England vs. Croatia - Official Thread

[itszamora]

Macinenee...there are many better options, Woodgate a replica of terry, although capello hates him from his madrid days, obviously rio to come in, carragher is solid, nothing special but does a solid job, upson has been faultless imo, but yet to be tested, where i think he will come up short, but step up ferdinand. also you obviously have ledley king, who is f***ing class, shame about his bones, him and ferdinand would be a rock.

IMO reg. the gk situation, i think james has to be played until the end of this world cup, and start afresh after that. Foster? no, hes like 27 and played about 20 prem games, no thanks..

Woodgate and King are constantly injured and Carragher's retired from England. Phil Jagielka and Lescott (if he sorts his head out) are good options though IMO.

Agree with the goalkeeper. Unless one of Foster, Hart or Green plays the whole season and plays brilliantly I would have James in goal.

 

[Mendoza]

That was easily the best atmosphere at Wembley EVER, I have done a few England games there, but the atmosphere and singing there was non stop all game. I didnt have to sit down once. I was already buzzing, as I stayed in the same hotel as the players, and seeing them wandering around whilst sitting in the pool was a bit weird. I managed to get a photo with the team bus, and met Fabio Capello too, I even embarrassed myself trying to speak Italian to him too

The performance on the pitch was pretty good, but Croatia were particularly rubbish and it made us look better than maybe we were. We looked like Spain when they taught us a football lesson not so long ago.

It was good to see the centre backs passing it amungst themselves, then a short lay off to Barry or Lampard. None of the aimless hoofing.

Agree with Complete Badger, that we look much better with Heskey on the pitch, even though he missed a couple of easy chances. Lampard and Gerrard FINALLY clicked together, and Lennon was brilliant in the first half, although he did look like he went down a bit too easily for the penalty.

Great performance, great atmosphere and job done as they say.

The Croatia fans were really loud even though they were getting spanked, and their female fans, CORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

 

[DIFFBROOK]

To be honest I cant see past Spain as World Cup Winners. Having said that if Spain get knocked out, then yes we have as good a chance as any of the others. As with any winners, we will need some luck to win it.

I'm not getting carried away as in 43 years its been generally been disappointment after disappointment. I remember in 1988 when we were hotly tipped to win the Euros, only to find players were off form or ill. Still its better than under McClown

 

[Giraffe]

Went to the game last night and as others have already said on here it was absolutely superb. Best all round team performance at the new Wembley for sure.

Hard to find fault it in, just superb. Loved the moment when the goalie gave it to Rooney as well, that was right in front of us. Top stuff.

And now injuries allowing, we certainly look good for a quarter final place again, and with some luck who knows.

 

[itszamora]

Lennon was brilliant in the first half, although he did look like he went down a bit too easily for the penalty.

It was one of the clearest penalties you'll ever see, he couldn't have stayed on his feet even if he'd wanted to.

 

[Mendoza]

It was one of the clearest penalties you'll ever see, he couldn't have stayed on his feet even if he'd wanted to.

fair enough, not seen it on TV, he was running really fast at them, between players, so it was hard to see who took him out.

 

[strings]

Macinenee...there are many better options, Woodgate a replica of terry, although capello hates him from his madrid days, obviously rio to come in, carragher is solid, nothing special but does a solid job, upson has been faultless imo, but yet to be tested, where i think he will come up short, but step up ferdinand. also you obviously have ledley king, who is f***ing class, shame about his bones, him and ferdinand would be a rock.

IMO reg. the gk situation, i think james has to be played until the end of this world cup, and start afresh after that. Foster? no, hes like 27 and played about 20 prem games, no thanks..

I agree that there are many better options then Mancienne at the moment, however I predict with a strong degree of confidence that he will (barring any injury) have a very good season and play his way into contention for a squad place. He will get a lot of practice at defending at Wolves between now and Christmas and it seems that Chelsea will recall him in January if their transfer ban is not overturned. Don't write of Mancienne yet...

 

[Simster]

Add to that list a decent goalkeeper, fullbacks that can defend, a better holding midfielder than Barry, a left sided midfielder, more strength in depth, plus someone to knock out Spain ('cos we won't) and I wholeheartedly agree.

