank: he actually made an attacking sub for once! i was expecting Hargreaves not Lennon! i think Lennon played quality as well

injury no excuse?? he has played 5hrs of football in 2006, all of that has been for england except for 20mins for Newcastle, we've seen Owen like this before, im telling u now the next game he scores it will be more than 1 he gets

Sven's subs were good against T&T, but have generally been shit. His justification for bringing on Hargreaves in the Paraguay game was we needed to have more time on the ball, but this only comes about from passing the ball, not hoofing.

I'm not going to be over-critical, I'm pleased with our 2 wins, even if we weren't playing our best football. The last 30 mins of the T&T game showed what we are really capable of, and Sven's changes were great.

i thought we were only good for the last 10 minutes of T&T if im honest. they looked like losing 1-0 for a short period

That's the most bizarre statement I've read today.

Dont forget - the last time we managed to keep a clean sheet in our first two games was 1966!

Spot On!

2 wins, no goals conceded all the moaners please STFU!.

Oh come on, when you have Michael Owen (former liverpool & real madrid striker, has scored 20+ in the Premier league) and Peter Crouch (gets credit for all own goals, plays in the prem)up against the likes of Dennis Lawerence (division 4) and Sancho (cant get into the gillingham team) they shouldnt be that hard to break down

I agree with swindontownfc here. We've not played amazingly yet but we've done all we needed to do and we're through to the last 16. We've won both our games and we definitely deserved to win both of them so that's good enough. With Rooney now ready to play a bigger part we are definitely capable of raising our game against the better sides. Premiership sides often struggle to beat lower league teams in the cup but it's not because they are not good enough

Owen's not found his form yet and I don't think he has ever scored 20+ goals in the premier league but hopefully a couple more games and he will start to get some sharpness back.

i dont think the performances will improve much, our chances of winning the tournament are always overhyped, its the big nations who are used to winning that will carry on winning. if we come up against germany in the second round it will take a great performance to overcome them, yea theyre not a great team but they have home advantage and always progress to the later stages. really hope im proved wrong i would love england to win but i cant see it. gerrard and lampard need to start playing like we know they can, owen needs a goal and hopefully that will set him off, and rooney needs to start and score oh, and sven needs to stop being so fucking negative.

yes because ,lennon,downing and rooney coming on as subs the other night were very negative wasnt it

qualified before anyone else other then germany with everyone else starting to fuck up, outs it in perspective. efficient and seamless.

yes he has and why have a dig, he's got a damn sight more than that twat crouch

I wasn't having a dig, he's scored a lot in the premiership but never that many. There's no need to have a dig at our top scorer Crouch.

He hasn't found his form though, Owen at his best is one of the best finishers in the world but so far he's not been at his best and I'm sure he'd admit that himself. It's not surprising considering how few games he's played in 2006 but I hope he doesn't need many games to get back to top form.

 I think what BWB means is that Owen has never scored 20+ goals only in the Prem in a season....about which he is right..

Either way, last night showed, as always, it's not how you play, it's about winning.

Performing well and winning is the ultimate aim of course, but not every team can manage it all the time, in fact, very few teams do.  Chelsea just retained the title while being criticised for not steam rollering every team.

So far, only 1 team has put in two good performances and won both games, who is to say they won't also put in a less than impressive performance at some point?  It's rare for the winners of the World Cup to have not had at least a few less than inspiring games.  France stumbled several times before winning in 98, and even Brazil last time out were not setting the world on fire on their way.

I'm not sure we are good enough (even when playing pretty stuff) to win the thing anyway, but I'm more than happy for us to efficiently churn out wins, makes a change from making an arse of it at times.