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have to say im delighted with the team, two wide men in midfield, two attacking full backs, havent got much to worry about with andorra coming forward, 6-0!

I'd agree with that yeah - as long as we score before H-T this time.

Hmmm... 0-0, all the possession with no end product. Rooney is poor, Lampard and Barry have done little, Downing - not doing well enough.

Deary, deary me.

Shit up front. Rooney not in the game and Defoe not international quality. Booooooooo.

we'll still win 2-0 or 3-0

if they wanna hit long balls then get Heskey in there

Heskey for Defoe, and Cole for Downing.

Joe Cole 1-0

Quite right too.

Joe Cole 2-0

England Fans Chant: We hate Setanta :) :)

:D

Don't think Jon Champion will mention it though.

Not the best of games but we got the job done. started really well for the first 10 minutes. Then we went to our usual shitness for the rest of the first half. Two subs did the trick. Joe Cole was just who we needed i think. Croatia will be a lot more open as they won't be sticking 10 men behind the ball. Could be interesting.

Meh, it was still painfully dull and lacklustre... I don't expect fireworks but jeebus.

Meanwhile watching the Argies against the Paras - Ossie Ardiles is the pundit, and had a suspicious white mark on his forehead for a few minutes. Odd.

Anyone who's delighted to see the likes of James, Johnson, Downing, Barry, Heskey, Defoe etc playing for Englnad concerns me, cos they're all a bit shite.

What Dave said.

How Downing gets in the team is beyond, that bloke is utter pish.
Walcott played well though

Downing's not even been in good form for Boro. I really can't see why he has been picked over Ashley Young.

OK we won but should have won by a lot more, Yes Andorra played 9 men in defence however for the life of me why were we crossing to a 4'5 striker who had no chance of getting the ball. Rooney is shit and should be dropped. Others nothing to the squad at all.Absolute bloody waste of space. He has failed to live up to his billing of the next big thing IMO.

It was infuriating to see Defoe playing up front and we were crossing the ball to the box but their keeper must be about 6 foot and their defenders (all 9 of them) were taller than Defoe so he never had a chance.

On the postive side, Walcott played good IMO.

Might have helped if there has been a bit more urgency, movement and willingness to get inside the box from the midfield. Cole did it twice but was berated by Cappelo for dropping too deep thereafter. Lampard and Barry looked incredibly slow. Downing was outclassed. Walcott was quick but had little control or quality.

Of the defence, I think that Cole and Johnson (in the 2nd half) had the right idea by trying to run at people. Terry's braincell wasn't working and distribution was woeful. Why would you want to lump in forward from the back to a pair of dwarves up front if they are tipple marked by giants who were lying deep so that they couldn't be beaten for pace? Furthermore, why did we need a 4th defender? No need for the Klingon methinks.

Up front we looked absolutely toothless. Don't think we've got anyone better to bring in though. Thats the problem when you make your top league an international conglomerate !

If we only had the ability to pass accurately and had an understanding of where players were likely to move to and we might have scored a few more. If we had done then we might have convinced other teams that we are quite good. However, 2-0 away against the mighty Andorra ain't that good!

NMH

my mate spotted that as well. Strange.

Must admit it was a pretty crap performance by almost all the team, Downing should never play for England again, Barry was worth a go but the bollocks concerning his transfer to Liverpoo has fucked his form up...he shouldnt have played under the circumstances.

Walcott, Cashley Cole and Terry were the only players I would pick for the next game from the starters yesterday.

Why Joe Cole was not started is beyond me.

The starting team just was not good enough, Defoe, Johnson and Downing shouldnt ever play for England again.

Well the u21s have qualified for whatever they are trying to qualify for, so perhaps some of that lot can step up now.

Agbonlahor should certainly be in the squad at least.

Agree there Rich.

Terry was fucking awful. Johnson didn't do any worse than Cole, Cole can't cross a ball for shit. He'll never have that ability.

Walcott is worth keeping in there. He needs to develop and get some confidence going. Joe Cole should start the next game and I expect he will. I think Crotia will be a better game.

It's early days for Capello yet, hasn't been in charge for many games. I think he is trying to slowly implement changes rather than do them all at once and come off even worse. Trouble is, world cup is not far away.

 At this point in time, all Capello needs to do is qualify....which would be some sort of achievement in itself.  We now know that the Croats, are by some way better than England, so we have underdog status...reaching a po maybe as good as we can hope for.
 
 A draw in Zagreb would be very satisfactory...can't see it myself.  Jamie Carragher, who played in the 0-2, last time, pretty much sums the attitude of most England players, when he admitted losing with England didn't really bother him.

Why is it that all the pundits on the radio, and by the seem of it most of you on here, seem to think that crosses are by definition high balls played in to the box for a tall striker to head?

I think it's a consequence of the media being conditioned to believe that what Beckham was delivering from the right flank for all those years, usually from about 15 yards in from the half way line, were "crosses".

Crosses are not high hanging balls played into the area from anywhere on the flanks, they are square or better yet cut back balls played from the wide areas into the penalty area.

The most effective crosses aren't high balls at all they're low and hard, drilled into the 6 yard box from the by-line, that a quick little striker can nip onto and poke in at the near post.

It's a shame that at the top level of the game the drive towards turning all midfielders into pale imitations of Steven Gerrard have robbed us of any wingers capable of getting into that position and delivering those balls.

Most of us lot being Gazza, who's point was more that the high looping crosses were not going to work with Defoe up front, rather than Defoe being to tiny to get on the end of them.

Of course crosses can be high balls into the area, and of course they can be effective if played with precision and a bit of pace. They have been the staple supply of the classic English centre forward for years.

