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I'd play 4-5-1 / 4-3-3.

Drop Lampard (hes been shit) start rooney up front with Lennon and J. cole supporting from the wings. Beckham and Gerrard centre mid with Hargreaves holding.

I hope Neville gets fit soon as well, hes a far better right back than carragher.

Robinson

A Cole
Ferdinand
Terry
Carragher / Neville

Hargreaves
Beckham
Gerrard

Lennon
J. cole

Rooney

--------------Robinson------------
Carragher---Rio---Terry---Cole
------------Hargreaves-----------
------Lampard------Gerrard-----
Lennon----------------------Cole
-------------Rooooooney--------

Hell yeah.

Yep.

Just swap Lampard for Becks.

I agree about Lennon, he is ace, we need someone with his ability and to run at players on the pitch with Joe Cole

I'd play:



Sub Lampard off for Becks if he's not playing well, or change the system if it's not working.

4-5-1

Robinson

Neville/Carragher
Ferdinand
Terry
A.Cole

Beckham
Hargreaves
Lampard
Gerrard
J.Cole

Rooney

4-4-2 with Crouch and Rooney up front is best I think. Our worst player so far has been Ashley Cole, poor in every game so far but I wouldn't drop him for Bridge, hopefully he'll improve.

Trouble is, what do we do if we are losing and Rooney is knackered?

Bring on Walcot to win us the game? "no pressure son, but we need you to score twice in 20 minutes"

I'd agree about Ashley Cole though, hes been a shadow of the player he was in Euro 04. Not really his fault as like many of our squad hes not played much this year. Just pisses me off as he was the best left back in the tournament in 04.

If Rooney is knackered then bring on Carrick or Hargreaves and put Gerrard in Rooney's role. That can still be pretty attacking, also bring Lennon on.

Have a ludicrous Football manager formation creation.

Hargreaves mopping up just in front of the defence and advancing forward to provide cover when either Beckham or Cole drifts out wide.

Lennon in an advanced wide right role interchanging with Beckham to pull defenders out of position.

Rooney in the strikers berth.

Crunch in a forward role slightly withdrawn behind Rooney on the right with license to drift into a more traditional central striker’s role but also provide Cole with the option to go central if required.

I disaggree, I really don't think England are going to play football capable of winning the Cup if Crouch is in the starting line up.

I'm not saying I don't rate Crouch, but I just don't have faith that the rest of the team will keep the ball on the deck with him on the pitch - they all keep coming out and saying they need to change this, but still they lump it forward.

I'm also concerned though, that we'd not get the best out of Rooney if he's playing up top on his own, so I really don't know what to suggest myself.

Re. Theo, I'd have brought him on when Owen went off - we know what Crouch can do and if needs be we could have brought him on with 20 mins to go.

Last night the team had trained to play Rooney in behind a pacy forward in Owen, so why not just replace Owen with another pacy forward and keep the system the same as it was - also having already qualified it would have been a decent chance for the lad to get some experience - what if there comes a time when he HAS to play and he bottles it because there's too much pressure?

Crouch was on the pitch for most of the game yesterday and we didn't really play much long ball, most of the long balls against Trinidad and Tobago were actually for Owen to run on too.

There's no way Walcott should have come after 5 minutes yesterday, Crouch was the only choice.

Robinson

Neville
Ferdinand
Terry
Cole

Lennon
Beckham
Lampard
Cole

Gerrard

Rooney

I think we should deploy the"get somewhere near the box and fall over and hope we get a free kick"policy

Then why the hell is he there?  Is it so Sven won't get stick for not picking anyone other than Owen, Crouch and Rooney?  

If a player is picked in the squad then he should be seriously considered as good enough to get on the pitch at some point, if Crouch gets injured and Theo has to play then we're asking a toddler to go out and do his job with the fear that no-one can come in bail him out from the bench - at least last night he could have been replaced if it wasn't working.



There was no space behind T&T for the whole 90 minutes, so where was Owen supposed to run on to?

Do you think we could rush through a naturalisation (he's done his 5 years) appeal for Eric and then palm him off for Walcott?

Sven should've replaced Owen with Walcott against Paraguay and it is a bit stupid bringing him if he's not going to be played but replacing Owen in the 5th minute wasn't the time for his first appearance

Well that's why it was pointless trying it and generally just resulted in us losing possession but you can't blame Crouch.

I don't blame Crouch at all, that's what I'm saying.  It's the other players on the pitch that I'm blaming - I'm 100% sure that Crouch would much rather the ball into feet so he can bring other players into the game, but alas said other players seem content to play Sunday League football when he is on the pitch.  

