Lucky, LUCKY England

[Barrel of Fun]

How many times... Look. At. The. Quality. Of. The. Opposition. You can fool yourselves, but you are fooling nobody else. England are taking a backward step by even contemplating playing Heskey. Tho feel free to carry on believing. Obviously

I am not sure why picking Heskey is a backward step. A fair amount of players spend some time in international wilderness. Suspensions and injuries dictated that we needed to call up a player in the shape of Heskey and he has done a very good job. A real step backwards would be failing to qualify for the tournament.

You are right about the quality of opposition and I can't remember the last time England did a double over a team like France. There is no point comparing results anyway, as there are many different factors.

I hope that Scotland do qualify. Always nice to have a gaggle of home nations in a tournament.

 

[Easy 10]

How many times... Look. At. The. Quality. Of. The. Opposition. You can fool yourselves, but you are fooling nobody else. England are taking a backward step by even contemplating playing Heskey. Tho feel free to carry on believing. Obviously

Rooney - Owen: Owen scores every 270 mins
Heskey - Owen: Owen scores every 91 minutes (and those stats are PRIOR to tonights brace)

I'm not altogether happy at admitting it, cos I thought it was ridiculous as well, but the stats bear this thing out...McLaren has been SPOT ON in bringing Heskey back.

I was wrong. Heskey has to start ahead of Rooney. There, I said it.

 

[Richy_Seagull]

agree about the gerrard and lampard point, it has been OBVIOUS for years that they cant play together. But as for Beckham, still think he has a part to play, am I the only one who saw nothing from SWP tonight?

And imo if rooney is fit, he plays. simple, if that means dropping owen and playing a target man then so be it. Our team should be built around our two world class players, gerrard and rooney.

 

[Yorkie]

Rooney - Owen: Owen scores every 270 mins
Heskey - Owen: Owen scores every 91 minutes (and those stats are PRIOR to tonights brace)

I'm not altogether happy at admitting it, cos I thought it was ridiculous as well, but the stats bear this thing out...McLaren has been SPOT ON in bringing Heskey back.

I was wrong. Heskey has to start ahead of Rooney. There, I said it.

Well said and it has been well documented that I like Heskey when Owen is playing. They complement each other.
Barry made a big difference this evening.

Tom Hark - behave yourself, Russia are good opposition.

 

[Easy 10]

And imo if rooney is fit, he plays. simple, if that means dropping owen and playing a target man then so be it.

I'm sorry Richy, but that is exactly the kind of blind, overhyped LUNACY that is holding this team back.

Richard Keyes and Sky Sports may hold Wayne Rooney up as some kind of footballing DEMIGOD who is simply undroppable. But you have to look at the FACTS. Rooney has scored ONE, yes ONE competative International goal since Euro 2004. YES he's a good player, YES he should be in the squad. But he is NOT a proven, regular goalscorer at International level, and Owen NEVER f***ing SCORES when he plays with him. And with Rooneys England goalscoring record, if he takes the field with Owen, we're left hoping Fat Frank hasn't walked on the pitch wearing his spoon-shaped boots.

England have been shit for years because of the "untouchables" who play regardless of form or fitness. The sooner Lampard, Beckham and Rooney are BENCHED for the time being, the sooner Gingerminge can start looking at building a balanced, functioning T E A M.

 

[e77]

I think Beckham should be in the squad but not an automatic place. He is certainly capable of coming off the bench and doing something different.

I feel sorry for Hargreaves as he has done nothing wrong but Barry can't be dropped after tonight and Saturday.

One thought about Barry: He came through a Brighton youth system that doesn't give a player a set position and rotates them until they reach the reserve team. Seems to have helped him play in many positions.

 

[Marc]

cant be arsed to read the thread so:

Barry + Gerrard = f*** off Lampard: Barry showed Lampshite how to defend properly from a midfielder and set up goals properly and not be such a fat twat!

Rio + Terry = DOES NOT WORK!: too drunk to find a miracle cure ofr this but our central defense was appalling tonight.

Ashley Cole = PLEASE Wayne Bridge get FIT or this f***ing donut will be our only hope...that = worrying!

Heskey = GOD!: Bye Bye Rooney, this black bloke who shove opponents off without getting his metatarsal f***ed shows how great he his to the squad and 1st 11.






that is all

 

[Richy_Seagull]

I'm sorry Richy, but that is exactly the kind of blind, overhyped LUNACY that is holding this team back.

Richard Keyes and Sky Sports may hold Wayne Rooney up as some kind of footballing DEMIGOD who is simply undroppable. But you have to look at the FACTS. Rooney has scored ONE, yes ONE competative International goal since Euro 2004. YES he's a good player, YES he should be in the squad. But he is NOT a proven, regular goalscorer at International level, and Owen NEVER f***ing SCORES when he plays with him. And with Rooneys England goalscoring record, if he takes the field with Owen, we're left hoping Fat Frank hasn't walked on the pitch wearing his spoon-shaped boots.

