Football World Cup 2010

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:07 pm

chelsea wrote:Baa Baa, Not even a mention of Scouser Gerard's name was there, probably not even in the mix.To busy nicking hub caps from moving cars.

As opposed to crying, spitting on people, harrasing refs and pissing in nightclubs. Oh well.

Post by **chelsea** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:11 pm

So Baa Baa & WL, if they had gone for Rio as captain, what would your thoughts be on having a drug test absentee as well as potential drug cheat as a captain, I seem to remember him missing most of one season for that one.

What reason would you have for missing a drug test (perhaps we had some stuff over the weekend and not want it to show up). Whatever excuse he gave, mud always sticks and there will always be that suspicion about why he missed the test, and unfortunately it will stick with him for the rest of his life.

Me personally, I had no problem with Rio or JT being England's captain and have said that previously. Being an England Supporter, both would have done the job whoever got it, but the boss man made the choice, and as he has already stated, the armband does not garauntee a place in the side.
So if JT fails, so be it, someone else will then step up and get their chance.

And to finish, if it upsets Baa Baa & WL so much who is England's captain, there is always the off button on your TV, you do not have to watch it.

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:23 pm

chelsea wrote: And to finish, if it upsets Baa Baa & WL so much who is England's captain, there is always the off button on your TV, you do not have to watch it.

Well there wont be much to turn off if Captain fantastic is as inspiring as he was in the last campaign when he lead us to absolutely F-all.

Post by **caller** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:22 am

Its not just Capello that rates him, is it? Desailly, Ranieri, Mourinho, Grant, Scolari - all the same, he must have something.

I agree the ref baiting must stop and he has acknowledged that and said it will. Hear what the other players say about him, especially his clubmates at Chelsea. Watch him play live, watch his influence, then comment. Only Bobby Moore read a game better.

He is a great player and captain and should be given the chance to prove it to the doubters.

Post by **Bamboo Grove** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:30 am

Finland vs Israel 2-0 (Johnsson ex-Charlton 2 goals). First victory under the new coach Stuart Baxter.

Post by **Wanderlust** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:32 am

I didn't watch the England game last night, but all the reports say we were pretty dismal and got an undeserved draw. Looking at the starting line up, Capello has disappointed me by picking the same bloody team as Eriksson or McLaren did; my optimism that he might be a breath of fresh air in both team selection and tactics has evaporated and it suggests to me that he has not watched any previous England matches that his predecessors managed because apart from England managers everyone knows that Lampard and Gerrard do not play well together, for whatever reason. Oh well, I now anticipate us just scraping qualification for the next World Cup with some embarrassing losses or draws along the way, and Capello will at some point complain that the expectations are too high and that the media are too invasive, but will claim to be vindicated when England just qualify...

Post by **caller** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:55 pm

I couldn't be bothered to watch it either as I thought the outcome predictable. Capello seems to be saying they should play as for their clubs, so who is responsible for the fact they don't?

Post by **Guess** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:44 pm

Wanderlust wrote:.................. Capello has disappointed me by picking the same bloody team as Eriksson or McLaren did...

A continued tradition in England I think. What's the point of employing a new manager if his team and tactics are the same as his predecessor. Do they believe it is all about motivation? Maybe they have point.

The Terry / Ferdinand debate does nothing to contribute to the game and is better left. I don't have much faith in UK justice as a whole but I think the English FA have it fairly well sewn up. What these guys do off the pitch is paid for when they are caught.

Both are superb players of true international standard. I have never seen or heard anything negative in the mainstream press from players or managers that casts any doubt on their playing ability. John Terry is certainly dedicated. I think even the strongest players would breakdown after missing a penalty shot that would make his club European Champions.

I have briefly glanced at the matches in the England group and the other Euro groups. Qualifying is much tougher than it may seem. Croatia IMHO must be favorites to top the table. I can only see them dropping 3 points and that would be against England and Ukraine away.

So that leaves England fighting with Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus (both of unknown ability) for the second qualifying position.

If that seems easy then the next step is to make sure that England have more points than five of the other groups' runners up.

If you look at the other 8 groups I reckon that in three of them there will be two runaways, Portugal & Sweden, Turkey & Spain and Ireland & Italy. For England to compete they need also to be in a runaway pair. With the two Euro finalists, Ukraine and Croatia it is a very tough task.

The matches this year are crucial. Anything less than 6 points out of 9 is not enough. England need more than just a couple of world class midfielders to score the goals.

