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Post by Daedalus on Jun 18, 2010 10:04:12 GMT
I agree COYS. It has really picked up. I blame ITV for England's poor showing in the opening game. We never play well on ITV! Apparently, this is England's World Cup record on ITV since 1982: Played 11 | Won 3 | Drawn 7 | Lost 1 | Of course, it is just a silly superstition but I'd feel much happier if we were on the BBC instead! I still remember Barry Davies asking Kevin Keegan in 1998 'will he score here?' during the penalty shoot-out, and Keegan answering 'yes' (what else was he supposed to say?) We all know what happened next. David Batty missed and that was the end of World Cup 1998 for England. I've never forgiven ITV for that! No images allowed -http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/Crouchaldinho_SACFC/ranting.gif
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 18, 2010 10:09:20 GMT
This is the stadium in which the match is taking place tonight:
No images allowed -http://www.worldcup2010southafrika.com/images/worldcup-green-point-stadium.jpg
Green Town Stadium, Cape Town Capacity - 68000.
The referee is going to be Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan).
And the expected line-up for England:
Green
Johnson Carragher Terry A.Cole
Lennon Lampard Barry Gerrard
Rooney Heskey
Not sure of Algeria's line-up just yet.
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 18, 2010 10:15:52 GMT
Some papers reporting that James will start in place of Green.
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Post by COYS on Jun 18, 2010 12:17:33 GMT
Yes, apparently James is to start tonight. I'm in two minds about this. On one hand, James is a very good goalkeeper and has had a good season with Portsmouth, but on the other hand I felt denying Green a start in this match could crush him. There's no doubt that he's a decent keeper who just made a mistake, but James is probably the better goalkeeper, and part of me thinks this change would have been made regardless of Green's performance. Even so, I want Hart to start - he's pound for pound our best goalkeeper.
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Post by COYS on Jun 18, 2010 21:14:18 GMT
Three words.
What. An. Embarrassment.
I'm starting to doubt Capello as an international manager to be honest. He is so ruddy stubborn - the whole world can see Joe Cole could offer something, and we needed a change in shape, but no!
Rooney is a joke. Unless he plays well on Wednesday, he will forever be tarnished with the tag of not being able to perform on the biggest stage. And him complaining about the booing at the end? Well, I'm not a fan of booing, but if you spend thousands of pounds and travel across continents to watch overpaid walking jokes 'play' football, then you have a right to express your opinion.
Tonight is the lowest I have ever felt as an England fan. The Croatia game was awful, but they were half-decent opponents. The two Portugal games in 04 and 06 were poor, but at least we showed some fight. Not tonight. I'm actually ashamed.
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 18, 2010 21:28:46 GMT
Very depressing COYS.
Extremely poor. All the big names - the Lampards, Gerrards, Rooneys etc. - performed way below the standard we would expect.
I've said all along that I don't like the 4-4-2 with Gerrard on the left. I'd also like to have seen Crouch starting this match. I just can't see us scoring goals with Rooney and Heskey up front.
The team looked rigid and devoid of all creativity. The best idea they seemed to come up with was to lump it up to Heskey on an almost constant basis (or in lieu of Heskey just lump it forward to nobody) and whether you like him or not, there wasn't much Heskey could do with it most of the time.
I can't remember an England team ever passing the ball so badly. Our ball retention was just absolutely shocking and some of the passing was just dreadful.
Nevertheless, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I think England will still go through. They will beat Slovenia. Mark my words. It is worth noting that in nearly every managerial job that Capello has had, his teams have often struggled and gone through difficult times before fighting back and succeeding. So I think that England will go out on Wednesday and do what is required against Slovenia to take them through to the second round.
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Post by COYS on Jun 18, 2010 21:54:20 GMT
I hope you're right, D.
The thing that shocks me most is the lack of English passion in this team. Every time the camera cut to Gerrard he wasn't geeing up the side like he does with Liverpool, he had his chin on his chest, dejectedly.
And Rooney? Typically taking his frustrations from a poor performance out on the nearest outlet. I bet he'll regret that in the morning.
In a way, I'm glad it happened this early in the tournament. Who's to say we can't buck up our ideas in response and go on to improve in this tournament?
If I was Capello, I'd show the boys the papers tomorrow morning. I'd make them remember the feeling of being completely ripped apart by the media, making them never want to experience that again. Like that scene on Invictus, where Francois Pienaar forces his team to drink **** water beer so they know what defeat tastes like.
