The England Thread

[Neil]

Key question for me is can Young play as effectively on the right hand side?

 

If so, at the moment I'd go for

 

James (well, whoever tbh, no-one stands out)

 

Johnson

Rio

Terry

Cole

 

Young

Lampard

Beckham

Gerrard

 

Rooney

..........Crouch.....

 

I'd seriously consider deploying Beckham in defensive mid.

 

Up front... if we stick to the 4-4-2, it's hard to think of someone to play with Rooney. Experimenting with a sort of 4-2-3-1 formation might be an idea.

 

 

[Cronky]

My main thoughts:

 

1) Is it viable for Beckham to play the defensive midfield position? Any pace he did have has gone but his passing, as seen tonight, is still absolutely excellent. Worth a go? The question of course is whether he still has the intelligence to buy himself the time to produce those passes, against better opposition.

 

...

 

Was wondering about this myself. Part of me thinks that he could really pull the strings in midfield alongside the likes Gerrard, but it's partly down to how Capello wants to play.

 

It was a bit of an armchair ride for Beckham tonight though, wasn't it. Andorra weren't bothering to pressure the ball further up the field, so Beckham had the ball with lots of space and unlimited time. The wide men were also in lots of space so they weren't difficult to hit. Even then, I thought he hit a few bad passes.

 

After his crap performances in the last World Cup, it's really surprising to me that he's still there, in with a chance of going this time around. Yesterday's man, IMO.

[Nobody]

Key question for me is can Young play as effectively on the right hand side?

 

If so, at the moment I'd go for

 

James (well, whoever tbh, no-one stands out)

 

Johnson

Rio

Terry

Cole

 

Young

Lampard

Beckham

Gerrard

 

Rooney

..........Crouch.....

 

I'd seriously consider deploying Beckham in defensive mid.

 

Up front... if we stick to the 4-4-2, it's hard to think of someone to play with Rooney. Experimenting with a sort of 4-2-3-1 formation might be an idea.

 

 

I'd like to see a formation similar to the one Chelsea has used recently

 

                  Green (or whoever, not really fussed)

Johnson Rio Terry A.Cole

                  Carrick

        Gerrard

                      Lampard

  Walcott                      J.Cole/A.Young

                    Rooney

 

Something like that. Carrick playing the Essien/Mikel role, Gerrard being Ballack, Lampard being Lampard. Think it could suit our team, the only problem I see is whether Rooney would handle the lone striker role, especially as he's more and more being used as a midfielder in Man U.

[Neil]

Key question for me is can Young play as effectively on the right hand side?

 

If so, at the moment I'd go for

 

James (well, whoever tbh, no-one stands out)

 

Johnson

Rio

Terry

Cole

 

Young

Lampard

Beckham

Gerrard

 

Rooney

..........Crouch.....

 

I'd seriously consider deploying Beckham in defensive mid.

 

Up front... if we stick to the 4-4-2, it's hard to think of someone to play with Rooney. Experimenting with a sort of 4-2-3-1 formation might be an idea.

 

 

I'd like to see a formation similar to the one Chelsea has used recently

 

                  Green (or whoever, not really fussed)

Johnson Rio Terry A.Cole

                  Carrick

        Gerrard

                      Lampard

  Walcott                      J.Cole/A.Young

                    Rooney

 

Something like that. Carrick playing the Essien/Mikel role, Gerrard being Ballack, Lampard being Lampard. Think it could suit our team, the only problem I see is whether Rooney would handle the lone striker role, especially as he's more and more being used as a midfielder in Man U.

 

Walcott's the main problem with that idea mate. Simply hasn't delivered, e.g. tonight just aimlessly running into defenders. The Croatia game increasingly looks like a flash in the pan. I'm prepared to change my mind in due course but next season is the time IMO that he needs to start delivering on a fairly consistent basis.

[Nobody]

Fair enough, drop Walcott then and move either Cole or Young over to the right hand side, or even put Beckham in where you've now got Gerrard and play Gerrard as your RF, he's basically played second striker for Liverpool this year. He might be lacking in pace to play that role, but IMO, he's a good and smart enough player to be effective there as well.

 

EDIT: I also think a few are being a bit harsh on Walcott like. The lad is still only 20 years old, most players have barely made their first competitive game at that age. Fair enough, he maybe shouldn't be a starter yet, but I can most definitely see a future for him in the England shirt.

