England squad to face Montenegro & U21's to face Romania

[Mike.]

I'm not surprised, I said to a mate we'd draw.

both centre mids sat very deep, which meant rooney had to come very deep, or the front line became cut off. gerrard must attack/support while barry support/defends. barry wasnt dynamic enough (not sure he can be) and gerrard was just quiet

 

[SamScfc]

Capello bums Rooney!

He constantly plays him, he's ***** at the minute, play someone else upfront!

 

[Mike.]

Capello bums Rooney!

He constantly plays him, he's ***** at the minute, play someone else upfront!

do you have another 10? because thats what required to play that role. and hes been decent. a goal and 3 assists in his last two england games before tonight, despite being off form

 

[Scott]

Capello bums Rooney!

He constantly plays him, he's ***** at the minute, play someone else upfront!

We had no-one else tbf, Fabio not picking Owen, left us very short of options, we either had target men( Davies and Crouch) Or Rooney. With Bent getting injured it just limited our Options. I think we needed someone like Owen to make them Smart Little runs in behind he makes,

 

[Max]

Capello bums Rooney!

He constantly plays him, he's ***** at the minute, play someone else upfront!

With his current personal issues and bad form being put together, I'd say a goal and 3 assists in his last two international appearances is good enough.

 

[Mike.]

We had no-one else tbf, Fabio not picking Owen, left us very short of options, we either had target men( Davies and Crouch) Or Rooney. With Bent getting injured it just limited our Options. I think we needed someone like Owen to make them Smart Little runs in behind he makes,

bent and defoe make that kind of run that rooney loves to pick out

 

[SamScfc]

do you have another 10? because thats what required to play that role. and hes been decent. a goal and 3 assists in his last two england games before tonight, despite being off form

We had no-one else tbf, Fabio not picking Owen, left us very short of options, we either had target men( Davies and Crouch) Or Rooney. With Bent getting injured it just limited our Options. I think we needed someone like Owen to make them Smart Little runs in behind he makes,

With his current personal issues and bad form being put together, I'd say a goal and 3 assists in his last two international appearances is good enough.

"He's having off the field problems" is all the pundits and commentators say, he's not the player he was last season.
Start him fair enough, but take him off for once.

I know it's pointless but I want to see Owen have another game for England, simply because I love the man.

 

[Scott]

"He's having off the field problems" is all the pundits and commentators say, he's not the player he was last season.
Start him fair enough, but take him off for once.

I know it's pointless but I want to see Owen have another game for England, simply because I love the man.

The Thing is, i could agree maybe take Wayne off, if we had anyone else, but we didnt, Do you really want to see crouch and ******* Davies upfront together?

 

[Joss]

Dire performance from England tonight, lacked ideas, and the 4-4-2 long ball just didn't work IMO.
Peter Crouch was ineffective against stronger defenders, the service wasn't brilliant from Gerrard and Barry, but he didn't win as many headers as someone 6' 7 should do.. He can't hold the ball up on the floor, and I don't see the point in playing a targetman, if you're going to have inside forwards? It just meant he drifted out into the channels, which was pointless... Have no idea why Shaun Wright Phillips is in the squad, and even less why he came on. Capello didn't make the right tactical decisions this match, as so often before IMO.

Surely, if we want another option, we either put SWP on for Johnson (who wasn't great..) and play him as a winger, or make two wingers by putting him on for Ashley Young, and switching Johnson and SWP to give more service to Crouch/Davies. Or put on Stewart Downing, who is significantly better, and can cross the ball! Substitutions needed to made earlier I thought, and feel Wilshere should have come on, perhaps for Crouch.. change from the long ball football which clearly wasn't working, to trying to break down their defence with short passing, and balls behind their defence, which almost worked when Rooney got through on goal..

Andy Townsend and co. kept pointing out how much the keeper was struggling, so why didn't they take a few shots? Test him, or put a ball into Crouch/Davies and make them challenge a nervy keeper, who had already dropped it once when under pressure from Crouchy.

Even Wayne Rooney started coming deep and firing balls 40 yards to Peter Crouch, who then had no one to hold the ball up for, Rooney can't be making 40 yard pass and runs like that, especially if he isn't 100% fit. What annoyed me most was that Kevin Davies is strong, and can hold the ball up well/better than PC, with the introduction then of a pacey Shaun WP, surely it would be more beneficial to play it into his [Davies'] feet.. One of the first touches SWP had was trying to control a ball from Gerrard from the halfway line on his chest, and trying then to volley at goal. He's the smallest player on the pitch, yet we still played long ball..