Cole can defend, but we do have a problem defensively on the right hand side. Gary Neville is sorely missed, defensively.
I do think there are probably only 2 or 3 teams who are noticably better than England - Spain and Brazil obviously, but beyond that I don't see too many other teams giving Capello sleepless nights because there isn't much between the next 5 or 6 teams after those 2.
Success at the World Cup would be a semi final place, and I think that's within reach. But if we can steer clear of key injuries, and get a decent draw, anything is possible. Turkey and South Korea have both been very average semi finalists in the recent past, and we're certainly better than those two teams were.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Woodgate and King are constantly injured and Carragher's retired from England. Phil Jagielka and Lescott (if he sorts his head out) are good options though IMO.

Agree with the goalkeeper. Unless one of Foster, Hart or Green plays the whole season and plays brilliantly I would have James in goal.

Rumour is King may retire at the End of the Season. I would take him as back up just because he is so much better than the other options, and how often does a back up cb get games?

 

[itszamora]

Rumour is King may retire at the End of the Season. I would take him as back up just because he is so much better than the other options, and how often does a back up cb get games?

But having only played on and off (and mainly off) for the last 2 or 3 years, is he actually any better than them these days?

 

[crodonilson]

Tremendous performance, the whole nation is absolutely buzzing.

I must have been stopped three or four times on the way to work this morning with people saying 'Hey Crodo, what a game, roll on next June!' and the like, great to see a smile back on the nations face.

The Ship was rocking last night, had a World Cup Qualifying party with Castle Lager half price all night at £1.97 a bottle, to say I have a heavy head this morning is an understatement.

 

[Hannibal smith]

Tremendous performance, the whole nation is absolutely buzzing.

Crodo. It wasn't just TREMENDOUS. I'd go as far to say that it was a CRACKERJACK performance.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

But having only played on and off (and mainly off) for the last 2 or 3 years, is he actually any better than them these days?

Yes he is, he is top draw and doesnt train. If it wasnt for his Knee and injury he would be a starter for England, He is not far off Terry and as I said he doesnt ever train.

 

[keaton]

I can't see any sense in taking King, he's a brilliant player but you can't take an unfit player as back up. With Jagielka, Lescott,Cahill, Brown and Upson we've got enough good quality back-up

 

[Acker79]

The problem with King as back up is that he dictates when he plays. He has to feel up to playing, to perform, so we can't rely on him as back up. If Terry gets injured, for instance, there's no guarantee that King will be able to play the next game.

It's not the same as with Tottenham where a fit Ledley King is a first choice, and if he's not up for it that day they'll use a back up.

 

[The Wizard]

Not sure why people are talking about king, I honestly don't see a way back for him and Capello isn't the sort of manager who will chop and change his team due to a player not being able to play 2 games in a week.
Upson is class anyway, Lescott & Jagielka are good as well.

 

[itszamora]

Not sure why people are talking about king, I honestly don't see a way back for him and Capello isn't the sort of manager who will chop and change his team due to a player not being able to play 2 games in a week.
Upson is class anyway, Lescott & Jagielka are good as well.

I agree, we've gambled on half-fit players at the last two world cups and it hasn't worked either time.

 

[London Calling]

At last we are playing to our full potential, we have walked this group.

No one can ask for more. Whether, we will be good enough to beat Spain, Brazil well lets see. At the moment we crushed the world number 10 side, under any other Manager we would have lost of narrowly scraped through.

As far as I am concerned, if we win. lose or draw in SA, at least it was the best we could ever achieve on the day againgst the opposition. No more of "if only Sven, did not pull the defence back so much, that ginger **** is a ****".

Roll on SA.

 

[User removed 4]

At last we are playing to our full potential, we have walked this group.

No one can ask for more. Whether, we will be good enough to beat Spain, Brazil well lets see. At the moment we crushed the world number 10 side, under any other Manager we would have lost of narrowly scraped through.

As far as I am concerned, if we win. lose or draw in SA, at least it was the best we could ever achieve on the day againgst the opposition. No more of "if only Sven, did not pull the defence back so much, that ginger **** is a ****".

Roll on SA.

LC are you at the office today ??

 

[User removed 4]

Success at the World Cup would be a semi final place, and I think that's within reach.

Simster I honestly think we will achieve nothing until this sort of attitude is frowned upon, can you imagine for instance, the aussie cricket side with the likes of mcgrath and co coming out with that before a major tournament ? their feet wouldnt touch the ground before they were dumped from the side, success at any tournament is WINNING it, nothing less.