England Double Header (Slovakia and Ukraine)

[johnnypd]

awful marking

[M4]

Class and simple goal.

 

Terry's first goal in a competitive England game I think. Let's hope it's the winner!

[Jayson]

now get a hold of the ball and control it ffs

 

have a feeling we'll go dodgy here

[Incognito]

Now lets hope Terry tweaks his hamstring in an accidental collision with Lampard,ruling both out for Saturday.

[Jayson]

All over, Managed it

 

Less than convincing performance but atleast got the result....wouldnt have in the past.

 

Considering all the injurys not bad, 5 played 5 won, cant argue with that.

[Yorkie]

England were very sloppy tonight, maybe overdid it against Slovakia.

 

But we're the definition of efficiency at the moment. In the games we've played, for a nation like this, it should be atleast four wins (and one draw), give or take... and we've got five wins. Top stuff; great work from Capello.

 

In the bag now. What makes it sweeter is that we've already played Croatia away. The trip to the Ukraine should be our only potential stumbling block, but then we should get a result tbh. The trip to Kazakhstan will be a bit nasty but then even Belarus ripped them to shreads over there tonight.

 

Fantastic.

[chicago_shearer]

England not only well on their way to qualifying, but doing it the easy way for a change. 

[Mowen]

Didn't ever doubt that we'd win tonight tbh. Capello really seems to have installed that winning mentality. Surprised to see us even concede, bit dodgy from both Johnson and Rio.

[Steggy]

Did anybody else see Crouch "pulling the rope out" the wrong way ?? Fucking mong.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Did anybody else see Crouch "pulling the rope out" the wrong way ?? f***ing mong.

aye 

 

said when Ukraine equalised we'd get a sloppy-ish winner on about 85 minutes.  Should've listened to that chap from Banzai and done some in-game betting.

[Gash]

Did anybody else see Crouch "pulling the rope out" the wrong way ?? Fucking mong.

I thought he was playing tug of war

[Guest Stephen927]

Crouch, what a plank 

 

Good to see Capello changing the system to chase the win.

[Cronky]

Rooney tired in the second half, and he's the key to our performance. With hindsight, he should have been subbed during the Slovakia game so he had a bit more energy left for Ukraine. A lesson learned, I reckon.

 

All in all though, I can't remember feeling quite so confident about an England side. You feel they've got goals in them, not just from the usual routes of crosses and set pieces, but also by working it on the deck through the middle, which is a nice change.

[Ash]

Lennon was horrific, hurry back Theo! Hope Ashley Cole plays like that against us on Saturday - if Jonas is on the right wing, it could be very interesting indeed.

[Dave]

I thought Lennon was good first half.

[Yorkie]

I didn't think he was terrible but he looks 'least like' an England player out of the whole eleven there imo. Totally unconvincing, offered nothing really other than a couple of decent sidesteps. He can't really cross it either by the looks of things.

 

Not seen a great deal of the guy in fairness but he looks like a limited footballer. Hasn't Milner got one of the highest assist rates in the whole league this year? It won't surprise me to see him get a shout fairly soon.

[Ash]

I thought Lennon was good first half.

 

My mate and I at the game both said we thought he'd look good on TV and a few people have said he did. Everytime Johnson got the ball, Lennon never ran in to space, he was always on top of the player marking him for some reason. He hardly ever came off his touchline and offered nothing going forward unless he had plenty of room in front of him (the superb cross-field ball from Rooney being one example). His positioning was also awful, particularly when there was an attack through the middle, he didn't have a clue where to go.

 

I don't mind Lennon, he's a danger but can become a headless chicken at times and his end product isn't the best. Due to where I was sat on Wednesday, I got to see a lot of his movement off the ball and he just looked scared. Whether that was scared of making an error or just scared to take the ball himself, I'm not sure. When Beckham came on there was a huge difference, he went looking for the ball and offered Johnson more options, both when looking to get forward or defending.

[Cronky]

I thought Lennon was good first half.

 

My mate and I at the game both said we thought he'd look good on TV and a few people have said he did. Everytime Johnson got the ball, Lennon never ran in to space, he was always on top of the player marking him for some reason. He hardly ever came off his touchline and offered nothing going forward unless he had plenty of room in front of him (the superb cross-field ball from Rooney being one example). His positioning was also awful, particularly when there was an attack through the middle, he didn't have a clue where to go.

