England - Sweden

[TANGODANCER]

Well, we go on to play Ecuador, beat them, then go marching on?

Not if we play like we did tonight we don't. If I were a Swede tonight I'd be two things; very proud and very aggieved. Proud of the way they played, the effort, the skills and the passion. What was that word? PASSION That stuff we showed less of than a Saturday rounders match on Moss Bank Park. (that's probably insulting the rounders match) Aggrieved not to win against a side who's defence was almost non existent.

Ferdinand should be sent home. I'm sick to death of his trumpeting bullshit to the press then playing like a big blancmange. Every pass is square or backward, he's frightened to death of taking a man on, and always the first to blame somebody else. Campbell was much more solid and at least has some guts. Hargreaves did well enough for effort, Carragher might has well not have turned up; he looked disinterested and got ripped to bit and three times Ashley Cole had to come right across the field to clear the ball. Our defending on the goals was sheer schoolboy standard. Robinson, normally so reliable was rooted both times. Lampard was only effective first half then almost disappeared and Rooney did a massive rattle throw whan he was taken off. The much maligned Crouch tried as hard as anybody and only Joe Cole would take a man on one-to-one. Is the world going to be afraid of us? Not on tonight's performance IMO. I'm as England proud as anybody, but how the fxxx we topped the group I haven't yet figured out.

What is Sven going to do with Walcott; buy him a lollipop and send him home? What are we saving Lennon for, the year 2010? Gee, I do hope we buck up for Sunday.

Rant over.

[Batman]

England were lucky not to lose.

Sunday will not be easy. I expect them to win, but not to impress.

Erm, Sven OUT!

[50sQuiff]

When the going gets tough.. Fat Frankie goes MIA. The most over-rated player in the history of football.

[Little Green Man]

It's the last group game and who else but the arch-nemesis, Sweden. (That doesn't quite sound right ,does it?) Would a one-star England produce a one-star performanace? (Would a Tech Support call from some gimboid in the US ruin the viewin' on my new TV?) Would it be a Rooney Tuesday, or would we be saying 'Oh, dear - Cologne'?

Well, to answer that last question, neither. Starting without Crouch or Gerrard, England were unfortunate that, after barely two minutes, Wee Mikey Owen's knee popped like the proverbial weasel and Sven's decision to take Jenas instead of Defoe looked liked grand larceny. However, given five or ten minutes to settle in, the new look, Crouch-enhanced England produced possibly their best half of tournament football since I can't remember when. There were even a few cameo touches (no, not like the 'Word Up' video) and it was capped by what could turn out to be the (individual) goal of the tournament, when Joe Cole chested down a clearance and volleyed an unstoppable, looping shot past the Swedish keeper into the top right corner of the net. A treeeemendous first half's entertainment. Every England team member on the pitch was playing their part, particularly Crouch, Hargreaves, Rooney and Joe Cole.

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that the second half would be brought to us in PanicVision - sponsored by Eriksson Half-Time Team Talks. (I don't know why - it usually is - perhaps I thought the new widescreen format would be different.) Sweden gave a masterclass in how to whip in fast, near-post corners and it was no surprise that they quickly equalised, after Beckham failed to close down the nearest attacker. Further panic ensued with the cross-bar rattled twice, once after Robinson pulled off a reaction save from close range, and England were forced to make a goal line clearance. During this period, Ferdinand limped off to be replaced by Campbell. Could things get any worse!?

As the Swedish pressure built, the game seemed to evolve into The Battle of Wounded Knee. Rooney started to disappear from the game, and was later substituted for Gerrard. (For once, the right decision by Eriksson and loudly applauded by the publisher's of the 'Where's Walcott' series of books - although Ronney didn't seem to agree.) It was looking like Sweden would do the dirty on England once again, but up popped man-of-the-match, Joe Cole, late in the game to provide a fantastic cross from the right and there was Stevie Gee (no relation of Gina) to power home a header to seal the game for England. (And to think, he's only had 10 hours kip since July 12th.)

Or so you might have thought, if you didn't know any better. Things are never that simple in England second-half displays. Sweden equalised in the dying minutes to preserve their long running unbeaten record over England after shambolic defending of a throw-in from the left. Still, there wasn't enough time left for Sweden to sneak a winner and England were left to plot a course to the semis avoiding arch-nemeses (there's a pattern here) Germany and Argentina.