Anyway, come on England. :/
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Post by joemeek67 on Jun 19, 2010 12:15:05 GMT
Clearly we lack the commiment shown by Gary Wackett [lets ******* kill 'em] and Kevin "Tonka" Tonkinson why were they not in the squad? and Mike Bassett would be doing a better job at present too.
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 19, 2010 12:51:48 GMT
I agree JoeMeek. Clearly we need Mike Bassett in charge.
'Ladies and gentleman, England will be playing 4 4 ******* 2!'
And this half-time team talk would have sorted the England boys out:
;D
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 20, 2010 16:25:24 GMT
We think England have problems..... just look at the French! And the Italians aren't much better off either. 1-1 with the 'All Whites'!
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 21, 2010 11:18:07 GMT
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Post by COYS on Jun 21, 2010 11:56:30 GMT
Aha, love that!
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 23, 2010 17:14:41 GMT
Well, England did it! Just! What a tense game. I have to say that I could barely watch that last 10 minutes knowing that a Slovenia goal would be the end of it all. Ultimately, this was a much, much better performance than the last two games. Milner was superb at right midfield and Defoe looked sharp. It was an all round better performance from all concerned. I'm interested to see whether Capello will stick with this team or whether he might change things for the second round game. Joe Cole playing off Defoe/Heskey in the last 15 minutes looked intriguing. Anyway, now we just have to hope that Ghana can beat Germany tonight!
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Post by Boomer on Jun 23, 2010 17:52:37 GMT
Have to agree about Milner, Daedalus. His crossing was superb. We also need to keep the same back four for the next game as well. Upson's last ditch tackle at the end was timed to perfection.
There is only one thing we need to progress further in this competition - make sure we play in red. It worked in 1966, it can work in 2010.
Finally, it probably won't happen but I hope Ghana pulverise Germany tonight!
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Post by Boomer on Jun 23, 2010 21:09:41 GMT
But now the really good news!! The Germany v England game on Sun June 27 is on BBC, 3.00 ko. I can do without listening to the garbage those idiots Chiles and Keegan spout on ITV. At least Shearer, Hansen and Lineker do have some semblance of knowledge about football. www.live-footballontv.com/live-international-football-on-tv.html
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 23, 2010 21:39:31 GMT
I agree about playing in red Boomer and I imagine we'll be in red versus Germany as we are technically the 'away' side in that game. As for the game not being on ITV, thank goodness. While I can stand Chiles and even Keegan to an extent, I really can't stand the main commentator on ITV (Clive Tyldesley). He just tries far too hard and everything that comes out of his mouth just sounds patronising, trite, clichéd and ridiculous. Great commentators, in my opinion, are subtle, often allowing the moment to speak for itself but just adding a little something to the occasion. You think about one of the most quotable and most famous commentary lines in English football history - 'some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over, it is now'. It's totally low key, a masterpiece of understatement. Now imagine Clive whatshisname from ITV in the same scenario and doesn't your whole body and mind just cringe at the thought of a great moment being ruined by his self-importance, arrogance and hype? No images allowed -http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/Crouchaldinho_SACFC/ranting.gif Anyway, thumbs up for the red shirts and thumbs up for Lineker and co. showing the game! No images allowed -http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/Crouchaldinho_SACFC/thup.gif Does anyone think we can beat Germany though? Please, not penalties again. I can't take it.......
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 25, 2010 14:34:54 GMT
Trust in Don Fabio everyone. Check out this video:
(Be warned that there is some rude language in it though so don't watch if you are easily offended by Italians going crazy and cursing at every opportunity!)
;D
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 27, 2010 12:01:41 GMT
Do we all believe that England can do it today? I've got a feeling that we will sneak through somehow. It wouldn't be England if we didn't get everyone's hopes up before crashing out in the next round. Come on England! No images allowed -http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/Crouchaldinho_SACFC/yuyuyuyu-1.gif
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 27, 2010 16:48:30 GMT
No images allowed -http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs066.ash2/36670_10150211586790153_523200152_13436531_4699187_n.jpg
Time for Rooney to buy a caravan and start work on cultivating that ginger beard?
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 27, 2010 17:04:00 GMT
Well, that was about as miserable as it gets, wasn't it?
You can't get away from the fact that England's 'big three' just didn't turn up at this World Cup.
Gerrard wide left is ridiculous but how many overhit passes and poor shots can you defend? Same for Lampard. To be honest, half of me is looking forward to them both retiring from international football. Just how much more of the Gerrard and Lampard 'can't play together' debate can we take? As for Rooney, well, he might as well have stayed at home.
Would we have been better with Rio? Well, Gerrard's captaincy consisted of nothing more than wearing an armband to be honest, plus Terry and Upson looked like they barely knew each other today.