 

I don't mind Lennon, he's a danger but can become a headless chicken at times and his end product isn't the best. Due to where I was sat on Wednesday, I got to see a lot of his movement off the ball and he just looked scared. Whether that was scared of making an error or just scared to take the ball himself, I'm not sure. When Beckham came on there was a huge difference, he went looking for the ball and offered Johnson more options, both when looking to get forward or defending.

 

I had the impression that Lennon was operating very much to instructions, and was afraid to take any initiative to take up different positions. Whether it was Capello who shackled him, or he'd shackled himself, I don't know.

 

Fitness permitting, I'd definitely have SWP in that position, over Lennon or Walcott. He does offer a bit of variety, and I think you need that against the best teams.

 

 

[Guest Stephen927]

I assume Lennon was told to hug the touchline and get right on top of their full back as an outlet and something different to what we had on the left flank.

 

Worked at times, Lennon put in a good ball to Rooney who had peeled off the left flank and made a run into the box, was a bit too difficult for Rooney to control but at least theres a sign of some understanding.

[Ash]

That thought ran through my head but it just seemed odd. Lennon thrives with space to run into, so why wouldn't that be utilised? By hogging the touchline and keeping touch-tight to his marker, he couldn't get into the game meaning anything that happened down the right didn't pay off.

[Neil]

Lennon seems good in a straight line. And that's about it.

[Mowen]

He's been excellent for Spurs this season, even when his end product's been poor he's terrified the opposition. Looked unusually nervous on Wednesday though, and I agree that his off the ball movement looked very poor.

[Neil]

He's been excellent for Spurs this season, even when his end product's been poor he's terrified the opposition. Looked unusually nervous on Wednesday though, and I agree that his off the ball movement looked very poor.

 

He strikes me as a limited player, if he is used well and comes up against a weak left back, yeah, he'll more than likely have a good game. But I don't see him having enough good games, albeit the past couple of months he's raised his game slightly. He needs to develop his game though to become a top player, because he has the natural physical ability. Needs to be more intelligent, and for the love of god learn to produce an end product.

[Mowen]

He's been excellent for Spurs this season, even when his end product's been poor he's terrified the opposition. Looked unusually nervous on Wednesday though, and I agree that his off the ball movement looked very poor.

 

He strikes me as a limited player, if he is used well and comes up against a weak left back, yeah, he'll more than likely have a good game. But I don't see him having enough good games, albeit the past couple of months he's raised his game slightly. He needs to develop his game though to become a top player, because he has the natural physical ability. Needs to be more intelligent, and for the love of god learn to produce an end product.

 

Agree absolutely with the last sentance, but he's been good all season for Spurs. For my sins I've watched pretty much every televised Spurs game this season (the gf supports them) and under Ramos he was the only one who looked even half decent. Had a very, very good year - if he could cross a bit more consistently he'd have been one of the very best in the league. Head and shoulders above the rest over their rabble over the course of the season.

[Neil]

He's been excellent for Spurs this season, even when his end product's been poor he's terrified the opposition. Looked unusually nervous on Wednesday though, and I agree that his off the ball movement looked very poor.

 

He strikes me as a limited player, if he is used well and comes up against a weak left back, yeah, he'll more than likely have a good game. But I don't see him having enough good games, albeit the past couple of months he's raised his game slightly. He needs to develop his game though to become a top player, because he has the natural physical ability. Needs to be more intelligent, and for the love of god learn to produce an end product.

 

Agree absolutely with the last sentance, but he's been good all season for Spurs. For my sins I've watched pretty much every televised Spurs game this season (the gf supports them) and under Ramos he was the only one who looked even half decent. Had a very, very good year - if he could cross a bit more consistently he'd have been one of the very best in the league. Head and shoulders above the rest over their rabble over the course of the season.

 

I think he's been made to look better though due to generally how poor they've been, and quite frankly how poor the PL has been this season (albeit just as interesting for football fans). That said, I'd have him in my team. Just hope he continues to develop, could be a cracking player in a year or 2 if he could. That said he's about 24 or so now isnt he?