Euro 2012

[Lord Kangana]

We've played on the break very, very well in the last two games. We have 4 or 5 players now who can do this. I just have this horrible, crushing feeling inside that our meeja will put this down to selecting Carroll. Yeah, scored, but a bit prosaic for anything above plod-along sides like Sverige.

[TANGODANCER]

Whoever put superglue on their keepers boots for Walcott's goal...Thank you.

[Little Green Man]

I just have this horrible, crushing feeling inside that our meeja will put this down to selecting Carroll.

He didn't do a lot other than scoring that stupendous header. (Conceded the free kick for the first goal?). His cause might have been helped though had Ashley Young not been so shite.

[BWFC_Insane]

We've played on the break very, very well in the last two games. We have 4 or 5 players now who can do this. I just have this horrible, crushing feeling inside that our meeja will put this down to selecting Carroll. Yeah, scored, but a bit prosaic for anything above plod-along sides like Sverige.

Thought Carroll played very well. Goal apart he worked very hard and was a good outlet to hold the ball up. I think having a target in the box isn't a bad thing either.

Tough choice who to leave out for Rooney now I guess.

[Annoyed Grunt]

We've played on the break very, very well in the last two games. We have 4 or 5 players now who can do this. I just have this horrible, crushing feeling inside that our meeja will put this down to selecting Carroll. Yeah, scored, but a bit prosaic for anything above plod-along sides like Sverige.

Thought Carroll played very well. Goal apart he worked very hard and was a good outlet to hold the ball up. I think having a target in the box isn't a bad thing either.

Tough choice who to leave out for Rooney now I guess.

He goes straight into the team?

[BWFC_Insane]

We've played on the break very, very well in the last two games. We have 4 or 5 players now who can do this. I just have this horrible, crushing feeling inside that our meeja will put this down to selecting Carroll. Yeah, scored, but a bit prosaic for anything above plod-along sides like Sverige.

Thought Carroll played very well. Goal apart he worked very hard and was a good outlet to hold the ball up. I think having a target in the box isn't a bad thing either.

Tough choice who to leave out for Rooney now I guess.

He goes straight into the team?

That's another question, though I think you know he will.......

Whether he should or not....not for me, but I suspect Hodgson will put him in.

Like Bolton still don't think England will get away with a 4-4-2 like tonight many times!

[Annoyed Grunt]

We've played on the break very, very well in the last two games. We have 4 or 5 players now who can do this. I just have this horrible, crushing feeling inside that our meeja will put this down to selecting Carroll. Yeah, scored, but a bit prosaic for anything above plod-along sides like Sverige.

Thought Carroll played very well. Goal apart he worked very hard and was a good outlet to hold the ball up. I think having a target in the box isn't a bad thing either.

Tough choice who to leave out for Rooney now I guess.

He goes straight into the team?

That's another question, though I think you know he will.......

Whether he should or not....not for me, but I suspect Hodgson will put him in.

Like Bolton still don't think England will get away with a 4-4-2 like tonight many times!

You're right, he will do.....I personally don't think he should, bring him on as a sub.

[TANGODANCER]

Not seeing Rooney as any better than what we have right now. With the new Australian Football rules he'll probably lose it and get sent off. Sub if needed due to injury. He'll sulk, but he does that anyway.

[Lord Kangana]

Not for the first time I completely disagree. Our strength in the 2nd half came from the pace, penetration* and movement of Wellbeck, Young, Walcott, Oxford Circus and Gerard. At times Carroll looked exactly what he is, a lumbering totempole. Whether Rooney slots straight in is a moot point, the future of England is clear to see. Throw in the likes of Sturridge and Wilshere, and I'm more confident of the future than I have been in a while.

Just not f*cking Carroll. Pretty please.

*Fnarr.

[Little Green Man]

What a smug bunch of fecking fannies on MOTD (Dixon excepted).

[BWFC_Insane]

Not for the first time I completely disagree. Our strength in the 2nd half came from the pace, penetration* and movement of Wellbeck, Young, Walcott, Oxford Circus and Gerard. At times Carroll looked exactly what he is, a lumbering totempole. Whether Rooney slots straight in is a moot point, the future of England is clear to see. Throw in the likes of Sturridge and Wilshere, and I'm more confident of the future than I have been in a while.

Just not f*cking Carroll. Pretty please.

*Fnarr.

No doubt the pace worked well. But you can't take out how useful having a target up there working really hard for the cause and leading the line was at times.

Carroll might not be pretty but like Davies used to be for us, he can be effective. Personally I think he contributed more tonight than Welbeck, and certainly more than Ashley fecking young who was awful tonight.

You need a balance. Carroll may be a lumbering target man but when we were deep and defending in our half, he didn't half work hard. Plus he scored as good a header as youll ever see. Couldn't do much more IMO.

As I say I'd not be picking Rooney next time anyway from the off and probably would go 1 up anyway.....

[Wandering Willy]

Great header from Carroll. Other than that he played like a poor Kevin Davies, barely winning anything in the air, slow as molasses and dreadful with the ball at his feet. Also gave away a freekick with a KD lunge from which they scored.

