Thetownend.com

...is the england game on?!?!

setanta, as is not scot norn iron (that's on Sky).

I'm watching Scotland vs. Norn Iron.

SCAB

For all of us that dont have Setanta.......

http://bitcast-d.bitgravity.com/justintv/static/widgets/jtv_live.r6081.swf?channel=barcelonaecuador

click any link that says media player and you dont need to download software for it, playing fine for me.

Baros  >:(

How are we playing? I'm watching Frasier now - I tried, but International friendlies are quite tedious.

I honestly had no idea we were playing. Too much exciting olympic stuff on to worry about crappy football.

I had forgotten until this afternoon - I'd have probably watched it had the BBC had the rights.

Its an absolute joke. BBC or Sky should have the rights!

 :D How are Sky any different to Setanta?

Its because you have Sky isnt it?

1 down, bring back McClaren!!!

I was thinking the same. I can't remember the last time England played out an entertaining friendly.

Thats better!!

We are shit.
Keep the manager, get rid of the players

I see Brian Barwick  (FA cheif exec) is off at the end of the season.

England have a midfield with as much pace as, erm, me. Gerrar and Beckham on the wings, WTF. And Defoe will never be good enough but we are that devoid of striking optons we are stuck with him.

Oh, and the goal was down to Terry lettiing Baros turn.

Lastly, Setanta are the shittiest company ever when it comes to cancelling. fact.

Copy and paste from other thread but  :D

Can't be much worse than England tonight.

Gerrard on the wing and no Joe Cole in the team? Lampards done nothing, take him off whack stevie G in the middle with Barry and get Joe Cole on the wing.

Glad Heskey is on, bit of physical presence up front.

(Joe Cole isn't injured is he?)

Oooops. 2-1. James playing musical statues though it was a good free kick

I still would have liked to see Agbonlahor in the squad....

Kazakhstan 3-0 Andorra   :D

Borat will be happy.

Agbonlahor needs to be in the squad at least. We're going nowhere playing the same core players.

James is comedy!!  (not in a good way)

Calamity, enough said.

Funny old things these friends - Italy were 2-0 down at home to Austria, back to 2-2 now.

The lull in keepers is a long term worry... But big teams aren't prepared to play English keepers so we're not going to see changes any time soon.

ben foster will be the next long term england keeper

Joe Hart is a good keeper and based on today, better than james!

I've seen Hart play many a dodgy game for 'Citeh' - but he is exception at the moment.

James' domestic stats do not lie - he has an outstanding record... just not for England.

Jesus Christ Lampard got the boos big time.  Was shit tonight. (not that Im justifying the boos  ???)

we need 2 proper fucking wingers Ashley Young on the left, James Milner on the right, time and time again its the same players being shite of the wing, gerrard, cole, downing bentley, lennon

2-2 - a scrappy equaliser fit for us!

yeah 2-2. We'll win the world cup now.

Oh, wait.

As long as it isn't used to gloss over the fact that England were woeful!

Although it quite obviously will  :-[

"it's early season" will be used too.

we have no decent strikers, yet go back a few years and the likes of Andy Cole, Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright and Stan Collymore all top class players who didnt even get a look in cos we had so many good strikers like shearer and sheringham etc

Need a goalscorer for sure. Disapointed, agbonlahor should of be given a chance. To be fair JPC, Gerrard isnt a winger.

isnt that the point tho flea, why is he playing there? hes been played there a few times and been shite everytime, so lets change it!!!

Agbonlahor is another little one isn't he? Is he any better than Defoe?

We need a decent big one. A good big one will always beat a good little one, as I heard John Inverdale say the other day. Though to be honest he also said that he thought Usain Bolt could do 100m in 9 seconds so maybe I shouldn't listen to him.

england are to predictable, we need to bring something new to the team, pace of Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor would bring that something new

Great shout, Young and Agbonlahor theyve got a good partnership.

we missed a trick not getting Mourinho in as manager when McClaren was sacked.

I didnt watch the match but im assuming it was like every other England friendly.

The core of our team James, Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney dont perform, I'd drop practically all of them....

Get them out the squad give them a kick up the arse...

Jose never wanted the job, he wants a club job with the day to day running of a club

Fabio is better than Mourinho anyway.

Maybe but I expect the right deal financially would have seen him give it a go.

But Fabio is better than Mourinho anyway.

i dont think he has money worries!! he knows when he gets older and wants to slow up on the work load he would get the england or portugal job at the snap of his fingers

ashley young isnt far off. he'll give us balance.

dunno about milner though bessie.

he will give natural width tho bessie, we need to experiment cos we do the same every game and its very clear it doesnt work, thats what friendlies are for, try the likes of Milner and see if they can cut it

I would not mind seeing us start like this one game

                           James

Richards     Ferdinand      Terry     A.Cole

                        Hargreaves   

                Gerrard           J.Cole 

Agbonglahor          Crouch          A.Young

Green

Richards
Woodgate
King
Shorey

Bentley
Carrick
Barry
Young

Abonglahor
Ashton


fuck it, change the whole damn team!