[ponsaelius]

With the exception of Spain and possibly Netherlands, who we play next month. There are no teams who look much better than England at the moment, and apparently we're 4th favourites to win it. I've never been this confident in an England team before, we appear to finally have the right manager.

 

As for Beckham I still think he's more than worthy of having around, because he offers something nobody else in the team really does. However I don't think the 'quarterback' role that Beckham played tonight would work against anybody half decent. I remember Sven trying it out in numerous friendlies and it was a mess, it was only successful tonight because Beckham had as much time and space to play as he could ever of wanted and because the Andorra full backs didn't pull wide, the wingers had acres of space to recieve the ball.

[LucaAltieri]

With the exception of Spain and possibly Netherlands, who we play next month. There are no teams who look much better than England at the moment, and apparently we're 4th favourites to win it. I've never been this confident in an England team before, we appear to finally have the right manager.

 

As for Beckham I still think he's more than worthy of having around, because he offers something nobody else in the team really does. However I don't think the 'quarterback' role that Beckham played tonight would work against anybody half decent. I remember Sven trying it out in numerous friendlies and it was a mess, it was only successful tonight because Beckham had as much time and space to play as he could ever of wanted and because the Andorra full backs didn't pull wide, the wingers had acres of space to recieve the ball.

 

We're 4th favourites with English bookies.

[ponsaelius]

With the exception of Spain and possibly Netherlands, who we play next month. There are no teams who look much better than England at the moment, and apparently we're 4th favourites to win it. I've never been this confident in an England team before, we appear to finally have the right manager.

 

As for Beckham I still think he's more than worthy of having around, because he offers something nobody else in the team really does. However I don't think the 'quarterback' role that Beckham played tonight would work against anybody half decent. I remember Sven trying it out in numerous friendlies and it was a mess, it was only successful tonight because Beckham had as much time and space to play as he could ever of wanted and because the Andorra full backs didn't pull wide, the wingers had acres of space to recieve the ball.

 

We're 4th favourites with English bookies.

 

Fair point, however it's probably a fair assesment if you ask me because every other big footballing nation is playing like s*** at the moment. Spain and Netherlands aside.

[Neil]

The main point of optimism has to be Capello like. Been a winner all his career, and seems to be installing that mentality into the squad but of course can't make a full assessment quite yet. Cautious optimism though.

[ponsaelius]

The main point of optimism has to be Capello like. Been a winner all his career, and seems to be installing that mentality into the squad but of course can't make a full assessment quite yet. Cautious optimism though.

 

Key term. Got optimistic before 06 and that turned into a right pile of shit. Like you say Capello is definitely the main source of optimism, just get the sense he can get them to cut it when it matters, the knockout rounds of the World Cup.

[Nobody]

The main point of optimism has to be Capello like. Been a winner all his career, and seems to be installing that mentality into the squad but of course can't make a full assessment quite yet. Cautious optimism though.

Can't argue with that. We all said when we got Capello that he's a winner and that's just what we need. I don't think our squad is good enough to win a major tournament, but at the same time we've got arguably the best manager of all the international teams which might just compensate for that.

I also don't think we've seen anywhere near the best of Capello for England so far btw, I still feel like he's trying to find the right players for his team.

[Guest Heneage]

The irony of England is they spent years having a great right winger in Beckham but had little to offer on the left, now it's the other way round. Walcott and Lennon are the two in pole position for it, but both need to improve their delivery.

[Dave]

What great left winger do we have then?

[SEMTEX]

Joe Cole

[Guest Stephen927]

Still a lot of work to be done even though we have basically qualified for the World Cup, and thankfully Capello is the type of man to know this. McClaren would have kept the same system all through this year and next simply because it worked against 4th rate opposition.

 

Capello has this aura about him, it has definitely passed onto the players over time, most of them except the younger ones like Johnson and Young don't look half as nervous as they did under McClaren. It's a good time to be English but I'm still not totally convinced we'll cut it against the likes of Spain and Brazil in the World Cup.

[Mowen]

Peter Crouch was absolutely useless last night, we actually missed Heskey

 

I don't rate Heskey but Capello has shown the virtue of picking the right players for the team he's putting out, and Heskey has to start in that position as it stands.

