England last night.............
 

.............pathetic! #-o
Why are the press vilifying Paul Robinson? He was probably one of Englands best players. Lets face it, we have an over inflated opinion of our worth on the world scene............bit like this Country anyway! :hackedoff:

Absolutely. Why do we always think we have a God given right to win everything we enter then, due to a lack of Government underfunding, we are always surprised when we don't get placed any higher than 5th or 6th place? :roll: :oops:

BTW, Robbo WAS the best English player on the pitch. There was nothing he could have done about the "goal". :?










WTF is McClaren playing at putting Neville into midfield :shock: :shock: This from the man who said he didn't believe in playing people out of position. Hmmm. Last time I looked, Neville was a defender. :roll:

Bring back Beckham. The team need a talisman. And while you're at it make Stephen Gerrard the captain 8) :D

I agree with making Gerrard captain and the fact that Robinson was the best player on the pitch

i played in goal for 15 years and conceded 1 goal in the same fashion robbo did. i'll maybe partially have a bit of a dig on 2 fronts 1) pass the ball back away from the goal for that reason and 2) the divot it hit was from his own making, its where he placed the ball for goal kick restarts. he could easily flatten that area after the kick has been made.

harsh maybe, but i won't blame him for the inept performance of the rest of the team. it just capped an awful evening for the team

Does that goal go down officially as a Gary Neville own goal? Bit harsh if it does, especially as he's never got one at the other end for his country.

Long been one of Englands best players and I feel really sorry for him if it does.

Bring back Backham my ar$e. Should play Shaun Wright-Phillips; absolutely terrorises defenders when he runs at them, always provides forward impetus, defends okay and scores goals.

I used to like England and it was frustrating that they didn't quite do as well as they could and win things, but now it is just pathetic and I am glad that I actually don't care about it anymore and am feeling a lot less stress as a result :)

The Scottish bubble has burst too.

the only surprising thing there is the length of time that took!

scotland will fail to qualify. you heard it here first (probably)

Sorry to say it but the premiership teams are the architects of a pathetic national squad.

When they prefer to bring in established internationals from overseas rather than build on home grown talent, we reap what we sow.


You then get the ludicrouis situation that players are bought to sit in the reserves simply to stop them signing/playing for the opposition. In this manner, those who may be good enough to try for an england place don't get the exposure or pitch time to get noticed/picked. except of course for little Theo last year whose name was good enough to ensure a valuble useful striker never got to the world cup.

Totally agree with the lady. I campaigned for Gerard to be made captain but the consesus went with the chest thumping John Terry. He is not the kind of inspiration that is needed at international level, whereas Steven most certainly is.

The sooner Lampard is relieved of his duties with the England team the better, his limitations and lack of work rate are glaring at that level.

how about giving terry a bit of credit for his defending skills?

you want a captain to be heard, you want a captain to be seen to be in amongst it, if you want to call it chest thumping then thats your choice, but he's better than you imply

Keith..I dont deny his defending skills for one moment, however in my view an inspirational figure in the modern game he is not. He is a complete throwback to the "kick em in the air" days.

All you have to do is compare the kind of players that "top" international sides give the distinction of Captain to? :wink:

Nowt wrong with that; my sort of central defender in the the Jack "I'd have chinned him" Charlton mould :lol:

He is balanced perfectly by the skillful Rio Ferdinand.

I'm with Tim Wilky about clubs buying players to stop 'em playing for the opposition, and Shaun Wright-Phillips is a case in point. Downing played the last two matches because he's had more Premiership outings than SW-P this season.

Interesting that Theo scored for the U21s (or was it U19s?) this week and that the "junior" teams did well.

I realise that there's a bit of Chelsea-bashing in the above text. I'd like to temper that by saying that Steve McClaren could learn from Mr Mourinho and play a 4-3-3 formation.

firstly you say

yet then you say

which is it to be sir?

I seem to recall England tried a 4-3-3 at the world cup, with Becks as a winger (whose bright idea was that?)

