The England thread

[Lineker]

Scott Parker getting through tonight without picking up a knock has been the most important thing.

[Dan]

Scott Parker getting through tonight without picking up a knock has been the most important thing.

It has?

[Lineker]

Absolutely!!

Also, we only went and fucking won.

[Rich]

"England's defence has repelled an armada of Spanish attacks"

Oh fuck right off Clive Tylsley

However, great result, brilliant solid performance by England, spot on confidence boost heading in to next year

[Walker]

How the fuck did that happen?

Puts weight on the "On any given day ..." line of thinking. Spain were the better side throughout the match, but England capitalised on a few mistakes and got the goal from nowhere.

Oh hey, cue the stupid "We beat the champions, so we are the champions now!" logic. Yey!

[9 to 5]

Tbf, it's only the Scottish who come out with that crap.

[Gazz]

Japan are the unofficial World Champions anyway.

[jack95]

When people start slating Capello for being the worst manager in footballing history, and indeed the worst man that has ever lived, I'm pleased there's a definite England performance I can point to. Tactically he got that spot on in my opinion.

[therockbox]

We were well organised defensively but I'm not sure there's anything more to be taken than that, really. Spain have been shown up before by teams sticking 10 men behind the ball, and recently they've stopped playing like Barcelona and more like the Arsenal team of a few years ago - great at keeping the ball, but guilty of overplaying it an awful lot. Parker wins MOTM because we all love a tackler, but not a word is said about the amount of times he surrendered possession, and for a defensive shield whose primary role is to protect the defence and recycle the ball that isn't acceptable. A team with more cutting edge than Spain takes advantage of that and wins comfortably.

Our forward players - Bent, Milner, Walcott, Downing, Johnson, Welbeck - all seemed to struggle to get involved. Bit more understandable with Bent and Welbeck because they were chasing long balls most of the time (although Welbeck didn't do enough when the ball actually hit him, and Bent's movement when we did have the ball on the ground wasn't good), but the rest were really disappointing.

We invited Spain onto us far too often, Jagielka especially towards the end just epitomised the 'get rid of it!' attitude we had. There was a spell of three or four Spain attacks in the last 10 minutes where he cleared every one - which is great, to a point, but every one of his clearances dropped near the halfway line and a Spanish player.

We were so focused tonight on sticking 10 men behind the ball and keeping Spain out that I don't think we've learned anything new about any of our players. It can be said about most of our friendlies nowadays, but it just feels like a massive waste of a game.

[The Quasi Juice]

I had no idea this was on this early. Anyway, good result obviously although you can't put much stock into it.

"Spain have now lost four times since being crowned world champions in 2010. They have also lost to Argentina 4-1, Portugal 4-0 and Italy 2-1"

[EddieG]

All friendlies, mind.

[Adam]

Scott Parker getting through tonight without picking up a knock has been the most important thing.

It has?

Of course it is, if you're a Tottenham fan as Lineker is.

Anyway...looking forward to seeing the highlights of this. I'm surprised that England managed to win this one.

[Jimmy]

We didn't play amazingly, Spain were the better team, but at the end of the day we grinded out a result. If we can do that kind of thing at the Euro's, then I think we are in with a shot of hitting the semi finals if a few things go our way. Spain should've scored a few and we were lucky that they didn't put a couple past us, but I was really happy with the end result. To not conceed against Spain with two centre backs who usually don't start is a good achievement and should fill us with confidence. Parker was excellent and Bent's header was superb. Still think we look weak going forward, we seem to run out of ideas. I'm not a fan of Milner on the wing - I think he's a very solid centre midfield player but we should utalise a player like Adam Johnson or Daniel Sturridge on the opposite wing to Young/Wallcot/Lennon.

I'd like to see Capello do some more experimenting against Sweden - give Sturridge a run out, Kyle Walker more of a game and another chance for Rodwell. I do think we've got a lot of exciting young players coming through and that'll be good. I can't wait for the Euro's, I love that feeling when everyone is behind the country. Well, up until we lose.

[IAceI]

Send us the world cup and european trophy now you diving long haired pansies. Best team ever? We sure are!

[Lineker]

England are in line to become Sweden's first opponents in their new national stadium when it opens next year in Stockholm, BBC Sport understands.

The friendly at the 50,000 capacity arena is scheduled for November 2012.

It is understood that the fixture has been agreed as part of a reciprocal arrangement which brings Sweden to Wembley on Tuesday.

England also played the first match in Sweden's current national stadium, the Rasunda, in May 1937.

England won that game 4-0 but have not beaten Sweden in 12 games dating back to 1968.

[Matt]

For fuck's sake, people are going to think we're capable of winning the Euros now, aren't they? >_<

[9 to 5]

We are capable, but there are a fair few teams that are far more likely to win it than us.

[Colly]

For fuck's sake, people are going to think we're capable of winning the Euros now, aren't they? >_<

I'm not that quickly swayed, but I think if we beat Sweden on Tuesday we'll win it comfortably.

[Grounded Wingman]

For fuck's sake, people are going to think we're capable of winning the Euros now, aren't they? >_<

Any team that is in it is capable of winning. Denmark and Greece have proved that.

However, it's hard to see England as a favourite with Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Super Mario Land all in the competition.

[Matt]

Yeah, what I meant was people are now going to expect us to win it.