You talking about your beloved Germany again? 4-0 is job done but against Lithuania we should be looking to get more really.
Fowler was up against Wright, shearer, sherringham, Cole, Owen... Rooneys been up against Defoe, nugent and heskey....
79 seconds for a goal is pretty good I suppose, but let's be honest, Gerrard could have got two red cards in that time.
Greatness for a striker should be proper goals against proper teams in proper football games. None ne of these Friendlies or qualifiers against San marino. Who hi has scored goals at tournament football that's the one that matters and apart from when Rooney broke into the team for first tournament where he was brilliant, he's been poor.
Let's have a think about the opposition: If Lithuania's team was an English football, which team would it be closest to??
Every England player has underperformed over the last 10 years yet we want to pick on the one player who's actually done something of note during that time.
Owen's been the only striker we could count on in big matches to do the business consistently. Too bad he got injured too much in the second half of his career.
We've flattered to deceive once again. We'll be lucky to hold possesion against the 15 odd teams ranked above us in any competitive game.
We used to be solid in defence from midfield to back 4 and be left wanting in attack / wide areas Now it's the opposite we could do well if we remember our shooting boots on the day but I wouldn't wager on clean sheets v top sides
Were only picking on the fact it was claimed he'll go down as an England legend... hes been England's best forward over the last 10 years but hasn't had an awful lot of competition for the last 6. The fact he'll break the record means nothing when you look how many of them were in crucial tournaments. Yes he he scored a lot in qualifiers to get us there... But let's be honest, we could have got to most tournaments without him as players like crouch and Defoe would have scored enough goals against teams like Estonia and Lithuania
There hasnt been an England legend in nearly 50 years. He can only score against what's in front of him. I disagree with the Defoe and Crouch comparisons, there's a reason Rooney has played and scored those goals and they haven't. Like you said they're hardly any competition but if he wasnt good enough he would have been behind them in the pecking order.
Crouch has the best goals per game ratio of any England striker of the last god knows how long. Im not saying he wasn't good enough, when he came into the team he was brilliant, he was great when he was a young kid with no fear and just enjoyed playing the game... As he's got older he's still scored goals but performances haven't been as good. He's obviously a good striker and the best we've had since Owen passed his prime however he isn't and won't ever be an England legend which is what the original point was. Even if he overtakes the record which is bound t happen, still won't be considered by many as a legend. His performances (along with others like gerrard, lampard, terry) haven't been good enough in tournament football to be classed at that level.
And that's the point... he can only score against what's in front if him, but when what's in front of him hasn't been a team of amateurs or 2nd division Hungarian league players and instead have been proper teams in the Euro's & WC's he hasn't scored... and as a forward, that's what he's paid to do.
Same old story with England. Get a decent win and score a few goals against some no mark, minnow team and the press and supporters have them back to being potential world cup winners. Everyone's in ****ing dreamland, as soon as they come up against the big boys of world football all those players who decided to play out for once last night will disappear in their shells again.
The reason being that he's better than either of them. I don't think too many are arguing with that, merely pointing out that he's not quite the legend that he's being pumped up to be, and that the bare stats -as usual- only tell part of the story.
