Croatia 1 - 4 England

[alpal78]

Always said Walcott was the man 

 

You mean like this

 

Walcott 

[Cronky]

Disappointed we didn't get more in the end. They were a totally dispirited bunch at 3-0, 10 men and half an hour to go. We could have done our goal difference a lot of good.

 

Until the sending off, I honestly didn't think we were that good. I wouldn't get complacent, and I'd definitely bring back Gerrard in place of Lampard.

[midds]

Credit where it's due, England have looked excellent tonight under Capello. Not sure what he's said to them in the last 3 days but they've dominated a very good side and made them look very very poor.

 

Walcott's performance and Bentley coming through should finally signal the end of Beckham's England career. Barry/Lampard also looks much better than Gerrard/Lampard too.

 

Wonder if he's thought of playing Gerrard just behind Rooney and keeping Barry/Lampard in the middle?

 

I just don't see why Gerrard MUST come back in. Sure he's a good player for his club but we don't need him in this system. Put the team before the players.

 

Not aimed at you btw.

 

 

We all know he's going to come back in though, I'm just wondering if moving him 20 yards up the pitch. It's a question of picking him in the position which is going to benefit the team. Just off Rooney might just work imo.

 

Problem is Rooney's forgotten where he's supposed to be playing (see the second half tonight for what he can do when he pushes up - he only did that after the sending off, before that he was useless). They'd both be dropping deep leaving nothing up front.

 

A word in Rooney's shell-like is required then.

 

That's a fair point Toojie. 

He's got an eye for goal though and can finish well. That was my thinking behind it anyway!

 

[Guest quklaani]

First time Ive properly watched an England match in ages (well, kinda, I only saw most of the second half and a bit of the first.)  Good to see Rooney play so well, was like one of his better club performances but with that Auton instead of Ronaldo.  John Terry is still shit for England, where the hell is Ashley Young? Joe Cole, bless him, does the mongiest expressions known to man, and um...oh yeah, why is Jenas still getting games for England?

 

Media will do their usual now, but the important thing for England is that they played football for once.  Keep that up and maybe they can get to a world cup and not be a bit rubbish.

[Cronky]

John Terry is still shit for England,

 

 

Agreed. He was a real liability.

[Guest Edd]

Just before all the headlines go to Walcott can I just say I thought Heskey was excellent.  Worked really hard in the right areas of the pitch and our whole game looked better because the attacks had a focal point.

[Dave]

Just before all the headlines go to Walcott can I just say I thought Heskey was excellent.  Worked really hard in the right areas of the pitch and our whole game looked better because the attacks had a focal point.

 

[johnnypd]

Just before all the headlines go to Walcott can I just say I thought Heskey was excellent.  Worked really hard in the right areas of the pitch and our whole game looked better because the attacks had a focal point.

 

makes a difference to have someone who can play with their back to goal - now when the ball goes upfield there's actually a chance it'll come back and we'll keep a bit of possession to build attacks.

[Nobody]

Barry needs to be replaced by Carrick or Hargreaves, IMO. Was really poor in the first half, kept giving the ball away and just seemed to offer very little.

Rooney must play further up, like in the second half, for him to be any effective at all, it might work for him to drop deep in Man U, when he's got Tevez, Ronaldo and Giggs, but England desperately lack that creativity.

[The Prophet]

4-1 intresting stuff. Watched the action up until the third goal, for me this has been a very flattering result which will do nothing more than paper over the cracks.

 

First thing's first congratulations to Theo Walcott, nice to see a new lad break into what has become a very stale set-up and ruffle some feathers.

 

Now for me the red card ended the game as any kind of contest. England were able to exploit the space it created and it was evident from the second and third goals Croatia were unable to adapt at the back. However I'm not convinced it was a sending off. Either way it was a very poor decision, the ref clearly reacted to the injury rather than the challange. For me the lad lead with his arm and therefore deserved a card, but I didn't think it was malicious which made it a rather harsh dismissal.

