[Archived] World Cup Qualifiers 2010

[FINRover]

Great win!

[JC4LAB]

Man of the match was Rooney for me who fed Walcott his goals...His goals may be fewer but he does so much of this nowadays....A total disgrace that this match was just on Sentanta only and not free to the country which could do with a lift in spirits at the moment

[thenodrog]

I think this has gone a long way to dispelling the Gerrard / World class myth that people have been brainwashed into believing by the press and media. Obviously a bloody good Sat afternoon club player, inspirational too, but like so many the step up to top international level is too big a step. If only we had a decent left winger we could do without Frank Lampard in the first X1 too.

[Bobby G]

Goodbye David Bentley!

[Ronin]

Bet he's seething now. Downing, Walcott, Cole all ahead of him!

Maybe Capello wasn't impressed with his attitude at trying to get out of Rovers!

[joey_big_nose]

I think this has gone a long way to dispelling the Gerrard / World class myth that people have been brainwashed into believing by the press and media. Obviously a bloody good Sat afternoon club player, inspirational too, but like so many the step up to top international level is too big a step. If only we had a decent left winger we could do without Frank Lampard in the first X1 too.

I thought that was a bit harsh, Lampard (who I usually hate to see in an England shirt) exuded class yesterday alongside Barry. It looks like at Chelsea he is going to be used as a deeper midfielder as well so this might be his future?

Gerrard's problem is that he plays in the same area of the pitch as Rooney as well as (aruguably) Joe Cole - the central channel between the midfield and attack. For Gerrard to be effective in that formation using his natural game you would have to drop Rooney as well. Even in a 442 they get in each others way as Rooney drops and Gerrard drives forward.

Le Chuck: Ashton - love him, great technical player, powerful and a real entertainer in my book when on form. But you can see that Hesky - depite being like a battering ram on Ice often enough - with his combination of power and pace is a better option all round. The Croations never got a moments peace, and he could win the stuff in the air and run the channels. Ashton could have been taken out of the game by forcing him up the pitch and close marking.

The only problem is that big Emile is our only option in this vital role. I mean the French have Benzama, THe Spanish have Villa and Torres, the Italians have Toni. Heskey is not quite in the same league!

If England could find (still) a good and proper left winger, and a better true "target man" up front with a bit of pace then we would have an excellent side.

[Nate]

Australia beat Uzbekistan 1-0.

[The1mattjansen]

Goodbye David Bentley!

Bet he's seething now. Downing, Walcott, Cole all ahead of him!

Maybe Capello wasn't impressed with his attitude at trying to get out of Rovers!

Yeh i bet that was it!

[speeeeeeedie]

Anyone interested?

A sell out tomorrow at Wembley against the Kazakhs. What will happen? Terry is out, which I'm happy about, but there are rumours that Gerrard/Almpard will be reunited. No Ashley Young etiher who I like.

Scotland are done for if they don't beat the Norwegians.

[DeadlyDirk]

Well I don't think I'm being optomistic, even with the dissappointments England have caused us over the years, when I say that even if we play appauling tomorrow we will still come out with a win one way or another.

The question is how well will we play and how much will we win by. Missing Terry won't be an issue, except he would of been dangerous from set pieces. The Lampard and Gerrard combination is always an interesting one but my bet is that both on form players will do well tomorrow because the opposition is so poor. This isn't a bad thing as it could give them both confidence which perhaps is all they are lacking together at international level and then perhaps they can take that on to the tougher games and then people will stop questioning whether or not they can play together. I for one just hope we don't see Gerrard on the left as he's wasted there.

Rooney is back to form and will most likely have a good game here, unsure of how fit Heskey is which may mean a chance for Defoe or Crouch, both of whom have thrived upon weaker opposition.

Capello has also shown in the past that he is not afraid to change tactically to exploit the opposition so may well drop Barry in favour of a winger to bring Gerrard into the center. I guess he could even play Barry on the left, with A. Cole's pace on the overlap it could be an option. Still most England managers bottle it so he'll probably just stick Gerrard on the left while Joe Cole is out and keep Lampard and Barry together. Wouldn't help with deciding who plays when J.Cole is fit again.

Wright Phillips could even be a surprise option on the left or right and moving Walcott across, he's certainly in form.

James

Johnson

Brown

Ferdinand

A.Cole

Walcott

Lampard

Gerrard

Downing/Wright Phillips

Rooney

Heskey

Comfortable 4-0/5-0 win for me, they say no international game is easy these days and they are right to a point but if we can get an early goal you might well see a hammering.

[BuckyRover]

I have a feeling, even after many false dawns, that Lampard and Gerrard will do well together.

