Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
I've always rated McClaren.
England V Russia
- Thread starter Diamond
- Start date
Fucking went to get a couple of hours sleep before the 3am kickoff and missed the whole thing 
Good result. I hope when lumphard etc are back, he doesn't bring them back. The team has got two good results, they deserve their starting places.
Good result. I hope when lumphard etc are back, he doesn't bring them back. The team has got two good results, they deserve their starting places.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
He had a good 30 minutes on the ground and a strong game in the air, but vs. two very disappointing markers did he do anything Crouch couldn't have achieved?Leeloks said:
As for Russia, I thought the defence might be approx. Premiership quality given its defensive record and the manager but that wasn't the case, at least not tonight.
How many times did the Russian forwards hold and turn on the edge of the England area . . . not great. Had the Ref given their goal, had one of those three chances between the 45th and 50th minutes gone in . . . . . I think people are getting a little excited about beating a mediocre team that was set up wrongly for 45 minutes and never recovered.
Don't think anyone's getting carried away though. The Russians might have made mistakes but they're a half decent team. Just nice to see Heskey and Owen working together well again, as they've done in a previous era. Doesn't make sense to break that up. Crouchcan always be brought on if needed.
xenon_2 said:
Good summary
Notorious J.I.M
Well-Known Member
Barry is finally getting the recognition he deserves and about time. It's criminal he was overlooked by Sven for so long when the likes of Jenas and Richardson amongst others kept getting caps. Can't wait for the visit to Man City on Sunday to see him give Sven a gentle reminder of his talents! 
Gerrard and barry compliment eachover perfect in midfield.I would never have picked these to be able play so well together in the centre.Thank fack for all the injuries because i think mclaren has finally found a balanced team.Heskey plays great along side owen as well.
Lampard should be banished to the bench,he has never done nothing for england.Either gerrard with barry or gerrard with hargreaves.Also how comfortable does the youn lad richards look?Youd think he,s been an international for years.
Lampard should be banished to the bench,he has never done nothing for england.Either gerrard with barry or gerrard with hargreaves.Also how comfortable does the youn lad richards look?Youd think he,s been an international for years.
Fingers
From Tuscany SE22
Notorious J.I.M said:Barry is finally getting the recognition he deserves and about time. It's criminal he was overlooked by Sven for so long when the likes of Jenas and Richardson amongst others kept getting caps. Can't wait for the visit to Man City on Sunday to see him give Sven a gentle reminder of his talents!
Thas has to get him past ah Micah first ah kid.
brixtonvilla
should be Oslovilla, really
Fingers said:Thas has to get him past ah Micah first ah kid.
Micah vs Ashley Young & Barry would be well worth watching!
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
I hope they keep out that uber ponce Lampard.
Steven Gerrard is the greatest english footballer of our times.
Steven Gerrard is the greatest english footballer of our times.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
Barry played as a holding midfielder, what has that to do with Jenas or Richardson?Notorious J.I.M said:Barry is finally getting the recognition he deserves and about time. It's criminal he was overlooked by Sven for so long when the likes of Jenas and Richardson amongst others kept getting caps. Can't wait for the visit to Man City on Sunday to see him give Sven a gentle reminder of his talents!
Barry did the job, but so would have Carrick.
g force
Affects Shatner's Basoon
Barry's interesting because as a left footer he offers different passing angles and options and crucially has a lot of defensive nous as he showed last night. He seems to have become Makele but with longer passes
Can't see the point of breaking this starting XI up when they played some very nice, posession football, something England have failed to do for years. Neville and Lampard can be benched, Carrick shouldn't get a look in because Hargreaves is better.
Can't see the point of breaking this starting XI up when they played some very nice, posession football, something England have failed to do for years. Neville and Lampard can be benched, Carrick shouldn't get a look in because Hargreaves is better.
Termite Man
zombie flesh eater
Why are people even mentioning crouch . From his performance as sub last night I reckon andy Johnson would be a better option than fucking crouch !
maximilian ping
Grrrrr
Why Barry is a breath of fresh air to England (see World Cup disaster 2006)
1. He didn't lose possession once
2. All his passes went to another England player
3. He created most of our attacks and goal assists in both games, with a variety of great crosses and short, incisive passes through the middle
PS. I'm not a Villa supporter.
*crosses fingers behind back*
1. He didn't lose possession once
2. All his passes went to another England player
3. He created most of our attacks and goal assists in both games, with a variety of great crosses and short, incisive passes through the middle
PS. I'm not a Villa supporter.
*crosses fingers behind back*
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
The pundits view:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6992305.stm
God it's nice to hear Heskey get some recognition... good on him! The confidence boost from this will only get him playing better and better. Wigan fans, all two of them, must be well chuffed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6992305.stm
God it's nice to hear Heskey get some recognition... good on him! The confidence boost from this will only get him playing better and better. Wigan fans, all two of them, must be well chuffed.
London_Calling said:
Russia had the best defensive record in the entire qualifying section! We were excellent in the final third and made them look average. Heskey did well all the time he was on IMO.
How can Crouch achieve stuff when he aint on the pitch? Thats a hypothetical question you asked! Thats like saying "With Ronaldhino we would have scored that freekick" which of course is rubbish as he aint playing.
Mediocre, i think thats a massive insult to the Russian side, they are better than that.