England need both Kazakhstan and Belarus to fail miserably and hope to do better than the Ukraine. Then its just pot luck if they get the second qualifying spot. Finland have an easier task.

So where's it going to be in 2014 so that we can start the thread now.

Post by **Big Boy** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:15 pm

I think we should wait until after Wednesday's match before going around the 'shoot the manager' buoy again. After recent results it would be so easy to be pessamistic - give the guys a chance.

Post by **Big Boy** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:15 pm

1st Firefox cock up ie page did not display posting, but stayed at Preview/Submit screen. Moved on to the correct screen at the 2nd attempt.

Post by **Bamboo Grove** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:45 pm

Finland have an easier task.

Ta, Guess, but I don´t think so. With Germany and Russia in the group, going through would be a miracle.

Post by **Guess** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:10 am

Bamboo Grove wrote:
Finland have an easier task.
Ta, Guess, but I don´t think so. With Germany and Russia in the group, going through would be a miracle.

This was my point really. I think it is safe to assume that Germany will win the group. Finland need to win all the games against the weak opponents and get ahead of Russia. I agree that will be the hardest bit but Russia have already shown there weaknesses at international level despite having some very good individuals.

England have a similar task with Croatia leading the group and Ukraine the next obstacle. The difference though is that in the England group there is only one week team and England struggled to beat them.

Post by **Wanderlust** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:00 am

Guess,
Thats a pretty good assessment of the chances of qualifying, but what about the way England played against Andorra? I watched the match and was baffled at the way England approached the game, although I don't know if it was players not doing as instructed or strange tactics from the manager. Up front we had Defoe, one of the smallest strikers in the world, with Rooney in what appeared to be a roaming role, but also not renowned for his ability in the air. So what were England doing with two wingers (Walcott and Downing) attempting to sling crosses into the box most of the first half? Not only were the majority of these crosses not very good, they were easily dealt with by the defenders. I would hope that was Downings last ever game for England because he was woeful and rightly replaced at half time. Walcott did better and did actually get to the byline and then cut a couple of balls back on the floor for Rooney and Defoe, but both of them blazed wildly over.
The fact that England had no shots on target in the first half is a damning indictment of the players in my opinion.
Second half and Capello made the changes (Cole for Downing, Heskey for Defoe) but again I find the second of these a bit strange (well i find the fact that Heskey is even in the squad a bit strange but never mind) - it seemed obvious to me that by bringing Cole on he would play a lot narrower than Downing and attempt to play more through the middle and more one touch passing than wing play, so bringing Heskey on (who is pretty good in the air) seems odd as he was unlikely to get much service. While Cole obviously did well I would have left Defoe on as he is much more natural finisher than Heskey, and I might have replaced Rooney instead, to rest him ahead of the Croatia game - he wasn't having much impact anyway.
As far as the midfield and defence goes, the latter hardly had anything to do all night, but I thought Johnson did well as an attacking full back but someone should have a word with him about his hair...

Lampard and Barry didn't work for me at all, but again I don't know if they were obeying instructions or not but neither of them seemed to be bursting forward or even taking pot shots at goal - the only shots I can recall from outside the penalty area were by Terry and Johnson. One factor I will allow for the performance is the pitch, which by all accounts was very 'sticky' so did not allow slick, flowing passing movements but this was the team ranked 15th in the world against the team ranked 186th!

I am extremely worried about the Croatia game - the best England can hope for is a draw with the squad available, which would be a good result against a very good team, but my worries are that firstly Capello will set his stall out for a draw, and secondly that we just don't look good enough to trouble Croatia. Football can be a funny game though and now I have said that we will probably thrash them!

Post by **Zidane** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:44 am

Wednesday,a very important game.I'd be more than happy with a draw against Croatia.
Hopefully,Ferdinand will be back and Joe Cole & Heskey will start.
Quite possibly a place in the starting line up for either Beckham or Bentley,I would have thought.
James,in goal,never instills confidence but who else is there ?
Maybe in the future,Joe Hart or Ben Foster.

Zidane

Post by **Wanderlust** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:36 am

In goal it didn't matter who was there against Andorra so it would have been good to have given Rob Green a much deserved starting spot. Might be worth giving him a go against Croatia as well - if they get a penalty his record at saving them is pretty impressive in the last two seasons...(3 out of 5 last season, 1 out of 1 this season).