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Anyone else feel that tonight will be a very strong test for England?  Personally I think we will get a win, but it won't be easy.

Didnt they draw with us in England last time?

Yeah, 2-2 at St Mary's, Seaman let one in from a corner.  I watched it in a bar in cardiff which was also showing Wales beat Italy on another screen.  Not a good night.

Not sure why but not up for this one! Think I will watch it while running at teh gym.  Never felt like that about england before

It's a potential banana peel job... A draw in Macedonia wouldn't end our world but we need to really be aiming for max points when going alongside Russia and Croatia.

get in, get three points anyway possible and get out. it can be as scrappy as possible but you have just got to get the job done in places like this.

Macedonia fans have been warned about racial abuse for tonights game.  Apparently it has happened several times before with them.  Lets hope they're not pathetic enough to do it again.

Judging by your choice of avatar it seems you must have a soft spot for blackmen. :shock:

How constructive........

 :fishing: Surely!?!?!?!

Just think Shakes is ace as a player, probably the same reason why you have Roberts as your avatar Rich. Unless you have some fetish for welsh men we don't know about.

I'm staying out of this one!

People should try and understand that In Eastern Europe(As British people call it) we have a different attitude towards black people. It is not really considered wrong to shout abuse at a black person like it is in England.

I was backing you up on the previous comment!

But yes... yes I do love the Welsh.

I go out with a Bristolian don't I?

 :wink:

Are Welsh people nice? Peter is trying to learn about them.

 :mrgreen:

 :shock:  :fishing:  :shake:

I'm sorry to hear about that.  :?

Sadly for them Petra, most welsh people are idiots. I'm sure Peter will learn this given time. There are some exceptions though, Christian Roberts is a very nice man.

You are very pretty by the way, do you have a boyfriend? :oops:

Welsh people are almost exactly the same as English people.  To differentiate between them gives credence to the claim that wales is a real country, which it is not.

UEFA have said that if it does happen again they will kick them[and other countries] out of International competions,can't see it happening,UEFA are so full of shit  :x

Unless it's England of course.

Anyway, England will walk this, Sven has gone remember.

FAO: Whoever is Petra.

I like the constant wind up undertones of this new alterego of yours. Personally i find him/her less convincing than barry.

its only on flippin Sky isnt it?

Alas, that is correct.

Ridiculous isn't it.

:evil:  Stupid Sky. Grrrrrr

I think we will win but I have no illusions taht it wil be a walk in the park. 2-0 or 2-1 to us

As long as it's better than that Azerbaijan 0-1 England fixture, I'll be happy... Sure it was a windy day but what a boring match that was!

Putting competitive fixtures on SKY is plain wrong IMO.

I quite like the Sky coverage

It's not that it's particulary bad... It's just that I think competitve national team football should be available to the general public and those who choose to pay for the SkySports package.

I'm going down the pub so I'm sorted!

I think it's a secret ploy to get people to go to pubs

Possibly  :D

Scotland beating the Lithuanians

yup im going to have to go to the pub and drink coke :x

Welcome to my world!

I've got Sky and I'm not watching it.

I've got Sky but I've been mainly watching France vs Italy. Hopefully Aaron Lennon will come on and liven the England game up a bit

England always think they are so good but they are not :soapy tit wank:  Slovakia is 3-0 down though :boohoo:  :boohoo:

Wooo! Crouch. 1-0.

Hes such a shit player as well  :D

Everyone thinks hes amazing because of his goal record.  However once he starts playing decent defences from decent teams, his goal to game average will go right down

I can't stand him, but while he is scoring a few I'm reasonably happy. He just doesn't look like a footballer, and like you said the goals he has scored have been against the likes of Jamaica and Andorra.

Alan Green is another one, complete twunt. Just put the radio coverage on, heard the goal and turned it straight off again. Quite possibly the most annoying commentator ever, on par with John Barnes' punditry on channel 5.

Germany are beating San Marino  11-0,  now thats the way to win   :D

You gotta feel sorry for San Marino.
They get arse raped in every game they play.

13-0 FT what a result. Thats how you beat a team that have only been a team for 20 years, played 80+ internationals and only won one of them agains lichtensctien 1-0.

