Spain win World Cup 2010

[Guest firetotheworks]

I dunno if Gabby's mentioned it, but the shackles looked like they were off.

[Guest toonlass]

Out of interest Blef, how come you don't support England?

 

Mam's Scottish. Never supported anyone but Scotland as long as I can remember.

[ElDiablo]

Potentially : Germany - Argentina - Spain/Portugal - Brazil

 

Tough run in but yous would probably have seen 2 of those later 3 in the semis and final anyway. Germany and Argentina have their weaknesses as well so if yous can exploit them yous will at least gain confidence to take the likes of Brazil on. Maybe not as bad a run in as most think.

 

Massive weight of expectation is taken off playing those teams as well, which is a big problem for the team.

[ponsaelius]

Man look at that damn run-in. Horrible whatever way you look at it tbh

[Adam]

Run in looks mental now, play winner of Group D so Ghana or the Jormans, then Argentina, then Spain (hopefuly Paraguay!), then either Brazil or Holand....easy !

[Dave]

Potentially : Germany - Argentina - Spain/Portugal - Brazil

 

Tough run in but yous would probably have seen 2 of those later 3 in the semis and final anyway. Germany and Argentina have their weaknesses as well so if yous can exploit them yous will at least gain confidence to take the likes of Brazil on. Maybe not as bad a run in as most think.

 

Massive weight of expectation is taken off playing those teams as well, which is a big problem for the team.

 

Spot on.

[Jayson]

That f***ing Milner is average as f***, why is he starting for England?

 

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.

 

Just seemed like he tired out towards the end. He did their fullback as well as anyone ive seen at this world cup a couple times, keep up the quality of his crossing and you've gotta keep him. Joe cole didnt do much really, though he was hardly playing in the best part of the game.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Milner put in a couple of great crosses in the first half, which I suppose makes it a good half from him. He was pants in the second half, and should have been substituted for someone like Lennon around 70 mins.

 

Quite good sometimes, often poor - sums him up really.

[geordiedean]

Think the last 4 will be Uruguay,Argentina,Spain Brazil

 

South Americas World cup again

[Parky]

COME ON GHANA!!!

 

Come on Carlos Eugênio Simon!

 

http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_sports/r_17118/

 

If he cards Schweinsteiger or Lahm I'm celebrating like we scored.

 

Look forward to a card fest.

[Guest firetotheworks]

The media will start believing we can beat anyone again, we'll lose and they'll be prima donnas again. 

[David28]

Milner put in a couple of great crosses in the first half, which I suppose makes it a good half from him. He was pants in the second half, and should have been substituted for someone like Lennon around 70 mins.

 

Quite good sometimes, often poor - sums him up really.

 

Think J.Cole should have come on for him instead of Rooney.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Milner put in a couple of great crosses in the first half, which I suppose makes it a good half from him. He was pants in the second half, and should have been substituted for someone like Lennon around 70 mins.

 

Quite good sometimes, often poor - sums him up really.

 

Think J.Cole should have come on for him instead of Rooney.

 

Yeah, possibly, I just thought that when the fullback was booked we should have been looking to exploit him more. I'm a big fan of Lennon anyway... just to stretch the game a bit.

[tmonkey]

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.

[Ameritoon]

What a ridiculous moment! Was at my local Buffalo Wild Wings, fucking tense all game. We go on that last attack, huge storm coming into the area, I think to myself, if we score it'll be here, then the feed goes out. The satellite went down. For a a few seconds we were all stuck in limbo, a guy pulls it up on his phone, says "It's 1-1"

 

Mass chaos.

 

Everyone jumping around, I almost knocked down like three tables, just absolute insanity. So fucking happy.

[Dave]

What a ridiculous moment! Was at my local Buffalo Wild Wings, fucking tense all game. We go on that last attack, huge storm coming into the area, I think to myself, if we score it'll be here, then the feed goes out. The satellite went down. For a a few seconds we were all stuck in limbo, a guy pulls it up on his phone, says "It's 1-1"

 

Mass chaos.

 

Everyone jumping around, I almost knocked down like three tables, just absolute insanity. So fucking happy.

 

What did you do when you found out it was 1-0?

[pedro111]

Out of interest Blef, how come you don't support England?

 

Mam's Scottish. Never supported anyone but Scotland as long as I can remember.

 

But your dads English, you were born, bred and continue to live in England, right? Just support both countries. Simple.

[tmonkey]

What a ridiculous moment! Was at my local Buffalo Wild Wings, f***ing tense all game. We go on that last attack, huge storm coming into the area, I think to myself, if we score it'll be here, then the feed goes out. The satellite went down. For a a few seconds we were all stuck in limbo, a guy pulls it up on his phone, says "It's 1-1"

 

Mass chaos.

 

Everyone jumping around, I almost knocked down like three tables, just absolute insanity. So f***ing happy.

 

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.

[Guest firetotheworks]

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.