We no longer seem to have that type of centre forward though so your point are valid.

I'm not saying crosses can't be high balls, I'm just sayijng that isn't what DEFINES a cross. A cross is defined by the area of the pitch from which it is delivered, which is why I'm always pissed off by the the assertion that Beckham is such a great crosser of the ball. CROSSES ARE NOT DELIVERED DIAGONALLY FROM 40 YARDS OUT ON THE TOUCHLINE. That's a long ball. It might be an accurate and effective long pass but it ain't a fucking cross.

I know where you are coming from Lumps. IMO a cross is only a cross is when it is delivered from close to the touchline.

However, when you have a player like Beckham on the ball then he can whip the ball in from wherever he wants to.

I well remember Bodin and Summerbee delivering some lovely 'crosses" from deep, and nobody stood next to me was complaining about "Hoof ball" then. I think it depends on the player.

This discussion not dis-similar the the "Winger" or "Wide midfielder" argument. Again it depends on the player in that position.

Surely a cross is just a shortened term for a 'cross-field pass', therefore a cross into the box is a ball which come from the side of the pitch.

I'm not saying that England's punts into the box were good though, I thought quite the opposite.

Also i think Ashley Young should be in the squad as well

That was a fun weekend. Game on the pitch was a bit rubbish but we got there in the end thanks to Cole. Singing 'We hate Setanta' and 'BBC, BBC, BBC' was fun and the congregation of England fans in the main square off the Ramblas was a good atmosphere.

San Miguel is tasty. I am tired.

 Did you boo ?

Yes, they're only Premiershit players, I don't feel a lot of affinity to them individually, make 'em earn their millions.

 Excellent...I thoughtof you as being the TEF proxy booer.

wouldn't boo swindon unless it was extreme circumstances but with the likes of terry, lampard etc it's a bit different.

Should play 3-5-2 /5-4-1 against the croats. 3 solid centre halfs and heskey with cole dropping off. Drop rooney give him a kick up the ass

What is it with Rooney, he is a striker and strikers are supposed to score goals, he ain't scored for god knows how long yet he is still 1st choice.....put him out wide.

I think Owen should be in even if he is not properly fit let him do a job from the bench, and even Crouch he has scored a few at international level, it is clear Defoe isn't up to it, or even bring in Aggbolohor from the U-21's he seems to do well fro them and club so worth a go.

Rooney is the latest scape goat for an England team that does not have one good performer, blame every single one of them, not one of them matches there club form.

What has annoyed me the most is Capello initially saying he won't be picking players by names but on merit.  Thats utter rubbish so far.

I know what your saying lady but He dropped owen,cole,beckham more than any other manager has done and with the injurys he had no choice saturday. As for rooney being a scapegoat thats bollox the stats show 2 goals in 4 years and they both came in the space of 4 days. Thats not good enough.

I don't usually agree with DRS, mainly because he's a bit simple, but on this occassion I must concur with his analysis of the Rooney situation.

Going on form, I think Rooney shouldln't play up front because he's just not scoring goals. If he played further back in a more of an attacking midfield role I think he'd be a lot more effective.

My money's on Crouch and J Cole starting against the Croats and us playing 4-5-1.

Is Crouch in the squad?

 :D yeah, 3-5-2 worked a like dream away to Croatia last time.

Even if Rooney isn't scoring, the issue is there is nobody in the squad more capable. Defoe isn't good enough, Heskey the same and is past it. That leaves, um, er.

I

I think its because they've got better players around them when they play with their clubs

Crouch not in the squad, if they want to go with the big guy it has to be Heskey.

Cant say I am shocked by a fan of Liverpool jumping on a United player but the real fact is the whole squad has not done it for a long, long time.  We could name stats about every player in that squad and about the way they have played for there country.

The most consistent England performer when fit is Hargreaves. He holds his position, brakes up play, gives the ball and gets back into position. The big problem we have is our midfield and forwards not playing to their position - the biggest culprit is Rooney who chases after the ball like a 5 year old in the playground. This leaves us one less outlet when we get the ball. The other obviuos problem is the midfield where players drift in and out of position regularly - particularly Beckham who does a JPM in keeping drifting into the already corwded centre. 
The best 11 players do not make the best team. If these overpaid, useless tools can't do the job ( and they've consistenyl failed to do so ) then its time to pension off the "golden generation" and get in players who are at the very least positionally capable.

Liverpool fan? Yes the whole squad shud take the blame if u took time to read my initial post u would see i said drop him for a kick up the ass.

Isn't it about time that we looked at players from the championshit if prem players don't want to play as they care more abou the money their club pays them than they do playing for their country then picking players lower down at least they wopuld go out there and actually try and give it a real go as they would see it as an honour to play for their country.

Ok we may get close to winning someone buty at least we will see players giving their all for the shirt which is more than we get now.

I wuz there ( as indeed in Zageb ) - Joe Cole apart it was shite - but me and axs got merrily pissed sunday !

Ice Bar Ice Bar !

I ran into our new friends at the airport again on Monday, can't remember their names but the american and the south african, they were headed to Zurich i think.

Remember how well Rooney played v Turkey at the Stadium of Light in, what, 2004? Absolutely awesome. Please do it again Wayne.

Agree michael

That was Rooney's best year in an England shirt - four years on and he hasn't come close to matching it since, which is a shame.

What concerns me is that the headlines tend to be "who should Cappelo play alongside Rooney" when it should be or should have been "shouldn't we at least drop Rooney for a a game due to the fact he's a bit guff for England at the moment"

Luckily, as Reg has mentioned, many realise that we're the underdog for this and it's quite likely we'll struggle to get a point.