England v Paraguay

[Ch3tan]

I was sure he was going to yellow card someone for drinking water, or send off someone from the dugouts for providing it.

The referee was getting booed silly in the pub I was in. His decisions were just incomprehendable.

 

[mank!]

i only saw parts of the argentina game as i was sat outside.

regardless of our performance yesterday, it was the first game of the tournament and we got three points. there are positives to take from the performance and as other people have said, the heat and the fact the ref wasn't allowing the players to take on water really hindered us in the second half.

i do think we are capable of beating pretty much any team in this tournament on our day. unfortunately, we never seem to have that day and usually events conspire against us, i.e. injuries, bizarre substitutions, key players performing well below par (hello gerrard) and penalties.

trem - the ashes start at the end of november.

 

[Aada]

Nearly every England player blamed the heat on their inability to perform in the second half. Maybe people should actually consider that might have been a factor before slagging the team off completely.

Then again, all it needs is one good performance and everyone slagging them off will be declaring how certain it is that England will win this year.

Thats not suprising.. but when are they going to stop blaming the heat and accept their performance was BELOW PAR.

The other team were very UNLUCKY to loose they played better then England for almost the entire match.

The questions begs.................. If they didn't get the OG would we have won it? the answer is a big fat no.


Crouch was good.. but did anyone question why he kept heading the ball down when he was up there on his own? everytime he did that he gave the other team the ball.

One good performance? we have seen this too many times.. they can put in 1 good performance but then they go back to being SLOPPY and LAZY players.


How many times have we had a WORLD CUP in a HOT country? the last 3-4 have all been in HOT countrys... if they are tired thats due to not enough water being drank before the game.

I know this from the Army.. 8-12 mile hikes in under 2 hours with full kit on in Iraqs heat is unbearable.. but when you go down due to the heat its usually blamed on you for not drinking enough water in fact you can never drink enough water when you are doing anything that involves constant pyshical exercise.

So please.. can we stop blaming their poor performance on heat? they only play 90 mins for gods sake.

Also its really funny shit on how people blame Sven.. what the hell can he do when its game time? its up to the players to play to their best.. his tactics are fine its the highly over paid players they need to be looked at.

 

[nath]

Thats not suprising.. but when are they going to stop blaming the heat and accept their performance was BELOW PAR.

The questions begs.................. If they didn't get the OG would we have won it? the answer is a big fat no.

As far as I recall all the players did/do accept that their performance wasn't good enough. Doesn't stop them being happy with the win.

Also, you're making a big assumption that the ball wouldn't have gone in if it wasn't an OG - it looked like it was going in to me - the header didn't drastically change the path of the ball and as such I think it's fair to say Beckham scored - even if it was officially an OG.

 

[JingleBells]

Crouch was good.. but did anyone question why he kept heading the ball down when he was up there on his own? everytime he did that he gave the other team the ball.

I don't consider that to be Crouch's fault, more the tactic of playing it up to him when Owen had gone off, when you have two strikers it makes sense, but with just Crouch he had no support.

Also its really funny shit on how people blame Sven.. what the hell can he do when its game time? its up to the players to play to their best.. his tactics are fine its the highly over paid players they need to be looked at.

Try:
a) taking more strikers (2 proper strikers plus a kid and crocked striker isn't enough)
b) using substitutes properly
c) The flat back 4 doesn't work, we need someone to help the defence, most countries playing 4-4-2 will play with someone defensively minded, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole and Beckham all want to go forward

I agree on the heat, its not as if the opposition were playing in a different set of weather conditions. Luckily that is the only game we will play that kicks off at 2, the rest are at 4, 5 or 8 (all the way to the final)

 

[throdgrain]

I am telling it like it is luv, English fans always say how great we are when in reality we are really quite bad

I guess its the arrogance the jocks talk about with us.

I am looking forward to the cricket tbh, is it really a year? Infact am I confused, do they have the ashes every year?

Its the Ashes whenever we play Australia mate, which can be every year, or every three years , or whatever (or so I beleive! )

 

[Bugz]

c) The flat back 4 doesn't work, we need someone to help the defence, most countries playing 4-4-2 will play with someone defensively minded, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole and Beckham all want to go forward

Gerrard played defensive midfield that game.

 

[Bugz]

Thats not suprising.. but when are they going to stop blaming the heat and accept their performance was BELOW PAR.

The other team were very UNLUCKY to loose they played better then England for almost the entire match.

The questions begs.................. If they didn't get the OG would we have won it? the answer is a big fat no.


Crouch was good.. but did anyone question why he kept heading the ball down when he was up there on his own? everytime he did that he gave the other team the ball.

One good performance? we have seen this too many times.. they can put in 1 good performance but then they go back to being SLOPPY and LAZY players.


How many times have we had a WORLD CUP in a HOT country? the last 3-4 have all been in HOT countrys... if they are tired thats due to not enough water being drank before the game.

