***England v Germany***

[Pavilionaire]

<Adrian Chiles> "Michael (Ballack). Do the German fans really expect to win the World Cup in Brazil? With respect you haven't won anything since 1996." Breathtaking.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Germany's second eleven show England's first eleven how to pass the ball to a bloke in the same shirt. How many times did our fall backs "knock it long down the line.. son". There are things that make me glad that Poyet is not at Brighton but if we had 92 Poyet's running clubs in England instead of the likes of Pullis and Adams then we might have a side made up of players who can pass the ball and run off the ball to create options. Same old England, hoof fight for second ball, hoof lose the ball, hoof straight to their keeper. Football really isn't that difficult, just pass it, and move into space.

England's first 11? If that's our first 11 we're in trouble. Smalling, Lallana and Cleverley might not even make the squad!

 

[TopCat]

If we end up playing (as we should IMO) 433 then Sturridge may have a role, but if we do decide to go 442 then lambert would be infinitely better as a foil for rooney.

 

[nomoremithras4me]

Masterclass in the art of defending, 1-0 to the Germans, nothing new there then!

 

[Soulman]

We are not good enough.

 

[Hyperion]

Not to sure we had any real Plan A......least alone a Plan B............Sturridge was shite! have to say I was really disappointed in the whole lack of effort..........also I am far from a Hodgson fan .....

These games are about tinkering I guess but I agree Sturridge was cak. He is too much about himself and does not lead the line up front too well at this level.

 

[Working class pride]

**** it, I am pretty happy with the way we are going, but then I don't expect us to beat teams like Germany, are we now going to slag off England because they got beaten by the better team? Time for some fans to grow up and accept that we are not world beaters. As long as we compete and the players are proud to wear the shirt, which they do appear to be now, that'll do for me.

At least we are TRYING to play football, we're just not as good at it as teams like Germany.

Germany's second eleven should not be better than our first eleven. Why we cant pass a ball and have a left back who does nothing but punt it 40 yards to nobody is just breathtaking. More managers needed like Poyet and less like Pullis please.

 

[hitony]

**** it, I am pretty happy with the way we are going, but then I don't expect us to beat teams like Germany, are we now going to slag off England because they got beaten by the better team? Time for some fans to grow up and accept that we are not world beaters. As long as we compete and the players are proud to wear the shirt, which they do appear to be now, that'll do for me.

At least we are TRYING to play football, we're just not as good at it as teams like Germany.

Tell that to the people who paid very good money tonight, to go and see them!

 

[hitony]

These games are about tinkering I guess but I agree Sturridge was cak. He is too much about himself and does not lead the line up front too well at this level.

Absolutely spot on!!

 

[Pavilionaire]

What the Germans did well is shepherd our players away from the danger areas and not give us time. Inevitably our lack of technique and intelligence resulted in us giving it away time and again in their half. Our two most dangerous chances were long shots from Gerrard and Townsend.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Down our left hand side in particular our full back spent all game smacking it aimlessly up to nobody and giving away possession. Fooking useless, just pass the bloody thing and stop smacking it to nobody. Down the right we were better.

Thought we passed it well and controlled the first 30mins to be honest, their goal was a real sucker punch and enabled them to just sit and break. If anything, we were a bit guilty of overplaying it I thought, too many passes in and around the box when a first time ball in would suffice. In the end our substitutions changed the balance, and taking off our 2 best players in Rooney and Gerrard was always going to be tough against a side that transformed their way of playing a decade ago throughout their entire setup and they are reaping the rewards give this is effectively a 2nd string for them. Possession was what, 49-51 to them? Hardly indicative of one side passing it the other hoofing it.

Green shoots and improving. People need to except this is a young side that is growing from a god awful 20 years of shite.

 

[Working class pride]

Our bloody left back was a hoofing waste of space that looked as if he has had Micky Adams coach him. HOOOF HOOOF

 

[Driver8]

Tell that to the people who paid very good money tonight.

What did they expect? Germany are better than us and that's not going to change any time soon.

 

[hitony]

What the Germans did well is shepherd our players away from the danger areas and not give us time. Inevitably our lack of technique and intelligence resulted in us giving it away time and again in their half. Our two most dangerous chances were long shots from Gerrard and Townsend.

Again, spot on!

 

[Working class pride]

Thought we passed it well and controlled the first 30mins to be honest, their goal was a real sucker punch and enabled them to just sit and break. If anything, we were a bit guilty of overplaying it I thought, too many passes in and around the box when a first time ball in would suffice. In the end our substitutions changed the balance, and taking off our 2 best players in Rooney and Gerrard was always going to be tough against a side that transformed their way of playing a decade ago throughout their entire setup and they are reaping the rewards give this is effectively a 2nd string for them. Possession was what, 49-51 to them? Hardly indicative of one side passing it the other hoofing it.

Green shoots and improving. People need to except this is a young side that is growing from a god awful 20 years of shite.

Did you see our left back. I thought he was having a competition with himself for the most aimless longest pass to nobody competition. Down the right we were better. Our central midfield were average against Germany's second string

 

[hitony]

What did they expect? Germany are better than us and that's not going to change any time soon.

A team that tried to win I expect.

 

[Icy Gull]

Tell that to the people who paid very good money tonight, to go and see them!

Can I tell that to Barber and Bloom next time we get rolled over by a superior team? WTF has the fact that you paid money to go and see England got to do with not being good enough to beat Germany?

Did you really think we'd win? I'm obviously in the minority here but I think we're a much more attractive, committed and skilful looking side than we were a couple of years ago. So we lost, the players did their best as far as I could see, some aren't good enough, why should I be angry and disgruntled about it?

 

[armchairclubber]

Credit to the Germans, looked like they could have gone another 90 mins without breaking into a sweat

Not sure I've ever seen a team look so comfortable with so little of the ball

In defence of those that boo'd although perhaps a little ignorant as team obviously gave their best, it may come down to money, fans pay a great deal in this country to watch, players and staff get paid over the top, perhaps a little more expected. Lesson to be learnt from our German friends and a few other nations.

As said before, we are simply far from good enough and a long way behind at this time.

 

[Icy Gull]

A team that tried to win I expect.

So you don't think the team tried? Unbelievable.

 

[hitony]

Can I tell that to Barber and Bloom next time we get rolled over by a superior team? WTF has the fact that you paid money to go and see England got to do with not being good enough to beat Germany?

Did you really think we'd win? I'm obviously in the minority here but I think we're a much more attractive, committed and skilful looking side than we were a couple of years ago. So we lost, the players did their best as far as I could see, some aren't good enough, why should I be angry and disgruntled about it?

As you say, you are in the minority here.