- This topic has 59 replies, 24 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 11 months ago by
.
- Posts
Look on the bright side: nobody in the US over age 18 cares about this kind of football except for the World Cup because, let’s face it, most of the players in the MLS are boring and would collapse at the international level (DC United is the exception, of course
) . Then after it ends with an American failure we go back to not paying attention. So when we even manage to be competitive against a team like England, it proves to Americans that hey, maybe we aren’t so bad at this, maybe this sport is worth watching. It was an exciting game, any way you look at it.The sports pundits were portraying this as the most important game in the history of American soccer, and we, the "underdogs" (their term, not mine) sure showed them Brits that we won’t go down easy. I wouldn’t go that far, our offense is kind of lacking, but I think this has given many folks a reason to actually watch the next game.
So chill out. You all remind me of Yankees fans during the playoffs.Rooney is possibly the best player in the world
What world would that be? Because it sure as shite aint this one. Are you taking the piss?
England will come home from these finals without a win to their name – I’m sure of that.
Algeria will pose more problems than the USA did and Slovenia will be far from pushovers.
Capello seems to have lost the plot right at the wrong moment. SWP hadn’t played on the left in his life until just a month before the WC. Lennon, likewise, hasn’t the know-how to play there either. Joe Cole, Englands answer to the left hand side problem and proven best option, was completely ignored and Englands best and most natural finisher, Defoe, didn’t get off the bench.
The only thing missing from that dug-out was the sight of an umbrella.
- Total Posts 17716
Capello has made a lot of mistakes and maybe the fact he has never managed at International level before this is affecting his judgement.
His biggest mistake was not establishing a number one keeper choice through the qualifiers and building on that.
There must be a complete lack of confidence between defenders and whatever keeper he plays….
He got that wrong
His other HUGE mistake was even selecting Shaun Wright Phillips, he is far from international class, he scored of scored last night with that apology of an effort.
By the way I would love to see England win the world cup. You guys have made a lot of effort to rid yourself of the many undeseriable fans who were ruining your reputation world wide, sure there are quite a few who still remain Im sure but still a lot of effort has gone in, and a lot of work at grass root level to promote the game, perhaps more than any other country without seeing the rewards you really do deserve.
On what I seen last night however Capello has lost the plot, you guys do have the players but at the moment you do not have the team….
"Algeria will pose more problems than the USA did and Slovenia will be far from pushovers." Are you having a laugh???? Is this really is the case and you guys fail to beat these soccer minows,cause thats what they are, then Capello must be sacked immediatley after. Look at your team, look at the quality of players you have. This is the worst group in the competition, Ireland,Scotland and even Wales would beat these sides. Stop making excuses and building up the other teams, the other teams are useless, terrible in fact at World Cup level. Frank Lampard said yesterday that "We are England, We are favourites, we are going to play like that" , He is right, if you can’t beat these teams its not because they are better than you, its because England failed yet again…
Re; Robert Green’s howler.
Is it just a coincidence that England’s goal keeping coach is Ray Clemence
See YouTube – Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland v England (K. Dalglish ), 1976.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
The unpredictability of English football, eh?
I believe the vast majority of Scottish Internationals have already booked their Summer holidays for 2012, 2014, 2016……
The advice from all travel agents north of the border is: BOOK NOW TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
The number of Scottish cizitens flying to Eastern Europe, France and Brazil looks set to decline at some stage over the next few years.
It could’ve been worse.
Trust me, it will be………give it another week
(snip) England will ever be good enough while the Premier League is almost entirely foreign players, (snip)
Spot on!! It’s the same problem up here as well, too many "Bosmans", when Celtic won The European Cup in 1967 the entire team were born within 20 miles of Parkhead, no conicidence that our National team were red hot at the same time.
