The England thread

[Liam]

Bollocks, I had Italy in my bet

And good start by England, can't really argue with that although Greece have sucked.

[Guest Chasing Ringy]

And good start by England, can't really argue with that although Greece have sucked.

[Buford Ripley]

I long for Dukes to post something when the USA lose next in a major tournament.

[fineintent]

Go Frank Lampard.

This and his pre-season Chelsea form have shown that class is permenant.

[Darloboy]

[insert 'why couldn't we play this well at the World Cup' here]

[fineintent]

Well done Mr Kirkland. I thought that was just one of those urban myths.

[Big Red Fury]

Second half was nothing special but the first half performance was the best I've ever seen from England. I thought in particular that Downing and Hargeaves(have we slipped into some sort of alternate universe) were absolutely brilliant. Marked when Kieran came on for reasons unknown and once again Lennon looks class on the right.

[Farmer Reil]

[insert 'why couldn't we play this well at the World Cup' here]

[Pesci]

Leicester and Aston Villa are the only good thing in the Midlands honestly. Somerset has Bristol which sucks, although wouldn't mind seeing Bristol City in the Championship

I used to like you aswell...

Despite the fact that Bristol is itself a county, and wouldn't be Somerset even if it wasn't, it'd be Avon (it sortof consumed Avon though, in much the same way as London consumed Middlesex).

But despite that, Rovers will get to the Championship before City do. Fact.

[edcq]

[insert 'why couldn't we play this well at the World Cup' here]

[Liam]

I was going to go with the whole of the squad basically under-performing (irrelevant or otherwise of Eriksson's tactics), but yeah...

[fineintent]

What "tactics"? Beckham and the centre backs hoof it up for an injured Wayne Rooney to chase in heat?

Beckham may still be a good player in Spain, but players can afford to be slow on the continent - for example, no one in Italy's World Cup XI was particularly pacey. England need to play at a high tempo and keep the ball, none of which Beckham has offered us post-2002.

[Liam]

Yeah, the tactics sucked, but none of the players really took it upon themselves to try something different, mix it up a little bit, and no-one really performed to any great extent.

I'm just going with the fact that it seems pointless blaming 1 or 2 people when it is obvious (to me) that the whole team (for the most part) were a bit of a let down.

[fineintent]

No doubting that, but it's rare that a player would blatantly disregard his manager's tactics and "mix it up" a bit. Beckham's inability to stay on the wing, as he came into the centre, further crowded Lampard and Gerrard, neither of whom were allowed to play their club games (Lampard came closest, but nothing would come off for him at the WC).

The lack of form can be derived from poor preperation and poor tactics and positioning - take Greece two years ago, each player fitted their system, they were extremely well prepared and form followed that. I was sick of Sven saying things like "Rooney could play at left-back, he's that good" - Fuck Off. No he can't, play him where he should be played. Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Carragher, Hargreaves, Ferdinand and Bridge to name a few, were all played vastly out of position in attempts to accomidate Beckham.

This isn't English-hype, but with proper management we can turn in some performances that aren't completely awful.

I feel for the future we need Lennon on the right with Gary Neville being a solid base, then Joe Cole or Gerrard on the left to cut inside while Ashley Cole bombs forward. Hopefully, maybe in a few weeks people will stop calling Frank Lampard shit and fat.

[9 to 5]

I do hate people calling Lampard fat. Most of the people who say that would kill to have a body like his.

[fineintent]

I know. I was going to say he's stacked, but thought I might sound a bit gay.

[9 to 5]

Well, it's cool I have got your back. I would like a body like his. If he is fat, then we would all want to look like Peter Crouch. And who wants that?

[therockbox]

I wish I could dance like Peter Crouch.

[Buford Ripley]

Anyone watching?

[King Ellis]

I am.