I know this from the Army.. 8-12 mile hikes in under 2 hours with full kit on in Iraqs heat is unbearable.. but when you go down due to the heat its usually blamed on you for not drinking enough water in fact you can never drink enough water when you are doing anything that involves constant pyshical exercise.

So please.. can we stop blaming their poor performance on heat? they only play 90 mins for gods sake.

Also its really funny shit on how people blame Sven.. what the hell can he do when its game time? its up to the players to play to their best.. his tactics are fine its the highly over paid players they need to be looked at.

Contary to popular belief, it is not easy for Crouch to place the ball down from a high kick (bareing in mind other people trying to head it and high kicks wouldn't be a clever thing).

As for your 'lazy' comments. Have you ever tried playing in a full size pitch, running up and down constantly, for 90 minutes straight? I've tried it a couple of times and I can tell you it isn't easy. The heat will get to you and it will cause you to be tired. It's not a case of being lazy. They could push themselves to the limit but that wouldn't help for the long run.

As for Sven. Sven took Owen off and tried to play a defensive game. In this type of heat, playing a solely defensive game is really a no-no because the enemy will acquire alot of the ball and will be pressuring you. Ultimately, there is a great chance of letting a goal in.

And if you knew your science, you'd understand that the need for water in such extreme temperatures, doing quick, sharp bits of exercise is almost constant. Water before the game won't get you through the whole game. Notice how small touches on english players were turned into 'GET THE ASSISTANTS ON?' A tactic at merely bringing water into the game, since the players DO need water.

To be honest, comparing 8-12 mile hikes in Iraw to a game of football is absurd.

 

[JingleBells]

Gerrard played defensive midfield that game.

Which is the problem with Sven's tactics, Gerrard is not a defensive midfielder, at times this season he has played just off the striker for Liverpool, why Sven insists of playing players out of position we'll never know.

 

[Aada]

Contary to popular belief, it is not easy for Crouch to place the ball down from a high kick (bareing in mind other people trying to head it and high kicks wouldn't be a clever thing).

As for your 'lazy' comments. Have you ever tried playing in a full size pitch, running up and down constantly, for 90 minutes straight? I've tried it a couple of times and I can tell you it isn't easy. The heat will get to you and it will cause you to be tired. It's not a case of being lazy. They could push themselves to the limit but that wouldn't help for the long run.

As for Sven. Sven took Owen off and tried to play a defensive game. In this type of heat, playing a solely defensive game is really a no-no because the enemy will acquire alot of the ball and will be pressuring you. Ultimately, there is a great chance of letting a goal in.

And if you knew your science, you'd understand that the need for water in such extreme temperatures, doing quick, sharp bits of exercise is almost constant. Water before the game won't get you through the whole game. Notice how small touches on english players were turned into 'GET THE ASSISTANTS ON?' A tactic at merely bringing water into the game, since the players DO need water.

To be honest, comparing 8-12 mile hikes in Iraw to a game of football is absurd.

The fact is they need to stop blaming it on heat.. if you drink plenty of water.. im not talking 15mins before the game neck 12 litres down you.. im talking drinking from the moment they wake up. Its hot yes but they need to be full with fluids if you haven't drank enough water you can kiss your energy goodbye.

And for the record i was PT instructor in the Army so i know what the hell im talking about when it comes to exercise and what to do and what not to do..

Taking 4 platoons a day each time doing a 5-8 mile tab is extreme excerise ive seen many recruits go down to the ground claiming its too hot.. sometimes it is hot but when i ask if they drink anything before the tab the answer was normally no.

Back to topic.. England team is a bag of shit.. but what other options does Sven have? there aren't that many british players in the PL worth mentioning.

England haven't really had a good win against a good team in along time.. i find it really amusing when we beat Poland or some other 2nd rate team in a friendly and suddenly everyone thinks we are great.

Brazil/germany maybe France will win it. England will scrape through in 2nd place and go out in the knock out phase.

 

[JingleBells]

Its the Ashes whenever we play Australia mate, which can be every year, or every three years , or whatever (or so I beleive! )

It's every 2 summer cricket seasons for the hosts, Australian summer season is November though

 

[mank!]

Thats not suprising.. but when are they going to stop blaming the heat and accept their performance was BELOW PAR.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5038930.stm

"We were good at times but we gave away the ball too much."
"The performance could be better but we will work on that."
"We know we can do a bit better but we've got a bit of time to work on things - and we will get better."

sounds quite clearly like an admission that they weren't good enough, although they also attributed the poor performance to the heat.

The questions begs.................. If they didn't get the OG would we have won it? the answer is a big fat no.

the goal was almost certainly going in regardless of gamarra's header and to say that we definitely wouldn't have scored is absurd. our style of play for the rest of the game would have been entirely different as a result.