When Aberdeen and Dundee United were two of the most feared teams in Europe during the early 80s, same story, two teams of local players virtually all coming through the youth system, no mercenaries from far flung lands stifling the young locals. Co-incided with Scotland always qualifying for The world Cup
So many thigs wrong with the England set-up right now, so here goes;
Gareth Barry
. Capello waited until the very last minute to check his fitness before deciding to take him to the World Cup. On Friday Capello said that Barry is fit but won’t play against the USA. What that actually means is that Barry isn’t fit. If he was fit then surely he’d have played on the basis that Capello regards him highly.
Starting Line-Up
. What’s this, James Milner on the left! This is a player who largely plays right midfield, sometimes in the middle, but hardly ever left midfield. Oh well, Capello does the right thing at half-time and takes him off, and replaces him with Shaun Wright-Phillips, a player that I can’t remember ever playing on the left. Playing players out of position is the biggest crime in football for me, it’s totally unnecessary, and as proved last night, it’s very ineffective.
Wayne Rooney
. To be at his best, he needs to play in a similar role to what he plays at Manchester United. By that I mean he needs to be England’s lone striker, with Gerrard playing just behind him. Then I’d have Joe Cole on the left, Lennon on the right, and Barry and Lampard in the middle.
If Capello insists on playing two up front then Rooney will have an awful tournament, and so too will England. When you play two up front then the chances can just as easily fall to either of the strikers. Last night the chances fell to Heskey but he’s not a goalscorer. If Capello had it in his mind to play two up front then he should be playing two goalscorers – Rooney/Defoe, or even better Rooney/Bent, except that Bent (who scored more goals last season than Defoe, Crouch and Heskey put together) didn’t get selected.
Goalkeeper
. Whilst Green’s blunder last night was an awful one, I blame Capello fully for the situation England are in regarding this position. Capello should have named a number one keeper weeks ago and said, "right, you’re my number one, you’re my number two, and you’re back-up". Simple really. Then all three keepers know their roles and can concentrate on doing what they do best, being a goalkeeper.
To keep all three keepers guessing until two hours before kick-off is nothing short of stupidity. Green got the nod last night, and for me he was playing with nerves, probably knowing that one mistake takes him from being the first choice keeper to the third choice. If Green had been told weeks ago that he was the number one and that no matter what happens he will be playing against the USA then I’m almost certain he wouldn’t have made that mistake last night. Of course, this is just my opinion and open to debate, but a keeper playing without nerves, knowing he has the backing of his manager, will make far less mistakes than one who doesn’t know whether he is coming or going.
In summary
. We’re still in the World Cup and we didn’t lose last night. Two wins, or even a draw and a win will see us qualify. England have always been slow starters in tournaments so I’m not worried about last night’s result, I’m more concerned about the team selection and formation. If Capello can get it right from here on in then I’m sure England can go a long way. If they top the group they have the ability to get to the semi-final where they should meet Brazil. Once there, anything can happen. But if Capello insists on playing Heskey and Rooney, and some right-wingers on the left, then I’m afraid it will be elimination at the last 16 stage, if not sooner.
Poor performance against very ordinary opposition
Where does the assumption of ‘very ordinary opposition’ come from then Stilvi?
Is it because they are not packed with players who have transferred for millions?
Is it because England played pretty well and made them not look like the best?
It can’t possibly be on recent form and results as they qualified topping their group, that on the back of a very succesful 2009 Confederation cup campaign that saw them beat a full strength Spain 2-0 in the semi-final and lose out in the final to Brazil 3-2 having led 2-0.
Those results aren’t achieved by a ‘very ordinary team’!
Is it just me or is this constant ‘tooting’ in the background driving anyone else mad? I can’t turn the sound down because I won’t know what’s going on, but I can’t hear the reaction of the crowd to anything.
Poor performance against very ordinary opposition
Where does the assumption of ‘very ordinary opposition’ come from then Stilvi?
Is it because they are not packed with players who have transferred for millions?
Is it because England played pretty well and made them not look like the best?
It can’t possibly be on recent form and results as they qualified topping their group, that on the back of a very succesful 2009 Confederation cup campaign that saw them beat a full strength Spain 2-0 in the semi-final and lose out in the final to Brazil 3-2 having led 2-0.
Those results aren’t achieved by a ‘very ordinary team’!