England have been shit for years because of the "untouchables" who play regardless of form or fitness. The sooner Lampard, Beckham and Rooney are BENCHED for the time being, the sooner Gingerminge can start looking at building a balanced, functioning T E A M.

yup completly see your pont, and agree with the over hype of lampard and beckham to an extent (at least he has played well for england). But I think rooney is a different matter, its a nice problem to have but i still think a fully fit rooney has got to start. I cant remember off the top of my head how many times him and Owen have actually played together but Euro 2004 was going alright until he got injured wasnt it? Ok it might take something away from owens game but rooney in the team i think makes up for that. Add Gerrard to that who will FINALLY be able to play his natural game now that fatty frank has finally gone, and SWP and Cole starting on the wings it could work.

 

[Wozza]

Rooney - Owen: Owen scores every 270 mins
Heskey - Owen: Owen scores every 91 minutes (and those stats are PRIOR to tonights brace)

But how many do Heskey/Rooney score playing with Owen?

Heskey's record is something like 6 goals in 45 games, right?

 

[Hiney]

McLaren has to take a long, HARD look at himself and ask himself the question:

"Do I pick the best PLAYERS and hope for the best, risking the utter DERISION of the Country and HUMILIATION on the pitch, or do I show some BOTTLE and select the best TEAM, regardless of how many pampered millionaires I piss off?"

Wright-Phillips may not have the KILLER crossing ability but Beckham doesn't have the ability to SURGE past people and Gareth Barry delivers a pretty mean cross. Heskey plays well with Owen - FACT.

Go on Steve, you KNOW it makes sense

 

[Napper]

Wright Phillips tired yesterday , Beckham would of been the perfect substitute . He should still be at least on the bench.
As for Barry in midfield - superb ! Fat Frank + Gerrard should not be in the same team , lets just accept we have 2 quality players going for 1 position. The way it should be at international level. I hope McClaren see's this. I certainly have more faith in him following the last 2 games. McClaren 9/10

 

[Easy 10]

But how many do Heskey/Rooney score playing with Owen?

Heskey\'s record is something like 6 goals in 45 games, right?

Rooney doesn;t score for England, regardless who he plays with. Not completely his fault as he has been dicked around positionally (specially by the slaphead goon). And Heskey has never been prolific obviously.

But one thing is indisputable - play Owen with a target man, and he GUARANTEES you goals. Play him off Rooney, and the goals dry up. Owen is the most lethal english fniisher we have, therefore we MUST play to his strengths. If that means sacrificing a Big Name like Rooney, then so be it. Its a no-brainer.

 

[Napper]

Rooney doesn;t score for England, regardless who he plays with. Not completely his fault as he has been dicked around positionally (specially by the slaphead goon). And Heskey has never been prolific obviously.

But one thing is indisputable - play Owen with a target man, and he GUARANTEES you goals. Play him off Rooney, and the goals dry up. Owen is the most lethal english fniisher we have, therefore we MUST play to his strengths. If that means sacrificing a Big Name like Rooney, then so be it. Its a no-brainer.

The thing with England we have always picked the big names and ignored the form players. We have always been naive in thinking that a team full of big names will play better as a team than a team that might have less ability but will compliment each other better. I just hope McClaren can see this.

 

[Wozza]

Rooney doesn;t score for England, regardless who he plays with.

That's not true though. He's scored something like 12 goals for England - two or three times as many as Heskey.

 

[Marshy]

Get ready for your spack attack then easy....is all i can say

 

[Easy 10]

That\'s not true though. He\'s scored something like 12 goals for England - two or three times as many as Heskey.

Rooney has a better goalscoring record than Heskey for sure, but thats not the point I;m making - OWEN is more productive for England when he is not paired with Rooney. Alongside Crouch or Heskey, Owen gets a goal a game. With Rooney, its more like a goal ever 2-3 games, and Rooney isn;t a regular enough goalscorer to justify cutting off Owens supply in that way.

I;m not saying Rooney should be completely discarded obviously. But neither should he be the automatic starter he has been ever since he broke into the side. Only Owen justifies automatic selection at the moment.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

If only swp could cross half as well as becks

 

[Perry Milkins]

That's not true though. He's scored something like 12 goals for England - two or three times as many as Heskey.

So we prioritise both strikers scoring the benchmark number of goals expected of them or we prioritise the fact the sufficient goals are scored in a positive attacking manner to win games.

I wouldn't care if Heskey never scores again for England as long as his presence on the pitch creates goals for the goalie to score.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

So we prioritise both strikers scoring the benchmark number of goals expected of them or we prioritise the fact the sufficient goals are scored in a positive attacking manner to win games.

I wouldn't care if Heskey never scores again for England as long as his presence on the pitch creates goals for the goalie to score.

Indeed, anyway Rooney has not scored since Euro 04 in a competitive game, thats worse than Defoe.....

 

[CHAPPERS]

It's not just the qualities of the players though is it? Heskey is clearly not as good as Rooney but the fact that he works in a partnership with Owen is the real reason why he should be playing. It's the same with Barry in the middle, he's possibly not as talented as other midfielders but he seems to work well with Gerrard in the middle and the midfield looks SO much more balanced with those tow than it has done with anyone else playing there.

It's all about having a balanced spine to the team with players that like playing alongside eachother.