So what are we to conclude? Mission accomplished as far as the group stages are concerned, but the performance showed why some people will continue to believe that England have a good chance of going all the way and why many others will think they haven't got a prayer.

[Montreal Wanderer]

What is Sven going to do with Walcott; buy him a lollipop and send him home? What are we saving Lennon for, the year 2010? Gee, I do hope we buck up for Sunday.

Rant over.

I only saw the first half (using TVUplayer software on the computer - pretty good actually) because of a business/social engagement that I wasn't permitted to miss. So I thought we were pretty good. Actually from all reports I'm glad I didn't see the second half. However, I guess he couldn't use Walcott later on because he had to sub Owen and Rio, and was probably right to sub Rooney. However, he should probably have put Walcott in for Owen but didn't have the brains to think of it in his state of shock.

[TANGODANCER]

I only saw the first half (using TVUplayer software on the computer - pretty good actually) because of a business/social engagement that I wasn't permitted to miss. So I thought we were pretty good. Actually from all reports I'm glad I didn't see the second half. However, I guess he couldn't use Walcott later on because he had to sub Owen and Rio, and was probably right to sub Rooney. However, he should probably have put Walcott in for Owen but didn't have the brains to think of it in his state of shock.

You wouldn't have thought the second half was the same team or even the same game Monty. We just lost the plot and let them play pot-shots and attack us all over the place. The defence was comical and long-ball the order of the day.Good job we had Campbell in there. Gerard's goal put us back in charge against the run of play, but even then we didn't learn. Possesion is nine-tenths of the law, and ten tenths of football. In that ratio we probably had about 10 percent in the second half. Man, it was worrying the way we deteriorated. The two players who've had all the stick, Crouch and Hargreaves, could at least hold their heads up for effort, as could Joe Cole. We need to be far better than this or we really are "coming home"

[trotter58]

Could someone please tell 'Row-Z' Frank that the tournament has actually started. Would be nice if he could join the rest of our midfield sometime soon.

[Little Green Man]

We just lost the plot and let them play pot-shots and attack us all over the place. The defence was comical and long-ball the order of the day.Good job we had Campbell in there. Gerard's goal put us back in charge against the run of play, but even then we didn't learn. Possesion is nine-tenths of the law, and ten tenths of football. In that ratio we probably had about 10 percent in the second half. Man, it was worrying the way we deteriorated. The two players who've had all the stick, Crouch and Hargreaves, could at least hold their heads up for effort, as could Joe Cole. We need to be far better than this or we really are "coming home"

Couldn't agree more about the possession, TD. That's been England's second half failing for years now. What I don't understand is why they seem to make little attempt to keep the ball. They're all bad at it from the keeper forwards. It also didn't help that Lampard went missing after half-time and Beckham was only effective for the second part of the first half. (He doesn't seem to link up as well with Caragher as he does with Neville - not too surprising that, though.)

It makes it all the more infuriating that they played so well in the first half considering the loss of Owen. I'd love to see a compendium of Sven's half time gee-ups. I wonder if we could get it under the Freedom of Information Act?

[malcd1]

Very disappointing tonight. Too many players went missing in the second half. My rating of the players is:

Robinson - Looked very dodgey at times tonight.
Carragher - Normally a solid defender but he just doesn't offer enough going forward. Our full backs need to over lap the wingers more. Carragher gets a nose bleed when he passes the half way line. Poor again. I would prefer Phil Neville at right back. Sorry
Ferdinand - Our best defender todate. Hopes its not a serious injury.
Terry - Not playing to his best ability and not commanding enough yet. Will need to improve if we are to progress.
Ashley Cole - I'm worried as Cole normally is so assured at full back and I would guess our best left back. But he is completely out of sorts. Maybe due to his lack of games.
Beckham - We will do nothing in this World Cup if he is not dropped. No pace. Can't defend and offers very liitle apart from the odd set piece. Even his crossing has been poor these last two games. Lennon offers so much more.
Lampard - Another top class player not performing.
Hargreaves - Considering the amount of stick he has received I thought he was one of our better players tonight.
Joe Cole - One of the few players to come away from this game with any credit. Great goal and looks dangerous going forward.
Owen - Looks to be out of the competition but will we miss him? So much was resting on Owen shoulders but with his lack of games and not being match fit he was going to struggle without his knee problem.
Rooney - Desperately needs games to improve his fitness and maybe a gamble too far.
Crouch - Didn't do much tonight but always a threat with his ungamely style and height. Maybe our only chance of silverware with Owens injury and Rooneys lack of match fitness. Thought Walcott should have been given a chance but wasn't. Why was he taken?
Campbell - Another who has hardly played this season and is lacking match fitness. He will always give his all but will it be good enough.
Gerrard - Maybe a candidate for M-O-M and only played 21 minutes. Much better than Lampard and our best midfielder by far.

