tmonkey

Average Goalkeeper in Premiership >>> average Goalkeeper in Serie A. Just overly theatrical/acrobatic in the air.

Good finish.

Germany have looked shitter than England imo.

Kevin Prince Boateng looks a good player.

Toni Kroos. CA 150, PA 192.

2nd Germany goal, 3rd Aussie goal. Aussies go through.

Cacau keeps fucking things up for the Germans. Hope he stays in the team.

Gerrard's linkup play with Rooney was pretty promising. Could be the main route to goal and solve a few creativity problems. Also Gerrard going infield and moving with the ball allowed A.Cole to get forward to good effect, which in turn provided good width down the left wing for once. The downside with Gerrard is that 3 games in a row now - USA, Algeria and Slovenia - he's just constantly lost the ball, either by attempting to dribble and overrunning the ball with a heavy touch, or trying to be overly creative and trying silly through balls/forward passes that just aren't on. Still, at least he's doing something useful in between losing the ball, and looks a threat, unlike Lampard who is yet to look anything other than very average. Another thing to contemplate is that Slovenia were sub-standard on an individual level. They're a decent team in that they work hard and have decent pace in a few areas, but individually they looked like a group of fit Championship standard players (with better fitness). Furthermore, they did actually attempt to take the game to England, which they deserve credit for, but this resulted in a good amount of space opening up, which we clearly exploited. Hence, the problem with analysing the selection or tactics from what was a much better performance is that it could well all fall apart again against a decent side who'll mark Rooney out of the game, will make Ashley Cole too hesitant to go forward, etc etc. But maybe that's being a tad too pessimistic.

What did you do when you found out it was 1-0? Mass silence. Everyone just sat in their seats, no tables were almost knocked down. Miserable.

Joe Cole has really been built up to be something he's not from this spell out of the team. Good player undoubtedly, but hasn't created much at all in an England shirt throughout the years, other than the odd friendly here and there. Capello is spot on to drop him imo - looks like he's seen through the reputation, as Cole isn't what he was when he left West Ham/initially joined Chelsea.

Good performance, some good crosses - understand the importance of the assist, but not sure it was that great a performance as it's being made out as he lost the ball quite a bit despite being up against a yellow carded fullback. Clearly everyone is relieved that someone could do something in the current situation. Beyond that game, still don't think he's good enough to be starting against a good side. Same with Defoe. But meh, don't mind being wrong, and it's great to see new players doing well in the England side instead of the same old failures being given a constant run in the side.

Good goal. Great cross by Milner.

Typical Terry challenge that you see every week in the Premiership.

Come on lads. Would be shit to go out at this stage.

Just seen Yakubu's miss.

at the Greeks shooting from anywhere now. Idiots.

Pastore looks like a pretty nifty central midfielder.

Palermo

Why does he keep cutting inside? About 99 out of his 100 dribbling attempts seem to be him cutting in/checking back onto his left boot.

Would've been best goal of the World Cup there by Shitu

Sort of vindicates Anelka in a way. Domenech is clearly an utter, utter prick.

What a shot by Guardado that was.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:fLB4suSe69AKTM:http://www.footballcelebs.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/frank-lampard.jpghttp://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Y4iHR_vF8HXufM:http://www.elitebicycles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Frank-Lampard1458.jpghttp://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:LUQFUdKV3gElgM:http://whitelabelz.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/chelsea-frank-lampard.jpghttp://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:jIJRaaO2KL1X4M:http://www.topnews.in/files/Frank-Lampard_0.jpghttp://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:rsz8HgwPQn0doM:http://s.bebo.com/app-image/7926108295/5411656627/PROFILE/i.quizzaz.com/img/q/u/08/03/23/Frank_Lampard.jpghttp://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:cKbup4fLrJ20VM:http://real.theoffside.com/files/2009/05/frank-lampard-shock.jpg

The wing positions were pretty average to be fair, although noone in the current crop of wingers would get in ahead of either Anderton or McManaman. I'd have Ashley Cole, Rooney and maybe someone like Terry for Southgate in that team, but that's about it (maybe Lennon for Anderton if we wanted pace for a specific game). May I ask what the underlying point of this comparison is though, if there is one?

Switzerland had the chance to nail qualification here by using the Power of Ottmar. Instead they turned into Swiss Cheese on the night.