Very good, definitely. Great, no. Xavi and Pirlo are great. Cabaye is not of the quality where we should just accept him bossing the midfield. With two passers like Carrick and Wilshere (yes, I know he's injured) given the freedom to get off the eighteen yard line we could have overrun their midfield and, with their defence, won the game.
The game where France were attacking in waves at us at the end of the first half after we were lucky to score from a set piece because we'd only had one actual chance before that. The game where France were encamped outside our box for most of the game, we needed a great save from Hart and alot of deflections to stop it going in. The game where France had most of the chances apart from the few counter attacks we launched. The game where we only ever looked like scoing with that Milner chance at the start of the match. Are you seriously suggesting we wern't outplayed?
What is up with the media? This low expectations **** is an utter joke. If we played like this under Capello he would be having his arse fisted. We were 1 dimensional and really bad. BBC saying Welbeck was their man of the match The man has the touch of a rapist, he did make some good runs though. Don't get me started on Milner, he shouldn't be anywhere near Ukraine or Poland at the moment. The man was never in the game for us. Went missing in defence a lot, offered very little in attack, his crosses were verging on pathetic. I would rather have Beckham still on the right for us. Gerrard and Parker played the same role and we badly needed a ball playing midfielder. I would like to see Chamberlain be moved into the middle with Walcott on the right and Young on the left. Have Defoe/Welbeck up with Carroll next game seeing as the Swedes look defenceless.
Buzz - did you watch a different game to me for the first 30-35 minutes we were the better team and kept possession better than we have done for a long time and it was only the last 10 minutes the french put a bit of pressure on. The second half was fairly even and the ref seemed to ignore the fouls on our players and how Cabaye never got booked is beyond me. Only the last 10 minutes again did they put pressure on again in the second half. Milner should have scored first half and the stats show the french had more shots 90% were off target. I hate all the negative so called fans and lets put all things in perspective all the so called golden generation were a disaster and now there not there and we have younger players everyone thinks we have a crap team. But those golden generation lot were all about their own big egos and couldnt give a toss about england and there was always a split in the camp but the new lot are togehter. So get behind the team.
On the other hand though, how many times was Hart really tested? France's efforts were potshots from 20 yards in the main. Whilst I didn't think we played exciting football, a draw is more than we could have hope for. IMO we actually deserved something - France were restricted to passing sideways, shooting from range and missing. Solid defensive organisation against a vastly superior team man for man is key, and it got us a point. I'll take that.
I'd take Rami ahead of Lescott, Ribery ahead of Milner, Cabaye ahead of Parker, Benzema ahead of Welbeck, Debuchy ahead of Johnson and Nasri ahead of Gerrard. Plus the likes of M'Vila, Giroud, Sagna and Ben Arfa are better than their England counterparts. They have many more options, play with more fluidity, have much more technical quality and strength in depth and haven't lost in 22. They are a lot better. The only players from that England team who'd start ahead of players from that France side would be Hart, Terry, Cole and Chamberlain ahead of Lloris, Mexes, Evra and Malouda. Plus I think they're debatable.
Hart Debuchy Lescott Terry Cole Gerrard Cabaye Young Nasri Ribery Benzema And Rooney and Carrick would be ahead of Benzema and Cabaye.
Well I recognise people's opinions on players differ so I'm not going to bother arguing about whether players x and y should be ahead of anyone else. Anyway, your team has more England defenders and more France forwards - therefore France should be better going forward and England more solid defensively. A team should play to its strengths, and that is what England did.
France as a team were overall better. They controlled the play for longer periods, tested Hart a lot more and looked the team more likely to win the game. That said the following mitigating factors should be considered: England defended well. I dont give two hoots whether its boring, tournament football is about results. England defended solidly by and large and looked to counter attack. I find it hard to mention this game (and sorry if the bitterness is shining through here) without mentioning the truly abominable performance of the referee. Many times England could have created a lot more were they not cynically scythed down by french players who knew he was not going to book any of them. Dont even blame them necessarily, just taking advantage of blatantly unfair officiating. England DO have a lot of players out. Not an excuse, just a fact. Given that fact, they played to their strengths. Defend, and attempt to counter attack. When England have Rooney back they will have another dimension in attack. If they have a ref next game who doesnt need England players to be right hooked to the chin before he will pull a card out then teams wont be so quick to halt any attempt at counter attacks. That said, France did play very well and if any team was going to win it was them. However, England did very well to earn a draw.
all the moaners on here is unbelievable you are probably all Spurs fans the majority of you as all they do is moan or is ti the fact that you are anti Hodgson. Get real its a tournament if we played attacking football and lost you would be all slating Hodgson so the guy cant win. we had alot of players in there first tournament and the next game you will see a different England where we will attack and create more. so shut the F**k moaning as for the saints fan i saw your team on TV four times this season and you were poor each time so how the hell you got promoted is beyond me so save your moaning for your own team. support your country the has beens like Ferdinand etc all failed theyve had their chances in tournaments but were more interested in there big egos and arguing with each other.
We need to face the fact that we aren't going to do anything trying to play like Brazil or Spain, we certainly aren't good enough. It's a bitter pill but it has to be swallowed. So the choice is between certain "glorious" failure or trying to be like a poor man's Germany - hard working, organised and strong, capable of progressing in tournaments even when playing some pretty unattractive football. And I'd rather be an England fan this morning than be associated with a team who'd clearly set out with a deliberate plan that the only way to stop Oxlade-Chamberlain was to clip his heels or pull him back every time he broke away with the ball. How many times did that happen? How much do you believe in coincidence? They're just lucky they got a ref who thinks such cynical cheating is OK whereas pretty honest attempts to win the ball are automatically fouls.
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.
We got a bit deep after we scored and just need to stay on the front foot, show a bit more confidence. Once we retreated into our defensive shell, they came into the game. To be honest as good as Gerrard was last night, he was mainly to blame. Parker is meant to sit a bit deeper but Gerrard needed to get out from on top of his defenders. All that meant was that the defence could not continue to push a high line which was what had us outplaying them for 30mins. A draw was a fair result overall, neither really looked like winning it. Sitting deep for that long just sapped our energy levels to the point where Parker was running on empty. I''m sure they can analyse what we did wrong after we deservedly went ahead, and try to avoid it in future. A good solid start and if we can turn Sweden over, you'd have to say a job well done by Hodgson. Unless you're a negative ***** of course , in which case you'll never be happy.
Chamberlain was far, far better than Milner yesterday. Milner was awful, gave the ball away several times and, despite being famed for his work rate (the only reason I can see him being in the team is to cover Johnson) he didn't defend as much as Chamberlain either. Johnson was often on his own with either Gerrard or Parker charging out to tackle Evra when he came forward.
I've seen two posts of yours and have come to the conclusion that you are gullible and butt **** anything the media says. Golden Generation? Self proclaimed from the media that phrase. Our team isn't that much worse now apart from a couple of players but they were Hodgson's fault for choosing them. Johnson over Richards Milner over Lennon and with those 2 poor choices we are left with a right side as potent as ribena light.
