Sorry if repeat can't see a thread on the match. First half I thought we were the better team, just needed to get support to Welback quicker. I understand the reasoning about having the left winger on the RW and vise versa, but surely sometimes they could be played in their correct positions. When Young went into the middle we went to pieces, he is only interested whilst he has the ball, not good in his position. Downing the one good cross in thirty man was as good as a man off, kept leaving Baines isolated. I would have brought on Campbell and put him in Youngs position behind Welbeck. Yeah I know Young scored a canny goal late on, the rest of his play was **** though. Downings miss was just embarrassing a left footer shooting wide in front of goal and the ball dropping perfectly on his left foot. Barry shouldn't even be in the squad never mind the team. (Is he the slowest player ever?) Campbell I don't think got a touch in his few minutes on. With a bit more work I can see those youngsters doing well for England. Overall I think the draw would have been deserved, I wouldn't have a problem with Pierce holding the reins for the Euros.
No thread on ours so i'll comment on yours. Full backs had awful games for England last night defensively. Richards just never seemed interested in his defensive duties and was merely out to make an impression. He managed that, just not the impression he intended. For Robbens first goal I could not believe how isolated the two centre backs were and how far up the pitch Richards got caught. His and Sturridges efforts to get back in were pathetic. On the headed goal, Baines should never have let him get that ball in. He still has a lot of improvement needed to get anywhere near deposing the world class Ashley Cole. Otherwise I thought England play very well first half, but once the subs started it became the usual disjointed game bearing no resemblance to a tournament type fixture. Whereas first half I thought it did have that cat and mouse appeal. I thought there were a nunmber of positives to take, not least the clever movement that was causing the dutch a few problems. The movement of the ball was decent and we kept it ok after a shaky start. Really pleased to see a few youngsters get a go. I thought Sturridge was decent, Welbeck good and Smalling did ok too. I was just a disappointed by Micah Richards. I like him but I think last night confirmed that Walker is a few steps ahead. I thought Young and Johnson looked dangerous when wide without really making it count. But I was happier seeing the likes of them with their technical levels, as opposed to Walcott. We can't afford to be as cheap as he is in possession.
I thought it was a very spirited performance, and if he was given the time and patience (not normally afforded to an England manager I'm afraid), I believe Pierce could become a good England manager.
WP. The thing with Richards and Baines is, when they break for their teams there's usually cover. I agree about Baines and the cross, but he was in a no win situation, if he dived in and got skinned he would have got more stick. Someone should have been busting a gut to get back and help him. Cole has made some right ricks when diving in too. The youngsters can only get experience with each other by getting game time together.
The thing is Reg, Capello had 4 years and I didn't see any improvement in the actual team. Just some very talented individuals getting results that should have been easy and making them look hard. I would hope he is given a chance to build a team. As I don't rate Saggy Chops at all. The comings and goings in his teams are just way out of proportion. But then he wont be getting a cut of ins and outs at England will he?
Once again I agree. For a new manager with a few new players in i was impressed. After a few games the players will gel & begin to understand each others moves/runs etc. I would however lose the older generation of players such as gerrard, lampard, terry, barry etc and get the younger more athletic players in.
Don't think it was either let the cross go or dive in though. He got himself in a bad position and needed to close the gap. Not to dive but to block the cross. Cole like all players drops the odd rick but you can count on 1 hand the ones he's made for England or when it matters. I think Baines will get there though. His crossing is better than Coles. As for Richards we'lll have to agree to disagree. You have to be aware of where your other full back is and your holding midfielder is when choosing when to push forward. Richards just seemed to ignore it and give himself and his centre backs a bad situ with an admittedly world class player. I think the youngsters are the way forward but I think Cole is still far too good to discard. Like Gerrard. Quite what he was doing on the field following the cup final is beyond me. Just a bizarre decision from all involved given his recent injury woes. Richards? I'd have Walker ahead of him as the better footballer technically. G Johnson has had a very good season and I'd probably prefer him to Richards because you'll always get teams who sit deep. You then need attacking full backs and Johnson is better at this than Richards, again probably because I prefer technique over power.