 

Before the incident, particularly in the first half England looked very shakey. They made a host of errors at the back including losing posession in key areas and giving away plenty of silly freekicks. Croatia failed to take advantage of this and looked very blunt as an attacking force. For me they still miss Eduardo, but they didn't exactly help themselves with their poor delivery from set pieces. A more potent attack force may just have capitalised.

 

Bloody good result all the same, but I'm not getting carried away just yet. Thus far I'm yet to see any signs that suggest as an international outfit we're any better than we were under Mr. Eriksson.

 

[Cronky]

4-1 intresting stuff. Watched the action up until the third goal, for me this has been a very flattering result which will do nothing more than paper over the cracks.

 

First thing's first congratulations to Theo Walcott, nice to see a new lad break into what has become a very stale set-up and ruffle some feathers.

 

Now for me the red card ended the game as any kind of contest. England were able to exploit the space it created and it was evident from the second and third goals Croatia were unable to adapt at the back. However I'm not convinced it was a sending off. Either way it was a very poor decision, the ref clearly reacted to the injury rather than the challange. For me the lad lead with his arm and therefore deserved a card, but I didn't think it was malicious which made it a rather harsh dismissal.

 

Before the incident, particularly in the first half England looked very shakey. They made a host of errors at the back including losing posession in key areas and giving away plenty of silly freekicks. Croatia failed to take advantage of this and looked very blunt as an attacking force. For me they still miss Eduardo, but they didn't exactly help themselves with their poor delivery from set pieces. A more potent attack force may just have capitalised.

 

Bloody good result all the same, but I'm not getting carried away just yet. Thus far I'm yet to see any signs that suggest as an international outfit we're any better than we were under Mr. Eriksson.

 

 

I'd agree with that. Things fell our way tonight.

[Parsley]

Always said Walcott was the man 

 

You mean like this

 

Walcott 

 

Exactly 

 

Naw seriously, as good as Walcott was tonight - and he was quality - he's done nothing to justify getting picked above the likes of Young, Bentley and Wright-Phillips at club level imo. Great performance but he shouldn't be near the first team tbh.

[Yorkie]

Imagine if we'd properly beaten Andorra. Imagine our goal difference.

[Dave]

Did that interviewer really just call the game 'one of the most incredible performances in English football history'? Surely I was hearing things. mackems.gif

[Dave]

'Fabio! Fabio! Get in there son!'

 

[johnnypd]

4-1 intresting stuff. Watched the action up until the third goal, for me this has been a very flattering result which will do nothing more than paper over the cracks.

 

First thing's first congratulations to Theo Walcott, nice to see a new lad break into what has become a very stale set-up and ruffle some feathers.

 

Now for me the red card ended the game as any kind of contest. England were able to exploit the space it created and it was evident from the second and third goals Croatia were unable to adapt at the back. However I'm not convinced it was a sending off. Either way it was a very poor decision, the ref clearly reacted to the injury rather than the challange. For me the lad lead with his arm and therefore deserved a card, but I didn't think it was malicious which made it a rather harsh dismissal.

 

Before the incident, particularly in the first half England looked very shakey. They made a host of errors at the back including losing posession in key areas and giving away plenty of silly freekicks. Croatia failed to take advantage of this and looked very blunt as an attacking force. For me they still miss Eduardo, but they didn't exactly help themselves with their poor delivery from set pieces. A more potent attack force may just have capitalised.

 

Bloody good result all the same, but I'm not getting carried away just yet. Thus far I'm yet to see any signs that suggest as an international outfit we're any better than we were under Mr. Eriksson.

 

 

they did look very blunt and i think the injuries to two key players had a part. on 2 or 3 occasions in the 1st they kept the ball very well, passed it quickly and sharply, lots of triangles and one-twos, with Modric particularly impressive. but they seemed to hit a wall 20 yards from goal that they couldnt get past. i think what also played a part was our 'swarming' tactic, we just got everyone back and closed them down, crowding the vulnerable areas on the edge of the box. then with heskey, rooney, cole and walcott break down the left and gradually work the entire team up the pitch, yard by yard as if it was american football. we managed to hold on to the ball for once. when your opponents don't have it they can't hurt you. i do think two forwards who can play with their back to goal like heskey and rooney has its advantages.

