[Archived] England 1 - 2 France

[Paul]

And apart from our goal and 1 or 2 rooney moments, we went into the half time break feeling quite lucky.

In the 2nd half, things seem to get more negative and the space in which we allowed france to run with the ball so that they could pick off there passes with ease was a major cause for concern. We had the feeling all the way through that we were just inviting trouble. That if you gave france as much time and space as we did, then they would start to smell blood.

I rest my case

[Paul]

Henry, Viera, Pires - name the English equivalents? By which I mean players who worry you when they have the ball against your team.

Rooney , Gerard , Lampard , Owen.....I think you're over playing the French a bit , Mr Paul. We more than matched them last night . If (hopefully) we play them again I know who I'll put my money on .

Owen, yep agree always worry about him when Liverpool are in town.

Rooney - well not on the basis of seeing him at Ewood but after last night, yes. Rooney looked like he might create something and of course, did.

Gerrard, Lampard - no dont agree. They wouldn't worry me every time they got the ball. That is the sort of thing I'm trying to get at; the "oh ######, it's Owen/Henry/Zidane" factor. It's the feeling every time Shearer had the ball - something was gonna happen.

[des]

I think all in all a draw would of been a fair result, howqever we should of won.

england defended very well, however attacking options were thin on the ground. I thought that france had a better balnced side and there kept the ball well.

england did the same first half, but in the second there gave away the ball too quickly, all in all a bit like watching rovers good on th eye, but daft give aways goals costs us dear

[AndyC]

Henry, Viera, Pires - name the English equivalents? By which I mean players who worry you when they have the ball against your team.

Rooney , Gerard , Lampard , Owen.....I think you're over playing the French a bit , Mr Paul. We more than matched them last night . If (hopefully) we play them again I know who I'll put my money on .

Owen, yep agree always worry about him when Liverpool are in town.

Rooney - well not on the basis of seeing him at Ewood but after last night, yes. Rooney looked like he might create something and of course, did.

Gerrard, Lampard - no dont agree. They wouldn't worry me every time they got the ball. That is the sort of thing I'm trying to get at; the "oh ######, it's Owen/Henry/Zidane" factor. It's the feeling every time Shearer had the ball - something was gonna happen.

I'd agree with that Paul.

Rooney was the only player to get the fans out of their seats in anticipation.

Everytime he picked up the ball, you sensed something could happen. Didn't get that feeling from anyone else!

[Paul]

Thank you Andy - I've been trying to get this across all day. We played well, but that was all.

[broadsword]

You eat frog's legs and you eat frog's legs

You eat frog's legs and you eat frog's legs

You eat frog's legs and you eat frog's legs

You eat frog's legs and you eat frog's legs

You are the frog's legs EATERS!

[AndyC]

Thank you Andy - I've been trying to get this across all day. We played well, but that was all.

its just my humble opinion !

But I still managed to argue about the game with my clients for about an hour at the aiport! It took us about 2 hours before we really spoke to each other after we left the stadium as we were all just dumbfounded the final result.

The point is - we will always disagree with each other - but just remember - Paul and I are always right!

[S15]

I remember Brian the Brain Kidd once using the phrase 'Rubber Dinghy Men.'

The ironic thing is it's always teams he's involved with that have these men...

Rovers, Leeds, England.

[Paul]

its just my humble opinion !

Which is why the game is so wonderful. I was beginning to think I'd watched the wrong game though

[broadsword]

I remember Brian the Brain Kidd once using the phrase 'Rubber Dinghy Men.'

The ironic thing is it's always teams he's involved with that have these men...

Rovers, Leeds, England.

And Man Utd of course!

Nothing to do with Brian Kidd at all, whose coaching abilities are well-respected.

[Eddie]

I am gutted, and you cant imagine what its like when you live in France. I thought England played well, though at times many of the players were virtually non existant. Having said that, other than Gerards mistake, and a well taken free kick, France had no other chances. I think that is impressive in itself, England can progress from here if they continue to play like that, and if they do I'm sure that they will be there or there abouts when the final comes around.

[chris]

Henry, Viera, Pires - name the English equivalents? By which I mean players who worry you when they have the ball against your team.

Rooney , Gerard , Lampard , Owen.....I think you're over playing the French a bit , Mr Paul. We more than matched them last night . If (hopefully) we play them again I know who I'll put my money on .

Owen, yep agree always worry about him when Liverpool are in town.

Rooney - well not on the basis of seeing him at Ewood but after last night, yes. Rooney looked like he might create something and of course, did.

Gerrard, Lampard - no dont agree. They wouldn't worry me every time they got the ball. That is the sort of thing I'm trying to get at; the "oh ######, it's Owen/Henry/Zidane" factor. It's the feeling every time Shearer had the ball - something was gonna happen.

you should worry about Lampard, second best player in UK last year behing Henry and he scores s**t loads of goals from midfield, just like the last two games for England he has scored in.

[Rovermatt]

As a long time Francophile I was delighted to see Les Bleus win last night. Yet, the result was clearly very harsh on England.

In spite of this I was unimpressed with both teams. England deserved to win on the strength of their defending, nothing more. The French were undeserving as they lacked the requisite guile to break down the English defence.

