England

[USER1999]

Arsenal and Liverpool are as in the red as the shirts they wear, each owing close to $900 million.



Spain's La Liga is dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona. The gulf in talent between this duo and the rest of the league is immense. Last season 25 points separated third place Valencia from second-placed Madrid. This may produce an uncompetitive league but it benefits the World Cup favourites: the cream of the national talent is focused at two clubs so there is familiarity between players at national level.

Agree with much of Dodgers post, but two faults.

Arse are 'only' £205m in debt, which is on a 25 year mortgage. Hardly catastrophic, with revenues capable of meeting the repayments.

Barca are hardly a shining light, currently 950m euro in debt, with no obvious way of repaying it, and Real are sponsored by the Spanish government, who have no money since the crash.

 

[JT77]

No Mandandra mate, I would love to see us do well and win, but after the rubbish I saw last night and a few sherbits, I was on the defensive! lol
Although you do have to be in it to win it, and in previous world cups teams like Germany and italy have been notoriously slow to start and went on to win, so I hold out hope that there is time still.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

Come on people, all of this is a bit OTT, isn't it? Pathetic - Rubbish - I would associate these words with a 6-0 scoreline. Spurs v Wigan - Wigan were pathetic. England drew 1-1 with the USA - not pathetic and not rubbish. The USA are a well organised, disciplined and physical side. They have some Premier League players in their ranks, one of which got Fulham to the Europa Cup Final. Their goalkeeper has played for Manchester United and their goal scorer has played for Everton. The standard of USA is not what it was a few years ago. Simon Cowell was on James Corden's show last night with Katy Perry and he stated that football (soccer) is the most played sport in America, the problem is that no-one watches it. Why's that? because the TV companies can't get commercials in for 45 minutes - anyone who's watched the PGA golf coverage will know that they can't go more than 45 seconds without having an ad break! So, with so many people playing it's not surprising that their standard improves. Also, they must have some serious wedge to be able to pay Beckham £19,520,000 an hour! They must have loads of fans in the ground.

I digress....

So, the Americans are no walk over. They recently beat Spain and Brazil.

What would I have taken before kick off - one point or three - anything but a loss. One point will do - we can kick on from that.

Ask yourself this - when you're on the first tee of the Club Championship with the whole clubhouse watching behind you - what do you want? You want to find the fairway. You don't mind how you do it, you just want to find the fairway. This was England's equivalent. It wasn't our greatest display - far from it but we've got a point on the board and we now face two teams that we should beat.

Dodger, your article was slightly harsh. Manchester United can't help being $1,000,000,000 in debt. They are a PLC, anyone can buy their shares and if you buy enough then you'll control them. The Glazers found finance by leveraging their commercial property in America. This is terrible but somehow they found the money. So, Man U aren't in debt as such, the Glazer's holding company is. Unfortunately, they've used Man U (bond issue) to pay off the debtors in America. This isn't the best but Man U are a very profitable machine and hopefully, the Red Knights will buy the Glazers out. Liverpool are the same but there's been no bond issue.

With regards Ashley Cole - I find the comment that he's over rated very hard to believe. He's regularly lauded as the best left back in world football - not by English journalists either. I remember watching him at the Palace - he was immense! He'll come good this tournament.

So, last night - what happened??

We didn't keep the ball well enough - simple. At International level (and Champions League for that matter) the best teams hold the ball. We need to learn how to do that!

Team selection

Green in goal. This is a difficult selection because, at the moment, we don't have a recognised number 1. I would have prefered James but he's injured.

A Cole/J Terry. Selection never in doubt

King. He should never have been taken. He's had a good season for Spurs but he's the England football teams's equivalent of a Scotty putter! He needs to be wrapped in cotton wool for 24 hours after use, rubbed down with oil made from the tears of a Unicorn and then cryogenically frozen until the next time of use! Sol Campbell should have been there.

G Johnson. Excellent going forward, RUBBISH at defending. He's been caught out too many times at both club and international level. Gary Neville for me.