Sven - Completely useless tosser. His gamble only taking 4 forwards has now backfired. Should not of been offered an extension to his contract. Clueless. But is still the luckiest manager alive. Still undefeated but the group was one of the easiest and we still struggled. We will be lucky to progress further if we play like this again.

[FaninOz]

Good report, got up at 3am for this one, thought it was the right decision at half time but it finished up so predictable at the end that I might have well stayed in bed. Must have been a good game though for any neutral watching but for England supporters it was an agonising second half yet again. But as you say top of the Group, next up Ecuador, then probably Portugal or even Holland, and then probably Brazil in the Semis, unless the Spaniards raise their game again. With the way Brazil are playing this could be our best chance since 1966 to get into the final. But then this is England we are talking about so I guess we will lose to Ecuador, or who ever, on penalties long before then!! Out of interest I don't know why Sven took Walcott if he's not going to bother playing him even when we only have one other fully fit striker. Yesterday was the ideal opportunity to give him some playing time, but its too late now.

By the way Sam would have liked the crosses into the English box resulting in so many of the Premieship's best defenders struggling in defending the high ball. Expect more of the same from Bolton next season.

Finally, outsiders to watch are the Ukraine who seem to have got it together at last, but then what do I know I expected Ecuador to run all over Germany and they never even turned up yesterday!!!!

[FaninOz]

However, I guess he couldn't use Walcott later on because he had to sub Owen and Rio, and was probably right to sub Rooney. However, he should probably have put Walcott in for Owen but didn't have the brains to think of it in his state of shock.

Err, isn't Rooney a striker, if so surely last night was the time to give Walcott his chance? Crouch was wandering allover the place so getting Walcott on to run at the Swedes seemed a good option for me. I can't see him getting any game now if Sven wouldn't give him a chance in a group game. But then he will probably get to play in the semis and Final and score a hattrick just like Hurst did in 1966, when he came in for Greaves in the last two games.

[fanz]

The key to reaching the latter stages is for Sven to grow some bollocks and drop that useless prick Beckham for Lennon, it will never happen though. We play too many longballs with Crouch on the pitch so bin him as well and play Gerrard just behind Rooney. Problem solved and we go on to lift the world cup or get to the semi's at least.

If Sven want's to learn how to be a manager see Alf Ramsay 40 year ago and the way he treated possibly England's highest profile player at the time Jimmy Greaves. Now that was having bollocks but in them days I don't suppose the FA had to worry about conflicts of interest between there own and players sponsorship deals.

[CrazyHorse]

Well you lot can keep your negativity as far as I'm concerned because I think we're doing ok.
- two minutes off three wins out of three.
- conceded only two goals in three games.
- top of the group.
- A potentially easier fixture list than Sweden face.

God forbid that England supporters might be positive once in a while. Oh that's right...it's far easier to slag the manager and the team off.

Maybe one or two should have a quick look at how well Wales are currently playing in the world cup finals...

[communistworkethic]

were you watching the 2nd half Crazy? An inept display that only missed defeat by the width of the woodwork on 3 ocassions. Another team would have wiped the floor with us. The defending for both Sweden goals was appalling.

We created 2 clear chances in the game, one we score one was crouches header, aprt from that we were stuck with shooting from 30 yards.

