England 2 Trinidad And Tobago 0

[rover6]

Would that be the Lampard that was man of the match in the first game? The Lampard that was the player looking most likely to score for 75 minutes? The Lampard that was top scorer in the qualifiying rounds?

I sometimes wonder what game people are watching.

Man of the Match in the first game? Not much to boast about.

Lampard is a fantastic player but where does he play for Chelsea? He has a attacking role with TWO players behind him, doing the donkey work. His partnership with Gerrard doesn't work because they're too similar.

It's time for Sven to stop giving those two a chance to sort it out themselves and sort it for them. THat means dropping Lampard (because he is not as a good as Gerrard) and playing someone to play the holding role - probably Carrick.

I'd drop Joe Cole as well because imo, for his tricks and flicks, when we have Beckham on one flank, we need some genuine width on the other.

[RoyRover]

At least Hansen would say how bad we are playing.

Not this tournament, he's even more pro-England than Shearer or Wright!

God, that was grime again. Not even a decent first half performance from England to fall back on. England had plenty of chances, but will they get those chances against better opposition? Lennon did well when he came on and Gerrard's goal was a great hit. Contrary to what was said before the competiton, it's the result that matters, not the performance.

Edited June 15, 2006 by RoyRover

[tcj_jones]

Lechuck, I posted that at the end of the first half. In that first half Lampard barely touched the ball. He never got into good positions and didn't make any significant impact whatsoever. He was absolutely wasted. he did not look like scoring in a million years.

Second half was much of the same until Lennon and Downing came on. Then space was freed for him to run into and he made some decent runs. He got into good scoring positions three times, but he should have scored from at least one of them, maybe all three. One I would certainly consider a bad miss.

It wasn't so much Lampard playing badly, but him being played in a formation that does not accommodate two attacking midfielders. He was just totally anonymous.

Also, why are Lampard and Gerrard shooting as soon as they get the ball in any position, no matter how unlikely they'll score. I have no problems with Gerrard shooting when he has space and a clear site of goal, like he did for the second goal, but some of the shots these two were doing were just awful.

Lennon was MOTM for me. Only on for 30 minutes, but that is how bad we were. He changed the game and with him and Downing on the pitch we had three players putting quality balls into the box (Downing, Lennon and Beckham.)

Lastly, what the HELL?! No robot from Crouch?! That's it, get him out!

Seriously though, he did quite well when the ball wasn't just hoofed up to him at every opportunity. I like Crouch a lot and think he should be in the team over Owen.

[ABBEY]

Lechuck, I posted that at the end of the first half. In that first half Lampard barely touched the ball. He never got into good positions and didn't make any significant impact whatsoever. He was absolutely wasted. he did not look like scoring in a million years.

Second half was much of the same until Lennon and Downing came on. Then space was freed for him to run into and he made some decent runs. He got into good scoring positions three times, but he should have scored from at least one of them, maybe all three. One I would certainly consider a bad miss.

It wasn't so much Lampard playing badly, but him being played in a formation that does not accommodate two attacking midfielders. He was just totally anonymous.

Also, why are Lampard and Gerrard shooting as soon as they get the ball in any position, no matter how unlikely they'll score. I have no problems with Gerrard shooting when he has space and a clear site of goal, like he did for the second goal, but some of the shots these two were doing were just awful.

Lennon was MOTM for me. Only on for 30 minutes, but that is how bad we were. He changed the game and with him and Downing on the pitch we had three players putting quality balls into the box (Downing, Lennon and Beckham.)

Lastly, what the HELL?! No robot from Crouch?! That's it, get him out!

Seriously though, he did quite well when the ball wasn't just hoofed up to him at every opportunity. I like Crouch a lot and think he should be in the team over Owen.

sarcy or not..i know he scored but crouch is the worst ever player to wear the 3 lions!!

[greggyk]

Lampards been poor in both games for England IMO. It was Gerrard who was MOM in the first game Btw LeChuck.

Ashley Cole was woeful today, along with Owen, Carragher and Joe Cole second half.