Disappointed with Young tonight and Johnson seemed to get out of position too much though made up for it with some good recoveries.

Enjoyed the second half - well done Walcott. Credit to Welbeck who never gives up running.

Carroll out Rooney in.

[TANGODANCER]

Of the minuses tonight I thought Milner had a pretty poor game. First half we had some pretty poor passing breaking things down and without Carroll's goal I think we'd have struggled some. It completely kicked the mood up and I don't think he was at all bad against two blatant cloggers who got away with a lot from the ref. Parker didn't have his best game either. Given Cahill's absence I thought we did quite well on the whole but we have to keep improving. We played a bit high at times and nearly got caught for pace a few times.

[H. Pedersen]

Ha! The old going to the loo trick worked again. Last used successfully in the 1990 World Cup against Belgium.

Jesus, you should see a doctor.

[Wandering Willy]

[Hoboh]

Thought we did ok but our players look brain dead at times picking the wrong passes, well impressed wit Scouser after he was busting his lungs to get forwards, cred Stevie me!

[William the White]

Just to say... Rooney has to start next game if he's fit... and every other game as long as we are in the competition...

You don't junk your only really decent player, impossible to call him 'world class' when the world contains Iniesta... but he's your best so you need to work out how to maximise his impact and go for it... However hopeless the quest...

Ashley Young was dreadful tonight... Carroll scored a great goal... Walcott changed the game... Wellbeck did ok and then did something very special...

I'd start with Wellbeck, Rooney just behind, Walcott instead of Young... It's a judgement call, and i'm pretty uncertain about my judgement - other than Rooney must start if he's fully fit...

I'd prefer to have the players who could play with the dynamism and fluidity of Spain, who could beat us by 5 or 6 on a reasonable day... and make a nonsense of 'systems'... A bit of me expects them to be doing just this within a week...

The reality is that the first 20 mins tonight looked like the worst game in the entire tournament so far... The game ended up exciting (I suspect only for those with a vested interest in the teams though, i suspect in the bars of Madrid they were having a real laugh)... for much of our play so far I've been hoping we get out of it soon and I can concentrate on appreciating some lovely Spanish, German, Portuguese football...

[CrazyHorse]

He won't have the guts to do it, but Hodge shouldn't start Rooney. It's not fair on Carroll and knowing he doesn't have to work for his place isn't doing Rooney any favours either.

Same starting 11 for me, with Rooney to come on later.

[Hoboh]

We need to play Rooney he offers far more than Carol who is a bit limited. We need to sharpen our thinking process over our passing and get our set piece defending sorted. Remaining solid and supporting each other while being a threat with pace on the break and we can go on and do well in this comp. Just hope the players realise the Uks are going to swarm forwards at us because they need to win and don't panic, stay calm, trust Woy's plan and play to it, we'll be reet.

[BWFC_Insane]

Just to say... Rooney has to start next game if he's fit... and every other game as long as we are in the competition...

You don't junk your only really decent player, impossible to call him 'world class' when the world contains Iniesta... but he's your best so you need to work out how to maximise his impact and go for it... However hopeless the quest...

Ashley Young was dreadful tonight... Carroll scored a great goal... Walcott changed the game... Wellbeck did ok and then did something very special...

I'd start with Wellbeck, Rooney just behind, Walcott instead of Young... It's a judgement call, and i'm pretty uncertain about my judgement - other than Rooney must start if he's fully fit...

I'd prefer to have the players who could play with the dynamism and fluidity of Spain, who could beat us by 5 or 6 on a reasonable day... and make a nonsense of 'systems'... A bit of me expects them to be doing just this within a week...

The reality is that the first 20 mins tonight looked like the worst game in the entire tournament so far... The game ended up exciting (I suspect only for those with a vested interest in the teams though, i suspect in the bars of Madrid they were having a real laugh)... for much of our play so far I've been hoping we get out of it soon and I can concentrate on appreciating some lovely Spanish, German, Portuguese football...

I don't get this at all.

Portugal, lovely play? No better than we are IMO.

Germans are supremely organised far better than we are, but lovely football? Not so far.

We all know what Spain do, however, in their first game they played without a fecking striker. and it wasn't as entertaining as last night.

I'm all for England bashing when fair, but your last sentence could have come straight out of the fast show 'soccer fan sketch'.

To be honest I'm a little bit agreeing with Hoboh, the Spain wankathon is tedious, they have some fantastic players but they basically are lucky with what Barca have done. I also think seeing then ping it around for 10 minutes then attack then ping it around for another 10 is less than entertaining at times. Fine against shite like Ireland but a very average Italy side made that game pretty dull. No doubt Spain will win it, unless Germany can stop them.

But personally I don't want England trying to emulate Spain. It's pointless. Im willing to bet that Spain will never be able to emulate this side they've got now. Let's try and be as good as we can at our own game. The goals Carroll and Welbeck scored will be hard to top in terms of quality this tournament and as good as owt else I've seen so far. We may not even get past Ukraine and probably given what we've got available will have done well if we do. And we have feck all chance against Spain. But we need to build a team that is better around our own style, that is seen on our league. Otherwise we are just setting up to fail.