Tomorrow and into the future.

[brfcs5359]

We're not as good as we have been squad wise and Walcott has been a refreshing uplift.

Johnson's not good enough, neither is James or Downing and Ashley Cole is past his sell by date. In each case there are few challengers of better merit. Capello though is a good manager. The best manager England has had and he will raise the bar on England who for 35 years have under performed under the guidance of a string of useless coaches.

[thenodrog]

I have a feeling, even after many false dawns, that Lampard and Gerrard will do well together.

Tomorrow and into the future.

Tell em that until Joe Cole is fit there's only one shirt up for grabs between the two of em and introduce some element of competition into the pair of over inflated ego's. It'll do them and their clubs good by bringing em both on. It's much the same throughout the squad with far too many automatic places for the press and media big club little darlings.

Early days of course but to date I'm a tad disappointed with Capello. I understood him to have a hard man reputation but all I've seen is another corporate yes man.

[thenodrog]

Capello though is a good manager. The best manager England has had

Wash your mouth out with soap! He's to win a World Cup first to be that never mind win a qualification match against a bunch of seeming no hopers.

[DeadlyDirk]

Upson has got the nod in defence in place of the injured Terry, Gerrard has also replaced the injured Cole in midfield.

Looks like a version of a 4-3-3/4-5-1 today lining up as below

James

Brown

Ferdinand ©

Upson

A.Cole

Barry

Gerrard

Lampard

Walcott

Rooney

Heskey

[nowthen]

There seems to be an imposter in the Norway team wearing Pedersen's shirt.

[1864roverite]

Watching the England game is like waiting for a bus to arrive, its so boring.

2-1 england, borat will be a national hero

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

It finished 5-1 and should have been about 10.

[philipl]

Anyone else think Kazakhstan's goal looked very suspicious? Not only did Cole pass the ball to the guy in space on his own on the edge of our box (nobody covering him?) but the shot went right by David James' right foot and he didn't move to try to save it.

Anyway England sitting pretty with the 0-0 draw between Ukraine and Croatia.

France 2 down to Romania inside 20 minutes so is that finally bye bye Dominech?

Enjoy the 5 candidates for worst miss ever. Yes Scotland provided a candidate today.

[American Rover12]

Deffo manure v Juve.

[AlanK]

Anyone else think Kazakhstan's goal looked very suspicious? Not only did Cole pass the ball to the guy in space on his own on the edge of our box (nobody covering him?) but the shot went right by David James' right foot and he didn't move to try to save it.

Sorry Phil but you have just lost all credibility in my opinion. Years ago, you deciphered all the technical financial jargon for us mere mortals who keep the world spinnng to understand. I appreciated that. I reallly did. Now you seem to have ideas above your station. What on earth are you trying to suggest? Why not blame Rio? Have you seen the replay? Rio pointed where Cole should play it! The only thing Cole can be blamed of is complancey. 2 - 0 up at home and cruising and he got sloppy. I don`t agree with the booing he received but it should remind those 11 lads down there that there are 90,000 in the ground and millions at home who actually give a siht that we will not accept it. years ago yes. But now? When they earn 100k a week to kick a ball straight? No.

Anyway, 9 points out of 9.

[BuckyRover]

People wonder why the team doesn't play well.

Make a mistake and you get booed for half an hour.

If our players are scared to make mistakes they will always play within themselves and never achieve anything.

I thought it was pathetic

[Mr Creosote]

I'm glad Cashley got booed. He's an despicable individual.

[philipl]

Sorry Alan, but that goal looks odd- the moment it went in I thought to myself, who has paid for that? I know a little bit about that country. I am not going to post a link but watch it again.

And frankly, Ashley Cole lands it on a sixpence for the Kazakh, Rio lets him go and David James plays statue making no effort to save it.

These players are paid phenomenal amounts and they are normally close to impecable. All three of them having a complete muck up at the same time? And you must understand how important it was for the Kazakhs to have scored at Wembley.

The crowd are getting criticised for booing Cole after that but there are mistakes which can be forgiven and there are other sorts of mistakes and on this occasion the crowd smelt a rat.

[DeadlyDirk]

As much as I dislike Ashley Colr, nobody wearing an England shirt should be booed by their own fans.

I've watched the goal a few times, I'm not even sure if Cole looked up to see Ferdinand's signal, but anyway it was a poor ball nowhere near James anyway. Agreed Ferdinand was caught out and should have known there was someone behind him, James himself could have perhaps made a better effort at the shot.

That's just a minor fault though on a good result, second half they played well, it's always difficult when a team puts eleven men behind the ball for the majority of the time like they did in the first half.

9 points from 9, all good so far.