Lennon/Lampard/Gerrard/Milner No issues her as such, my only critism would be that Milner was played when he was clearly still under the weather. With Cole and SWP in the squad there was no excuse for playing anyone less than 100% fit.

Rooney. First name on the team sheet

Heskey. He can't get a game for Aston Villa, hasn't scored since February and falls over too much. Why is he there?? I'll tell you. A collegue of mine is very good friends with Carlton Cole. Carlton has said on many occassions that all of the top England strikers from the past 10 years have stated that their preferred strike partner is Heskey. Rooney is no different. He's gone to Capello and said that he wants to play with Heskey. So, Heskey's on the plane. That thinking is fine because he does hold the ball up well and he does work his socks off and he did provide the pass for Gerrard's goal but when he was put through, one on one he couldn't do what he's paid for and score. I asked myself last night whether Rooney would have scored given a similar opportunity....if we progress then he'll need to be converting those chances because, as a team, we may only get one.

Subs

Carragher. He was lucky to have stayed on the pitch but then I wonder whether he struggled slightly to adjust to International football after such a long lay off.

SWP. He did OK but I always struggle to understand why a top class International footballer cannot kick the ball with both feet. He became predictable because the left back knew he'd be either cutting inside onto his right foot or dragging the ball back so that he could cross with his right.

Crouch. Didn't really have a chance.

Where do we go from here?

So, we've got the dreaded first game out of the way, we've got a point, let's build on that.

I'd keep Green. You can't drop him now. He made a mistake, all keepers do that. Keep the faith. He's a good keeper.

I'd replace King with Carragher. Terry and Carragher would be a superb pairing, Carragher needs to find his International feet - and quickly!!

I like Milner. He's played well this season but I'd opt for Lennon/Lampard/Barry/J Cole.

Rooney up front with Gerrard in the hole.

I think this team could win us the world cup.

We can't be downbeat. 1966, 1986 and 1996 all have something in common - we drew our first game.

A World Cup campaign is a long, long affair. It's not won after one game. We need to build on this - keep possession better being the main improvement required and peak later in the tournament. We also need a great deal of luck - something England haven't had in the past.

Keep the faith people - the World Cup's coming home!

 

[Imurg]

Word(s)!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Excellent post AuburnWarrior.

 

[Robobum]

Great post AW....except for..

We didn't keep the ball well enough - simple. At International level (and Champions League for that matter) the best teams hold the ball. We need to learn how to do that!

Still don't know where the obsession with this comes from. At what stage do you receive an extra goal for retaining the ball for x amount of passes?
Goals are mostly scored at any decent level from either capitilising on opposition mistakes or after regaining posession in the opposition's half.
Having 75% of the ball and knocking it from full back to full back achieves nothing.


And, as for this comment........

Gary Neville for me.

Wash your mouth out with soap!! Having a trade union rep back in the squad is a backward step.

 

[Macster]

A very long and thought out post AW, but over the last 2yrs of qualification, shouldnt all these things have been ironed out by now ??

I maintain,....too many England players are just too 'average'.

This evenings performance from Germany was simply slick, given that they were a team written off by all as no-hopers, in the middle of re-building, and they come out and simply destroy Australia, - who incidentally are also a team full of Premiership players not unlike the USA.
Apart from Podolski, Sweinsteiger, Lahm, & Close, the rest were unknown to most of us, and yet they exuded class and got the job done.......clinically.

I have to be honest, and whilst of course I hope that England get through and go on to the later stages, I think they will fail at the first stern test, as usual. Simply because they arent good enough.

In fact, if its a case of 'winning it with ugly football', I'd rather we didnt win it at all.
I'd much rather watch a Brazil v Holland, or a Germany v Argentina final, where the football will be full of flair and imagination, and open attacking football, from teams who can keep the ball and pass it slickly & confidently.

I'm sure I'll be blasted for saying it, but the next week or two will show.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think we'll get out of the group and then who knows. I guess it depends what disciplinary doubts and injury worries we have by then to worry about but I'm not sure the strength in depth is there. Its strange as we did a great job in qualifying especially against Croatia so surely there should be some sort of cohesion and belief

 

[Spinn77]

I couldnt care less how good the germans looked tonight. Fair play they have hit the ground running but the Aussies were poor with 11 men tonight before the red card.