  The one good thing that should have comeout from the Euros, is the realisation, that we're not very good.

  Czechs are rated higher by FIFA and it showed...qualifying would be a decent achievement...going to Zagreb will require total commitment...anyone seeing our present lot being arsed. No. Nor do I.

Only saw some of the second half highlights and we did well to sneak a draw from the look of it. We just lack any directness at all. Why Ashley Young isn't playing, nobody knows. Thought the only player who lacked the urgency and tried to get anything going was Joe Cole.

That's only my breif impression from the few highlights I saw though.

Andy Townsend summed it up for me - nothing has changed since Capello took over, nothing.

I'm going to the Andorra away game and I really hope for some improvements before that because the Croatia one straight after will be bloody tough.

First signs of disharmony here ... you should consider getting Relate counselling before it's too late.

What a loada bollocks the starting XI is essentially right, just a few little changes is what's needed.  Swift, over-reactive changes won't win us the World Cup.  A lot of players who can perform in the Premiership choke on the big stage.  What makes you think Ablongahor, Ashton, Young etc. is better than Downing, Johnson, Defoe etc...

For me I'd now have:

GK: Foster
DR: Richards
DL: A.Cole
DC: Terry (capt)
DC: Ferdinand
MR: Shaun Wright-Phillips
ML: J.Cole
MC: Barry
MC: Gerrard
FC: Rooney
FC: Owen
(when all fit)

Not that revolutionary, but think SWP provides that out-fashioned quick winger we need, and playing Foster (or another young keeper) gets us ready for the future... 

The current team wont win us the World Cup either...

Those players are not good enough in my opinion.
I would keep the rest - goalkeeper, no idea, which was once our strongest position is now a complete joke.
Sound liks a good midfield, but I would have Gerrard in their still and Joe Cole.
The forward line-up of Abonglahor and Ashton I believe would be spot on.

You're probably right, in some cases.

Michael Carrick should be more than good enough. He is the best passer of the ball in the Premiership and Manchester United have taken two titles and a european cup since they signed him. Of course that isnt all down to Carrick himself but alot of proper Manchester United fans will sing his prasies since he signed.

Robert Green has generally done a really good job at West Ham and is no worse than some of the others and unlike the always mentioned Ben Foster, Green at least plays every week. Same case can be made for Joe Hary and Scott Carson.

I'd put that team out just to prove a point to the bigger names who dont perform. On paper our team was stronger than Cheltenhams on saturday but they wanted it more.

England are not a good team we cant out play teams so we need to add a bit of English steel and out battle teams and want it more. The current players are so used to playing passing football that none of them want to role their sleeves up and get stuck in.

Also, performance a side a draw against Czech Republic is a good result because simple they are better than us. Dont know why anyone expected us to win. Its like a Middlesbrough getting a draw against Everton or something. We got a draw with a side that are better than us.

sam old england,same old shit!
why the fuck is beckham in the team? and what the fuck is going to be learned from it?
get the young uns in and play a system that works.the whole reason lampard etc are shit for england is because there is no set pattern to the play.
i honestly dont give a shit about international football anymore

Ferdinand and Terry don't look solid.
Our entire midfield looks terrible.
Rooney is shocking for England at the moment.

I'd sort these problems out if i were Capello.

good idea, dunno why Capello didnt think of that

Chances are put out a team of mediocre players other than the 'world class' players then what they mediocre players lack in skill they will make up with endevour

I'd would certainly see a team of Robinson / Green, Richards, Ferdinand, Woodgate, A Cole, Bentley, Gerrard, Hargreaves, J Cole, Crouch, Agbloyhor would do a more then adequate job.

But some of those will not get a chance through the insistance of playing the likes of Rooney, Lampard etc due to them playing CL football every week.

Agbloyhor?? sounds a mix between Agbonlahor and Adebayor what a player that would be!!

  I think we'll go to Zagreb and try and play catenachio.

   Capello alluded yesterday to our susceptibility on the counter attack, best way to sort this is not to attack.

  Our last visit, saw us trying to play with 5 at the back, and a midfield of Carrick, Scott Parker and Fat Frank with Crouchy and Rooney up top....unsurprisingly we got overrun in midfield.

  Pack the midfield...play Heskey up on his own, and maybe bring on Rooney for the last 20.

  Not sure how far Hargreaves is from fitness, but he's one of the few with fighting spirit
 Fat Frank should be nowhere near getting picked.