Apart from missing the penalty Cole, as usual, hasn't put a foot wrong all tournament. I suggest, you, like many others, underrate England because you expect too much from them in the first place. FFS you had Shearer on the TV last night talking about England being 7th/8th in the world like it's a bad thing.
Petr Čech is a better keeper, although he did have a poor European Championship. Wojciech Szczesny is a better keeper and improving all the time. Tim Krul is a better keeper and like Szczesny is improving all the time.
Coles been a great player for us over the last ten years or so. Really knows how to read the game, hasnt lost his pace & is confident on the ball. Hes going to be hard to replace when he hangs up his boots, and for the record I rate Baines but I just feel everyone is miles behind Cole in terms of consistency. Weak penno but he had the balls to step up knowing so many England fans will be slagging him off regardless if he scored or missed.
IMO only Casillas is better than Hart and that won't last forever. Krul cant even get into the Dutch team ahead of Stekelenburg who is average and Szcezny's only involvement in the tournament was to make a mistake that led to a goal and then get sent off.
Cech used to amaze me in his first two seasons at Chelsea, I do think he is going through a bad patch at the moment & I would rate Hart above him JUST. Good point though, I'd forgot about Cech. Dont rate Krul in the same bracket as Cech/Hart and Szczesny could potentially overtake Cech & Hart but at the moment Its out of those two for me
Yea but thats just it for me. He doesnt do anything wrong like thats enough, but its not. He just does nothing above that and thats only in this tournament mind you. For Chelsea this season he has made a lot of mistakes. I don't say its a bad thing to be rated 7th/8th but I think we are worse than that. Its not good enough, anyone who is happy with how England played during this tournament really doesnt expect much at all from any footballing side. I'd expect macedonia to play nicer, cleaner football than that. The thing that irritates me is if England did try and play smoother football they would have got further in the tournament but Woy is just such a negative manager Cech - Lost it over the last couple years Szczesny - is **** Krul - Overrated, had a good spell half way through the season but other than that an average prem goalkeeper
Reading some of these comments, it looks like some would have Kewell back if he were cheap and good enough? To hell with the murderer-fraternising rodent, I say. Oh and England are a lost cause, beyond repair until nearly every pro club gets a proper academy and we start producing world class players.
Who said that? I didn't get that feel from anyone. He' a **** and I don't think any leeds fan has forgotten it
Josh, I'm no lover of Cashley Cole, but I cannot honestly think of anyone better that can take his place. The lad has been hugely consistent for England & whilst he might have had a few off moments during the season, he never seems to wobble wearing his beloved 3 lions shirt. I personally think you've lost the plot. How about Superman to take his place, Batman at centre forward, with Robin on the wing? Elasto in goals & the Incredible Hulk tearing up the midfield? Get the SAS in defence & we're probably getting near your dream team - for it's a dream team you're obviously dreaming about.
Sure it wasn't intentional at all but Boggers and Greeny seemed to focus more on the money/ability than his betrayal.
Sounds good except Robin is ****. I'd prefer to have flash on the wing And my point wasn't meaning he should be replaced but more pointing out that he is not as great as everyone thinks he is. Everyone talks as if he is the best LB in the world and he isn't, that defence isn't that strong
Teams definitely better than England in Europe: Spain, Germany and Italy with Pirlo (who is 33). Unless you're going to find a case for one man team Portugal, finished below us in the group France or 3 losses Holland.
Doesn't work like that, Eire. If it had been a single league, then fine, but not in this case. Depends who you get drawn against. The big shock for me was Holland going out, but I still think they've got more of a claim to being in the top 8 than england.
Its a pretty fair rule of thumb though. You could also argue Croatia would be better than England but unfortunate to be stuck with Spain and Italy. England maybe better than Greece. Who knows?
Take Ronaldo out of Portugal and they are still better than us Hart > Rui Patricio Johnson < Pereira Terry < Pepe Lescott < Alves Cole < Coentrao Milner < Nani Gerrard > Veloso Parker < Moutinho Young < Ronaldo Welbeck < Meireles Rooney > Postiga So that is 8 out of 11 win for portugal and they play considerably better as a team. France are on a par with us with people able to argue either way with that one, still think Holland are better than us despite there poor Euro tournament, If we had that group we wouldn't have done any better. We really are not very good
Well done to Roy and the lads, we held our heads and were unlucky not to get a penalty for the shirt pulling. The only thing I would have done differently is swapping Young for Chamberlain, but that easy to say after the event. Say for Quick Cash Kewell, I hope he signs for Blackburn so you can give a good old welcome at Elland Road this year...