Anyway, the display last night was pretty abject. They certainly missed Gerrard who, whilst he doesn't always turn it on for internationals, plays a damn sight better and creates more chances than anyone else on the team.

Plus, what happened to Carrick? I saw him singing the national anthem at the start and then he seemed to disappear for 90 minutes :?

*Ahem* Let's not forget about the six counties, my English friends. Another three points makes seven out of a possible nine since the unexplainable Iceland defeat. Things are looking good! :lol: Just hope they remember how to play like this in March! C'mon Norn Iron!!!!!!!!!

How could we forget? You leave us no alternative, Ulster* :lol:





*another post brought to you by SingAlongaJabba :wink:

I'm liking your work, Jabba :wink: :lol:

:laughat:

For a moment Jabba I thought you were serious....

.

I wondered who'd be the first to spot that :lol:

Of course, it's plainly obvious that they don't compliment each other at all :wink:

This would be Rio "Bobby Moore" Ferdinand, the one who kept turning on the ball straight into another Croat player and lost the ball ??

The same Rio who seemed to forget we were playing in white and kept passing to those in blue (maybe he's another Chelski wannabe).

I remember Rodney Marsh once saying "Defenders are stupid, if they had any sense they wouldn't play there. They're not meant to play football, they're meant to win the ball and get rid of it"

If only someone would teach him that.... Should of had young Theo up front :-dd

.

Should have had half the team different and those that he did pick should have been playing in the normal, preferred positions.

In defence of Rio.......actually, I can't. He had a shocker last night, but he wasn't the only one.

Being Irish, waits for the "what have you ever won" or the "you dont even have a fully professional league" remarks. However, that being said it does give me an unbiased opinion, by the way I'm Liverpool fan and watch more England international matches then Ireland ones, Irish matches are poor these days! Anywho for a while now there is a movement growing in England, mostly through the media, that has people saying you have to play your "best" players in a tradition 4-4-2 formation with such and such here and him there and tbh it doesn't work like that anymore. The England squad is picked these days by the media not the manager cause if McClaren doesnt pick Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Rio, Rooney, ect ect he'll get slaughtered if they dont win by three goals against a "lesser" team. How else can you explain Rooney being an automatic every game even if hes not fit or even playing well? England won the world cup in 66 and that cant be taken away, but, and its a big but, that was 40 years ago and it was at home. Since then apart from a couple of nearlys, Italia 90, and Euro 96(which was at home) there has not been much success to justify the lofty position some people in the media keep ramming down the throats of anybody who'll listen. Why SHOULD England be expected to go out and beat every team by 2 goals?
Firstly there are very few "lesser" teams these days, fact!
Secondly Lampard and Rio are two of the most over rated players in Europe, fact! Good players yes, but King is a better defender and there are better centre midfielders in the prem, Parker, Carrick, Nolan then Lamps.
Gerrard should be played centre midfield with the captains armband. Terry is a good professional but inspirational? No.
Robinson isn't a world class keeper either, he was at fault for both goals last night. Lobbed from 3 yards off his line? The divot was of his own doing and if not he should still be aware that at the corner of the six yard box there might be 1. Also he jumped up to punch a ball that was chest high just before the first goal!? England SHOULD be a world beater but until they lose the "we're better then them" mentality, they will always struggle. That attitude does not work at international level.

Anyway rant over and these are just my views, please feel free to have a go........... but deep down ya no I'm right! LoL

Keith I dont think I need to explain...but I will. :D Spitting and snarling and all the rest of the BS is what I am talking about. But then again I largely forget that in general professional footballers are hardly the brightest pin in the box.

I think the error I made with reference to John Terry was to use the word "skills" when I should have merely mention that he has undoubted "competance" as a defender. There are far more subtle and clever ways of putting an opponent off his game rather than the yobbish postering that Mr.Terry gets involved in.

Although Rio can be damned infuriating at times, he is much more the kind of central defender I would have in mind.