Finally, I was a big supporter of the manager but Capello playing 4-4-2 for the whole tournament with Gerrard wide left was frustrating. He gave Peter Crouch about 10 minutes and Heskey way too much playing time. Capello has always been afraid to sub one of the big names. Every time we needed a change, he went like for like and failed miserably to do anything remotely positive with his substitutions. How can Crouch, with his international goal scoring record, sit on the bench for pretty much the whole tournament while England are failing to score goals? It's beyond me.
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Post by Saint on Jun 27, 2010 18:09:57 GMT
Oh dear God........... :/
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 27, 2010 18:29:15 GMT
My thoughts exactly Saint.
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 28, 2010 10:07:41 GMT
Match stats from yesterday's game: GER | | ENG | 17(7) | Shots (on Goal) | 19(9) | 7 | Fouls | 6 | 4 | Corner Kicks | 6 | 4 | Offsides | 2 | 48% | Time of Possession | 52% | 1 | Yellow Cards | 1 | 0 | Red Cards | 0 | 6 | Saves | 2 |
Surprised to see how many stats were even or actually in England's favour. If it wasn't for some appalling defending, I guess it might well have been all different.
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 28, 2010 10:12:32 GMT
From The Independent:
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 28, 2010 10:14:08 GMT
This was mentioned during the match commentary but I think this is particularly interesting: Germany 4-0 England, Euro Under-21 Final 2009[/u] Germany: Neuer, Beck, Howedes, Boateng, Boesnich, Hummels, Johnson, Castro, Khedira, Ozil, Wagner Subs: Schwaab, Aogo, Schmelzer England: Loach, Cranie, Richards, Onuoha, Gibbs, Muamba, Cattermole, Noble, Milner, Walcott, Johnson
Subs: Mancienne, Rodwell, Gardner Players in bold played in the game yesterday and players who are italicised have been capped. Germany certainly doing something better, it would seem.
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Post by Saint on Jun 28, 2010 16:51:04 GMT
I am supporting the Oranje (Netherlands) I supported them in Euro 08 and I am doing the same now!
(To the tune of Let it be)
Van Persie, Van Persie, Van Persie, Van Persie, hit one in for Holland, van Persie. The Icemans 2nd coming, a joy for all to see, hit one In for Holland, van Persie. Cocu gets it in midfield and slots it wide to Kuijt, charging down the endline, Robben's free...Robben's free, Robben's free, Robben's free, Robben's free, charging down the endline Robben's free. His 1st touch lets him down a bit but make up with a cross, scoring on the end of it Van Persie...Van Persie, Van Persie, Van Persie, Van Persie, scoring on the end of it Van Persie. The hopes of Holland lie on his back, they'll go as far as he, so hit one in for Holland, Van Persie.
;D
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 29, 2010 13:02:13 GMT
So, of course, now the 'inquest' is in full flow regarding England's poor performance and ultimate failure at the World Cup. This, from the BBC website, sums it up for me: This is a major reason as to why things will never change and the England national team will continue to struggle well into the future.
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Post by Boomer on Jun 29, 2010 17:39:23 GMT
Well said, Daedalus. Capello is/was not the problem and he was badly let down by the players. However, the problem is a lot more deep rooted than that.
Apparently there are under 3,000 English coaches holding UEFA's top qualifications. In Spain, there are 24,000. In Italy, there are 30,000 and Germany 35,000. Is there any significance in those figures you might ask? I don't really think we need to answer that, do we?
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 29, 2010 19:32:21 GMT
That is a pretty damning statistic Boomer. I hope that pressure comes on the FA to sort out their coaching system so that managers are properly taught and are given more of a chance to progress.
As a quick aside, I understand that Steve Castle is one of the qualified coaches in England (I believe that he has his UEFA 'A' licence and full licence coaching badge) so he obviously appreciates the importance of these qualifications. I think this kind of qualification is so important and all managers and coaches should be taking these courses on.
It's pretty clear that attitudes at the top of our game need to change. I wonder how much can change while we have people with conflicting interests working for the Premier League (the 'greed is good league' as some call it!) and the FA.
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Post by Daedalus on Jun 29, 2010 19:35:57 GMT
On a positive note, it's good to see that the remaining English representative in the competition, Howard Webb, seems to be having a very good tournament. Having just watched an interview with him on the BBC (at HT in the Spain v Portugal match), he strikes me as being an eloquent and modest individual. I hear that he is one of the favourites to referee the final, such is the positivity around his performances during the matches he has been in charge of so far.
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