Tumbleweed 106 Posted June 25, 2004 Now I am as much disappointed as anyone else last night, but I want to get a few things off my chest:1. Why can we not think we can compete properly against France and Portugal, we feel we have to nick a goal and then hang on frantically. When we wanted to play (at the start against France and then in the last few minutes of extra time last night) we showed that we can actually give as good as we get. The TV pundits criticised Germany and Italy for having no ambition but last night we were abjectly negative when we should have been gunning for a second goal with or without Rooney.2. John Terry was poor for all three of his games and caused confusion at defending set pieces. They were getting free headers all night even before Postiga''s.3. Beckham should have been subbed for Joe Cole at half time. He was either injured or not motivated, ambling around last night and seemingly unable to either challenge properly, make runs down the right, or get into good positions. His free kicks were OK leading to the disallowed "goal", but apart from that his general apathy made it predictable that he was going to screw up the penalty. 4. Why play 4 attacking midfielders in a game where the manager has publicly stated that Portugal are good at holding the ball and we need to win it. Hargreaves should have started, probably in place of Scholes who did nothing all night. Its the City equivalent of playing Hucks, Mulryne, McVeigh and Cooper.5. Why play long balls all night to two short attackers? Do we have no footballing brains at all? Poor old Vassell and Owen had no chance with "service" like that.6. At least under Kevin Keegan we had fire and passion. Last night we ran hard but I never felt that we were really up for it as much as they were. Where they had Ronaldo running his guts out for 2 hours we had Beckham having a stroll in the park. Erikson must take some blame here.7. Ian Wright was the only good thing about last night. He wore his heart on his sleeve, I wished we could have played him!! Calling the Ref a "homer" was probably what we were all thinking- I hope he doesn''t get into trouble for that.8. I don''t feel as empty as in Italia 90, Euro 96 or France 98- in all those matches we were probably the better side and did not deserve to lose. Last night was different and there was only one team trying to play football. Good luck to them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nasher 0 Posted June 25, 2004 totally agree with your coments 100% but ive just heard beckham on radio thats he not going to resign as england captain and is looking forward to playing in the upcoming world cup qualifiers so it looks like we are stuck with him. i must say how impressed i was with ashley cole he seems to have grown up at last. OTBC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tumbleweed 106 Posted June 25, 2004 nasher- you are spot on with Cole. I should have added to point 7 that Cole and Campbell were just awesome (I felt sorry for Campbell that he had to "carry" Terry at times). I also thought that Lampard was probably our best midfielder and he took his goal (and his penalty) well under pressure plus Gary Neville whom Beckham sometimes left cruelly exposed.I lost a lot of respect for Becks as a result of this- before now he was a true hero but his aura has been diminished now and I think he can no longer be counted as the first name on the teamsheet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Doc 0 Posted June 25, 2004 It''s time for england to get some real structure in the midfield, midfield talent is something that isn''t lacking in england. We NEED proper wingers, not 4 central midfielders getting in each others way. Maybe in two years time we will have Shaun Wright-Phillips bombing down the right instead of the inept beckham and I believe Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge would be a solid left wing partnership, Cole even used to be a winger (or perhaps Hux will solve our left wing problem ;) !).At the end of the day I''ve come to expect this from England, I''m just suprised that with James we didn''t conceed more. Greeno for england! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
He Scored Against The Scum 0 Posted June 25, 2004 Lampard, our best midfielder? Really? Don''t get me wrong, his goal and penalty were very good. He is extremely good going forward but their goal (first one) was his fault, well among others (Terry and Becks. Becks for being a lazy git and not bothering to properly close the attacker down and Terry for not attacking the ball OR marking his man, just randomly standing there watching it go over him) However, neither of them would have happened if Lampard hadn''t just passed the ball straight to their player when he wasn''t under much pressure. Lampard has a wicked shot on him and when we are on the attack he is a player worth having but the rest of the time I don''t think he is worthy of the three lions. He gives the ball away far too much and he thinks he is much better than he really is. He''s done it for Chelsea all season, am I the only one who see''s him as a liability when you are in your own half? People only seem to concentrate on his goals and forget the many, many, many times he gives the ball away.I blame Beckham second (behind the ref) for an all around terrible game. Everyone knows he is not as great a player as he is made out to be but he does usually run his heart out. The entire tournament he has been lazy. I''d have rather had Kieran Dyer (Ex-Binner or not, good player) on the right than him. Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell were amazing, Gary Neville was very good too. Can''t blame Owen or Vassel for truely awful service. Even Calamity James didn''t do anything wrong (hey even I''d go and play for England if I was picked) He can''t help not being good enough.I didn''t believe all the hype about Rooney (and still don''t really) Yeah he is a very good player but nowhere near Pele standards, but having said that we missed him badly when he went off (nothing against Vassel, good player, just different type)I feel sorry for Vassel, hope he doesn''t get slated, anyone can miss a penalty. He did some very good runs despite terrible service.I think Ricardo needs a mention for an amazing penalty, the best penalty of the night. I would say good luck to Portugal but I just hate Ronaldo so much that I want them to lose. I''m backing Denmark for the championship. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anderz 0 Posted June 25, 2004 Apparently Ricardo (Portugese ''keeper) is a dab hand at penalties in training and Scolari (Brazilian Portugal coach) knew Ricardo was gonna score when he decided to take one... Can''t imagine James (England ''keeper (alledgedly!?!)) having the balls to take a penalty... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Doc 0 Posted June 25, 2004 Your right about the shocking quality of passes HSATS but Lampard was not the only one at fault. Check the link for some depressing stats http://msneuro2004.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=210636&CLID=&lid=1071&title=Pathetic+passing+costs+Englandthese are aledgedly some the premiership''s top midfielders. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