Terry Venables made good points after the game about bringing in a holding player.But we tried that aginst Paraguay and it failed badly. Only way it would work would be to drop Beckham and play the diamond in midfield with Joe Cole behind the front two. Although even though for the sake off the team, he wont drop Beckham.

EDIT: Although, at least from now on we dont have to face teams like T&T who wont let us play football. And even though it wasnt great tonight, on another day we could have easily won 3 or 4 nil with the amount of chances we missed.eg, Crouch, Lampard x3, and Owen all missing easy chances

Edited June 15, 2006 by greggyk

[tcj_jones]

Greggy, I agree that we desperately need a holding player, but IMO, Beckham and Lennon are the two most vital players for this team - more so than Rooney - and we need them both in the team. How we accommodate them though, i have no idea!

Beckham is too valuable through his set pieces alone. He and Lennon looked ###### hot down the right.

[greggyk]

If only we had Souey as manager, he'd find a way!

[tcj_jones]

Also, come on Abbey, get a grip. Crouch is a very good player and has been consistently good for five games running now. He is the only player in the squad that can win headers and gives us something different.

AND he does the robot!

Edited June 15, 2006 by tcj_jones

[ABBEY]

crouch is bad tc...he should attack headerswhich he doesnt,he got crossed legged on that woeful miss in the 1st half ,he cant jump to save his life ie.todd v saints todd 1ft at shorter than him out jumped him every time....give me defoe,beattie or bent any day of the week.

[roversmum]

What is worrying me is that even though Sven is leaving and one would hope for some inspiration from the next manager we are going to be stuck with McClaren whom I don't rate at all.

[Rovers Air Force]

Well at least the two "easy" games are behind us! :ph34r:

[rover6]

Abbey, so is Crouch worse than Heskey?

[des]

if we are going to play two attack mined midfield players them you have in my view to play a 3-5-2 pattrem and with the playess that england have that might well work. however knocking long stright high balls to crouch will not win the world cup.

[McClarky]

Oh dear, this was against Port Vale and Falkirk players. Bring on Brazil!

[grizfoot]

Despite England's win all was not well in my eyes. Something clearly needs to be done with the Lampard/Gerrard partnership in the middle. Both of their games are effected because they both have to worry about one of them staying back all the time. Towards the end of today's game both of them started to get foward and forgot about their defensive responsabilities this ultimate lead to England going on to win. But also left England short at the back and on another day the oppenents would have capitalised. Therefore I think we need to play with a anchor man in midifield.

It may be a bit late to start messing with fromations, but i'd give this a go.

---------------- Robbo -----------------

---------------------------------------

-------- Carra --- Terry ---- Rio --------

-- Becks ----------------------- A.Cole --

---------------- Carrick -----------------

------- Lamps --------- Gerrard ---------

---------------- Rooney ----------------

---------- Crouch ----------------------

And you could also use J.Cole off the bench as he could play any where in the midfield quartet.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Although England have won their opening first two World Cup matches for the first time since 1982, I thought this was a dreadful performance for 80 minutes.

Instead of crisp, incisive one-touch passing at a quick tempo, we were either hitting aimless long balls forward or alternatively passing the ball around too slowly in midfield which allowed Trinidad and Tobago to get men behind the ball and defend relatively comfortably for much of the match.

Michael Owen didn't look sharp at all, but to be fair to him, the service he got for an hour was poor. "It's fair to say that you haven't seen the best of us yet," said Beckham in a TV interview afterwards.

I bloody well hope that's not the best that England can play - some of these guys are earning around £90,000 a week for their clubs (120 grand a week in Rio Ferdinand's case) and yet they appear to have difficulty in doing the basics right. Our passing was very sloppy at times, conceding possession too easily.

Trinidad and Tobago are the smallest nation ever (in terms of population) to qualify for the World Cup. There are just over a million people in the two islands. The smiling black Caribbeans (plus the white Port Vale guy) had lost to Wales in a pre-tournament friendly and were beaten 5-1 by Guatemala last year in a World Cup qualifying match - they only narrowly won a two-legged play-off match against Bahrain to qualify, and yet England struggled to score against them for 82 minutes.

Lennon was MOTM for me. Only on for 30 minutes, but that is how bad we were.