Wilshere really could have done a job I feel, tricky, increasingly physical(ly strong), and eager to impress. Glen Johnson was poor again.

Rant over

 

[Mike.]

"He's having off the field problems" is all the pundits and commentators say, he's not the player he was last season.
Start him fair enough, but take him off for once.

I know it's pointless but I want to see Owen have another game for England, simply because I love the man.

we did take him off last england game

 

[Billy]

got to love our fans, if we dont win 3-0, we boo :S disappointing, but not the end of the would by any means

I would have been booing too.

Shocking display.

 

[martinbissett]

How did England play tonight never seen the game ? , was watching Scotland (H)

 

[Mike.]

I would have been booing too.

Shocking display.

never thought you'd be one for hyperbole. Poor, but hardly shocking

 

[GodCubed]

How did England play tonight never seen the game ? , was watching Scotland (H)

Inconsistently. Frustrated by a resolute, organised and occasionally lucky Montenegro.

Also SWP is, possibly literally, the worst winger to play for England. Ever. Ash Young had a couple of good dribbles, dived a bit and got booked for it, then got taken off for the waste of space mentioned above. Johnson looked good in spurts, Davies was... well, he was Kevin Davies. Rooney was unlucky not to score. Gerrard played some nice passes. Barry was mostly anonymous, but I guess that's a good thing in his role. G. Johnson's defending was dire. Ferdinand had some good touches. Cole got up and down well. Crouch was poor.

That's my thoughts summed up as I'm too tired to elaborate.

 

[CtPauley]

I think england have been lacking any sort of control of the midfield since Hargreaves injury problems and you shouldn't always make rooney the scapegoat, yes he was poor but who wasn't.

 

[GodCubed]

I think england have been lacking any sort of control of the midfield since Hargreaves injury problems and you shouldn't always make rooney the scapegoat, yes he was poor but who wasn't.

Young? Ferdinand? Cole? Gerrard? Lescott?

 

[hoosier7]

We still look so predictable up until the 70th/80th minute where we finally peiced together some good passing. Other than that it had been the usual wing play. Personally we should be playing 4-5-1. Rooney up front (and staying there) along with Johnson and either Wright-Phillips or Walcott on the wings. Form a midfield triangle of Gerrard, Lampard and Barry whilst working Wilshere in as a replacement for either Barry or Lampard. The usual back four. I think playing a player of the likes of Wilshere would allow us to peice together far more moves in the centre without losing some of our wing play.

 

[Billy]

never thought you'd be one for hyperbole. Poor, but hardly shocking

I'm sorry, but when we're looking for a goal, in the final minutes of the game no less, and the only two men anywhere near their box were Rooney and Davies, it just feels like a gutless performance to me.

Gerrard was played deeper than Cole and Johnson, and pretty much never got forward. All of his play centred around pinging balls forward in some kind of Huddlestone mould. Rooney even headed the ball back in an earlier opportunity expected our Lampard/Gerrard type player to be arriving late for a strike. Nobody took it, and it was cleared. Barry looked awful, and gave away the ball on a number of occasions, yet even in the dying minutes, didn't find himself subbed off for someone a bit more attack minded.

There were a lot of things wrong tonight, including some of the referee's decisions, but there's no excuse for us not winning against Montenegro at Wembley. 'Hyperbole'? You must be kidding. It's shocking that you think we should expect anything less than a win.

 

[Mike.]

I'm sorry, but when we're looking for a goal, in the final minutes of the game no less, and the only two men anywhere near their box were Rooney and Davies, it just feels like a gutless performance to me.

Gerrard was played deeper than Cole and Johnson, and pretty much never got forward. All of his play centred around pinging balls forward in some kind of Huddlestone mould. Rooney even headed the ball back in an earlier opportunity expected our Lampard/Gerrard type player to be arriving late for a strike. Nobody took it, and it was cleared. Barry looked awful, and gave away the ball on a number of occasions, yet even in the dying minutes, didn't find himself subbed off for someone a bit more attack minded.

There were a lot of things wrong tonight, including some of the referee's decisions, but there's no excuse for us not winning against Montenegro at Wembley. 'Hyperbole'? You must be kidding. It's shocking that you don't think we should expect anything less than a win.

where did i say not to expect a win?

 

[fuelledbypassion]

Personally, I think Barry is a waste of space. He contributed little to the game because Gerrard was able to do all the defensive work in the position that he played. (which is Gerrards best position imo, dictating the tempo and occasionally bursting forward from deep) It was crying out for someone like Wilshere to come on in his place.