They are very unlikey to play to that level for 7 games. In all likelyhood, no-one will put 7 great performances in.

One question that is nagging me, and i dont want to dismiss everything capello has achieved, (wait for it...) But, how can he not see that, with the players we have, 442 isnt going to be good enough? As AW posted, we need Gerrard off Rooney, a holding player allowing Lampard more freedom and J Cole on the left instead of SWP. With this line up we can perhaps carry the unpredictibility/frustrations/no final ball issues that Lennon brings.

I recognise the value of Heskey, but with chances few and far between in the latter stages, he cant be relied upon to take an opportunity.

We have coasted through a qualifying campagne but we havent been playing quality sides and we can't carry on like its been recently because we'll get found out in the knock out games against someone half decent.

 

[madandra]

Perhaps the ITALIAN manager wants .. eh ... ITALY to win it !!!

 

[CrapHacker]

I put this forward and am totally open to ridicule for it.

But many moons ago when I played we used to lump the ball forward and try and pick up the 2nd play ( or whatever it's called ).

But then a guy joined who suggested that instead of only playing the long ball game we play a simple short ball game.

When a defender or midfielder gets the ball, instead of everyone moving away from the ball then the nearer players look to try to move into space within 10 -15 yards to allow the guy a simple short ball option.

Now

I watch England and I see the same situation. Every time someone at the back or in defensive midfield play picks up the ball and has a couple of seconds to play it, all the nearby players move AWAY fro him.

Is that good, modern football tactics ?

I like the idea that we changed to, because it doesn't rely on the man with the ball having to have excess skill.

What it does need it the rest of the team to be alert, and to keep thinking about giving the guy options.

Surely a few quick, short pases keep possesion better and potentially will create the spaces for the better players to take advantage of ?

Or is this outmoded old fart thinking, and modern players should have the skill to create their own space before releasing a positive pass ?

 

[19th]

Ronaldo, the young fart, beating three men before passing into the net, then turning to the cameras and WINKING!!

Magic!

 

[viscount17]

We didn't keep the ball well enough - simple. At International level (and Champions League for that matter) the best teams hold the ball. We need to learn how to do that!

Still don't know where the obsession with this comes from. At what stage do you receive an extra goal for retaining the ball for x amount of passes?
Goals are mostly scored at any decent level from either capitilising on opposition mistakes or after regaining posession in the opposition's half.
Having 75% of the ball and knocking it from full back to full back achieves nothing.


[/QUOTE]

but it does mean they can't score and, if you have a half decent striker, you have a chance to score.

imo Capello must shoulder a little of the blame - keeping the team secret from the opposition and press is one thing - but not telling your own players!

Johnson was clearly the best we had on the pitch.
But Green was not the worst.
and all the strikers were woeful.

Milner was a yard and half behind the game and flailing around in an attempt to catch up - poor selection.
Carragher is clearly not up to it, and that wasn't a fast game - poor selection.
King - went missing long before half time - the man's not fit - poor selection
SWP - why play a clearly right sided player on the left? - and I agree at international level if you can't use both feet why are you there?
Heskey - picking a striker who has an abysmal scoring record is crazy.

 

[Smiffy]

I recognise the value of Heskey, but with chances few and far between in the latter stages, he cant be relied upon to take an opportunity.

I remember when a dog got onto the Villa practice ground and had a dump.
"Who's [****] on the ground?" asked O'Neill.
"I am boss" said Heskey "but I'm a bit better in the air"

 

[DMC]

oh dear, I realise we were woeful, but at least we are there!

But not for long.

 

[Yerman]

Perhaps the ITALIAN manager wants .. eh ... ITALY to win it !!!

Me too -drew then in the works sweep!

 

[Parmo]

Perhaps the ITALIAN manager wants .. eh ... ITALY to win it !!!

lmfao...

Keep dreaming, you might reach a decent level of football one day.