None of those.
If you couldn’t appreciate that on the night they were very ordinary opposition you clearly know next to nothing about football. Are you still in 2009?
- Total Posts 17716
Poor performance against very ordinary opposition
Where does the assumption of ‘very ordinary opposition’ come from then Stilvi?
Is it because they are not packed with players who have transferred for millions?
Is it because England played pretty well and made them not look like the best?
It can’t possibly be on recent form and results as they qualified topping their group, that on the back of a very succesful 2009 Confederation cup campaign that saw them beat a full strength Spain 2-0 in the semi-final and lose out in the final to Brazil 3-2 having led 2-0.
Those results aren’t achieved by a ‘very ordinary team’!
Mate the Confederations Cup means nothing. On a World Cup stage America are a poor team, a team that should be fairly easliy beaten by a team with an ambition to win the world cup or indeed get to the latter stages.
With respect to both Slovenia and Algeria they are complete rubbish, England wouldn’t even want to consider anything bar comfortable victories against these teams.
It really was disheartening that England could not beat America last night. Both Capellos poor preperation/team selection in prep games , and match tactics themselves last night led to Englands downfall.
Capello was very poor last night, I just hope this is a wake up call. The best teams keep the ball and use the ball, Englands long ball tactics will get them through their groupd but as soon as they come up against a team who can genuinelly play creative football then England will be out, not because they cannot match them, but rather because they won;t be able to show they can because they will constantly be giving the ball back to the other team with long hopefull balls upfield.
So shocked Capello is adopting these tactics.
What a waste of Ronney and co’s talent.
- Total Posts 17716
Poor performance against very ordinary opposition
Where does the assumption of ‘very ordinary opposition’ come from then Stilvi?
Is it because they are not packed with players who have transferred for millions?
Is it because England played pretty well and made them not look like the best?
It can’t possibly be on recent form and results as they qualified topping their group, that on the back of a very succesful 2009 Confederation cup campaign that saw them beat a full strength Spain 2-0 in the semi-final and lose out in the final to Brazil 3-2 having led 2-0.
Those results aren’t achieved by a ‘very ordinary team’!
None of those.
If you couldn’t appreciate that on the night they were very ordinary opposition you clearly know next to nothing about football. Are you still in 2009?
Well said mate, America are very ordinary indeed. Anyone who wants to defend Englands performance last night on the basis that the USA are a decent team really doesn’t know a lot about football.
The best thing from last night was the England band making slightly more noise than them things!
Robert Green must be feeling a little bit better having just seen that howler made by the Algerian keeper!
There is also a theory that the fella sent off for Algeria deserved a straight Red just for having that haircut!
If Brazil are the "Rip Van Winkle",Spain the "Goldikova" and Argentina the "Paco Boy" then England are the "Pipedreamers" and USA wouldn"t have a rating high enough to even enter! Few words from the King of Foresight but true!
Tbh you can prattle on about lack of youth players coming through in the prem etc but the truth is youngsters today have other things to do other than football. How often do you see kids playing footie in the street these days.those that do play go into the game for the wrong reasons ie make loads of money. That is totally the wrong reason to play the game. The same can be said of the current England side all it is is a cash cow for their agents to bump up their incomes.England will qualify for the next round that is certain and I’d go as far as to say if they manage to get to the semis they will win the World Cup.I’ve seen some classic quotes on this thread "Rooney world class" "Sheringham comfortable on the ball". Heh heh priceless
Could it be that England’s footballers perform better when surrounded by more technically gifted team-mates from other countires- i.e for their clubs. See Premiership for details.
Or maybe it’s a false impression, and that they only appear to look better than they actually are.
The bottom line is that England were handed ( on paper ) the easiest of all the groups from which to qualify. If they can’t beat Algeria and Slovenia they should all swim home.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
) . Then after it ends with an American failure we go back to not paying attention. So when we even manage to be competitive against a team like England, it proves to Americans that hey, maybe we aren’t so bad at this, maybe this sport is worth watching. It was an exciting game, any way you look at it.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.