the guy didnt rate our boys!

[fetchyafathersgun 1]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/10243771/England-v-Scotland-player-ratings.html

[Nicko 0]

It annoys me when people say ''struggled against the pace of Walcott''

Name me one full back that wouldn''t struggle against Walcotts pace.

Though Russ was decent, much better than Hanley. Some excellent blocks. Just shows how much these hacks actually watch whats infront of them.

[CambridgeCanary 0]

Perhaps the journalist was reading Jimmy Smith on here

[Tetteys Jig 851]

I don''t think they had the best game of their careers. Whittaker was at fault for goal 1 and Martin missed his header for goal 2. Snodgrass was his usual industrious self without really producing much.

I''d like to see this friendly every year, although maybe in July, not August 3 days before the start of the season.

[Nicko 0]

There was a little push from Wellback in the back of Martin, ref didn''t see it.

[Nicko 0]

No excuse for Whittaker.

Only that he isn''t the first and certainly won''t be the last to be done by Walcott for pace.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

[quote user="Nicko"]There was a little push from Wellback in the back of Martin, ref didn''t see it.[/quote]

That will happen in football at all levels, I guess he needs to toughen up and push back! There''s no excuse, he should have been in a position to head that ball away. Harsh but true. It is oft said that if G Nev was 2 or 3 inches taller, he''d be a cracking centre back, but he wasn''t, so he stuck to right back after similar attempts at trying out at centre back.

[Nicko 0]

So basically he was playing out of position anyway.

[chicken 0]

Whittaker played OK in terms of passing and link up between him and Snodgrass but was pretty average otherwise.

Russ was good but made the miss take of getting between players. The nudge was minimal and what you would expect to happen in a lot of games. Otherwise I thought he did well. He is a cool head.

I thought Snodgrass did well. Their attacking threat left with him and Miller going off.

[CambridgeCanary 0]

Whittaker had a strong game and held his side of the defence well, made a number of good tackles and interceptions and passed the ball intelligently.

But let''s have a dig at one of our own. Much more fun. Blame Whittaket for not being faster rather than enjoy Cleverly''s gorgeous ball which split the defence and Walcott''s cool finish after Whittaker had caught him.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

This thread is about our boys though. I will praise england in the relevant thread. Russell Martin was out of position agreed, but he is trying to stake a claim to being a good centre back and due to his height, he''ll be outdone sometimes.

We are now looking at establishing ourselves as a top 10 club, you have to be harsh. What about if those two played every week for us like that, good game but a mistake leading to a goal each, we''d be lucky to stay up.

I thought Martin was good despite the mistake, as was Whittaker (apart from that shot!)

All in all, it was a friendly though and so i wouldn''t read too much into it.

[Felixfan 53]

The Times only gave our boys 5, the lowest score of all the players. Blamed our guys for 2 goals.

[Guest]

They have focused on the goals conceded, which is fair enough. I thought Martin should have done much better defending the set piece. While Whittaker really needed a helping hand when left exposed against Walcott''s pace - yet there was nobody inside him to cover at all.

[Fleckys Flip-Flop 0]

I did think Whitts looked poor to be honest. Martin looked better than Hanley in my opinion. Disappointing for Welbeck''s goal, but saved a certain one early on with that amazing block from (I think) Cleverley. Snodgrass looked a good outlet and was certainly better than 5 out of 10! Scotland did indeed have very little going forward when he came off.

[Syteanric 1]

It''s England.. this gives journo license to essentially Cream themselves at the slightest bit of skill and ability.... on the flip side if England Lose it also allows them to photoshop the managers head onto a Llamas backside.

Take no notice of the media at all during England games....

[can u sit down please 0]

Whites wasn''t great.

All the sweatys on the rig wanted him off for mulgrew

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

I don''t think left back hugely suits Whittaker and I also think Snodgrass on the left showed why he nearly always plays on the right wing. He was very industrious, but just hasn''t got the pace to beat anyone on the outside, being able to cut inside, onto his left foot suits him much better.

 

Martin looked pretty good at center back, and will be interesting to see if he or Ryan Bennett partner Turner on Saturday.

[pilksfanclub 0]

Whittaker was badly done but a) that isn''t surprising Walcott is very good b) Scotland''s defensive line was too high c) he won''t be that exposed against Arsenal again