Not a dodgy 5-0 win. hehe

finished 13-0. Why are they allowed in it?

A good professional win for England really.  Macedonia are an up and coming nation who dont forget drew with Holland twice in their last qualifying campaign.  Overall the result is what counts though

 Typical England win, just enough done in some festering corner of the former Ottoman empire.  Fair play to McClaren I expected less.

N Ireland beating Spain 3-2    :shock:  :shock:

Oh really. :roll:

That really is a complete load of shite. The guy who has scored 11 goals in his last 10 games for England, you simply don't get that record without being a great player and he is a great player, how much more proof do you need. He played fucking well tonight too. He's scored goals against loads of decent defences, all the top premiership teams - Chelsea, Man United etc, for England the only reason he hasn't scored against so called decent teams is because England rarely play decent teams, this is the same reason why Rooney has only ever scored against one decent team for England and I'd say he's still pretty good.

He could not score for England for his next 30 games and he'd still have a very impressive goals to game ratio. It's amazing you still get people this clueless.

Anyway, Northern Ireland beat Spain 3-2.  :shock:

Dodgy and 5-0 win really don't go together.

Crouch is rubbish, anyone can sit up front and kick a ball in the net, very few of the goals he has scored were very good, and none fantastic, he does nothing with the ball apart from some step overs which look silly with his lanky leggs, but at the end of the day he does score goals and if he keeps scoring goals he will stay in the team.

It's amazing how prejudiced people can be about some one just because he looks like a terminally ill school boy :shock:

Crouch is a decent player - FACT!

So how many goals have you scored at international level then? Actually most of Crouch's goals for England have been very good goals, both the goals against Andorra were top class as was the one tonight. Jermain Defoe is a decent player but has only scored 3 in 18 games for England, Crouch has one of the most impressive scoring records in international football because he is fucking good. It's as simple as that.

But you'd have more chance of getting a blowjob from the pope than getting some muppets to realise that.

Congrats due to  Northern Ireland.....just goes to show what can be achieved with up and at em football, against a bunch of fancy Dans,

   Healy is a bit of a curio, in that he scores a fair few fro Ulster, when they don't get many, but has never had much of a chance at Prem level.

Agree... Must be frustrating for the fans to get thumped by Iceland then go on to beat better teams.


Macedonia away was never going to be high scoring... Because that's not how we do it, unfortunately.

Didn't seem much different to the Sven style of play today. I know it's only his 3rd game but it's clear as day that he is from the Eriksson staff.

A wins a win though I guess.

Big bloody deal.  That man from Saudi has the world record for international goals because hes scored shit loads of goals against shit teams.  Does it mean hes amazing ?

Crouch is a handy squad player, but for me personally, he will get found out once hes put up against a decent defence.  He lacks pace and his only major asset is his height.   Once he plays against a decent back 4, who know when to jump for a header, and also work as a defensive unit then Crouchy will find it hard to score.  Just my personal opinion.

You've already been proved wrong though, as I said he's scored against loads of decent defences, and it's them that've been found out not him.

Anyone fancy the Scotch's chances this year?

Can't see them managing it in such a tough group but I think they may give the French a bit of a headache

I'd like to see Scotland qualify and Italy not even make it through.

They kept on and on tonight about Crouch not scoring against decent defences - but he plays for Liverpool! If you can score on a pretty regular basis in the Premiership against the defences, you should do alright at international level too.

Will take the result tonight, three points is all that mattered. They really do need to sort this qualification lark out though, Germany thumping San Marino 13-0 proves there needs to be some sort of seeding in the qualifiers whereby we don't have to play all these crap teams. Wouldn't mind if there were only a couple of them in there, but there's not more than a couple of decent sides per group and qualification for those teams is nearly always a formality - trim off some of the crap and save everyone alot of time and effort.

if you're on about Ali Daei, who played(?) for Iran, then he played in europe for a long time, so he can't be that rubbish

Or Al Jabber, who played for Wolves.  They're not normally allowed to play outside their home country without permission from the Prince don't you know.

