Who is to blame?

[fatboy]

I cannot blame Gerrard for one moment of madness. He has never let England down before.

Why was the penalty so poor? How many penalties must Beckham have taken past Barthez? Barthez dived five minutes before he kicked it. Admittedly it was in the corner, but it was right at diving height. On the floor or top corner it would have gone in.

Why does Beckham take penalties? I hate this take one until you miss lark. He is shit. Missed against Turkey and luckily scored against Argentina. But then we had no other club penalty takers out there. Owen would probably also have missed.

Shows why Zidane is the best in the world really.

Eriksson must have thought we had it won. take off the front two and bring on the reserves. Why not bring on Butt? Or a defender?

Knowing England, Greece will win the other group and we'll win the f***ing thing.

Keep the faith.

 

[Sheebo]

david lee

keep ythe faith

 

[Sheebo]

ps - james should have saved the free kick man

 

[¡Cereal Killer!]

How is it Beckhams fault!

Everybody can miss a penelty and to be fair, Barthez did make quite a good save!

 

[¡Cereal Killer!]

ps - james should have saved the free kick man

True, he seemed to step away from where he should have dived and then justed watched it go in!

 

[fatboy]

No.

Barthez had gone before he kicked it.

It was right at diving height. Poor penalty.

 

[Sheebo]

james should no - keepers stand more to the side that the wall isnt covering - not the middle of the goal

COLAMITY JAMES

keep the faith tho dude

 

[fatboy]

ps - james should have saved the free kick man

No.

I am not David James' biggest fan but watching from behind the goal he could not see it until it was in.

Great free kick. Possibly could argue with his positioning of the wall.

 

[DTES]

Rooney selfish ****. I was screaming at him to pass as he got through, Vassell simply couldn't have missed.

 

[Sheebo]

david lee coulnt have missed - maybe

 

[fatboy]

Rooney selfish ****. I was screaming at him to pass as he got through, Vassell simply couldn't have missed.

Could argue he knew what he was doing and won the penalty.

Would expect it to be scored.

 

[perth seagull]

I blame Gerrard. His backpass was sheer stupidity. He could've hoofed it anywhere in the stadium, but decided to pass it towards his own goal from the middle of his own half. That was just suicidal. We would've at least gotten a draw if it wasn't for him, but like a typical Liverpool player, Gerrard shat himself under pressure and let a nation down. I hate the stupid thick scouse git.

 

[fatboy]

Gerrard had never lost a competitive game for England.

I'd never seen him let England down or Liverpool down.

I cannot blame him. It was silly; more so when I saw it on TV tonight. He couldn't have played it off left footed-away from where he was facing, he should probably have left it for the player in front of him. Lack of communication.

 

[Bozza]

Who do Swindon blame?

Wasn't it just one of those amazing things that ffotball does to us all.

But instead of being Brighton, tonight we were Swindon Town..

 

[fatboy]

Who do Swindon blame?

Wasn't it just one of those amazing things that ffotball does to us all.

But instead of being Brighton, tonight we were Swindon Town..

Yes.

Penalties are England's downfall again.

Not that fussed really; not the end of the tournament, and certainly not as gutting as it would have been if Swindon had beaten us.

 

[NMH]

The list up there actually missed a Heskey mention for being the lumbering oaf that tripped their player. Facts show that about 5 players can be pointed out - but why did we go to bits all in a final couple of minutes? Could we not hoof it forward and keep them in their half for a couple of minutes more?

We could point at Gerrard, or James, for falling into obvious traps or not diving for the ball, or Beckham because Bartez pulled off a good save for his side - but these are not robots after all. It's what football is about, and it doesn't finish as soon as England are ahead - and who'd want that anyway?

Still, the players are saying they are not gutted but determined to bounce back. That's got to be the spirit we should hope for, and perhaps live by. We are England, we don't lie down and fade away because of one loss, however it played out.

The frogs got handed a gift alright, but they should count themselves very lucky

 

[London Irish]

I can't pretend to be as big an England fan as most on this 'ere board but it is pointless being negative about the game - overall, it was a very good England display blunted by a moment of genuis from the best player in world football. Credit France and Zidane rather than run down a brave England performance.

Sven got the tactics just right and nullified a technically more gifted side beautifully. Mmmm....who does that remind you of? There was a lot in the tactical intelligence and team spirit of England's play that we have seen in Albion's games this past year. Beckham and Lampard combined for a fine goal. Rooney had a wonderful game and deserved the reward of a 2nd goal. Beckham's pen was poor, being the perfect height for a save, but that can happen to good players.

Then the best player in the world won the game - period. There should be no England scapegoats. England just have to roll up their sleeves, take the plenty of positives out of the performance and press on, at least the draw in the other game today was good news for them.

 

[alan partridge]

I can't pretend to be as big an England fan as most on this 'ere board but it is pointless being negative about the game - overall, it was a very good England display blunted by a moment of genuis from the best player in world football. Credit France and Zidane rather than run down a brave England performance.

Sven got the tactics just right and nullified a technically more gifted side beautifully. Mmmm....who does that remind you of? There was a lot in the tactical intelligence and team spirit of England's play that we have seen in Albion's games this past year. Beckham and Lampard combined for a fine goal. Rooney had a wonderful game and deserved the reward of a 2nd goal. Beckham's pen was poor, being the perfect height for a save, but that can happen to good players.

Then the best player in the world won the game - period. There should be no England scapegoats. England just have to roll up their sleeves, take the plenty of positives out of the performance and press on, at least the draw in the other game today was good news for them.

ditto.

although i thought beckham's penalty was a poor one, i also thought baldy had gone to early and had got himself under the ball. i thought it was a magnificent save rather than the ball just canonning off him.

i am strangely calm after this defeat. we learnt a harsh lesson in those last 2 minutes but we have a chance to put it right again. i don't think gerrard will be doing that again and i expect (hope?) this will only fire them up for the next game.

plenty of english players had a really really good game last night.

king was outstanding. campbell too. scholes looked bright and up for it and watching rooney, an 18 year old boy, running at the best team in the world like it was no big deal was fantastic to see. he saw so much of the ball too, always seemed to be looking for it.

the only negative for me last night apart from the result was the non-appearance of owen. he has a habit of popping up when we need him though.

COME ON ENGLAND!

 

[Gwylan]

Well done LI and AP, absolutely right. There was no-one to blame, we nearly beat the current European champions and gave them a real fright.

I don't understand the anti-Sven feeling. His tactics completely nullified the French threat, good players such as Henry, Pires and Trezeguet were completely ineffectual and James didn't have a serious shot to save in the first 90 minutes. It was very nearly an object lesson in how to stifle a side (he must have been watching McGhee).

Just look at the positives: our two best players tonight were the two least experienced (Rooney and King), we've now got someone who can fill the problem position on the left side of midfield and we can create chances against a team that hasn't conceded in 11 games.

We were unlucky, undone by a moment of genius from a top-class player. But, a good game and we still have plenty of opportunity to advance to the next stage. We'll get our revenge against France in the final.

 

[garethjamesuk]

That was a tough question and i put down Gerrard even though i think he had a good game, it was a bad error when he should have just put the ball into the crowd, also Rooney should have passed the ball to Vassell but he still got us pen, i bet Vassell wasnt even shouting for it, so i bet Rooney who played well didnt even know he was there, and becks pen wasnt great but becks is brillant player, yet his miss pen was a big factor to way game ended.