Rich

Milner and Defoe had better prove me wrong if they start. The team looks appalling on paper to me, but I may just be incredibly negative these days. Who knows? Come on England man.

Hope to fuck they make people eat their words tomorrow, haven't been hoping for a win as much as this for a long time. Not enthralled about the rumours regarding starts for Milner and Defoe mind.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/ Argentina and France games for me today. Then England game, Germany game, Italy game, Denmark/Japan, Portugal/Brazil and Chile/Spain. What a cracking four days ahead.

Aye, because then if Spain beat Chile by even just 1 goal, Chile's goal difference becomes inferior. If Chile/Spain draw or if Chile beat Spain then Switzerland would still qualify.

Hopefully Mr. 6 Points And Already Qualified is right!

Fair enough mate. Can't agree with the manner of the reporting, is all, stirring up thoughts of when Bobby was being lynched by the same tossers before it was all said and done.

Jonny, by the way (sorry on the iPhone here, this isn't easy) in terms of the contradiction, you claim the NoTW doesn't have any influence because it has a poor track record in terms of accuracy, right? Yet you were/are happy to go along with their spin on things because you could "imagine" it being true? Surely that demonstrates that they DO have influence on people and therefore means that the supposed "contradiction" doesn't exist at all? For the record, I don't believe I had suggested anything about influencing anything other than England fans before you mentioned the coaching staff.

I'm not saying the source is accurate, I'm just saying they seem to be hitting around the right area. And it's exactly what everybody else is saying, they're writing what we want to read. Offering suggestions? They're not on the England coaching staff and nobody from the England coaching staff will be reading. There's no influence there and if you think there is, it completely contradicts your earlier comment about the NOTW's lack of a decent track record. At the end of the day, there is something wrong with the squad and the team is underperforming. We're unhappy, they're unhappy, and so the media are reporting unhappiness - they've every right to. That Telegraph article just posted has done exactly that, in terms of offering suggestions about how to change the shape of the side and it briefly speculates on what might be going wrong in terms of individual performances from a psychological perspective. To me, that's a good article, although maybe not SENSATIONAL enough, and it doesn't have quotes from an inside source. My only gripe here is the way in which certain papers report on things and stoke the fire, much like they have done to NUFC and continue to do. Offering tactical suggestions for people to consider and get behind (I would say most on here would support Heskey being dropped for Cole) seems harmless enough and is constructive at times, but making up sensationalist crap that turns fans against Rooney and Capello in that manner is wrong. As far as the contradiction goes, of course papers have influence at all levels. Players and managers tend to read the rags and watch SSN (which covers the papers and has journos in doing interviews and which the England team have access to in their rooms). But it's the influence on fans that is narking me, it's stoking everyone up to turn on the team and certain individuals before the biggest game we've had in 4 years.

Imagine away, let the NoTW be your guide. Funny how people believe the press when it suits them, even when the majority of information comes from one of these fabled "senior inside sources". To me they've just attempted to fill in the blanks and give people scapegoats, which is easy meat really. Not saying that it is categorically false, but I do imagine the odds are in my favour based on that particular paper's track record. There's a difference between criticising and offering suggestions as to what needs fixing/how to fix it, and making shit up to stir the pot even further. As fans we aren't in any great position to influence others, as a newspaper they are.

I'm not their biggest fans, but pretty much everything I've just read is spot on. I can imagine it being the truth too. You can tell on the pitch that something is not right behind the scenes. In this instance, the media are saying exactly what everyone in England is thinking. "Inside sources" and all that bollocks as well? Making Rooney the easy scapegoat after what he said to the camera? It's all very convenient to me and they seem to revel in the fact that something isn't right. Hope it builds some sort of siege mentality, allowing us to do the business on Wednesday and then see where we go from there.

The media really love to see us do well, eh? Bet the scrote bastards are walking around with constant stonk-ons at what has happened so far.

Only if we go out on Wednesday though, that's the key. He can still turn it around.

Being a massive cunt as well, you mean?

Redknapp for me. Not sure I could hack that.

There's only one person doing any name-calling as far as I can see.

Resign, hopefully. Hodgson next, please.

Half-time, apparently.

Netherlands having a similar problem here with VDV being asked to fill in for Robben.

The funniest thing is how after England games everybody becomes a tactical expert. Not directed that at you, just posters in general. I'm a tactical expert 24/7, but only get the urge to share my gift with people after particularly horrific tactical displays from managers who should know better.

When you're playing a team who's ambition is to get a 0-0 draw you have to play as wide as possible and increase the tempo, basically. It does pose a huge risk in terms of opening yourself up to the counter-attack but generally having better players with more belief would see you win games. Even we managed it when Keegan came back for a spell, get the full-backs to hug the lines and bomb forward, sit a midfielder in front of the central defenders as protection and get at teams, because you know your players are better. Might be too much of an ask to expect this in a must-win game at a World Cup Finals, though, but a little bit more adventure wouldn't go amiss. Get the shackles off.

Capello is one of the best managers in the world, the problem lies with the players, they seem to be in some kind of coccon where if they aren't humping the likes of Burnley or Wigan (helped by a team of costly foreign players), they don't really seem to know how to make things happen. it lies 75% players, 25% manager, capello's tactics are just sooo italian, try to contain the opposition and hope we nick a goal, it's rubbish and i won't buy into the fact he's untouchable! he picks the team, and the blame ultimely lies with him Not much he can do if half the side seem to have no first touch or ability to shoot or keep the ball for more than two passes. Shooting and passing is down to tactics though, they contained us well and closed down, something needs to be done to break that. He couldn't think of anything, swapping Lennon for SWP isn't going to change things, its more of the same. Face it, the guy isn't getting it right. If the wings are blocked then the team has to play through the middle, but English players don't really have the technique or nous to play cleverly through the middle. Nobody has mentioned the left as far as I can see yet. How the fuck can you be expected to play through the middle when you don't have two wingers and/or fullbacks pulling the Algerian defence as far wide as possible? And while Gerrard is roaming about clogging up the space that Lampard and Rooney should be using? Ashley Cole is a very, very good attacking left-back. He couldn't do a fucking thing yesterday because he never had anything in front of him. Our fullbacks are two of our best bets for creating something and offering an outlet with pace and direct running, while Barry holds in front of the two central defenders, but Cole in particular has been totally neutered by the formation. The left is the problem, again. He's either going to have to grow some stones and drop Lampard for Joe Cole (I like Lamps, but there's no way Gerrard will be dropped), to stick with his 4-4-2, or he's going to have to push Gerrard up behind Rooney and bring Cole in for Heskey to go to the vogue (and often effective) 4-1-4-1/4-2-3-1/4-5-1 system that looks our best bet on paper. We have no penetration on either flank, in reality, but if the left is built-up with a partnership then it should allow the right a lot more space to work with (as we saw at Newcastle when Routledge arrived). Adam Johnson should definitely be there, as well. I could have even stomached Downing to have a left-footer as an option. EDIT: Just saw Ozzie mention it directly before me.

Where are you!? WHERE ARE YOU!? LET'S BE 'AVIN YOU!! COME ON!!! Reckon that would do it.

Well fuck my ozone.

The material and design of the home shirt looks class, it's just butchered by the logo, badge and sponsor. Which is a shame.