If we were to use Crouch in the correct maner I wouldn't be against him being on the pitch at all, fact is though that we don't.

We have done at times. Against Jamaica we used Crouch well. To be honest I thought we played decent enough football yesterday, I mean it was better than Brazil have played so far and the goal was outstanding.

i agree Ben. best ive seen of us in this tornie by a long way. other teams (with the exception of Argentina) have hardly set the world alight either so im confident particularly as we can avoid the argies if they draw or win tonight

Quite, there were patches of decent play - pretty much all of them involving Joey Cole - the man I earmarked before the tournament as our best hope.  

We really should be getting the ball to him more, and then hopefully we'll see better football as a result.

After 45 minutes, Cole is then obvious to the opposition on the left, and is thus rendered ineffective (like the other night).  We need the same kind of outlet on both wings.

Everyone seems to be forgetting Paul Scholes....

he cant see at the moment.and hes retired.

that would be a good team, but sven will never EVER drop beckham from the starting line-up.

I'd like to see us play with a 5-man midfield, keeping hargreaves in to let gerrard & lampard get forward more, but then who do you play up front? crouch is probably more suited to playing as a lone striker but you can't really leave rooney out.

maybe the solution would be 3 at the back? ie...

--------------robinson---------------
---carragher--ferdinand--terry---
-------------hargreaves-------------
---------gerrard----lampard--------
beckham-------------------------cole
-------------------rooney-------------
---------------crouch-----------------

only problem with that would be that beckham & cole might have to sit back a little bit more though

...and the fact that svens a boring predictable cunt mean he wont change from a flat back 4 anyway  :roll:

End of the day Mr Walcott, you've been picked for England, your a pro footballer, get out there and do it.

I'd start the match against Ecuador like this..

Robinson

Neville/Carragher
Ferdinand
Terry
A. Cole

Beckham
Hargreaves
Gerrard
J. Cole

Rooney
Walcott



Hargreaves would be the holding player with Gerrard pushing on. Walcott would start up front with Rooney and if it fails you could bring on Crouch or bring on Lampard and revert to 5 in midfield.

....well he cant exactly, just get out there and do it....if the manager doesnt pick him

I still like the idea of playing Crouch in a slightly wide berth up front allowing Cole a slightly more central role and giving him an outlet wide left.

As good as he was the other night I couldn't help but notice a few times after a lot of decent work going past players he then opted for the safe option in the middle.  Crotch has looked quite good when he's chased out wide, beat a few players and kept possession.

Dazzza old boy, you've lost the plot matey.

rooney drops off and links with the midfield, crouch needs someone to play off him and chase his knock downs. i think we should leave crouch as an impact player when we need him.

I agree with the formation at the moment with most but i think we should play Beckham in the middle behind Gerrard and Lampard, granted hes not a tough tackling holding player but attack is the best form of defence and attacking it looks fantastic. with aaron lennon playing as a winger on the ring and joey cole playing as well as he has done hopefully then beckham can spray balls outwide from the middle, it also gives lampard and gerrard a licence to get forward as we have so wanted them both to have for so long.

the only downside is rooneys right up top and not really linking with the midfield as much as normal. Its not ideal, but then no formation is at the moment because we have lost owen and the only like for like replacement we have is walcot whos too unexperienced to start (although he should really have clocked up about an hours worth of footie now in this world cup if sven knew what he was doing, plus if he took defoe instead of loverboy hargreaves we would have an experienced replacement.)

so here it goes my lineupo vs ecuador......

....................Robinson....................

Carragher  Terry  Ferdinand  A.Cole

....................Beckham.....................

Lennon   Gerrard   Lampard   J.Cole

.....................Rooney.......................

Stevo - Do you remember th game V Northern Ireland? And more to the point where Beckham played?

yes.

i seem to remember he was the only player that played half decent. the whole media questioned sven after the game that maybe it was beckhams best position but it was wrong for the team and that sven was just doing it because beckham is his lover.

it didnt go wrong because beckham was in the middle vs northern ireland, more to do with owen being small and isolated up front on his own and wayne rooney being wasted on the left hand side of midfield.

bollocks.

Playing Beckham there led to the Gerrard and Lampard hardly touching the ball.

Beckham might look ok there, but at the toal expense of the rest of the team ie. 2 of our more gifted and likley to score players hardly tought the ball because becks is pinging 50 yard balls over their heads.

I don't understand tactics.

There.

I said it.

And I reckon there are loads of others like me.  'Down the pub with the lads' I can regurgitate (sp?) stuff I have heard from Hansen and Gray etc all day long and sound like I know what I am talking about.

But I don't really.