Crouch was good.. but did anyone question why he kept heading the ball down when he was up there on his own? everytime he did that he gave the other team the ball.

what else is he going to do with it? catch it?

One good performance? we have seen this too many times.. they can put in 1 good performance but then they go back to being SLOPPY and LAZY players.

i thought you said it wasn't a good performance?

How many times have we had a WORLD CUP in a HOT country? the last 3-4 have all been in HOT countrys

germany - it was hotter in the uk on friday than it was in germany. similar weather.
japan/south korea - humid and hot
france - slightly warmer than the uk in parts, others much warmer. fairly similar.
usa - didn't qualify
italy - not got a clue.

fact is, wherever the world cup is played it's going to be hot because it's the middle of summer. last time i checked, the english football season ran from august to may. they're not going to be able to instantly adapt to playing in different conditions and we're not the only team who will suffer similar problems.

I know this from the Army.. 8-12 mile hikes in under 2 hours with full kit on in Iraqs heat is unbearable.. but when you go down due to the heat its usually blamed on you for not drinking enough water in fact you can never drink enough water when you are doing anything that involves constant pyshical exercise.

So please.. can we stop blaming their poor performance on heat? they only play 90 mins for gods sake.

far be it from me to comment on anything to do with fitness and exercise, but i'm fairly sure that playing 90 minutes of football is vastly different to hiking.

Also its really funny shit on how people blame Sven.. what the hell can he do when its game time? its up to the players to play to their best.. his tactics are fine its the highly over paid players they need to be looked at.

the manager is ultimately responsible for the team's performance. his team selections, tactics and substitutions have all been highly questionable throughout his reign.

why would you take off a striker with thirty minutes to go in a game in which you're only 1-0 up and replace him with a left-winger?

england weren't good enough yesterday - FACT!
the players struggled in the heat - FACT!
we never play well in our opening game - FACT!
we've got three points and only need to win one of our remaining two games in order to qualify - FACT!

are you english, aada?

 

[mank!]

are you english, aada?

ignore that bit, just noticed you are referring to england as 'we' etc. i had a feeling you were dutch, not sure why.

 

[xane]

I don't know why everyone is so concerned or so critical, we got the result we needed and the other one in the group was in our favour, we didn't have to use Rooney and probably wont for the rest of the group games now, both Crouch and Downing were performing well for their first "proper" game, and Beckham might be on a return to form if he has started kicking like that again.

The heat was a factor because it is obvious Paraguayans are going to cope with it better, although I would have thought Beckham could have resisted it more, he must play in those conditions all the time, yet seemed to be the first to flake out.

Heat aside, I pretty much think we had total control of that game and were unlucky not to score again, and that despite the refereeing decisions against us. It's not great we get a result purely on an OG, but we did keep them under pressure for the rest of the game, we got plenty of chances, and our defense let precious little through.

IMO, the only worrying thing was the Joe Cole took a bit of a battering, I hope he recovers.

It was a deserved win no matter which way you put it.

 

[old.user4556]

This thread: paralysis by analysis.

From what I could see (i never watched the game) on the highlights, it's unlucky that England never scored again; there were some cracking shots on goal.

If you think England weren't good, did you see Sweden v T&T? My god that was a dog's dinner of a game, Sweden were hopeless. Germany were better, but not that great - Costa Rica just gave them plenty of room to move around and never marked up properly.

I've not seen any spectacular football so far, but then again i've not watched every single moment of it.

 

[Trem]

I don't know why everyone is so concerned or so critical, we got the result we needed and the other one in the group was in our favour, we didn't have to use Rooney and probably wont for the rest of the group games now, both Crouch and Downing were performing well for their first "proper" game, and Beckham might be on a return to form if he has started kicking like that again.

Rooney isn't all that imo. Can't see him making much difference.

I suppose what is annoying me the most is that we as a nation still think we are good enough to win rather than accepting we are a mediocre team with good individual players. If it was played in England it would of been the same heat, like it was in the FA cup final, that didn't stop all those players playing fantastically.

On the other hand Paraguay are not a bad team, it was never going to be a walkover. Sweden looked classy though and were unlucky not to win by at least 3 goals, England had better sort their shit out before that game.

I also didn't see the Dutch struggling today in the heat, they come from a similar climate and their best player(Robben) plays here so what Englands excuse now?

I truly hope we do well, if we do its a bonus, if we don't then we always knew that was gonna happen

Argies looked fucking awesome though.

 

[mank!]

i thought sweden played well but were held by a terrific performance from t&t - hislop in particular. sweden have a solid side but are heavily reliant on players like larsson and ibrahimovic (who i think is one of the best strikers in the world) and when they come up against a 'keeper in such brilliant form, they're going to struggle to score.

we need to be wary of t&t. a lot of their players ply their trade in the english lower leagues and the last time england faced a team of players from similar levels - northern ireland - we lost 1-0. they need to treat this game just as they would treat it if we were playing paraguay, sweden or brazil.

there's not a single team in this world cup who will be a walk over and underestimating teams could prove to be our downfall.

