WP England

[Tom]

Fucking excellent match, Rooney is gonna be a huuuuge star. Man of the match? Gerrard.

 

[Scouse]

Actually - thought Gerrard had a shit first half - but in the second he was great

Beckham's crossing all night was piss poor but I did like that kissy-kissy crap he was doleing out to the turks...

Owen was poop unfortunately and the penalty at the end wasn't.

Apart from that - F00king MARVELLOUS!

 

[Clowneh!]

am i the only one to see owens comical dive in the first half?

 

[S-Gray]

I went downstairs for 5minutes, thinking "now whats the chances of someone scoring while im gone?"...

bastards scored

Altho Rooney was definatly on form... bigger than Owen in a few years? I think so

 

[Ash!]

Originally posted by Clowneh!
am i the only one to see owens comical dive in the first half?

Well he's at the best club for diving and cheating

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Agreed Rooney played a blinder and more than that he seemed to be well up for it, running around for everything, nice to see.

James was once again shit except that single decent save, we really need a decent dependable keeper.

Edit; I forgot Micheal Bridges pretty shitty first half performance before he settled down in the second.

 

[Scouse]

Originally posted by Ash!
Well he's at the best club for diving and cheating

Spot the Manc fan.

I admit - Owen went down faster than you can say "Ruud Van Nistelrooy"

 

[(Shovel)]

Owen was going down easy all night. The one after his comical "miss the ball" swing scores a 5.

Beckham wasn't great, though his penalty was well taken. Scholes was pretty average too.

But everyone else had their blinding moments and the team managed to gel for a nice change.

Class to watch though. Not so sure about the BBC war report at half time, I thought they were about to tell us that we'd turned the SCUDs around and shot into Turkey, and the caption of "Beckham Passion" to accompany King David running into the back of players was a bit shit.

 

[Clowneh!]

but he actually dived it was funny and blatent... and late and shit acting

i aint seen much of rooney before this game, and i must say if thats how he plays every game for everton, then he might be a pretty good player... blimey only 17 - good shit

 

[S-Gray]

But was our penalty... really a penalty? I mean.. he was actually tripping over himself anyway, but the Turkish guy had the misfortune of touching him

 

[Sir Frizz]

Originally posted by Scooba Da Bass
We really need a decent dependable keeper.

Richard Wright.

So maddeningly overlooked.

 

[Clowneh!]

beckham took that last penalty well tho... nice shot

 

[(Shovel)]

Originally posted by Super_Gray[SG]
But was our penalty... really a penalty? I mean.. he was actually tripping over himself anyway, but the Turkish guy had the misfortune of touching him

He was going down, but the defender didn't just touch him, he finished the job.

 

[old.UKTwister]

richard wright makes his fair share of cock-ups too.

if russell halt from west brom is english (?) then he's definately gotta get called up at one point

 

[(Shovel)]

Originally posted by old.UKTwister
richard wright makes his fair share of cock-ups too.

if russell halt from west brom is english (?) then he's definately gotta get called up at one point

Russel Holt? Is he the one who used to play for Derby?

 

[Tom]

I'm off to Derby tomorrow to do something with the Burleys for Footy Focus. Does anybody know where exactly Derby FCs training ground is?

"Its on the Raynesway in Derby." - on the callsheet, but I can't find it anywhere.

 

[xane]

Originally posted by Clowneh!
beckham took that last penalty well tho... nice shot

He freaks me out the way he takes every kick (corner, free or penalty) by running nearly 90 degress to the ball, scary.

James was good when it counted, but to be fair its not like he was under pressure the whole night, not even the strikers were rushing him when the ball got passed back.

Dyer may or may not have been falling, but he was pushed down, and thats a foul in any book, bear in mind the Turks had quite a few lucky scrapes with their handballs going unnoticed.

Throughout the game I was biting nails knowing that our only defence was Campbell and Ferdinand, although excellent players its still not good practice to leave the back so clear, but it worked, especially as Neville had not booked a visit to Mr Fuckup after the match this time.

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Originally posted by xane
He freaks me out the way he takes every kick (corner, free or penalty) by running nearly 90 degress to the ball, scary.

It's the rugby kicker stylings man, he's seen Johnny Wilkinson representing and thought he'd get a bit of it.

 

[mank!]

One of the best international matches I've seen for a long time. The first half England were pretty poor really, the Turks had us nailed down and we running rings around us - especially in midfield. Beckham should have put that shot in without a doubt, surprised he managed to miss it.

Not sure what Sven did at half time but we came out firing on all cylinders, and it was a matter of time before we scored.

James: Made one brilliant save but nearly made two costly errors coming out to collect, not a bad performance. 7/10

Bridge: Didn't get into it at all in the first half, but improved greatly in the second. 6/10

Neville: Average. Didn't do anything noteworthy enough for me to remember. 6/10

Ferdinand: Made some incredibly stupid clearances, but made up for it with an all round good performance. Good shot before Vassell scored. 7/10

Campbell: Played fairly well, I still think he's hugely overrated though. 6/10

Beckham: Seemed very off all night, was wound up majorly by the Turks. Some poor corners and often wasted good opportiunities. Took the penalty well though. 5/10 (harsh!)