This game underlined Sven's failings, in picking the quad - 3 keepers but just 4 strikers, 2 of whom were injured and one a schoolboy with no first team experience in the prem, picking the team - why risk first team players in a game we only needed to draw. It also shows that, 3 games in, we are barely getting going as a unit because he's pussied about with the team and formation in all those meaningless friendlies.
He's gambled on Rooney & Owen and it's gone tits up.

[CrazyHorse]

were you watching the 2nd half Crazy? An inept display that only missed defeat by the width of the woodwork on 3 ocassions. Another team would have wiped the floor with us. The defending for both Sweden goals was appalling.

We created 2 clear chances in the game, one we score one was crouches header, aprt from that we were stuck with shooting from 30 yards.

This game underlined Sven's failings, in picking the quad - 3 keepers but just 4 strikers, 2 of whom were injured and one a schoolboy with no first team experience in the prem, picking the team - why risk first team players in a game we only needed to draw. It also shows that, 3 games in, we are barely getting going as a unit because he's pussied about with the team and formation in all those meaningless friendlies.
He's gambled on Rooney & Owen and it's gone tits up.

Yes I was. But what's the point of crying about it now?

The reaction from the usual suspects on here is as if we've finished bottom of the group and are on our way home.

[ratbert]

Agreed with the equine one. We're still going to win it, the animal kingdom is never wrong.

[TANGODANCER]

The reaction from the usual suspects on here is as if we've finished bottom of the group and are on our way home.

Which we well might be if we produce another gutless second half performance like last night.

C,mon Hoss. We are all England supporters but this is the cream of football tournaments with the world's best on show. In my "Luck be a lady" thread I said better teams would be going home than some of those that progressed. Well, it's true. Sure we need a little luck, but right now we've overstretched our limit. Our group-leader position is a laugh. Our so-called number one striker is out, we are thin on backup and our second half defensive show was pure pub Sunday-League stuff. None of us want to see our team lose, but we have to be realistic. Ecuador will exploit us out of sight unless we keep possession, and if they saw last night's game they'll be rubbing their hands in delight.

Last night, first half was a real boost for us all. The second half was a disaster. Why, because we forgot football's golden rule number one: "Teams can't hurt you if they don't have the ball". Not only did they have it, but half the time it was because we gave it to them. We gave away two of the softest goals seen in the tournament because Sweden should never have been allowed the attack level they got. Whacking the ball up the field can be seen in any schoolboy game a thousand times a weekend.

I'll be cheering as loud as anyone come Sunday, but this sort of stuff just won't do. I hope that message has got through to our five-mil a year rip-off manager Mr Erikson. Last night he earned about £5 for bringing on Gerrard.

[communistworkethic]

People can't go hiding their heads in the sand. So far we have performed like Bolton on a bad day, not pretty and not creating much. But we lack the sheer guts and battling Bolton have been able to show, the collapse and conceding the soft late goal summed it up. Better teams will make us look total chumps if we don't pull our socks up.

[keveh]

It seemed to me that in training that had soley concentrated on passing the ball out of defence and building play, instead of trying to play long balls.

That worked in the first half, but it looks like they didn't do any training on actually defending.

The second half was, well, back to the way we played in the first two games.

I was impressed with Hargreaves, he had a decent game. I think that he could play well in that position, the reason that people don't like him (me included) is that he's brought on late in to games, and he's never going to be a player who can change a game..

[Raven]

The key to reaching the latter stages is for Sven to grow some bollocks and drop that useless prick Beckham for Lennon, it will never happen though. We play too many longballs with Crouch on the pitch so bin him as well and play Gerrard just behind Rooney. Problem solved and we go on to lift the world cup or get to the semi's at least.

If Sven want's to learn how to be a manager see Alf Ramsay 40 year ago and the way he treated possibly England's highest profile player at the time Jimmy Greaves. Now that was having bollocks but in them days I don't suppose the FA had to worry about conflicts of interest between there own and players sponsorship deals.

Help help I agree with fanz! Sorry but Beckham overalldoes not do enough anymore, if he performs in the next match in the same manner as the game with Sweden get him off...but we all know that Sven won't do that. Next match has to be 442 with Hargreaves in for Lampard or 451 with Hargreaves behind Lampard and Gerrard. Passion is always missing now from England matches and I blame the management, too many players get picked no matter what and with Maclaren I doubt that will change.