England Player Ratings

[vulture]

Robinson 6 Average
Carragher 5 very poor at rightback
Shorey 7 good start
Terry 7 solid
King 5 Poor
Lampard 4 shocking just not good enough
Gerrard 8 mom superb
Beckham 7 Done well
Cole 4 nothing but a show pony
Owen 4 looks unfit off pace
Smith 0 f***ing shite

Subs
Crouch 4 Donkey
Brown 3 see above
Dyer 4 all he has is pace
Downing 6 thought he done ok
Carrick too short time to judge
Jenas 3 played like he still had ashleys mobile up his arse

Ginger clown 5

 

[Ice Man]

Robinson 7 - Made one good save and looked generally solid.

Carragher 6 - Not the best game for Carra. Lack of pace exposed by Ronaldinho a few times.

King 7 - Solid, didn't put a foot wrong. I still think he should be first choice alongside Terry.

Terry 7 - Good goal, solid and reliable as usual.

Shorey 7 - Good debut. Very tidy performance.

Beckham 8 - We've missed you Becks! Arguably our best player and a beautiful free kick for the goal.

Cole 6 - Started brightly but I think he faded badly, especially in the second half.

Gerrard 8 - Chased back and did very well in the holding role. Some great last ditch challenges.

Lampard 4 -

Smith 3 -

Owen 7 - Struggled to get into the game at times but I thought he was good on the ball and is definentely starting to get his fitness back.

Subs:

Brown 5 - First touch almost gifted Brazil a goal!

Carrick - On the pitch for what, 90 seconds? Cannot rate.

Jenas 4 - Wasted a glorious opportunity to create a chance with an abysmal cross.

Dyer 5 - Pace was a handy weapon on the break and he chased things down well.

Downing 5 - Rasping shot straight after coming on. Not much else.

Crouch 4 - Barely touched the ball.

McCack 6/10

 

[Les Biehn]

Carra started a bit shakey but apart from that I thought the whole defence played well, Shorey made a very solid debut.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Cole needs to put more crosses in when he gets the chance to.

 

[SussexSpur]

Robinson 7 - made saves when needed, fair enough all told
Carragher 6 - a little rash too often
Shorey 6.5 - solid enough, especially on the last night of freedom
King 7 - calm, assured and effective
Terry 7 - good goal, though the Brazilian defending for it was rather shoddy
Beckham 7 - one good delivery, congrats
Gerrard 8 - snappish and made best of being used too cautiously
Lampard 5 - he played, did he?
Cole 6 - got mostly mopped up
Owen 6 - give you that one, Michael, get back into the swing as soon as you can please
Smith 5 - pointless, as was his replacement by just another non-scoring supposedly-"support" "striker"

 

[SussexSpur]

Jenas 3 played like he still had ashleys mobile up his arse

Wrong Jermaine.

Oh, and thought he looked quite sharp and useful in the short time available - that cross was a disappointment, mind.

 

[NMH]

Robinson 7 - Carried out his position quite well, perhaps should have marshalled the defence better for their goal. A couple of shakey moments that he got away with.

Carragher 8 - Brazil, typically, try defenders, and manage to get them not knowing their arse from elbows. He maintained his position well, and when picking up several attackers he was quick to assign players around him.
It wasn't a game for him to be compared with Ronaldinho as they tried to stretch him. He still handled it with aplomb. One bad moment when he was off balance and flapped his hand at the ball - that can be costly to do.

Shorey 8 - Excellent, an assured debut as I have ever seen. Rarely a foot wrong, was careful when under pressure.

King 7 - Apart from mistimed jump for their goal, was very assured. Consistently good in that position for England.

Terry 8 - Very capable and confident. Not shaken or stirred, and snagged another great goal

Beckham 8.5 - Showed he is the top man for his position. Way better than their free kicks, made the goal look simple for Terry.

Gerrard 8 - Reliable as ever, even when changing position. He gets asked a lot of questions, but he really answers them.

Lampard 5 - didn't look at all comfortable, weak shot, eclipsed as a valuable midfielder this time I'm afraid.

Cole 6 - usually tricky and effective, but his tricks resembled what the opposition do in their sleep. Gave their defenders something to worry about, ...slightly.

Owen 6 - made some valuable contributions, but inconsistent. Needed to force his presence on them a lot more.

Smith 3 - oh dear. Too far forward to collect passes, couldn't lose his marker, no guile no running into positions and no understanding from his fellow players. Perhaps some of them could be to blame a little, for that...but it did not work, and he should have been removed within 30 minutes. SEVERAL crosses that went over his head were perfect for Crouch, who wasn't on til too late.

Crouch 5 - not there long enough to make an impression of any kind.

Jenas 3 - while he was on, he was fairly poor. He's a better option than Lennon, but looked a poor choice even so. Wasted totally, a very good chance to get closer to goal and cause problems or score.

Dyer 7 - Looked surprisingly useful for his period of play. Couldn't do worse than Smith anyway. Crossing should be better than it is, so I'd still prefer SWP in that position.

Downing 7 - but only because in a brief appearance he did something useful.

Brown 3 - certainly did not step into the boots well, almost gifted them a simple goal.

 

[Rookie]

Robinson - 7 - didn't really have much to do

Carragher - 6 - didn't get forward and seems incapable of passing
King - 6- same as above re passing, also should have been sent off
Terry - 7 - strong but not really troubled all that much
Shorey - 7 - will settle in got in some good positions

Beckham - 8 - Was up for it like the old Becks
Lampard - 4 - Go away
Gerrard - 8 - Masive tackle on Kaka. If he wasn't held back covering for the Lump who knows what he could have done
Cole - 7 - Some lovely touches, final ball was a bit pony

Smith - 5 - tried hard but not good enough
Own - 6 - Pretty shit but i'll give him benefit of doubt lack of match practice

McClaren - 5 - Why pick Lampard?

 

[the right footed denilson]

Hmmm, what rose tinted glasses people wear re; Beckham.

 

[Bluejuice]

I have to say for a landmark occasion such as this (the very first senior international at the brand new "home of football" between two "world class" sides) there was a distinct lack of quality.

In years to come when the pub trivia question is asked "can you name all 11 players who took to the field for England in the new Wembley's inaugural international fixture in 2007?" who the f*** is gonna remember Alan Smith? The same could be said of Nicky Shorey right now but there's still time for him to develop into someone we may remember and I was pleased with his performance in general.

The subs bench was even more embarrassing, with the likes of Wes Brown, Jermaine Jenas, Kieron Dyer etc. These aren't even top Premiership players, let alone world beating internationals.

I know it's only a friendly, but it was still a big game as far as I'm concerned and the fact that we won't be remembering half the players on show is sad if you ask me

 

[Spunk Bubble]

Lampard the lard arse was complete shite. Beckham was pumped up for his return but how long will that last ??. That is all !