[The College Dropout]

Totally agree with the Terry talk. For such an experienced player he has never looked comfortable in an England shirt. Ferdinand should've been named captain, Ferdinand is the first name on the team sheet imo.

[Heron]

Heskey = Englands Most Under-rated Player

[johnnypd]

Totally agree with the Terry talk. For such an experienced player he has never looked comfortable in an England shirt. Ferdinand should've been named captain, Ferdinand is the first name on the team sheet imo.

 

yep. never is about right. i think there was one game when he first became captain but even on our good days he looks fairly uncomfortable.

[The College Dropout]

Bentley reminds me of Simon Jordan sitting there

 

A cunt?

[Robster]

Totally agree with the Terry talk. For such an experienced player he has never looked comfortable in an England shirt. Ferdinand should've been named captain, Ferdinand is the first name on the team sheet imo.

 

Every time i got to listen to bits of the match on the radio, they just seemed to be telling me that Terry had just hit another long meaningless, wasteful ball up to Rooney's head

[The College Dropout]

Heskey = Englands Most Under-rated Player

 

He has something like 5 goals in 50 caps. It's hard to be under-rated with stats like that. Good team player no doubt.

[Heron]

Heskey = Englands Most Under-rated Player

 

He has something like 5 goals in 50 caps. It's hard to be under-rated with stats like that. Good team player no doubt.

 

I think he provides something good to the team.....considering he is by far inferior in ability to the likes of Rooney. He basically ran the front line tonight for England, and ran his socks off. He gave his all and did well as a target man, causing a good Croatia a lot of problems. I personally feel he is made a scapegoat and is similar to the likes of Ameobi as far as stick is concerned. He gets a lot more grief than he actually deserves, and does a decent enough job "causing problems" even if he isn't very prolific at all.

[The College Dropout]

Totally agree with the Terry talk. For such an experienced player he has never looked comfortable in an England shirt. Ferdinand should've been named captain, Ferdinand is the first name on the team sheet imo.

 

yep. never is about right. i think there was one game when he first became captain but even on our good days he looks fairly uncomfortable.

 

You tend to expect to take awhile before players find their international groove. It wasn't until his 20 something cap when A. Cole started to really look the business i an England shirt. The same for a few lads, Rio too but Terry has something like 50 caps and has achieved a lot in his career yet still looks shakey as fuck.

 

He'll never be as good for England as Campbell was in his pomp and his place shouldn't be guaranteed. Andy Cole was prolific for a number of years but it was widely accepted that he just couldn't replicate it for England (despite being given far less chances) surely the same thing applies for Terry.

[The Prophet]

For me if we were going to judge England on this game as a one off there were notable differences.

 

The main one for me was pace. It always baffles me why we've never bothered picking a couple of pacey attackers in the past, I remember Vassel being very successful from the bench a couple of years back. Very few teams on the continent can deal with it and if you watched carefully tonight a large majority of our attacks came down the right on Walcott's flank, of course it helped that they were a man down giving space for him to run in behind but pace has always frightened European teams. It would be intresting to see how threatening we would have been had Young been installed on the left flank. For me he's the best wide man in the country and it was  a very strange decision indeed to leave him out. He's got pace, trickery and a good delivery with both feet, every full backs nightmare.

 

Also a lot of credit has to go to Heskey. His hold up play was outstanding and helped the midfield link up with the forwards. I'd still love to see Ashton given that role, even in a daft friendly. He's a very talented footballer when he's fit, but tonight Heskey made the world of difference and surely deserves another crack of Capello's whip. It would be intresting to see how a 4-3-3 would work with the two wide forwards like Walcott and Young supporting a big strong forward like an Ashton or Heskey.