How thoroughly UNDERWHELMING

[Beach Hut]

No-one has the right to question how good we are until we face a quality team. The best we have faced so far is Sweden who have gone home.

The quarter-finals is the minimum bench mark for any team aspiring a world cup win and we are there. We have five world class players - Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney and Terry. Lampard has yet to show his true colours add Hargreaves (yes HARGREAVES) and A Cole and potentially J Cole the nucleus of a very competant team.

Best thing of the day for me is finally we have found a home for Hargreaves - he is an outstanding player ask any Bayern fan.

I think we will end up playing Portugal, remember never peak to early - nearly caught outh the Argies last night.

 

[London Irish]

I never thought we would win the the things and thought it would be the Semis at best.

I honestly think half our players are vastly over rated and our squad is poor.

If only you were this down to earth and realistic about the Albion.

I think you are pretty spot on, I think Rooney is England's only genuinely world class player, the others have their reputations flattered by playing alongside a lot of other excellent international players at club level.

But from this perspective of realism, I think there is more grounds for optimism for England than there was yesterday.

The thing is, some (I think) better teams than England like the Czechs and the Dutch are already out, and who knows what other surprises the second round may produce in the next couple of days.

I also expected whichever team to come through the Portugal/Holland game to be moving up a gear in class and showing football that England couldn't live with. Yet what we have seen tonight in the second game is two sides battering each other to the point of injury/suspensions and Portugal just about staggering out of a bloody battle as winners.

Will Portugal be more battle-hardened than England or perhaps way more punch drunk?

I think there is a big hope that England didn't have yesterday that they might just be catching this Portugal side at the right time.

The semis and a crack at Brazil there would be a good achievement for this limited England team and should be celebrated.

 

[Napper]

good 2nd half , rooney looking stronger as game went on. through to 1/4's without playing well. Enjoy the ride , we'll get better against quality opposition

 

[Marshy]

it wasnt great or even good but were still in there and things appear to be turning our way.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

it wasnt great or even good but were still in there and things appear to be turning our way.

No it wasnt but we are in the 1/4

France or Spain wont be
Holland wont be
Mexico wont be.

Good sides have gone out and played better football than us.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I think we are far too predictable and Ecuador defended extremely well. Perhaps we should stop announcing our formation and tactics so early which wiil give the other teams less time to prepare

 

[Dave the OAP]

I dont give a toss how we are playing at the moment.

i thought we created enough chances to have buried Ecquador out of sight yesterday and Robinson ( apart from the one that bounced off the crossbar which Cole DID HIS JOB with) didn't have a save to make all game.

We have played 4 games, won 3 and drawn one.....and now in the last 8.

I was speaking to some people this morning who were saying we should be playing entertaining football.......what like Holland, or Ivory Coast? Oh yes, they have GONE HOME haven't they.

If we keep playing the way we are and improving, I can see us going all the way at the moment. Rooney is getting better, Lampard must get better, Beckham is not at his best, but capable of winning a game - as shown yesterday -and Hargreaves, who everyone slaggs off I had as my man of the match yesterday.

We are getting better and as LI likes to say Keep the faith

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I think we are far too predictable and Ecuador defended extremely well. Perhaps we should stop announcing our formation and tactics so early which wiil give the other teams less time to prepare

We have a CHOICE of formations? A CHOICE of tactics?

Tell me more.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

We have a CHOICE of formations? A CHOICE of tactics?

Tell me more.

The fans and the newspapers picked the current formation for Sven.

 

[Icy Gull]

The fans and the newspapers picked the current formation for Sven.

Owen helped as well

 

[Dave the OAP]

The fans and the newspapers picked the current formation for Sven.

you dont half talk some nonsence at times

if that were true, Hargreaves would never be anywhere near the pitch

As much as we dont like it, I think Sven has got it about right at the moment.

The arguement is presently Lennon or Beckham to start. One a world class player, playing for arguably the biggest club in the world and England captain and another an young player who is nippy and plays for tottenham and has done nothing much yet. Great to bring on, but certainly not to start...especially if you are only playing 1 up front.

 

[NMH]

The formation we played was stultifying, yet defensively effective.
However, we will always get found out by breakaway attacks when we go all-out attack - and the ability to turn possessive domination into a danger of scoring was woefully absent. I hope Sven looks upon this victory as an overall failure, rather than a success.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

you dont half talk some nonsence at times

if that were true, Hargreaves would never be anywhere near the pitch

As much as we dont like it, I think Sven has got it about right at the moment.

The arguement is presently Lennon or Beckham to start. One a world class player, playing for arguably the biggest club in the world and England captain and another an young player who is nippy and plays for tottenham and has done nothing much yet. Great to bring on, but certainly not to start...especially if you are only playing 1 up front.

I wasn't really being serious. I think Sven has got it right but there is something that is not quite right and I can't really put my finger on it. We are unbeaten, but with the players available to us we should have swept aside Paraguay, T&T and even Ecuador (although they showed themselves to be tough cookies and well organised). I think it is a good idea to have Lennon on the bench. As Beckham has shown he is a potent threat from the deadball situation and it is not as if the rest of the midfield have to carry him.

It is cup winning form if you can beat teams without ever moving into second gear, but it is getting worrying as we are, potentially two games away from the final, yet we are looking lethargic and at sometimes - clueless on how to break teams down.

Talk nonsense? Me?

 

[Stinky Kat]

I think we will beat Portugal - we are not pretty but we get the job done, like a Micky Adams team

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Anyone know how Neville is coming along? I assume if he is fit then he'll play.

