England Vs Croatia Looks like Scott parker and jamie Carragher are set to start in a 3-5-2 formation my prediction is a draw, probably 2-2 you can get 7-1 for a draw tonight, definately worth a tenner KO is 18:00pm http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6035559.stm
dont get me wrong, i would love us to win, but at the moment i think the team moral is pretty low and we keep changing the formation, and changing players, and i just dont think the team is settled. so i think we will scrape a draw. bearing in mind croatia havnt lost a qualifying game at home for 12 years!!
I think after whats been said we should be up for this one and can see us winning provided we play well but if we dont get service to rooney and crouch then were screwd . My biggest concern is that we take a more defensive approach and play 5-3-2 with neville and cole playing to far back to provide crosses . Come on England - hopefully 2-0 realistically 1-1
this is the first time since qualifying for the WC in 2002 we've actually had some interesting teams in our group that might force a good performance out of the team instead of playing these no mark former soviet countries and only narrowly beating them. should be a good game tonight. let's see how this 'world class golden generation' cope with it.
i remember like it was yesterday still mate, running round the pub pissing everyone off and italy won 3-1 tonight
we have players in our team that could practically get into any international/club team in the world. this crop of players are genuinely accepted to be the best this country has ever seen. and you say we should lay off managers???? maclaren couldn't have got it more wrong tonight if he set out to do that. sven? his negative tactics/lack of passion were our downfall for 3 tournments in a row. i for one am fucking sick of watching england play. the last time we played well and won was in 2001 against germany and they were fucking shit that night. anyone could have seen that the fucking naive 3-5-2 wasn't working at HT. did mike baldwin change it??? did he fuck. he waited til we were 2-0 down. cunt we have now taken 1 point from 6 against macedonia and croatia. fucking disgrace imo for a team with the players we have.
we're shit but have some good individuals. Rooney is over rated just as beckham was throughout his career Got some awesome individuals in lennon/gerrard/joe cole/hargreaves but we're dire as a team
Not one of them played tonight. I know your not making that point, just found it funny. I actually thought the formation would work. I was wrong, and it was plain to see after 20 mins. I thought Rooney would be able to play where he liked, and Lampard would be able to push right up, but the whole team didn't move as a unit, and never made a chance. At least when we have Beckham playing he provides from set pieces, which is pretty much the only way we ever score. Lampards corners are shit, Beckham would of been brilliant playing right wing back! I'm not bothered, it's only England, they'll end up qualifying anyways, then do fuck all as per usual. Being an England fan is pretty much like being a Newcastle one actually
I cant recall being excited by watching England since Euro 2004. Theres no use blaming tactics and managers etc the players simply are a bunch of individuals who cant play well together. Golden generation my arse. Can anyone recall Frank Lampard having a half decent game in an England shirt? McLaren needs to start dropping some more high profile players in favour of ones who will appreciate that they dont have a right to be on the team sheet and will graft thier arse off.
Our midfield just doesn't work, Sven couldn't see that and so far McClaren can't either:spangled: We need to drop Lampard...he's been given far too long to perform and still hasn't done it. We need to play Gerrard in that role and play with two proper wingers, one's that are gona get at defences and try to beat them. In McClaren's first 3 games (albeit against shite teams) he emphasised getting the ball wide and we played some decent stuff yet as soon as we come up against some decent opposition we abandon it. why? Also I agree with Beckham being dopped from the team but not the squad....we need to keep him for his passing ability alone.
Were missing joe coles invention , owens finishing , rooneys confidence , lampards goals . Were not playing as a team and thats down to one thing confidence in the tactics and training from steve lets make sure we dont get beat mclaren . His first prioritys as a manager are not to get beat look at his boro team they played shit football and nicked the odd goal and got to the uefa cup final big woop did you see where they were in the league ? The team that went out against croatia was good enough to win , the 3-5-2 formation would have worked imo if mclaren had asked his team to attack . We had no width yet we had 5 across the middle . we had no penetration yet we had the passing skills of lampard and carrick , Crouch and rooney cant play together imo rooney will drop off and look for the little thorugh ball and crouchy will fall over his own feet or give a foul away . Roon is our biggest asset yet were not doing what we should and building a system to let him express himself . A pacey striker up front with him such as johnson would be ideal failing that give bent a go , The next england team will look a lot different to last nights imo . With Gerrard , lamps , Parker/carrick / cole across the middle and rooney and johnson up front we will be a lot more mobile , fluent and attacking . God we were shite against the croat twats !