 

Couldn't disagree more. He and Hargreaves were pretty much the only highlights in WC'06. Which is the last competition we were in, and the last time he was a regular starter.

[Ameritoon]

What a ridiculous moment! Was at my local Buffalo Wild Wings, f***ing tense all game. We go on that last attack, huge storm coming into the area, I think to myself, if we score it'll be here, then the feed goes out. The satellite went down. For a a few seconds we were all stuck in limbo, a guy pulls it up on his phone, says "It's 1-1"

 

Mass chaos.

 

Everyone jumping around, I almost knocked down like three tables, just absolute insanity. So f***ing happy.

 

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.

 

[tmonkey]

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.

[alpal78]

I thought Capello was nearly in tears during the interview, he was clearly emotional.

 

What Capello did wrong:

 

1) Replacing Rooney with Cole. True Rooney was horribly off form in terms of scoring, but he was holding up the ball and linking play which was easing pressure on our defense. The ball just wasn't sticking up front after Rooney left. Joe Cole was non existent in attack and didn't do much tracking back either, pretty useless really. Can we now put to bed this idea of Joe Cole being England's saviour, he was good...4 years ago.

 

2) Should have replaced Milner with Lennon in the last 5-10 minutes, Milner was clearly knackered and Lennon's pace would force Slovenia defenders to stay a bit deep.

 

What Capello did right:

 

1) Heskey (as much as I don't like him) on for Defoe. Defoe too was flat out after such a high energetic performance and we were screaming for a target man to hold the ball upfront in the last few minutes. Not that Heskey did too much of that, but at least he kept their centre defenders occupied.

 

2) Keeping Gerrard on the left and playing Defoe with Rooney was brilliant despite everyone else crying for a 4-5-1 with Gerrard behind Rooney - honestly don't think we would have won with a 4-5-1 especially with Rooney so off form.

 

Well done boys, don't care if we meet Germany, it means we get one day extra rest which is important for is coz we play with high tempo.

[Guest firetotheworks]

I'm not expecting much anymore, I never expected us to do very well, but I expect the passion, and the joy of watching that. Algeria it wasn't there, today it was back, and as long as we keep doing that I won't be too disappointed considering I don't think this team is a patch on '98-'06

[Parky]

I thought Capello was nearly in tears during the interview, he was clearly emotional.

 

What Capello did wrong:

 

1) Replacing Rooney with Cole. True Rooney was horribly off form in terms of scoring, but he was holding up the ball and linking play which was easing pressure on our defense. The ball just wasn't sticking up front after Rooney left. Joe Cole was non existent in attack and didn't do much tracking back either, pretty useless really. Can we now put to bed this idea of Joe Cole being England's saviour, he was good...4 years ago.

 

2) Should have replaced Milner with Lennon in the last 5-10 minutes, Milner was clearly knackered and Lennon's pace would force Slovenia defenders to stay a bit deep.

 

What Capello did right:

 

1) Heskey (as much as I don't like him) on for Defoe. Defoe too was flat out after such a high energetic performance and we were screaming for a target man to hold the ball upfront in the last few minutes. Not that Heskey did too much of that, but at least he kept their centre defenders occupied.

 

2) Keeping Gerrard on the left and playing Defoe with Rooney was brilliant despite everyone else crying for a 4-5-1 with Gerrard behind Rooney - honestly don't think we would have won with a 4-5-1 especially with Rooney so off form.

 

Well done boys, don't care if we meet Germany, it means we get one day extra rest which is important for is coz we play with high tempo.

 

Good post.

 

 

[Rebellious]

I thought Capello was nearly in tears during the interview, he was clearly emotional.

 

What Capello did wrong:

 

1) Replacing Rooney with Cole. True Rooney was horribly off form in terms of scoring, but he was holding up the ball and linking play which was easing pressure on our defense. The ball just wasn't sticking up front after Rooney left. Joe Cole was non existent in attack and didn't do much tracking back either, pretty useless really. Can we now put to bed this idea of Joe Cole being England's saviour, he was good...4 years ago.

 

2) Should have replaced Milner with Lennon in the last 5-10 minutes, Milner was clearly knackered and Lennon's pace would force Slovenia defenders to stay a bit deep.

 

What Capello did right:

 

1) Heskey (as much as I don't like him) on for Defoe. Defoe too was flat out after such a high energetic performance and we were screaming for a target man to hold the ball upfront in the last few minutes. Not that Heskey did too much of that, but at least he kept their centre defenders occupied.

 

2) Keeping Gerrard on the left and playing Defoe with Rooney was brilliant despite everyone else crying for a 4-5-1 with Gerrard behind Rooney - honestly don't think we would have won with a 4-5-1 especially with Rooney so off form.

 

Well done boys, don't care if we meet Germany, it means we get one day extra rest which is important for is coz we play with high tempo.

 

Wasn`t Rooney carrying a Knock.

Lennon can`t retain possession.

 

He Should have brought Carrick on for Barry after 60 mins.