When England scored they proceeded to play like Norway, deep defence with sporadic counter-attacks. The French, despite the hype around them, were utterly toothless for 90 mins. Only the dead-ball genius of Zidane saved them from a great deal of embarrasment after their pre-game boasts.

[Flopsy]

Its all Groobys fault

I thought we deserved a point but we played well, and could have (should have won) as RFW once said "Football, Bloody Hell"

If we defend like we did for most of last night we will be allright and we wont come up against a defence as good as Frances for a while now so i can see us doing the swiss and the croats

[AlanK]

Calm down dears it's only England not Rovers  - thankfully. Although we've done that several times last season as well.

It was just like watching Rovers but without the agony.

ONLY ENGLAND

NO AGONY

Speak for yourselves

[S15]

I remember Brian the Brain Kidd once using the phrase 'Rubber Dinghy Men.'

The ironic thing is it's always teams he's involved with that have these men...

Rovers, Leeds, England.

And Man Utd of course!

Nothing to do with Brian Kidd at all, whose coaching abilities are well-respected.

Perhaps Man Utd were too good to be ###### up by Kidd.

He's certainly achieved nothing since he's left.

Eriksson, McClaren and Kidd.

Three weak weak personalities, which explains why our team has NO character.

[AndyC]

McClaren is anythign but a weak personality.

he may seem a bit wet when he talks to the media, but he's totally different with his players.

(I've seen him in action a few times.)

[DP]

Cheers Andy for that report, must have been a great experience I'm sure....

Well, after a couple of days of reflection, I do think 2 players didn't use their brians when the moment arrived - Beckham and James.

We can all point at Heskey and Gerrard but they did their bit and were both guilty of unfortunate errors. Spur of the moment stuff.

Beckham had the opportunity to put England 2 up and was completely out psyched by Barthez in my opinion. If you can't guarantee you're going to stick it just inside the post (like Zidane did) then you should be anticipating your oponents move. There was only one way Barthez was going to go, and Beckham bottled it.

James, well, we're all saying he was beaten by brillance etc etc but the free kick didn't go over the wall it went just to the side of the wall at the keeper's side. Don't care who's taking the free kick, you shouldn't be beaten there. If goalkeepers want to stand in middle of their goal and wait to see where its hit then they might as well not bother with a wall.

If James had been a yard to his right he could have caught the ball. Had Zidane then curled it round/over into the other corner then the keeper would have been faultless, and the goal would have been one of the best ever seen!

But... thought tactics were good and we have the power and pace (if not the skill) to do well.

[T4E]

Beckham had the opportunity to put England 2 up and was completely out psyched by Barthez in my opinion. If you can't guarantee you're going to stick it just inside the post (like Zidane did) then you should be anticipating your oponents move. There was only one way Barthez was going to go, and Beckham bottled it.

Que?

Out-psyched? Barthez guessed right, thats all. Was always going to go one way? It was bad luck on Beckham's part. The penalty was poor in the sense that it was at a nice height for the keeper to make a save, but to suggest that Beckham bottled it is going a bit far.

[broadsword]

He should've stuck it straight down the middle, 200mph.

That's my uneducated view.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Clive Tyldesley: "How's the heart condition, Robert?"

Bobby Robson: "It's alright because I think we'll win. We'll see off this dangerous free-kick and play out the last two minutes"

10 secs later : France 1 v 1 England

Tyldesley and Sir Bobby - a match made in heaven.....well maybe not quite!

When Neville squared the ball to Scholes, who then switched play to Beckham on the right, Tyldesley nearly had an orgasm, shouting: "The Manchester United player to another Manchester United player to the former Manchester United player."

Old Clive can't resist mentioning the Reds can he?

Meanwhile Robson was halfway through a eulogy to a player he called Leslie King when England nearly scored.

Ledley or Leslie? Never mind, I don't suppose this will be the last time that Robson gets a name wrong in his commentaries - for years he used to refer to Mark Hateley as Tony Hateley.

Bobby's a lovely guy, but it must be odds on that before the tournament ends, a goal will go in while the Newcastle manager is still describing an incident that took place a minute earlier.

And can ITV please stop treating us like children by continually plugging its ridiculously easy competitions? Showing us a clip of the blonde haired Paul Gascoigne scoring his famous goal against Scotland in Euro 96, and then asking us who scored is an insult to our intelligence.

The only difficult part about it for those who enter is paying the phone bill afterwards. You have to ring ITV's exorbitant premium rate phone line to enter. No wonder they want as many people as possible to get the right answer...

Poor show from ITV. They might as well bring back Big-ot Ron!

[Flopsy]

or better just give all the football to BBC

I have a question for the Stato's when was the last time England won a game shown exclusively on ITV I cant remember any

[Tom Pringle]

or better just give all the football to BBC

I have a question for the Stato's when was the last time England won a game shown exclusively on ITV I cant remember any

As i asked earlier in the thread...

Was it against Germany in Euro 2000?

[USABlue]

Just got back from the Mountains, watched the game on video I was absolutley stunned still shell shocked. Why is Heskey allowed anywhere near an England shirt?

What was he thinking, Carragher back pass terrible, but that's us for you.

[sumps]

Just got back from the Mountains, watched the game on video I was absolutley stunned still shell shocked. Why is Heskey allowed anywhere near an England shirt?

What was he thinking, Carragher back pass terrible, but that's us for you.

Carragher backpass? Were you watching the right game?