They turned the odd player, ummmmm because they are a decent side but with very little end product (apart from the goal that should of been) and had they scored their goal i'm totally convinced we would have won anyway in that form.
Your quote above is full of "ifs, buts and maybe's" that never happened. WE WON 3-0! Thats it.
You are trying to find any point to get out of the fact that you were totally wrong in your predictions for this match. Get over it.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
Leeloks said:
I think it's brilliant
London Calling's great entertainment isn't he? It's virtually assured that whatever he confidently predicts will turn out to be complete rubbish. Hell, Urban's going to have to build another intensive battery farm roost to supply him with eggs to smash into his own face.
Never like the delusion of Spuds fans much, but he's a particularly fine example.
Never like the delusion of Spuds fans much, but he's a particularly fine example.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
Whoa, I think I've only ever made the one prediction. But coupled with the refusal to bow at the media-led shrine of Emile Heskey and . . . this occurs.
Just a little bit overblown, chaps.
So the idea is to go with the irrefutable logic that England won so Heskey must have been the right choice. I do love a tabloid world, everything is so uncomplicated.
Just a little bit overblown, chaps.
So the idea is to go with the irrefutable logic that England won so Heskey must have been the right choice. I do love a tabloid world, everything is so uncomplicated.
London_Calling said:
Te he. You predicted that Heskey would struggle against the Russian defenders and he didn't. "He will be useless" "He isn't up for the job"
Then to compound it you started harping on about the ifs and buts in football. ha ha. Those things do generally make me laugh, the whole of life is its and buts, however the reality of what happened is nearer the point don't you think?
I'd just give it up, Heskey DID play well and so did England.
Ned Pointsman
Sells Tac to Bairns
London_Calling said:
FWIW I agree with you, thought he was mediocre at best, still the same player he always was, little or no awareness, little or no intelligence, no imagination whatsoever, a striker worth two and six would have sold the already committed keeper with the chance he had, instead he twats it straight at him for no good reason, also watch for the number of times he heads it away from the box to look for someone on rushing, or to the wings.
Russia's defensive record, afaik, was with the very, very good Akinfeev in goal, that guy lastnight was their third choice and you could tell, too far off his line for the second, pure wank for the third.
The other striker isn't there to play foil to prince michael, queen of our hearts the little welsh twat, he's supposed to be able to score goals too, at no point in the past two games did heskey ever look like doing that. He looked exactly like the heskey of old, without the falling over every two minutes.
Barry and Richards, however, ace.
Ned Pointsman
Sells Tac to Bairns
Balbi said:Please recognise the difference between a forward and a striker, and the necessity to have a pair of these to maximise the effectiveness of the attack.
Thanks.
Recognised.
Please recognise the point of a midfield.
K.
(he's better at it than rooney, I'll give him that.)
Termite Man said:
Because Crouch has consistently scored for England, is proven in the CL only outscored by Kaka last season, whereas johnson hasn't scored since March.
If I had to hazard a guess, like.
Balbi
Hey, Dean Yager!
If England don't have a hold up striker - and Rooney drops too deep to be that man - then the midfield are trying to do it instead. Then the wingers come in to fill the gap and leave the fullbacks exposed, the striker is then pulled out of position trying to fill the gaps and there's no ball retention.
Last night and Saturday, the midfield pair played in midfield properly. Not covering for the lack of someone to hold the ball in the final third. They released the wingers, and looked for the ball to the player who was playing their position, and not filling out. They could get the ball to Heskey who would hold it for a winger or a return pass, Owen got to whir his little legs around finding space as the defence were worried about the athletic power of Heskey.
When England play Rooney, the ball always goes through him - he's the pinch point of the squad, and if he's not playing right then we look bloody awful. With a team of players who are all as equally involved in buildup and creativity, we play well even if one player has a mare.
Last night and Saturday, the midfield pair played in midfield properly. Not covering for the lack of someone to hold the ball in the final third. They released the wingers, and looked for the ball to the player who was playing their position, and not filling out. They could get the ball to Heskey who would hold it for a winger or a return pass, Owen got to whir his little legs around finding space as the defence were worried about the athletic power of Heskey.
When England play Rooney, the ball always goes through him - he's the pinch point of the squad, and if he's not playing right then we look bloody awful. With a team of players who are all as equally involved in buildup and creativity, we play well even if one player has a mare.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
London_Calling said:
Media-led shrine? He's been slagged off the press at EVERY opportunity apart from the last two games. Poor fucker has had to put up with uneducated derision from all quarters for nearly his entire career. The Sun still slags him off.
This about people recognising when someone has had an excellent game, without bias.
Give it a try!
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
There’s no point. Whatever is said in the post-match studio discussion becomes gospel, never mind that not a one of them has been near a managerial position in their lives.
This sudden adulation of Heskey has exactly the same kind of sheep-led-by-populist-media MO that saw McClaren appointed, and all the other bizarre judgments that have characterised the England team for over a decade.
As ever, it’s plain nuts, but everyone goes along with it.
Fwiw, I just noticed Russia are 24th in the FIFA ranking - 24th and with a couple of key players missing.
This sudden adulation of Heskey has exactly the same kind of sheep-led-by-populist-media MO that saw McClaren appointed, and all the other bizarre judgments that have characterised the England team for over a decade.
As ever, it’s plain nuts, but everyone goes along with it.
Fwiw, I just noticed Russia are 24th in the FIFA ranking - 24th and with a couple of key players missing.
