Sven v McLaren

[Simster]

Interesting that Crouch at the weekend reconed Gerrard was the best player in the world....


...just what do they feed these people.

I watched the last 10 minutes of France vs Italy and then the highlights later on, and I would be very surprised if one of our players would get into either of the French and Italian sides.

lampard is the most dissapointing of all oyr so called "superstars"

Harsh. When our first team is playing and playing well, we're an excellent side. Everyone's banging on about Lampard being out of sorts, but we've seen him play well and he will do again. You don't get voted 3rd best European player without being useful.

Hargreaves - outstanding holding midfielder. FACT.
Gerard - absolute quality on his day.
Rooney - walks into virtually ANY international side.

We have the players, but not the system, probably not the manager and maybe not even the mindset to be world beaters.

 

[keaton]

We are always going to look unimpressive when the likes of Downing and Defoe are getting games. When Ashton, Rooney, Joe Cole, Gary Neville and Owen are back we'll be a much different side to the one that played last night. There is a distinct lack of fluidity whilst are 'second string' players are involved.

The most worrying thing last night was the quality of delivery from corners and wide positions. If it carries on much longer to that standard then Beckham has to come back into the side. Not one ball was whipped in with any power or meaning, they were all floated or off target. With a player like Crouch in there you need someone that can put a decent ball in and when Ashton comes in this will become more evident.

Agree about the poot delivery, but while Defoe and Downing won't get in the first XI what is Gerrard and Lampard's excuse for such performances.

I think the main problem with English footballers will always be their lack of intelligence or at least footballing intelligence i.e picking a simple pass, trying to hold up a play and bring people forward, standing near the rigth hand side of the pitch if you're supposed to be playing right midfield

 

[withdeanwombat]

what about when Zamora is called up?

I agree that BZ is better than Ashton.Sadly,Pardew now has to pick Turienzo,so that will put Bobby on the reserves bench at the Whammers.

If he signed for Middlesbrough he'd be a regular in Sven Goran Venables' team.

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

lampard is the most dissapointing of all oyr so called "superstars"

Quite right.

If there's a more overrated player in international football, I don't think I've seen him play. Slow, overweight, lazy, erratic passing, endlessly caught in possession; he's a fat Dean Hammond ... what Lennon has to do to get into the side, I can't imagine.

 

[Hannibal smith]

It’s hard to judge the Macedonia result at the moment. It will certainly look better if Croatia, Russia and Israel drop points there. Still 6 from 6 with our best player out and no goals conceded is a decent return. One thing I did notice was that John Terry was outstanding last night. Under Sven he sometimes looked like a pub player (Ecuador springs to mind). Coincidence?

Whilst elements of the team need work (Philip Fcuking Neville and Defoe especially) certainly the basis of a team which can get to the last 4 in the European championships is there. As Simster says – Mentality will be more important and I’m not convinced the players really think they can win big tournaments at this level. We shall see.

As for the Bobby for England posts. He’s not even one of the best 2 English Strikers at West Ham, let along England (Harewood and Ashton are better).

 

[Dave the OAP]

Can somebody please explain to me why Downing( or wahatever his name is) was playing.

I dont think I have seen a more ineffective midfielder/winger since someone else I cant quite recall

 

[aftershavedave]

Who gives a shit about how we play against these minnow nations, as long as we win? In recent times, Italy have lost to minnows like Wales, and drawn at home to Lithuania last week etc. But they're World Champions. Again.

In the end, it's all about getting the mentality right when you get to the tournament. I don't want or expect us to click into top gear every time we play in the third world - as long as we bring the 3 points back.

wise words

 

[tedebear]

I still stand by my comments after the world cup and that is, we have the players but they aren't playing together as a team. A great bunch of individuals who just can't gel together....I am still hoping McLaren can bring them together somehow - its early days still!!

I'm pleased to be proven wrong re Crouch - he still looks odd to me but can't complain about his goalscoring however gangly it looks!!

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Who gives a shit about how we play against these minnow nations, as long as we win? In recent times, Italy have lost to minnows like Wales, and drawn at home to Lithuania last week etc. But they're World Champions. Again.

In the end, it's all about getting the mentality right when you get to the tournament. I don't want or expect us to click into top gear every time we play in the third world - as long as we bring the 3 points back.

But why does it not matter now and it did for Sven? I agree with you about winning is all that matters but it seems because Mclaren is English its ok to play like that as long as we win, where as under Sven it was not