It's got to be worth a try. Didn't he roar like a lion at one of them at one point? I think it will have been planned, he was very obviously trying to look confident and make the taker feel less confident. I bet soem kind of psychologist or something talked to him about it. I didn't think they were great either, we weren't exactly lucky to get to penalties, we sat back and let them have it and they didn't hurt us at all. Considering the amount of possession they had you'd expect them to score but they hardly came close. I think it was definitely down to the penalties taken. Most of the penalties were pretty good and Montolivo and Young were a bit unlucky to miss bu Cole's was ****ing atrocious, he didn't even strike it he just rolled it to the 'keeper's hands. You expect better from a senior player, especially one who scored such a great penalty in the CL final. I think there's something wrong with the way we play oiur domestic league. It might be time for a winter break or something because tghe players are just bloody knackered by the end of the season and you see so many muscular injuries towards the end of the season. We saw it at City too, at Portsmouth when we played something like a 7th game in 4 weeks or whatever it was, Chester, Dudgeon and McLean all gt muscle injuries and then Koren a couple of games earlier. It's no coincidence that these normally reliable players get injured at the end of a long run of hard fixtures. Also I agree with NFU about Young. He's got the quality that we need but he just kept running into trouble, reminded me of Halmosi. Rooney didn't lose his marker all night yesterday and didn't do anything to help when off the ball. If I was Parker or Gerrard I'd have been ****ing livid with him. I thought Hart, Terry, Lescott, Parker and Gerrard were excellent throughout the tournament. Cole was good but his penalty let him down. Johnson was good yesterday but cost us two goals and an unnecessary scare against Sweden. Milner (who I defended a lot before the tournament) just wouldn't bloody cross the ball, every time he got chance he kept sliding it across the floor Young was pretty poor, Oxlade and Walcott looked better and I thought Carroll and Welbeck looked far better than Rooney. He shouldn't have a permanent place in the team if he's going to put the effort in that he did yesterday because we have other options.
It's all about opinions isn't it? Personally I rated Hart as "competent only" because his general play was good but over the course of the four games; he wasn't great with crosses in the earlier games, we were saved by the woodwork on a few occasions and as mentioned he wasn't too hot with the penalties. I still think he's a great player, but he didn't stand out in this competition. As for Scott Parker I do think he was "all heart but little technical ability" because his game seems to be purely about blocking, tackling and winning the ball. When he has it he seems clumsy and devoid of ideas and unless he passes quickly he loses it to any moderately skillful opposition player.
IMO, Hodgson should have brought on Phil Jones at HT for donkey Young and do a man marking job. Without Pirlo pulling there strings, Italy would have been reduced to nothing. imo. and.....That is where the true problems lay. Our best player Wayne Rooney was average at best in both games. Jack Wilshere and Frank Lampard were missing due to injury. But we just dont have enough quality to make England a top Final / winning country. This is nothing new its been a problem for years and years. How did Adam Johnson not make the squad ffs ? He is streets ahead of Ashley Young in ability ? I think we could get to a semi or final though IF everyone available was fit and on the top of there game. For now we got what we deserved last night. I am happy England lost the way they did. IF England had sneeked it the Germans would have done us good and proper on thursday as they would have been much fresher for starters. At least England head home un-defeated (in proper game time) during the euros. Joe Hart - Glenn Johnson - Ashley Cole - John Terry - Steven Gerrard were far and away Englands best players throughout the Euros. The spine is there for the 2014 world cup. Just need some quality meat on the bones now. I would like to see this England team start the 2014-WC qualifiers come september HART JOHNSON.Glenn TERRY LESCOTT*/CAHILL COLE WALCOTT WILSHERE PARKER JOHNSON.Adam GERRARD playing off ROONEY *Lescott did better than i thought but still think Cahill is a better defender. Subs. Welbeck - Carroll - Oxlade-Chamberlain - Lampard - Defoe........for starters do give us substutte options. But until we develope / discover better youth and bring them on nothing will ever change. All the PL tv cash should not be wasted on mega wages for starters and all clubs should be MADE to develope there own talent. FFS, Crewe do and have just sold a lad for £4-6m to Man Utd. Until this problem is addressed England will always do what they do.
That's a good point, if we won on penalties the players would have been even more knackered against a fresh German side and might have been given a beating. Then we'd all have to listen to how the Germans produce young players so much better because it's not about winning when your 11 in their country and they don't play on massive pitches bla bla bla...
INDEED. At least we can now sit back and enjoy the last 3 games. FFS, ive got to surrender the big tv to Mrs T. as Wimbledon starts today. But a deal is a deal. 3 weeks of euros for 2 weeks of wimbledon is not that bad. I said from day one that it would be a SPAIN V. GERMANY FINAL and ive seen nothing to change my mind. Have England softened up the Italians for the Germans though ? TWT.
i backed hodgsons appointment, and still do and think he did ok in short space of time, but last night showed theres a lot of work to do, it was embarrassing, almost as bad as ireland against spain, we should have been battered. nobody is ever going to keep the ball like spain, but we cant even string 10 passes together and keep the ball for two minutes, even the most average european team can do that, and it wont change until things change at grass roots .. at least cleverley and wilshere might improve that area of things when they are back fit, lets also hope we never ever hear the words rooney and world class in the same sentence again either, carroll may not be international class but at least he was trying and did his best to let there defenders know they where in a game, he just had a criminal lack of support and decent service.