That means though that you have to either drop Hargreaves or Carrick. I'd drop Carrick.

 

[Da Man Clay]

No it wasnt but we are in the 1/4

France or Spain wont be
Holland wont be
Mexico wont be.

Good sides have gone out and played better football than us.

Quite right, we may have played awful football but we are in the 1/4's. Everyone would take three 1-0 wins with 80 mins spent in front of our own penalty area to take the world cup. You can only beat whats put in front of you and thats what we have done. Bring on Portugal without Deco, Costinha and possibly Figo and Ronaldo.

 

[Da Man Clay]

I hope Sven looks upon this victory as an overall failure, rather than a success.

No he wont and there is no reason to. We have won and the performance is irrelevant really.

 

[Albion Rob]

With a bit better luck we could have won by three or four yesterday. There were half chances that didn't quite break for us but that's football.

There were plenty of people (and newspaper columnists) who said before the tournament that England may well need to win ugly - and they certainly have, but wins are wins and three more ugly wins will see us crowned World Champions.

Looking at it, what are the cold stats - we've played three teams that set out to defend against us and basically held their eighteen yards lines virtually all game. We beat all of these without conceding a goal in eith match. We played the Swedes who offered no threat from open play but to be fair did catch us cold from set plays - however, but for one incredible piece of kamikazee defending (we ususally save those for the knockout games) we would be looking at four wins from four.

Did Ecuador really seriously threaten yesterday? Apart from a John Terry error, no they didn't. We had them at arms length and dealt with their considerably threat from set plays.

I think the players knew that anything less that a quarter finals appearance would be a considerable disappointment and have played like they're nervous, we're now at a stage where hopefully the shackles are off and we can start to play as we can - but if we need to win ugly again with a goal off Rooney's arse in the last minute having survived the footballing equivalent of the Alamo then so be it.

We're not Brazil, we're not Argentina, we're not going to go through the whole tournament embarrassing all and sundry by passing it around them and whacking in loads of goals.

However, we are England. We have heart, passion and desire. We have players who can make a difference and who will not give up and, possibly more importantly, will not get drawn into the sort of histrionics we saw last night.

Like it (or should I say believe it) or not, we're currently one of the best eight sides in the world with a realistic possibility of being in the last four of the World Cup. Not a bad return, plenty of countries are not in our position.

 

[Dave the OAP]

With a bit better luck we could have won by three or four yesterday. There were half chances that didn't quite break for us but that's football.

There were plenty of people (and newspaper columnists) who said before the tournament that England may well need to win ugly - and they certainly have, but wins are wins and three more ugly wins will see us crowned World Champions.

Looking at it, what are the cold stats - we've played three teams that set out to defend against us and basically held their eighteen yards lines virtually all game. We beat all of these without conceding a goal in eith match. We played the Swedes who offered no threat from open play but to be fair did catch us cold from set plays - however, but for one incredible piece of kamikazee defending (we ususally save those for the knockout games) we would be looking at four wins from four.

Did Ecuador really seriously threaten yesterday? Apart from a John Terry error, no they didn't. We had them at arms length and dealt with their considerably threat from set plays.

I think the players knew that anything less that a quarter finals appearance would be a considerable disappointment and have played like they're nervous, we're now at a stage where hopefully the shackles are off and we can start to play as we can - but if we need to win ugly again with a goal off Rooney's arse in the last minute having survived the footballing equivalent of the Alamo then so be it.

We're not Brazil, we're not Argentina, we're not going to go through the whole tournament embarrassing all and sundry by passing it around them and whacking in loads of goals.

However, we are England. We have heart, passion and desire. We have players who can make a difference and who will not give up and, possibly more importantly, will not get drawn into the sort of histrionics we saw last night.

Like it (or should I say believe it) or not, we're currently one of the best eight sides in the world with a realistic possibility of being in the last four of the World Cup. Not a bad return, plenty of countries are not in our position.

1000000% agree with that. That is almost word for word the argument I had with people here at work.

Topping it off with, " If you want entertaining football, support Holland...Oh hand on, they are out!!..."

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

With a bit better luck we could have won by three or four yesterday. There were half chances that didn't quite break for us but that's football.

There were plenty of people (and newspaper columnists) who said before the tournament that England may well need to win ugly - and they certainly have, but wins are wins and three more ugly wins will see us crowned World Champions.

Looking at it, what are the cold stats - we've played three teams that set out to defend against us and basically held their eighteen yards lines virtually all game. We beat all of these without conceding a goal in eith match. We played the Swedes who offered no threat from open play but to be fair did catch us cold from set plays - however, but for one incredible piece of kamikazee defending (we ususally save those for the knockout games) we would be looking at four wins from four.

Did Ecuador really seriously threaten yesterday? Apart from a John Terry error, no they didn't. We had them at arms length and dealt with their considerably threat from set plays.

I think the players knew that anything less that a quarter finals appearance would be a considerable disappointment and have played like they're nervous, we're now at a stage where hopefully the shackles are off and we can start to play as we can - but if we need to win ugly again with a goal off Rooney's arse in the last minute having survived the footballing equivalent of the Alamo then so be it.

We're not Brazil, we're not Argentina, we're not going to go through the whole tournament embarrassing all and sundry by passing it around them and whacking in loads of goals.

However, we are England. We have heart, passion and desire. We have players who can make a difference and who will not give up and, possibly more importantly, will not get drawn into the sort of histrionics we saw last night.

Like it (or should I say believe it) or not, we're currently one of the best eight sides in the world with a realistic possibility of being in the last four of the World Cup. Not a bad return, plenty of countries are not in our position.