 

[Scouse]

Rooney isn't all that imo. Can't see him making much difference.

Then you sir, are a fool!

 

[Deebs]

If England played like they did against Ivory Coast or T&T we would have lost.

Every time we get one goal we go straight to defence. Sorry but England, if they play like this, will NOT win the World Cup by a long shot.

Come on Italy!!

ps. England play like they have done for the last 4 world cups,ie SHIT.

 

[Trem]

Then you sir, are a fool!

We'll see.

 

[old.user4556]

If England played like they did against Ivory Coast or T&T we would have lost.

Every time we get one goal we go straight to defence. Sorry but England, if they play like this, will NOT win the World Cup by a long shot.

Come on Italy!!

ps. England play like they have done for the last 4 world cups,ie SHIT.

They always bottle it.

 

[throdgrain]

Come on Italy!!

You're English arnt you? Support your team then, and your country. Bet you're an ex Man Utd supporter who now supports Chelsea :/ *disgusted*




ps if your Italian then I take that back,if not, please yerself.

 

[Calaen]

As always Englands performance overall bored me, I would have been gutted if I had travelled to watch it tbh.

While its going down as being a good first half with the exception of a few long range efforts, we did not trouble them at all. So instead of taking it on in the second half we do what we always do which is go defensive, which has cost us more times than I can remember. I understand that the heat played a massive part however when it is hot you need to make sure you keep the ball so that its the other team running around in the heat, but no we cannot keep posession because Gerard, Lampard and Beckham like smashing up front for the lone forward. We are not capable of seeing out a game in control. Svens got about as much tactical knowledge in football as I have in knowledge in fucking men... FUCKING NONE!!!!!

I like Crouch but you might aswell be playing my fucking gran if your gonna hit the ball upto him all day at stupid heights.

 

[mank!]

ps. England play like they have done for the last 4 world cups,ie SHIT.

even the one we didn't qualify for? or perhaps if you're referring to the last 4 world cups england played in, i'm sure we got to the semi's in 1990...

 

[Ch3tan]

the team that took us to the 1990 world cup was the best side we have had since 66.

Throd, your on crack aren't you? Deebs is pure mafia.

 

[DaGaffer]

Rooney isn't all that imo. Can't see him making much difference.

I think you're right and wrong, a fit Rooney would make a difference, but Owen and Rooney on the pitch...one crocked and one not match fit is just scary.

I suppose what is annoying me the most is that we as a nation still think we are good enough to win rather than accepting we are a mediocre team with good individual players. If it was played in England it would of been the same heat, like it was in the FA cup final, that didn't stop all those players playing fantastically.

I don't think that's fair, we've seen these players play well as a team and its not been just weak opposition we've beaten in the last year.

On the other hand Paraguay are not a bad team, it was never going to be a walkover. Sweden looked classy though and were unlucky not to win by at least 3 goals, England had better sort their shit out before that game.

England weren't very good but Paraguay were no threat at all in the first half and not that much better in the second. I still think T&T will have to play out of their skin to beat England, but I think we've had several games already that show there are no pushover teams in this Word Cup.

I also didn't see the Dutch struggling today in the heat, they come from a similar climate and their best player(Robben) plays here so what Englands excuse now?

Actually Marco Van Basten said the Dutch did suffer in the heat; the thing that made the Dutch was Robben, he was just awesome, and exactly the kind of threat a fit Rooney would be.

I truly hope we do well, if we do its a bonus, if we don't then we always knew that was gonna happen

Argies looked fucking awesome though.

Looking forward to the Argie-Holland game, that should be a cracker.

 

[Deebs]

You're English arnt you? Support your team then, and your country. Bet you're an ex Man Utd supporter who now supports Chelsea :/ *disgusted*




ps if your Italian then I take that back,if not, please yerself.

I have an Italian father and an English mother so I get to choose which of the 2 teams I would support. Tonight I will see how Italy play, which should be better than England.

As for MANU, sodoff. Always been Chelsea

 

[DaGaffer]

the team that took us to the 1990 world cup was the best side we have had since 66.

Yeah, and remember how badly they started? The 1990 team was dire in the first couple of group games, so its a bit early to panic with 3 points on the board.

Throd, your on crack aren't you? Deebs is pure mafia.

He wishes he was that cool

 

[Deebs]

Yeah, and remember how badly they started? The 1990 team was dire in the first couple of group games, so its a bit early to panic with 3 points on the board.



He wishes he was that cool

Hehe, git!



:england:

 

[throdgrain]

As for MANU, sodoff. Always been Chelsea

Yeah yeah 'course it has