Scholes: Way too optimistic with some of his long shots, they may work in the premiership but they ain't working here. Good performance all round, worked pretty hard. 7/10

Butt: Got stuck in, often gave the ball away too cheaply though. 6/10

Gerrard: Worked as hard as ever, and did fairly well when he was required on the left despite being right sided. Never gave up the chase at all. 8/10 [MOTM]

Rooney: A good full debut and could have bagged many a goal. Excellent performance for a lad his age, hopefully the best is yet to come. 8/10

Owen: Poor by his standards, but he seems a little on and off these days. 6/10

subs:

Vassell: Excellent. As soon as he came on he had an immediate impact, and took his goal well. Almost had another earlier but Rustu made an excellent save. 8/10 (would be MOTM, but wasn't on long enough)

Dyer: He got the penalty entirely by fluke because he simply stumbled. N/A

Overall a good performance I'd say and an improvement than against Lietchenstein. England seem to perform below par against the worse teams than against the better, something Sven needs to iron out. As for the penalty, we had a couple of good shouts turned down before that incident, the handball from Emre (I think) in particular. We got it in the end. I think James had a good game but we still need to find a good 'keeper. I agree about Russell Hoult, he's had an excellent season but will probably be continued to be overlooked due to the 'fashionable clubs' bias.

As for Rooney, despite being a brilliant player I'm still not convinced he should be in the squad. He's not even playing full games very often in the premiership yet, hopefully next season David Moyes will give him more chances and that will make his inclusion in the England squad even more valid. I'm not denying the boys talent here, I just think he's been thrown in the international scene far too early, before he's had chance to establish himself in the premiership. I imagine he'll go on to great things, but let him prove himself domestically first.

The Ireland game was crap and dull though

 

[mank!]

Originally posted by (Shovel)
Russel Holt? Is he the one who used to play for Derby?

Correct!

 

[mank!]

Originally posted by Sir Frizz
Richard Wright.

So maddeningly overlooked.

I agree but once again you could say that Russell Hoult is too, in fact - both are dammit.

 

[Lester]

Originally posted by mank!
review

Excellent review Mank. Hardly any grammatical errors at all which is especially good considering it's such a long piece and quite late at night.

Perhaps some of your comma's should be replaced with full stops but nevertheless well done!

9/10

1 House Point.



P.S. David James sux. Robinson rox!!11

 

[Miles_Binck]

Richard Wright, Russell Hoult, Chris Kirkland (when he is back from his injury)

and Wayne Bridge has played shite in both games he shouldn't be in the England team. Why aren't Gareth Barry or Graeme Le Saux or even Jamie Carragher in the squad?

Originally posted by Scooba Da Bass
Edit; I forgot Micheal Bridges pretty shitty first half performance before he settled down in the second.

who? I thought he played for Leeds. Wayne Bridge on the other hand did have a shitty 1st half

 

[mank!]

Originally posted by Lester
Excellent review Mank. Hardly any grammatical errors at all which is especially good considering it's such a long piece and quite late at night.

Perhaps some of your comma's should be replaced with full stops but nevertheless well done!

9/10

1 House Point.



P.S. David James sux. Robinson rox!!11

Late? This is like the middle of the evening for me. I'll be here until 4am.

 

[mank!]

Originally posted by Miles_Binck
Richard Wright, Russell Hoult, Chris Kirkland (when he is back from his injury)

I agree, Kirkland is great. I like Dudek more though, in Liverpool respect.

Originally posted by Miles_Binck
Wayne Bridge has played shite in both games he shouldn't be in the England team. Why aren't Gareth Barry or Graeme Le Saux or even Jamie Carragher in the squad?

I don't think Jamie Carragher is that good, but Barry and Le Saux are both worthy of a spot - I agree. I think Bridge is fairly good though, but Cole will still be first choice everytime.

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Originally posted by Miles_Binck
who? I thought he played for Leeds. Wayne Bridge on the other hand did have a shitty 1st half

Hey, I could be a pedant like you and edit my original post then you'd look a bit stupid...twat.

Also Mank all your ratings are embarrasingly high, 5/10 = Average, giving James a 7 is wrong wrong wrong.

 

[mank!]

They're high because I think overall the team played above average.

I'd have given them all a 4/10 for the Lietchenstein though, every last fucker.

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Bah, you're still wrong on James, 1/10 and flog the bugger, maybe then he'll learn to come out at the right times.

 

[mank!]

He made some good reflex saves, he was alert and made some good decisions. He did however come out when he shouldn't have twice, and got away with it with a combination of luck and more luck. I still don't see why you're being so harsh on him though.

 

[Miles_Binck]

I agree mank, Cole will be first choice for the forseeable future, but we still need to sort out the "problematic" left side of midfield position. I think I'd give Gareth Barry a tryout in one of the friendlies in August (iirc), or maybe even Alan Thompson of Celtic.