I agree Tcj. Lennon was the only one who troubled the Caribbeans with his pace and ability to get behind the defence.

What is worrying me is that even though Sven is leaving and one would hope for some inspiration from the next manager we are going to be stuck with McClaren whom I don't rate at all.

McClaren is a guy who I believe is out of his depth at the top level. Further evidence of that came when 'Boro were thumped 4-0 by Seville in the Uefa Cup. If you look at some of 'Boro's shocking results last season - thrashed 7-0 by Arsenal, losing 4-0 at home to Aston Villa, then I'm afraid it doesn't bode well for the future.

Oh dear, this was against Port Vale and Falkirk players.

A Falkirk reserve player! And England are supposedly second favourites to win this competition....

Overall England verdict: Can and must do better.

[frosty]

Sven needs to get the Gerrard-Lampard situation sorted. As showed today Gerrard is better at shooting than Lampard, so why have Gerrard playing a defensive midfield role?

[brfcshabba]

If the Sweden score stays the same, it would be an ideal match to try out something like Grizfoots formation.

Edit - Don't tinker too much

Edited June 15, 2006 by Cookiemonster

[tcj_jones]

It may be a bit late to start messing with fromations, but i'd give this a go.

---------------- Robbo -----------------

---------------------------------------

-------- Carra --- Terry ---- Rio --------

-- Becks ----------------------- A.Cole --

---------------- Carrick -----------------

------- Lamps --------- Gerrard ---------

---------------- Rooney ----------------

---------- Crouch ----------------------

And you could also use J.Cole off the bench as he could play any where in the midfield quartet.

Very good suggestion. Only thing I would change is swapping Lennon for Lampard. I know I've just said it, but my reasoning is that Lennon and Beckham are vital to the team. Beckham's set pieces are our only real source of goals, while Lennon's pace can open up oppositions defences in seconds. The two looked great together tonight.

Lampard is not as good a player as Gerrard and, what is more, he has been pretty much anonymous these last two games. Gerrard on the other hand has done ok and scored a screamer today.

Only problem with that formation is that Beckham is not a defender and I could see better opposition ripping us to shreads. Perhaps as a formation to change to when going a goal behind?

[Flopsy]

Abbey, so is Crouch worse than Heskey?

carlton palmer?

What happens with yellow cards awarded in the group stages in the 2nd round?

I would love us to go for the win against Sweden. However I would like Sven to pick Carrick or (this hurts me to say) Hargreaves as a defensive midfielder and let gerrard or lampard play (id put lampard on the bench because he looks knackered). Owen and Crouch need to have another 60 minutes together at least. Id like to see Walcott come on as well.

Also that was the first time Sven's substitutions and tactical change has worked to change a match.

We should have been ahead a lot sooner than we were, but in the end we won fairly comfortably.

If iw as being 100% England tinted glasses I would say that we marshalled our fitness well, allowing us to attack strongly in the last 20 minutes and get the win.

Still it was squeaky bum time at points wasnt it?

[brfcshabba]

What happens with yellow cards awarded in the group stages in the 2nd round?

The yellow cards get wiped out in the second round. So Lampard, Gerrard and Crouch would have their record cleared

[cletus]

f### me!

I know England won 2-0, but we are bl00dy rubbish.

Hardly left the rest of the world quaking in their boots did we?

The 1st decent team we come up against, we`re out.

[Blueboy Downunder]

we did what we had to do. we did not play that well, which at this stage is a good sign because we all know that we can play far better than what we put out this morning. i would rather do enough to get through the group phase and then step up a gear in the knockout rounds.

[Napoleon]

The midfield four is not working and Sven needs to sort this out before Sweden. Neither Lampard or Gerrard are providing any defensive cover and they also seem tread on each others toes going forward. Carrick might be the answer.

I agree that Lennon was MOTM and he may be worth a start in the next game. The fact that we have no Plan B tactics-wise though shows how many friendlies have been wasted over the last year.

Michael Owen should be given another chance to prove his fitness seeing as qualification is assured and Rooney isn't likely to play the full match anyway.

[neekoy]

Germany or Ecuador?

On current form both of them will knock England out. I wouldn't risk Rooney until the next round.