Montenegro V England

[DiV]

If you had 3 good teams in one group it would be much more competitive.

Same with 3 lesser nations - they'd all see it as their chance to make it to the finals.

Seeing England have to battle Holland for qualification and seeing Lithuania battle Austria for qualification would be a much better and a more competitive set of games that England/Holland who know they are going to qualify against Lithuania/Austria who basically have no hope.

[Bewster]

It has to be said that after the debacle at the last world cup my passion for England has taken a significant nose dive. I think we have a team of overpaid prima-donnas. Rooney pisses me off, as does Lampard, Terry, Cole. Barry is the new Vinny Sideways, Bent is a cart horse - I could go on all day.

Rather watch town play anyday of the week.

[reeves4england]

Slightly off topic, but I notice Howard Webb had to suspend the Greece vs Croatia match for a while last night becaue of crowd trouble. If we had these scenes at a game in England they'd come down on us like a tonne of bricks. I predict a €17 fine... which in fairness is probably about all anybody in Greece can afford

[stfcinbmth]

Just seen the result. Ha, ha, wankers

[skin_im_buzzer]

Same old England, same old problems.

Apart from the two goals, we failed to keep possession of the ball. The likes of Terry, Hart and Cole needlessly pumped the ball long - which is madness when we're 2-0 or even 2-1 up.

It's a simple game. If we keep the ball, the other team won't score. So Rooney gets frustrated because he miscontrols one of the few long balls that actually gets to him and he lashes out in frustration.

It's always the same issue. At the world cup, we looked tired because we couldn't keep hold of possession - not because players were tired/jaded after a long season. Keeping the ball is less tiring than chasing and pressing when the other team is in possession.

I feel so downhearted as an England supporter, as the only way I see us changing is if we have Guardiola, Wenger or Ferguson managing the England team. No-one else would be capable of teaching a squad to play with a completely different mentality.

We also have to change the way we approach the game from grass roots level - so that from an early age, kids are taught to keep possession and play in a short-passing style and with the necessary technical ability.

Until this happens, the rest of the world will continue to improve and eventually our frantic kick and rush style with reliance on long balls will see us continue to deteriorate as a footballing nation.