If Milner starts the next game I'm supporting Italy, and I don't care if I'm obsessed- he's **** and frustrating to watch! CDM he would be able to stand in for Parker as a winger I could do better myself!
Agreed. There is no doubt that he has great ability however, he seems to save it for Manchester City and just plays below par consistently.
There may be amongst most England supporters but I'm not one. He's shows time and time again in the Premier League that he is capable of controlling a midfield and scoring absolute belters. The video posted earlier in this thread shows an example too.
People seem to have to take an extreme view one way or the other on every subject instead of just being a bit more reasonable. Young had an impressive second half today and defended well. I thought Milner was a bit better today, didn't do anything special but covered well for Johnson when he attacked. In terms of Spain they have exceptional talent on the bench but don't look as good as in previous years. In terms of them (and Barca) being boring I think that's more down to the opposition. Everyone tries to counter them by sticking 5 in midfield usually with a flat back 4 and either 2 or 3 holding midfielders. As a result most teams have 10 men behind the ball so Spain have to knock it about for a long time in order for gaps to start opening. Podolski's always been better at international level than club level but I don't think Germany are much better than us really. Hummels and Badstuber are both overrated I think and not as good as Terry and Lescott. Schweinsteiger is similar to Gerrard for them and is the heart of all creative moves. Gomez is in good form but on his day Rooney is a better player. So anyone rating Germany as some untouchable force are wrong. What are the odds of the Germans knocking us out on penalties in the semi's? Wouldn't it be great if Greece knocked the Germans out.
Germany are an average decent side that every bookies have had favourites to win the competition at the poxy odds of 2/1. I'm glad we won the group, and seriously hope we beat Italy, don't mind losing in the semis to the jerrys (yes I'm the next eminem) because I love a good old England v Germany rivalry. My grandad killed your grandad and all that...
I was deliberately watching Milner more closely tonight because of the criticism he gets and I think the biggest problem is that he so rarely gets into crossing positions. His balls in the box can be very good, but unlike Young who checks back onto his right foot to cross, and Walcott who hits the byline regularly, he just doesn't seem to be able to create the space to cross it. I'm pleased with the win and the fact that we won the group, but my big issue with England is the same as with City, we kind of seem to turn down good opportunities to score at important times as if there will always be another chance. We basically don't seem to have much urgency to score a goal. We had loads of good positions to turn into scoring chances in the second half today and never turned them into anything. That counter-attack from their corner which put Rooney through on goal almost in his own half, how the hell did he let the defender catch him up and end up not even getting a shot off? That was ridiculous, it should have been a certain goal for someone of his quality. I don't know what to think about Italy, I can't remember England playing them in ages, and they have a pretty new set-up for this tournament. I think our midfield seem pretty tired and we don't have much backup in that position so we might be a little bit overrun. I think if we got knocked out by Italy (as long as it isn't a hammering) it would have to be seen as a relative success, given the injuries and disruption to the squad that has gone on.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Don't tell anyone but........ I think we are seeing all the signs that you get to see in a team that wins. Playing badly and winning/drawing - never giving up - and most importantly we seem to be having a bit of LUCK. Add to that - Rooney, who can only get better and the fact we have not played well in any game for long periods anyway. We are slowly getting better game by game. Why can't we win it?? This has got to be one of the most open tournements I can remember, every team could beat each other (Fingers crossed for Greece!!) I don't fear the Spanish or the krauts. 1-0 TO THE ENGEEEEEEEEEEEERLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No shame losing to Italy at all but I think we can beat them. Theres no way the press can hammer Roy after this, hes made changes when needed. Playing Milner in the group stages could even be a master stroke as he has Walcott and Chamberlain fresh and ready to go.
On the subject of luck. I didn't like that the commentators were trying to say that goal-line decision levelled out the Lampard one against Germany at the WC. Thing is it was offside and should never have got there, just like the 'marginally offside' miss before that which was a yard or two off in reality. We were lucky to hang onto a 1-0 lead despite not taking the chances we had to extend the lead, but we didn't exactly get any massive wrong decisions going our way.
Except for the goal. I'm pissed off about Carroll not being awarded a pen, how the **** in the name of Bob did the ref not give that, flying shoulder smash akin to an NFL tackle before the ball even got anywhere near him, they don't get much clearer than that when they slap you in the face with a wet fish. ****.
The strange thing was the offside in the build up to the goal line clearance was clearly offside on the first replay but the commentators had to be told by the backroom staff. The headed miss was slightly offside too. England should have had penalties for the push on Carroll and the pulling of Rooney's shirt so the big decisions clearly went against us. Rooney was clearly off form all through the match but he still has the footballing brain to get in the right places. England played the game well given that Ukraine needed to win. The worst thing about England was some appalling passes when we were in a position to set up an attack as well as keep possession. I don't understand all the criticism of Milner. He brings a lot more to the team in the time he plays than Walcott does. Bringing Walcott on later takes more advantage of his pace.
That's a good point, never thought of it that way. Conserving Walcott and Ox energy for the games we need attacking prowess and pace/skill.
We've surpassed pre tournament expectations (with the press anyway), won our group, unbeaten and are grinding out results. Performances may not be flowing, but we're effective at stifling other teams and soaking up the pressure. We're a far cry from the jaded side we had in South Africa. For once the vultures at the press may not have an excuse to lay into the England team.
I was thinking the same too. Plenty of times Young was getting forward too and it was passed along the midfield to Gerrard/Parker then back to Terry/Lescott. Then of course there was the Rooney chance in the second half you mentioned. We attacked more after we went 2-1 down against Sweden and actually looked pretty good going forward when we attacked we needed to.
We didn't play well but we got the job done. Stevie G admitted as much after the game and Hodgson will know that there needs to be improvements for the Italy game. Milner will definitely start that one, he offers a more controlled outlet down the right hand side and is more effective coming in when we are defending. Ashley Young is again one who can offer a more balanced outlet on the left although he has more to offer than Milner in terms of attacking intent. Walcott and AOC just offer the pace and the forward options without really giving enough when we don't have the ball. I think the way we have set up allows Johnson and Cole to overlap which I dont think they could do as much with Walcott and AOC in front of them. The disappointment for me last night was Wellbeck who I didn't think looked half as dangerous as he did vs Sweden and will certainly give Hodgson something to think about when he has Andy Carroll as an option. We have won the group without a great deal of gusto and I honestly do fancy our chances against the Italians. Personally I think the Russians would have been a big threat in the knock out stages but they have gone. Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal haven't exactly set the tournament on fire yet have done the same as us, navigate the group stage and now it's all to play for. Someone has got to find their form in this tournament and there's no reason why it can't be England.
Would refer you to a thread I posted on our board this morning - but in short - yes http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...e-a-fat-bloke-with-a-dead-hamster-on-his-head
You can be marginally offside. It can be measured by what distance you are offside but pregnancy isn't like that.