That is all.

 8)

if beckham has any sense he will mix it up.

its a different situation because lampard and gerrard will be getting forward more to support the attack.

I also dont think the system was the reason as you said gerrard and lampard didnt get involved as much as they should have. its more to do with the fact that the northern ireland midfielders realised the only chance they had to do something in the game would be to close these players down quickly as they have a tendencey of striking from far out or creating something specail.

it was about cutting them off as best they could, i cant see say brazil or argentina adopting this policy can you?

rooney isn't fit enough to lead the line on his own, and even if he was he just isn't that kind of player.

ironically, darren bent played most of last season as the lone striker and scored a shed-load of goals doing it, yet he was left at home.

let's not forget how well we played 1st half against sweden, no real need to change that formation. though i would rather see gerrard in ahead of lampard: he's a far more complete player.

I think you're right about Rooney but even if Bent was there it would be a pretty bizarre decision to drop both Crouch and Rooney, our two best strikers with Owen out so I'd don't think Bent would get to start anyway.

I think we've got two realistic options 1. play Rooney as a lone striker and Hargreaves as a holding midfielder which is ok but not really where Rooney's at his best or 2. play Crouch and Rooney which allows Rooney to play in his best position but compromises Lampard and Gerrard a bit.

I prefer two myself.

im just trying to make the best of the bad sitation and belive me it is bad....the other ideal thing to do would be to do what sven will do but with carrick instead of hargreaves.

any formation which hargreaves is in, isnt are strongest side.

idealy we would have either darren bent or jermaine defoe to step in now, unfortunately sven is a prize cunt.

Thing is, Bent is shit.

If either Defoe or Bent were there now I wouldn't want either of them to start though.

As much as I like Defoe he's not had a great season and Crouch is a better player. He'd be a good option to have on the bench though.

Not bothered about Bent not being there, he's still unproven, maybe slightly more proven that Walcott but not much.

Svens an idiot for not taking Jermain Defoe....


Rooney isnt match fit, and Crouch isnt a world class centre forward [not saying Defoe is, but Crouch is no Owen) and they are our only options.....

pls explain to me what defoe done this year to warrant being taken to germany.imo opinion the team should be

                                     robinson

carragher/neville          rio              terry                    cole

                                    hargreaves

beckham                      lampard              gerrard           cole

                                    rooney

we need crouch on the bench to come on if need be.if we start with both and one gets injured we are fucked so might aswell play safe.realistically if you were the opposition would you prefer to play against crouch or gerrard,lampard,cole and rooney running at you..the latter wont happen with crouch in the team

please explain to me what walcott has done this year to warrant being taken to germany

please explain to me what hargreaves has done this year to warrant being taken to germany

please explain to me what jenas has done this year to warrant being taken to germany

please explain to me what bridge has done this year to warrant being taken to Germany

Jermain Defoe has lots of Premiership expirence, has scored a few goals, has played at international level and was in the squad for all the qualifiers, that instantly makes him a better option that Walcott

Jermain Defoe should have been taken purely because he is a striker. It doesnt even have to be Defoe, it could have been Bent or even Andy Johnson. The fact is Sven didnt take enough strikers.

Owen and Rooney werent fit enough and Walcott has never even played in the Premiership and Crouch isnt good enough to start. Yes he is a good player, yes he is different, yes he deserves to be in the squad but id rather he was a super sub that starting...

Now with Owen well and truely fucked, we have even less options.

Sven didnt take enough strikers

gerrard cole and lampard scored more goals than defoe.bridge has been taken as a last resort in case carragher cannot replace cole.jenas i agree and walcot i agree..hargreaves dont be a sheep dv he is a good player bayern are no mugs and can recruit the best if they want but are more than happy with him because he is good at what he does..my point is that with oh in the middle we have players who i think are more capable of scoring goals than defoe,bent,johnson.ie cole lampard and gerrard

but you still need strikers....

Of course all the midfielders mentioned score more than Defoe, I expect they all played more than Defoe as well.

My point, isnt about what he has, or hasnt done....the fact is we only have no world class match fit strikers....which isnt going to win us the world cup

but it would still be a waste they wouldnt come on anyway,defoe has never done at international level,nor has bent johnson.there are no other strikers u can take ..i would rather take robbie fowler than defoe

then take Robbie Fowler...the fact remains....two injured strikers, Peter Crouch and Theo Walcott is not a striker force that will win you the World Cup.

That much was clear from day one, now with Owen properly injured that leaves us one unfit striker, Peter Crouch & Theo Walcott...thats not enough

rooney is ok dont panic dv

Rooney is only one man though....

good one man though :wink: