Thetownend.com

to show my support for israel, i will not be eating any pork on saturday.

i urge you all to do something similar.

your country needs you.

come on israel.

I can't bring myself to support Israel so I'll be on the side of Russia.

well said ben, bacon sarnies all round!

How come Israel get all rhe support why not Macedonia?

Probably because Israel stand a chance of a result.

   It should be easy for you as Ben is a good Jewish name

I could support Israel, not then again perhaps not :wink:

Skins off for the Israelis then?

All the I's on Saturday, Israel and Italy!!

if a team cant win through on their own then they dont deserve fuck all.the whole england thing is a fucking joke anyway, with that bafoon as manager for a start

Agreed!

So how come england didn't manage to beat Macedonia at home then?

FFS fella's this is half the problem with the english set up, thinking that some of these eastern european teams are so shit you've won before kick off.

Just because you may not have heard of many of their players doesn't mean they have no chance.

Shows a touch of arrogance imo.

B.O. - As for supporting Italy fair play to you, each to their own.

I also agree, however if Town were in a situation come the end of the season where we need Port Vale to do the business against Yeovil (two names out of thin air, don't check fixtures) for us to have a chance to make it into the play-offs then I'll be praying to God they do it - the same applies here, though perhaps England should have been the masters of their own destiny all along...



I'll be hoping you guys make it through, no disrespect whatsoever but if you guys make it out of that group it will be outstanding - England would probably be dead and burried by now in your group.

Also if Scotland make it through and we don't then the FA and the England camp may finally take a look at themselves and realise that it's hard work and commitment that is important.

We have got the players with the ability, that shows in the Champs League all the time but as soon as they take to the field in an England shirt they start to believe their own hype and stop making sure the basics are done right, which is criminal.

Its the same in most major footballing countries, but some very average players that have never really performed consistantly well in an England shirt are hailed as 'world class' by the dross media (sun etc) and everybody believes it. In truth only Michael Owen is world class and Beckham (not anymore), Gerrard, Lampard etc not so.

Hope our mutual friend didnt hear you say that!!! :soapy tit wank:

I will be showing my support for Russia on Saturday by drinking lots of Vodka before I get anywhere near Hampden!!! :beers:

scotland deserve to qualify.
england don't deserve to qualify.

So Gerrard is a "very average" player? .....so average that he was named in the European team of the year this year and was subject to a £30m+ bid from Chelsea a few years ago??  Lampards not in the same league as an all round player, but he's scored 20+ goals from midfield for the last 3/4 seasons

Remind me how your uber-captain Ballack got on last season? oh yes, he was shit wasnt he.

I'd define "world class" as being the best 3/5 players in the world in your position. Gerrard is one of the top 3/5 centre mids in the world currently. That said, the majority of the current England side are not world class, but there isnt a national side in the world that can boast more than 4/5 in my opinion

England have some very good players, the problem under McClown has been lack of tactical awareness, poor team selections, lack of leadership, lack of bottle

World Class to me means the top players (of course) in the world - if you were to put a squad together to play the best players from another planet, hypothetically speaking, then I'd have Gerrard in the squad, not so sure Owen would make it in though, then there'd be a couple of our defenders too I reckon - Rooney would probably get into the stand-by group of players.

World Class - performing to a high standard at the world cup
Has "uber-captain Ballack"- yes; he was one of the few players that dragged us to the final (along with Kahn) in 2002.
Gerrard- ummmmmmmmm nope
Lampard- ummmmmmmm nope
Owen - yes
Beckham - yes

Whatever Dach, if you can't see that Gerrard is one of the best in the world (also is someone who dominates games in the Prem which Ballack hasn't done once) then you're more deluded than I thought - either that or you're just so German that the thought of somebody being better than Ballack actually makes you physically sick?

I am not comparing Ballack to Gerrard, that wasn't the point
Ballack is over here for the money and more fool Chelsea for lining his pockets. Gerrard is good for Liverpool but a non-entity for England.

The point was that players shouldn't be labelled as world class, and that perhaps England don't have enough quality to qualify, not that the player don't put in the effort. + Other teams try harder against the so called bigger nations.

That's more like it, I still disagree about Gerrard though - I was at the Andorra game in Barca - which incidentally was colder than the alps were all season long - and you could see he was the only player out there with a will to make sure we won the game - in this respect he's similar to Ballack when he wears his German shirt.

That game epitomises England though, Lennon was out on the right wing and clearly had bags more pace than their full back yet he never once just knocked it past him and flew into the space behind him - Gerrard was the only player out there that was willing to go that extra mile.

Thats total bollocks.  So because Ballack had a good world cup in 02 (and I agree he did) that still makes him world class now?  El Hadji Diouf was great in 02, is he world class at anything other than spitting and wife beating?

And which world cup was Beckham good in exactly? '98 when he played 2 games befotre getting sent off?

What about Giggs, George Weah, George Best even? Not a world cup game between them. Which obviously means thaty wernt world class under your illogical teutonic rules

Can someone find the 5-1 game for me on youtube please? :D

If I was a Chelsea fan I would be pissed off with Ballack, he only seems to be fit when there is a Germany game on the horizon. He really doesn't give a damn about Chelsea it seems (similar to Owen & Newcastle). Having said that I think that he may well be passed his best now - I hope he proves me wrong but not to sure.

Dont ignore my points beacuase you were wrong herman :x

Thierry Henry isn't world class either then on that basis.

I don't think he is, he goes missing in the biggest games

I give up

which ones, Giggs - no not world class, Weah - maybe; George Best, an alcohol waster

Thats ridiculous. George Best never wasted any alcohol.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Is David Healy world class because he has scored so many goals in the qualifiers?

Now you're talking daft again - Giggs would have walked into both England's and Germany's first elevens pretty much every game that's been played over the last decade and beyond.  You cannot seriously think Giggs isn't world class - name me one left winger who has been better than him in the last 14 years?

No
my method revolves around World Cup performance (and may be a completely incorrect one, but it cannot be worse than that 100 greatest list)

It actually is worse than that top 100 list

Gary Neville isn't in it 8)

ANYONE GERMAN!!!!111oneoneone

we don't have many wingers just defensive players usually

Please someone actually watch that 5-1 match, instead of just the goals.

Then you'll see how that match could have quite easily finished 7-5 to either team.

The defences were all over the place.  My mate videoed from the beeb and kudos to Hansen for calling it prior to the match.  That may have ended 5-1 but was not the complete victory that it seems to have been assigned in the pages of history.

The english performance against the dutch in 96 was far superior to the germany match.

:ontopic:

Si I just had to check the topic then, you'd never have guessed that the last few posts are under the thread "Israel v Russia".  Beauty of the TEF.

meh

5-1 even Heskey scored, 5-1 Even Heskey scored

my thoughts exactly CT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BNkO9l318o

Dachau, have you even ever been to Germany?

Certainly went missing at Hampden :mrgreen:

Don't care whether the sweaties get through or not tbh, just hope England do.

We haven't got the best team, or the best manager, or the most attractive style of play, but it's my National team and I want them to do well.

C'mon the Yids!!!!

To be fair STA he was missing when he had that header in the last 5 minutes, but he did miss - thank f...

I cant wait till Saturday!!! Its gonna be fucking immense!!! :beers:  :mrgreen:

don't count your chickens!

Anybody see all that rubbish in the papers regarding Italy and the number 17. 17.00hrs kickoff on the 17th, what will happen?

Come on israel!!

No point in even considering the Euros now.  Apparently Israel are putting out a weakened side and their manager is quoted as wanting Russia to win anyway.

Politics will be politics unfortunately.

I don't think STA is counting chickens.  The thing with the Scots is it will be an immense day, guaranteed.  All day the fans will be up for it, singing drinking, having a blast.

Whether we win or not STA will have a day not to forget!

Now the evening may be "immense" if we get a decent result, but I expect even if Scotland lose it'll be a cracking night out in Glasgow!!

Mo'an the boys!

It was a Russian coach on the Israeli coaching team that said he wants Russia to win and understandably as he was born there.  No matter what players they put out Israeli players will never have a better time to put themselves in the shop window, if they perform really well and get a result in front of a massive audience then they could earn themselves moves away to better leagues for more money etc.  I think Israel will give them a game FWIW but I'm still unsure whether it will be enough to get a result, only time will tell.

Don't be so defeatist young lady.  

If Churchill had said "No point in thinking about winning the war now, we all may as well get used to sounding like arrogant emotionless nazi's" we'd all have user names which relate to concentration camps by now.

No matter what happens Jan we can be very proud of the way the Scots have performed in the qualifiers.  Beating Italy would be amazing but if we dont then I still have renewed optimism for the future for the Scottish national side and the big shift up the fifa rankings should mean a slightlier easier group in the World Cup qualifiers which is a little concellation.

Yeah to be honest this qualifying period has been a dream.  To beat the French twice, Ukraine at home, not to mention the other results that under Herr Vogts we would have come away with nowt has been fantastic.

I for one will be proud come 1845 on Saturday, even if we got a gubbin, we can still reflect on the last 2 years with a smile.

 8)

Me defeatist?  I support Irish Republic!  No expectations = no disappointment. Simple! :D

And it was definitely someone else in the Israeli camp I heard had said that, not the russian coach as mentioned.   To be fair, I just heard it in the media so its prob a load of rubbish anyway.

If you read the same utter garbage as me (Star / Sun) the back headline said Israeli coach wants Russia to win making you assume the manager wanted them to win then when you read further in you realise it was a Russian bloke working as a coach for Israel.

I heard the Israelli's are putting Jesus, King of the Jews up front and Judas in goal and David Baddiel on the wing.

Moses playing just behind the strikers can part any red defence.

Think I might be pushing the biblicalness with that one.

Thomas (one of their substitutes) is in the papers today, he says he doubts that Israel will get anything out of the game.

just be thankful we don't have to rely on palestine to beat russia...

If anyone thinks Isreal will actually even get a point then they are deluded. I hope i'm wrong but we are as good as out of this Euro.

The Israeli GK coach is russian.

And im not counting my chickens, Its gonna be a great day (and night) no mater what on saturday.

FWIW I still think we wont qualify and england will.

I think England will do it by the sking of McLarens alcohol flushed ball bag.  Meh and if England and the Eggs don’t qualify while it’s a terrible thing to say it’ll actually make the tournament worth watching in the pubs without all of the usual shit that follows England games nowadays.   :old:

Nothing personal, I live with 2 Scots and I have already had to put up with a load of crowing since you beat France, if you qualify and England don't it'll be hellish!! :evil:

Has DJ left for Glasgow yet??? :mrgreen:

To be fair B.O. I understand why you don't want Scotland to do it, they'll make your life hell if we qualify and you don't.

If I had to put my mortgage on it I'd say neither Scotland or england will do it.  If I  had to say who's more likely I'd still say england.

I cannot for the life of me understand people who are writing off the Israelli chances of getting a point btw.

Hopefully we both qualify. I always want the home nations to do well. Come on you Brits!!

fuck that, britain is pointless...

i hope the scots qualify simply because they deserve it.

They wont deserve it if they get less points than Italy and France

The most pointless post of the day goes to.....

...Colin Todd.

Thanks for stating the obvious Colin!!

As the underdog of the group the scots have done well, no denying it, they have outperformed expectations.  The favourites, Italy and France, if they qualify, will not have have the easy ride most would have thought at the start of the group.

I agree if we don't win tomorrow then we don't deserve to qualify but tomorrow's not all about the victory it's about putting on a good show and making the country proud, something some of the other home nations' football sides have failed to do in recent times!!

Alba gu brath!!!!

:goodpost:  :clap:

How dare you. There was a lot of interesting and thought provoking reasons behind my previous post.

I'll get back to you when I've worked out what they are :D

Aye

George Cohen's a retard

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7098446.stm

On what basis?  He's not saying England are great, just that we should really be beating the likes of Tinidad & Tobago and Macadonia by convincing margins. Which seems fair enough to me

Me too really - it's similar to Swindon coming up against teams lower than the Blue Square league - we quite rightly expect a win against these teams.

All he's saying is that we've been sh1t and something has to be done about it.

If Ferguson had had the England squad as his Utd. squad he probably would have won the league with them at least once in the last three years, something somewhere is going wrong...

for the love of god chaps, england are not world beaters, you get your ups you get your downs.  Macedonia are no whipping boys, none of the eastern block countries are, they're all tough teams to get results against.

If england stopped with this, "we should have qualified with ease" attitude the players might starting fighting for their shirts, and for their country so to speak.

england have stopped playing like a british side and lost the plot.

No one is saying we are world beaters. There is no evidence to suggest that we are even close

England ranked 11th in world
T & T  - 78
Macadonia -  75

Its not English arrogance to suggest we should be beating these teams (and beating them fairly comfortably) - its just realistic.  Just as anyone would expect the Czech Republic (9) to beat Dr Congo (79) or Quatar(84)

Some of T & T's players are of league 1 & 2 standard FFS.

We should have qualified with ease. The fact that we havnt under McLaren with broadly the same group of players as under Erikson is a damning testament to his lack of management skills

Any team with John Terry, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen in it should be able to get a result against Maecedonia. Not because Macedonia are crap, but because the English players are very good.

England are in the brown stuff now and they thoroughly deserve to be there for some of the hopeless performances they have put in. And yes, I think the media image of England being world beaters is to blame, but it doesn't mean the media is wrong in slating a team that loses to Macedonia.

Fuck me Colin, you don't take those rankings seriously do you???

They are an absolute waste of time.  That's coming from me who should be pleased that Scotland are ranked 13th best in the world, but I know that's a load of crap too.

Rankings should be abolished.


PS you didn't lose to Macedonia did you you won at their place and drew 0-0 at home.

I dont take them that seriously, but they are at least a vague indication of the teams relative standings in world football.  The point remains the same even if they are wrong by 10 positions (ie England are clearly the no 1 super team!!111one :wink: )

P.S. I never said we lost to Macedonia. Of course drawing 0-0 at home is a fucking great result though

"Qualification should have been a matter of course "

Why Croatia and Russia were always going to be in the running, england are no better than either of these sides.

I know you didn't mate, reevesy boy did.

At the moment that is correct.

It shouldnt be though, we have better players and if we had a semi competent manager we have the potential to be much better than that

George Cohen speaks as an old England player who played with pride for the country, and made the most of what he had got.

   Judgement on the likes of T and T should be made on the basis of their centre half, plated at the CG this season fro Gillingham who we should have beaten 10-0 and Ricky Shakes nearly got in their final 23.

He's on the Frankfurt Hahn to Prestwick flight as we speak! He's been going on about this game all week!! :roll:

Load of bollocks. How many times have we seen <insert whiny cunt England player's name here> throwing a strop because he didn't like the way things we going down. Fucking hell, even David Bentley had a fair old crack of the prima dona whip.

They don't know what it is to fight for their shirt, to display pride and play their skins out. As soon as they've signed for a top side and have won their big contract they've truly made it. England selection is merely a formality.

That's why players like Micah Richards are great for England, because they approach the game as if it's there to be won, not to go through the motions without passion and belief. They're not playing for themselves or their careers, they're playing for England. Unfortunately Richards will probably succumb to the same fate as Wayne Rooney as soon as the big money starts rolling in.

And the fact we should be qualifying with ease should make them play better, because frankly, they're embarrassing.

 :goodpost:

And that makes my post of load of bolocks because???

Isn't that what I've said, the england players need to get back to playing like english players, not fancy pre-madonnas.  Or have I misunderstood something here?

Come on Russia, we can't do it for ourselves so help us out!

israel currently winning 1 - 0 v russia.

my boycott of swine appears to be working.

Playing well too apprantly  :mrgreen:

Just imagine the headlines if the scoreline remains the same :

Barda shoots down Russia !!

1-1

Oh bugger....1-1.

Beat you to the post Summer  :P

Damn i'm quick tonight :wink:

I cant get to a TV, hows it looking? can only be about 10 mins or so left now isnt there?

Under pressure.  :?

Bugger, only to be expected though really I guess.

Yes 2-1

Yes 2-1

im shitting myself

GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

FUCKING GET IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

woo hoo.  ace.

I going on Wednesday too.  8)

God I wish I was going, I love going to England games.

Havent been for a few years, We are all but there now 3 points clear with a +8 goal difference!

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

We are such flukey fuckers,i really don't believe it!

Russia have looked awful,how the hell we have struggled in this group,it shows how shite we've been  :oops: Frankly we don't deserve to qualify but hey ho,back in our own hands now.Maclaren is going to be manager for a while longer,bless his tuft :soapy tit wank:

Shame we had to rely on Israel in the end ..but...hey what the fuck!

I dont care how we get there as long as we do!

GET IN! Got a day off thursday so on the piss wednesday night for me!  8)

oops my bad, 2 points clear with +8 goal difference  :oops:

Just a draw needed then unless Russia tank Andorra 9-0!

At least its back in our own hands now, if the players Wednesday dont put in a performance we dont deserve to go to the finals...end of.

leroy rosenior was loving it on the radio :D


watch us lose to croatio now

Actually, a point will do. If we finish on the same points, we qualify due to our head-to-had record against them.

I'm pretty sure we'll see the headline 'Golden Gol-an' tomorrow.

Well Croatia have now qualifies, so they in theory could play a reserve team on Wednesday.

i'm going on wednesday, i'm gonna get fucked up!  :D

Go Team Israel! If we don't at least get a point against Croatia McClaren  should be shot, perhaps not shot dead but enough to make him permanently retire from football mamagement. We do deserve to qualify from this group, yes we've played shit but all the other teams are shit too and Russia do not deserve to qualify any more than we do, they are terrible.

Plymouth Argyle would have qualified from this group, England really don't deserve another chance.

Poland are through, i got pissed in celebration, i can see ebi smolarek in the premiershit next season, immense, woop/

**cough**

Write off the eastern european sides at your peril.  Perhaps if you'd show them a little respect and realise every match is a battle your side would perform better.

I fully expect England to qualify now as they realise they're up against it.  However learn your lessons for the next qualifying period.

Why don't we??

If we get the result we need to against Croatia, we will be either the 1st or 2nd best team in the group, ergo deserving to qualify.

Fucks me off when people say that, it's not our problem if other teams can't do the business...

Agreed. By it's very nature a league table does not lie. Whoever finishes 1st and 2nd deserve to qualify, end of.

Who cares?! Leeds didn't deserve 3 points off us yesterday but it happened

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Yeah alright then mate.

Same as, got 4 tickets near half way line. Hopefully get into London about 3 and then have a few :beers: .

I was dreading it thinking it was going to be like a morgue as I really thought Russia would win. :D