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Hi Bosranic, apologies for not being able to quote some of your comments as I’m not sure how to do that yet
You clearly believe that England don’t posess the required technical skill to win a tourmanment of such magnitude whereas I am of the opinion that we simply aren’t good enough ability wise (perhaps tactically) and that it’s nothing to do with technical ability.
You even said yourself that Gerrard is great for Liverpool but he is guilty of giving the ball away more than most when playing for England. So what are you saying? That his technical ability deserts him when he puts on an England shirt, that he forgets how to pass when he is with England. I don’t understand what you are getting at.
The reality is that when he is with England he gets asked to play a game that he isn’t familiar with, more often than not simply to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. It’s the same for Lampard, the same for Barry, the same for Cole etc. With their clubs they can keep the ball for ages and pass it sublimly, because that’s football and that’s how they like to play. With England, we play with a eight foot striker and they get told to get the ball up to him, it’s ridiculous.
I find it amazing how anyone can say this England team don’t possess technical ability. Lack of technical ability was blamed for England’s defeat to Germany a decade ago – under a different manager the same bunch of players beat the Germans 5-1 playing some brilliant passing football. Lack of technical ability was blamed for England’s failure to beat Croatia but yet again, under a different manager, the same bunch of players passed Croatia to death less than a year later. How do you explain these sudden turnaround in results if initially the defeats were put down to not having the required technical ability? Same players remember, same players who turned the form around.
How can anyone accuse Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard of not having technical ability? These are players who score tens of goals a season from midfield, a lot of them virtue of brilliant technical long-range shots, controlled half volleys etc. How can anyone say Wayne Rooney doesn’t have technical ability, just look at some of the volleys he’s scored for United.
I know it’s all about opinion but I just find it staggering that every time England fail to win then the old ‘lack of technical ability’ excuse comes out. We failed to beat the USA because we played right wingers at left midfield, an out-of-form striker up front and then just lumped the ball up to him etc.
Yes, we aren’t as good as the current Spain team at holding on to the ball and passing it around but not many teams are.
Did you watch Italy last night, Serbia the other day, Portugal this afternoon? All these teams have been mentioned as having far better technical ability than England yet their performances were dreadful. Those poor performances have been put down to not being good enough on the day – I only wish some people would use the same reason for England when we play poor, and not that it’s down to a lack of technical ability.
It was not a shocking ride Matthew, that’s nonesense (imho of course)
Pace Boy needs to be ridden like that. It simply looks a million times worse than it does because Goldicova quickened four or five lengths clear of the field, that’s all.
Paco Boy beat everything else with ease, was ridden like it always is, and nearly caught a superstar of a mare. You can’t knock Paco’s performance or Richard Hughes’.
How did Goldikova touch 42.0 on Betfair?
Always in the right place, always travelling well, quicked clear. Did I miss something? 42.0 Jesus man
Lol, these last two posts are fascinating.
Paul Roy’s statement says that at a meeting in
November 2008
Findlay was warned about laying horses from the same stable that he has horses, and gave his assurance that he wouldn’t do it again.
Yet according to the previous post by CR which has a story from the Guardian, Findlay layed a PN horse in
March 09
, just months after giving the BHA assurances that he wouldn’t lay horses from a stable that he has horses of his own.
Regarding the ball Andrew, every nation in the world was given the option to use it from March onwards, I’m not sure how many nations took FIFA up on that offer however.
The question that derives from what I’ve just said however is why was the ball used throughout the whole season in the Bundesliga, yet every other nation was only offered this ball from March? Apologies if I’ve got any of this information wrong.
Regarding our previous discussion (England’s technical ability) I firmly believe that we are ok with the ball at our feet, and that the reason we lump the ball forward is because that’s what the coach is telling them to do. Capello, and previous managers, for some reason seem insistant on playing 4-4-2 with a Crouch or Heskey up front. And as soon as those players are in the team we just lump the ball forward.
I’m quite confident that if we played just one striker up (Rooney for example) and played the likes of Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick etc in the team (by the way, Carrick is one of the best passers of a football in the world) then England would demonstrate without doubt that they are comfortable at playing the same way as Spain. United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have done great in the Champions League in recent years, and even though there’s a lot of foreigners in those squads, there’s also a lot of good English players who are just as comfortable as the likes of Fabregas, Ronaldo, Alonso, on the ball.
I’m not saying England are as good as a Spain or a Brazil, far from it, I’m just saying that this "we’re not comfortable on the ball" excuse is a way over-used one just because the players are being told to play a long ball game.
Thank you very much for all your replies people.