If it is all the fault of the foreigners paying over here, why didn't we qualify for the European Championships in1972, the World Cup in 1974, The European Championships in 1976 or the World Cup in 1978 when there were hardly any foreigners playing over here?
I don't agree with this foreigh players blocking English players coming debate. Personal I think the lack of winter break is a big factor. Also we need to keep the ball better, I think we have this mentality that we have to score on ever attack. Where its better to just keep the ball. Also 4-4-2 is so outdated, we have 2 30+ year olds against three players in ever game, no wonder Gerrard and Parker where knackered. I'd like to give the younger players a chance now and go try and build. My side for the World Cup qualifier compaign would be 1.Hart 2.Walker 5.Smalling 6.Jones 3.A.Cole 4.Gerrard 11.Rodwell 8.Wilshire 7.Sturiddge 9.Rooney 10.A.Johnson
Hart- Did nothing wrong, except against france where he spilled the ball in one of Ribery's crosses. Terry- Outstanding, shows that he is a hell of a player Lescott- Very good, competent partnered Terry exceptionally well Johnson- Is caught out of position too much, but is realistically the best option at RB. A.Cole- A normally very good player, seemed to hide during the tournament. The penalty capped his performance up. (Maybe Baines should've been given a go) Milner- Did what he was asked to do, fulfilled a defensive role. He will be the scapegoat as people always feel the need to bash someone. Parker- Extremely good, never stopped running, didn't allow the opposition a clear shot on target and showed passion and heart. Gerrard- England's player of the tournament. Misplaced very few passes, fulfilled his role as the captain wonderfully and provided 3 assists. A. Young- Terrible, worst player on the pitch and possibly the tournament. Misplaced almost every pass, didn't take on defenders and didn't defend as well as Milner. Welbeck- Tried to do what he could on his own scored a beautiful goal, wasn't wasteful as he got few opportunities. Rooney- Overhyped as usual, doesn't stop running but never offers the threat everyone expects. Oxelaid- One for the future, seemed to run without purpose, will come good in the future. Henderson- Filled Parker's position sufficiently well, didn't make any mistakes and is not as bad as everyone says. Walcott- Few minutes on the pitch, good player, got lost against Italy yesterday. Carroll- Surprisingly good, plays his role wonderfully well, should've started every game, never stops running, fights for every ball. Will feature for England for many years to come. Oh and Phil Jones is awful, he isn't as good enough as the players that have been used during this tournament.
For a team who went into this tournament with less hope than Greece, they came out of it with a lot of hope for the future. From the bits I managed to see of England in this tournament I was surprised at how well we did. Yes some of the players were not as good as when they play at club level, but that can be down to the opposition. It can also be said that Hodgson only had 2 games to figure out how to play the players & then had a lot of players unavailable due to injury & others who wouldn't come in as they were sulking for being on the stand by list. RH did a lot better than I expected & when you consider that England is not the best team in the world & was not expected to even make it out of the group stages, then they have done miles better. This thread appears to be again putting the team & players down after they put themselves up by getting to this stage. Finally I thought Geln Johnson had a good game last night, overall I don't rate him, but for me he saved England probably 2 goals.
Glen Johnson was absolutely ****ing awful. He can't pass, he can't head, he can't shoot, he can't use his left foot, his tackling is average at the best of times and his crossing yesterday was, mostly, abysmal.
Disagree, he goes forward and defends well. I was pleasantly surprised with his form during the tournament.
I agree that he usually goes forward well, but I haven't seen him do that at all at Euro 2012. As for him defending well?! Get the **** out.
Call me daft but we play a right sided midfielder (Milner) because he defends well and therefore covers a right back who likes to attack( Glen Johnno). Pick a full back who defends and a right winger who attacks. It's hardly rocket science. We've got to go Walker or Richards ( both better defenders than Glen Johnson) with Adam Johnson in front of them. Young needs dropping. I'd honestly rather see Matt Jarvis on the pitch than that over rated, cheating toss pot. Rooney can **** off as well, world class my ring piece. You watch though he'll put four past Wigan and the likes of Clive Tyldesley will be ****ing themselves off about how great he is . He's a flat track bully who disappears when he comes up against the big boys. IMO.
I completely agree, NFU, especially about Young. Watch him try and control the ball and then stumble after it when it bounces off his shin, and try not to think of a newborn giraffe taking its first steps. Rooney is gash at international level. As good as he'll undoubtedly be against Moldova and San Marino in the next round of World Cup qualifiers, he always does poorly against any nation that cannot be compared to an international Hereford.
Thought Glen Johnson was very good (our best player) in the last game - after a poor run when he seemed to have lost confidence. And loathe as I am to admit it, have to concede that Terry was sterling in defence. Don't really understand why Roy let Ashley Young take that penalty - He'd been our worst player in the game, gave the ball away every time !!
Ive said countless times on here how I think he is the most overrated player of all time. Who was it who I was arguing with pre tournament that he wasnt world class cos he isnt in the top 3 strikers in the world and he basically called me an idiot?
I think once Kyle Walker is back to full fitness and form Glenn Johnson could well have a job on his hands to keep his place ? but for sure GJ is better going forward. My big disapointment last night was that we made 2 very poor Italian full backs look quite good.
I would much rather have had Richards and Walker ahead of Johnson but I thought he had a decent game against Italy.