 

Beckham did ok, but he literally couldn't have had an easier game. He sat in deep, never had any pressure on him and had two free wingers to aim at all game given how tight Andorra were playing. It was a game perfectly set up to spray the ball around and played exactly to his strenghs. He demonstrated he can still pass the ball very well but even against the likes of Belarus he'd find it a lot tougher.

[Pilko]

Crouch's goal was totally fucking legendary

[Guest Stephen927]

Peter Crouch was absolutely useless last night, we actually missed Heskey

 

I don't rate Heskey but Capello has shown the virtue of picking the right players for the team he's putting out, and Heskey has to start in that position as it stands.

 

Beckham did ok, but he literally couldn't have had an easier game. He sat in deep, never had any pressure on him and had two free wingers to aim at all game given how tight Andorra were playing. It was a game perfectly set up to spray the ball around and played exactly to his strenghs. He demonstrated he can still pass the ball very well but even against the likes of Belarus he'd find it a lot tougher.

 

Thats why I have a lot of time for Capello. He knew the type of game Andorra would play and how Beckham would flourish in a central role. I don't expect him to play Beckham there against better opposition.

[Nobody]

Crouch's goal was totally fucking legendary

It's nice being able to watch defending like that without shouting "FOR FUCKS SAKE LADS, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU FUCKING USELESS WANKERS!!", isn't it?

[Mowen]

Peter Crouch was absolutely useless last night, we actually missed Heskey

 

I don't rate Heskey but Capello has shown the virtue of picking the right players for the team he's putting out, and Heskey has to start in that position as it stands.

 

Beckham did ok, but he literally couldn't have had an easier game. He sat in deep, never had any pressure on him and had two free wingers to aim at all game given how tight Andorra were playing. It was a game perfectly set up to spray the ball around and played exactly to his strenghs. He demonstrated he can still pass the ball very well but even against the likes of Belarus he'd find it a lot tougher.

 

Thats why I have a lot of time for Capello. He knew the type of game Andorra would play and how Beckham would flourish in a central role. I don't expect him to play Beckham there against better opposition.

 

It's as if he thinks about his team selection, rather than just picking the most fashionable players. Bizzare.

[Pilko]

Just baffles me why we didn't appoint someone decent when Sven left. Almost everyone knew from day one that the McClaren era would end in tears, not trophies.

[Guest Stephen927]

Peter Crouch was absolutely useless last night, we actually missed Heskey

 

I don't rate Heskey but Capello has shown the virtue of picking the right players for the team he's putting out, and Heskey has to start in that position as it stands.

 

Beckham did ok, but he literally couldn't have had an easier game. He sat in deep, never had any pressure on him and had two free wingers to aim at all game given how tight Andorra were playing. It was a game perfectly set up to spray the ball around and played exactly to his strenghs. He demonstrated he can still pass the ball very well but even against the likes of Belarus he'd find it a lot tougher.

 

Thats why I have a lot of time for Capello. He knew the type of game Andorra would play and how Beckham would flourish in a central role. I don't expect him to play Beckham there against better opposition.

 

It's as if he thinks about his team selection, rather than just picking the most fashionable players. Bizzare.

 

It's a strange concept to try and understand when you support Newcastle.

[Ronaldo]

If we could get Gerrard linking up with Rooney in the next few games I think we could really do well at the WC. Young and Cole on the wings, Lampard and Carrick/Hargreaves in the middle

[Mowen]

If we could get Gerrard linking up with Rooney in the next few games I think we could really do well at the WC. Young and Cole on the wings, Lampard and Carrick/Hargreaves in the middle

 

Rooney has played his best football for England for a long time playing off a target man though.

[Cronky]

Whenever Beckham plays, we seem to end up in a tactical straitjacket. Despite the fact that we won comfortably last night, I didn't see much of the fluidity and interchanging of positions that we'll need to break down the better defences.

 

The problem with Beckham is that he's very reluctant to move out of that quarterback position ie in space behind the attacking players and spraying passes forward to them. He even tends to get in that kind of position when he's out wide. He never seems to make runs forward, trying to get on the end of passes and flick-ons, like Gerrard or Lampard. That's basically because he's not comfortable receiving the ball in tight spaces under pressure and tends to avoid it, because he lacks pace and close control.

 

At that level, you don't really want a player who's only going to stick to a limited role. He has to be able to respond to opportunities as they arise, because the opportunities aren't that plentiful. His presence means that everyone ends up having to stick to their positions more, and we then look very predictable.