Ben, no I’ve never been tempted by a 1.01 shot and never will. Tiger Woods stood on the 17th tee once with a four shot lead and was available to back at 1.01. The two holes he had to play were straightforward holes, no hazards etc. Tiger probably hadn’t made more than a handful of double bogeys in his life up to that point so it was a billion to one chance that he was going to make two in a row, or a triple-bogey and then a bogey. That is proably the safest 1.01 shot I’ve ever seen, but still I would never have backed it. Tiger tee’d off, found the rough, and the market was suspended. He eventually won by five
Carvills. Thank you for that insight, I wasn’t aware of that. So in a lot of cases people aren’t backing 1.01 shots as the race/event happens, they’ve already put their corn down pre-event, willing to back something once it touches 1.01. Sounds even more crazy, but they must be making some sort of profit.
This idea that England aren’t comfortable with the ball is ridiculous. It’s a cheap shot that comes about every time our national team play poorly. There is a huge difference between not being good enough ability wise and not being good enough technically wise. And if you’re saying England aren’t comfortable on the ball then effectively you’re saying we are not good enough technically.
What were the cries when we failed to beat Croatia and didn’t qualify for Euro 08? We aren’t good enough technically, that’s what the cries where. So how do you explain almost the identical squad of players passing and playing Croatia to death just a year later?
Rio Ferdinand (not at this World Cup) is one of the most accomplished footballers in the world in posession of a football. Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole are very comfortable with the ball at their feet, so too are the likes of Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard etc.
It’s just a cheap shot to say that England aren’t comfortable on the ball. Ability wise, as a team/a unit or whatever you want to call it, England are just not good enough, and certainly not consistent enough. On our day, we can beat 90% of teams in the world, but more often than not a few of our guys are not at their best and we fail. That’s nothing to do with how comfortable they are on the ball, it’s down to them (sometimes) being over paid Prima Donna’s who think they just have to turn up to win. The mentality is wrong, not the technical ability.
Anyone else find it interesting that Harry was ‘too busy’ to read all of the rules around laying his own horses but apparently not too busy to do a deal with Betfair and the BHA to allow him immunity from another rule about laying other horses from the same yards?
Yes I do find this interesting. It’s also of interest to me why HF would want immunity from another rule about laying other horses from the same yards. Have any of HF’s trainers come out and said anything on this subject yet?
It would be very interesting to see how much HF has won (or lost perhaps) by laying horses in the same yards that he has horses.
A lot of PN’s horses go off at very short odds, and not all of them win. It strikes me as incredible that HF, because of his immunity from a certain rule/CoC, is allowed to profit from laying such horses. Whether he did or not is another matter, but the fact that he is allowed to is alarming (regardless of whether it’s a rule or just a ‘Code of Conduct’)
Me neither Ben, which is why I posed the question as I’d love some insight as to what circumstances someone would consider a bet.
I guess as long as the market is still open then there’ll always be an element of risk in backing a 1.01 shot, but some are surely a lot safer than others.
Thank you very much Nathan.
Note to self: type 1.01 in Search Forum bar before posting
I appreciate you realised that I was only messing Matron, but god knows how I stumbled on a post from 2001
I just saw the ‘June’ bit and thought it was from this year. Obviously you’ve explained now, but in 2001 that could easily have been a day when there was no racing so apologies for my ‘sarcastic’ post, though as you know, it was meant entirely in good humour.
Good luck with your system.
Depressing news.
People leave this world every day, and with each loss, someone is surely affected. But when someone dies that has given you great pleasure down the years it leaves an enormous feeling of emptiness. George Best, Brian Clough, those deaths choked me, but the inevitable news that Doug has gone is, in one sense, the worst feeling I’ve had for a long time.
Horse Racing has been my life for the best part of 20 years now and Doug Fraser was an integral part of that. His loss is huge and the racing world will be a lot poorer without him.
My thoughts go out to his friends and family, and to everyone who knew Doug. A lot of us won’t have known him personally, but we’ve all had winners and losers called by him, though for reason we’ll all appreciate, any money won or lost on a race called by Doug now seems insignificant. I’m sure we’d all pay any cost to have Doug commentating again.
I hope he is at ease now in the sky above and that people will remember him for being a unique talent in his field. God bless you Doug.
15/06/2001 – No Selection
No selection
Does this mean that there was no favourite in the first race of the day
I’m confused
Just had a thought, if only John Terry had sha**ed Robert Green’s wife, then England would probably have three points now
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.
wonder if the ban will cover denman running over the christmas period.
This month is June, Christmas is December
Six months from now you should rememberDenman might run, but then he might not
But it won’t be because of the ban Harry’s gotThe Tank will be back to defend his crown
The Hennessy of course, and don’t you dare frown
