Your Man of the Match.

[Lady Whistledown]

i dont get that people rave about john terry. johnsons block was much better as it was going in if he didnt touch it. how is that impressive diving with your head when, A: it could so easily have come off his hand and B: surely its easier to stick your leg out. on top of that he gave away another ridiculous pass in the first half that would have been a goal if we were playing anyone better. also, what is it with the socks pulled up over the knees? f*** me! and without wanting to be picking on him, how many times has he been beaten in the air for a centre half? average player in an average team

Well the socks thing is up to him but I agree with a fair bit of this, yes he blocked a cross with his head (woohoo) but he made an absolute shocker of a pass across defence in the first half which any decent team would have capitalised on. He bloody owed us after his blatant shit stirring this week, he's done his best to sabotage the effort so far so frankly he damn well owes us a vaguely good performance.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Were you guys watching the same game as me?

I thought Gerrard was Gerrard, long cross field balls that make English commentators go "cor that was good" when in fact its the wrong way to play football. Did he get the ball, pass it simple, then move into space to receive it? No and Gerrard wont get away with that sort of shit against Brazil or Argentina or Spain. When we give the ball away, then we will not get it back agaiin for 10 minutes.

It was a shit performance against a crap side whose most expensive player was released by West Brom. They should have equalised at the end and God help us if Messi gets hold of our defence, because they looked shaky against a German second division player.

To be honest, I think you might have been watching a different game.

For me, Gerrard put in a solid, disciplined performance. He stayed on the left only coming inside when a decent opportunity arose. He linked up well with both Ashley Cole and Rooney. I only remember him playing a couple of his 'trademark' longer passes, both of which spread the play well. In the past he has been guilty of playing long passes for no reason and which haven't come off. I don't think last night was an example of that.

As for it being a shit performance, well, you are surely engaging in (negative) hyperbole? You need to put it into context. We were coming off the back of two poor performances with question marks over squad harmony and playing against a team that had scored in both of it's two previous games, were top of the group, full of confidence and looking to qualify. In light of all that we put in a decent performance. We were in control form the first whistle until the last 10-15mins. We had 65% possession, kept hold of the ball and created a lot of chances. 3-0 wouldn't have been an unfair reflection of the game, imo. They were always going to create a chance or two and when they did the defence did their job and made some great blocks. How many actual saves did James make?

It wasn't the greatest performance of all time-far from it. It wasn't even a performance that would make the big teams have sleepless nights but it was a marked improvement on what went before. We were teetering on the brink and last night saw us take several steps away. We'll need to go up another level again if we want to get past Germany but at least last nights performance suggested we are going in the right direction. It certainly wasn't a shit performance.

 

[Spunk Bubble]

Milner & Upson were superb

 

[CAPTAIN GREALISH]

gerrard for me but terry is still our leader

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

i dont get that people rave about john terry. johnsons block was much better as it was going in if he didnt touch it. how is that impressive diving with your head when, A: it could so easily have come off his hand and B: surely its easier to stick your leg out. on top of that he gave away another ridiculous pass in the first half that would have been a goal if we were playing anyone better. also, what is it with the socks pulled up over the knees? f*** me! and without wanting to be picking on him, how many times has he been beaten in the air for a centre half? average player in an average team

I wouldn't disagree with much of that. I am not Terry's biggest fan (or any kind of fan) - but what I want to see from my team at this point is a bit of commitment. Not much to ask I know - and not enough against the better teams. But at this point - that is what was needed and that is what was shown. That is a message to the rest of the squad. Put your bloody head in. This is serious. Then we can work on the confidence and passing.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I'm amazed so many thought Barry was poor. I thought he made the midfield tick and played well. And the fact that some have named Glenn Johnson as MoM absolutely baffles me... he was really poor in the game I was watching. Rooney was our worst performer on the night for England with Johnson second. However during the final 30 minutes of the first half England played some of their best football I've seen from them for a while - with the exception of the finishing.

Germany is going to be tough, but I'm going to stick my neck out & say who ever wins will beat Argentina. Argentina will be tactically outclassed IMO

 

[folkestonesgull]

I thought we were average, however we got the win. Its a shame they did not push on to win the group though.

Good points - James, Johnson and Cole played well.
Upson made some good tackles however his insistance on playing it back to James or launching it really kills momentum, showing how much we missed Ferdinand or King.
Milner - worked his arse off, great crosses, looked knackered at the end. MOM
Barry - Did not keep the ball well and was trying to force the game too much
Lampard - Played well enough
Gerrard - Had far more discipline than previous 2 games, would have liked to see him go up with Defoe when Rooney was taken off with Cole on the left though as we were all over the place.
Rooney - His body is clearly not doing what he is telling it to do. Not match fit and way off form, should have scored.
Defoe - Some good runs, unlucky not to have a couple.

 

[logan89]

Terry
Milner
Gerrard

In that order

 

[keaton]

I thought Milner and Upson both played very well and James had a good game. The rest were decent no more, apart from Rooney who looked poor and Defoe who seemed non-existant bar the goal

 

[strings]

MOTM = Milner - but also honourable mentions for Defoe, Terry, Johnson and Upson

Its nice to be able to say we had several players putting in good performances.

Spot on for me.

After his strong performances in qualifying, I thought Upson was hard done by to fall below King and Carragher in the pecking order. I hope he starts against Germany. Terry's blocking of shots (and Johnson's) in the second half was nothing short of heroic (although I bow to race's superior technical analysis of what he actually should have done). David James looked solid - he could have played all night and not conceeded. Milner had a dodgy first 5 minutes - his first 2 crosses failed to beat the first man - but after that he was superb.

The one area we still looked weak, in my opinion, was up front. We were creating the opportunities but not converting them into goals.

If it makes us play like a team, I am happy for us to wear those silly red shorts for the rest of the tournament!

 

[tottenhamseagull]

Upson - purely for THAT tackle.

 

[Timbo]

Upson - purely for THAT tackle.

I thought Upson too, Johnson got absolutely raped down his side.

Does Rooney have a problem with Milner? Two chances to put him in, didn't either time.

 

[Timbo]

It was a shit performance against a crap side whose most expensive player was released by West Brom. They should have equalised at the end and God help us if Messi gets hold of our defence, because they looked shaky against a German second division player.

It's the World Cup and the quality of the opposition is irrelavant. Only Germany (vs Australia) and Portugal (vs Nth Korea) have showed any sort of gulf in class. Dont forget Messi (seeing as thats the player you've picked out) struggled through the 1st game up against a centre half who's spent most of his time in England playing for QPR and Watford.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Upson was good in defence but his distribution was poor. Really miss Rio in that regard.