I wouldn't say Gerrard is overrated in the EPL, but I do think he struggles for England. Having said that, I thought he had a decent game this evening. I'd give him 7/10, whereas usually I wouldn't rate him at more than 6/10.
England didn't do enough in the second half,France had too much possession and England did nearly all of the defending. Also there wasn't enough support for the forwards who often lost the ball because there was nobody to pass to except too many Frenchmen. Rant over.
Good first 20-30 minutes for England, given what they have. The last half of the game their chances were very few and very far between. I agree Welbeck and Oxlaide-Chamberlin make sense for a team that's trying to counter. I do wish Welbeck would have passed a little more often. Though it pains me to say it, I could see Rooney in Young's central role, and Young back on the left--if Rooney would keep his cool and do his best in an England shirt, for once. Lescott, Terry and Parker looked good. I wondered if I might like Gerrard playing farther back, and I did. All in all, England got the point they wanted. If they don't go through, it will be because they didn't get the job done in the other games. Finally, I'm sure I am biased, but I thought the ref was very prejudiced towards France. I read an article on Ribery the other day. It said the French used to really like him because he was very good and had an appealing rise from poverty. Then they stopped liking him when fame and money turned him into a total twat. Now he wishes they'd like him again.
and now the BBC commentators are salivating over Ibra. for the noise he makes and everyone makes about him.... he is so rubbish!
Really? I really enjoyed the game, even though it wasn't a very good game. If I care too much about a team (Spurs), it can be agonizing, if I don't care at all I'll be bored unless it's a great game. England ends up being just right.
i enjoyed the match aswell....i find it educational...England are easy to read...even when they went 1 nil ahead i felt as though they would be happy with a draw. France were very good at closing down..but they were not dynamic....strong but i thibk they are weak at the same time...seem to have some big clumsy players in defensive roles. cant see either winning it. see i learnt something.....now this sweden v ukraine match doesnt seem to be intresting me too much.
I never understand this English view that he is under-rated. He's one of the world's best strikers at the moment, but for some reason many people think he's over-rated because of a handful of average performances against English sides.
no way does he produce on a regular basis like his reputation suggests....and far from one of the worlds best...id give such an accolade to the likes of Falcao. and im not talking just about his performances against english teams.
Okay, guys... I'm going to be bold, now. England to beat both Ukraine and Sweden, but France to draw against at least one. Call me Olly the Octopus!
Another injury!! Apparently Ray Clemence has torn his achiilies tendon and will have to be sent home- no replacement has been named yet
Workmanlike performance with no frills with what he had??...what Woy had, Woy picked in the first place! It was clear we did not want to get beat, if you ever want to show how two banks of four work without the ball, watch that game back! But it was to be expected having seen France billed as the difficult game of the three. Not so sure about that now after the Ukr/Swe game, Ukr noticeably lifted by home advantage and a tournament first win, the possibility of going into the last game needing a result off them doesn't fill me with confidence, I don't see France just brushing them aside really either. France were poo at the back on the RH side and could have been exploited more, so I feel we may regret the safety first approach by us once France got into the game. The ref I agree, has surely been 'offered' use of a yacht in St. Tropez.....a dinghy on the Thames was never going to work! Each time I see Jordan Henderson, I can't believe he's there.
I wouldn't be surprised to see England draw all three games - so Ukraine and France go through by virtue of both teams beating Sweden. Naturally, that leads to a lot of "unbeaten" bollocks from the tabloids, but so were New Zealand at the last World Cup. Ukraine/Sweden was a better game, mainly because both teams went for the win and had players that could control the ball or string two passes together. Apart from the fact the two Swedes we've been linked to, elm and Toivonen, had pretty poor games - Elm only looked good when moved out of a defensive role, Toivonen was an passenger for the time he was on the pitch.
I feel like that with all the 'Pool players. Did Roy not see how ****e they were last season? Picking players from 'Pool these days is like picking players from Wimbledon in days long gone by. It simply should not happen.
When the camera cut to him standing next to the fourth official with the board he got a bigger groan at the pub than the Nasri goal. I'm going to be lazy and C&P what I said on the other board.. Pretty much as expected. I was worried about Gerrard and Parker in the middle and it didn't work, Parker likes to sweep up but Gerrard was doing the samething which left their midfield lots of time and space. We were poor on the wings too and as much as Milner made a mess of things a few times, atleast he was getting about the pitch and trying to get things to happen, whilst Chamberlain never really got going and looked like he was trying just not to make a mess of things. As much as it was a difficult game, I don't expect us to set up much different in our "easier" games. I really hope I'm wrong and Hodgson tries to get the team playing more football in the next game though.
If France, Ukraine and England all beat Sweden and the Ukraine v England and France v Ukraine matches both end in draws, qualification will go down to goals scored or goal difference. We must score more than 3 goals against Sweden or risk an early exit. We must attack Sweden at all costs, a 1-0 victory might mean that we have to beat Ukraine in the final match to qualify. We need to adopt the German mentality with every game a must win game, congratulating ourselves on a draw is a recipe for disaster. Any result but a win is failure at this level, we could and should have won yesterday.
most has been said about the team and outfield players but anything think Hart is slightly over rated as ive been reading all week about how he is the new gordon banks and at last we have a great keeper again but he looked rather suspect and his positional play isn't the best.
I have to agree with YV, mainly. Gerrard did a fairly decent job of protecting the back four, except for the goal, but he offered very little offensively. Even with the same team selection, I'd have preferred Milner in the middle, Young out on the left and Gerrard in behind Welbeck. I disagree about Chamberlain, though. He was targeted by some very cynical tactics, which the ref simply didn't deal with. Every time he tried to break at pace, someone would just take him out and somehow escape a caution. You'd expect an Italian official to be more aware of that kind of thing.