I wouldn't :shake:  Although a draw against Lithuania and losing to France is a bit of an inauspicious start for the Italians.I'm pretty sure they are a bit off the pace seeing as the Italian season doesn't start till this weekend[at last!!] :D

The Northern Irish did brilliantly,its [almost] always great when the bigger nations lose to the smaller ones,not so great when its England of course.As for our game, it was tripe, but we got the result can't ask for much more than two out of two.

In the premierleague last season he only scored 8 goals in 32 games,  1 in every 4 games   Not exaacyly prolific.  In total he scored 13 goals in 49 apperances in all competetions   -  again, not exatly a world beater.

Crouch may not be a world beater but hes better than Defoe. :|

To be honest I find some of crouch's control and flicks remarkable considering how tall he is. Hes a good player who fully deserves to be in the England team with Rooney banned and Owen a crip.

My twopenneth:

Game - Yes it was a dull scrappy affair. Yes we should be too strong for them. But Macedonia are no push overs. They are well disiplined and their results largely reflect this. They drew with Holland twice in the world cup qualifying just gone. A win is a win.

Players:

Robinson - Pre world cup I though he was very solid. Since then he has looked a bit dodgy to me.

Downing - I hope McLaren wakes up. He can put a good ball in but can't beat a player.Ever. Beckham is better at doing this than him, though I am not calling for a recall.

Lamps/Gerrard - Still don't think they are effective together.

Hargreaves - Boy was I wrong about him. He has limitations, but his sheer work rate and ability at getting in the face of the opposition more than justifies his place.

Defoe- For me has only shown why Swen left him at home. too lightweight and  ineffective.

Crouch. Has done as much as he can scoring goals aplenty. I have reservations about him though. His pace is slow. He is rubbish at heading constantly fouling to get the ball despite his size.  No arguing he is a handful but I am not convinced he would work against the better defeneces. Horses for courses I guess.

Crouch for England has scored (yesterdays statistic) 11 goals in 14 appearances.  As long as hes getting the goals he deserves to be in the squad.  He was unlucky yesterday as ref wouldn't leave him alone.

I would much rather see Crouch and Johnson up front as I don't really rate Defoe.

downings just a left footed beckham, only not as good. once joe cole gets fit again, im sure he'll be out on the left instead.

Including his England games last season he scored 19 goals, not a bad total at all and he has 8 already this season, in just 7 games. Over his career he has averaged better than a goal every 3 games, you're clutching at straws.

And lets not forget that two of his England goals came against the current european champions. He is the first ever England striker to score more than 10 goals in a year anyway and that achievement speaks for itself.

My team did well : San Marino 0-13 Germany  :D

I never thought I see the day we scored double-figures. Why do San Marino bother?

Batch - I agree that Downing isnt really very good. If anyone last night didnt look international class it was him.

him and defoe piemonte

Terry was MOTM for me.  Defended well at all times and make some crucial clearances.  I agree with the comment about Downing though, not up to scratch.  I also was shocked to find out that Lennon was only 19. Had him down as being in his twenties.

Downing is my new scapegoat. He's had a chance, and he's been very poor. Kieron Richardson should have been brought on at half time (and that's saying something).

I still want to see Lampard left out too. I didn't realise he was playing until the ball hit his fat arse and his attempted shot was scuffed to Crouch. Stevie G in the middle, Lennon on the right. Thank you.

agree what you say about lampard but i would be interested to see joe cole in his position ..just to see what its like he scores as many as lampard from out left

I agree Downing and Defoe were a bit disappointing, Joe Cole and Rooney should be back soon though.

still playing at such a slow tempo, when the premiership is played so much faster...

As for Crouch, world class - no, brilliant technical player - no. Effective - yes....

He's not the classiest, or most talented player but he is effective.

However, dont think you can read too much into his England scoring record, most have come against teams that would struggle to beat non-league teams......like Oxford.

Regardless though of goals scored/ratios/stats....hes an effective player

I wouldn't either. I live with 2 scots, 1 who goes to every game with the Tartan Army. I have given them such stick about being rubbish that could get thrown back in my face!

I notice we are playing Israel away in March, anyone know where this is likely to be? If in Holland I may try and go.

Luxembourg played Holland on Saturday and from now on the Dutch are my second favorite international team. They brought thousands across and their fans are top class, possibly the best in the world in my opinion.