It has begun....and now it's ended....again **TP OFFICIAL WORLD CUP THREAD**

The only decent players we had on the pitch tonight were, once again both Johnson and A. Cole.
David James played well but then he didn't really have much work to do.

Heskey played his heart out but it was just sloppy play and not fit for the world cup pitch.

Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard were all effing useless, and they knew it. Terry wasn't much better, and to bring on Wright-Philips on instead of Joe Cole was an idiot's decision. Bringing Crouch on was not, but it should have been at least 10 minutes earlier.
As far as the formation goes, we need to focus on our midfield and upfront play, and let our fantastic defenders do what they do best, a 3-4-3 formation would be superb, and keep hitting the balls through for Rooney, Crouch and Defoe and let them do what they do best under the right circumstances.

Just my £0.02/
 
My ramblings .....

All week. All flamin week has been focused on tonight. The plans. The talk. What team? Who'll be in goal? Should I have a bbq. My house? Pub? mates house?

Even had the heating on last night (it doesn't happen in our house - 2 Geordies ;) ) to dry my freshly washed England shirt.

Get some stuff in for a BBQ. It rains. Alternative arrangements.

Race home from work. Don shirt (dry). Preparations.

Bookies (2-1 England, Rooney to score, half time draw full time win).

Encourage Samuel, 2 to shout England, wave flag and attempt to blow free Vuvezella.

Turn up at mates house, comment on lack of HD telly, open beer, sit down.

The the football starts.

Ow.

Selection choice - why no Cole? Changing keeper - bad idea. Shows lack of trust and makes us look weak.

The game - not much to say. Have to disagree with some of the above - Heskey was crap - kept tripping over his own feet. Lampard was worse - passing sloppy. Johnson - crap - got skinned all the time and panicked too easily. James - 1 mistake that could have proved costly. Rooney - tried - traCked back to help out, but was awful in front of goal - poor control. Gerrard- tried to start with but quickly frustrated out wide.

Rooney's rant - personally I'd never boo club nor country (had lots of cause as a Newcastle fan too!), BUT, it's not Rooney's place to tell people that. They pay their cash, they can boo if the game is as bad as it was! He should shut up and focus on sticking the ball in the net. (3/1 @ Ladbrokes :( ).

Then got annoyed at my mate who was talking crap.

Followed by different mate insisting we watch some program with the bl**dy Russel Brand in it!

Overall, not a good night.

Before tonight, we needed a win on Wednesday to make sure.

We still do.

Gutted, disappointed, hurting.

Keep the faith.

COME ON ENGLAND!

Anth.
 
foodpoison said:
The only decent players we had on the pitch tonight were, once again both Johnson and A. Cole.
David James played well but then he didn't really have much work to do.

Heskey played his heart out but it was just sloppy play and not fit for the world cup pitch.

Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard were all effing useless, and they knew it. Terry wasn't much better, and to bring on Wright-Philips on instead of Joe Cole was an idiot's decision. Bringing Crouch on was not, but it should have been at least 10 minutes earlier.
As far as the formation goes, we need to focus on our midfield and upfront play, and let our fantastic defenders do what they do best, a 3-4-3 formation would be superb, and keep hitting the balls through for Rooney, Crouch and Defoe and let them do what they do best under the right circumstances.

Just my £0.02/
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Johnson??????? Were we watching the same game? He was an absolute donkey. Always giving the ball away. Bel Hadj left him for dead all evening and to cap it all a shocking clearance. In the past i have always been a fan of Johnson but tonight he was useless.

A few people have said that Joe Cole should have come on for Aaron Lennon. Don't agree with that either. Lennon should have stayed on and Heskey come off so Joe cole could play on the left and let Gerrard play behind Rooney. 442 was not working and i thought after half time that a 451 would have suited us better. Capello has lost the plot.

England deserved to get boo'd. The people that had saved (Probably a small fortune) and used their holidays to travel to South Africa deserved better than that. Usually i try to look for positives and defend the team but tonight was infuriating. I have never sworn at the TV so much.

I think changing the keeper was a good idea though. James commands his area and put in a very confident and positive performance. Should have been our first choice from the start. If he was, perhaps we wouldn't be in this mess.

Has left me rather angry. No passion or commitment tonight.
 
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Johnson made 1 good tackle but just gave the ball away over and over and over and over and over and over
 
cambsno said:
Get rid of that clueless idiot asap. A manager who cannot motivate a team at a World Cup? A manager who continues to try and play Gerrard and Lampard when it is clear they cant play together. A manager who leaves Joe Cole on the bench and plays SWP??? A manager who continues to play under performing players!
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The manager who sailed us through the qualifications, turned it all around for us last year and who everyone was singing his praises last year. The buck stopped with the team last night, don't be so quick to blame the manager
 
joescrivens said:
The manager who sailed us through the qualifications, turned it all around for us last year and who everyone was singing his praises last year. The buck stopped with the team last night, don't be so quick to blame the manager
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i agree with that, typical that we all go jump on the managers back already.

admittedly he' made a few dubious choices, but c'mon we need to give him more than 2 games, especially after he did so well in qualys
 
Did you see the bird sat on top of the Algerian net.............safest roosting spot in the world.............

My wife asked what type of bird it was, I replied, it must be a lame duck...........
 
All these quotes about getting rid of the manager are ridiculous. Constantly getting rid of managers is what has left us in the state we are in, we need a manager who is allowed to make some mistakes and the test is if he learns from them and improves together with the team.

Getting rid of the best manager we have had in years would be the worst thing that could happen to the team
 
joescrivens said:
All these quotes about getting rid of the manager are ridiculous. Constantly getting rid of managers is what has left us in the state we are in, we need a manager who is allowed to make some mistakes and the test is if he learns from them and improves together with the team.

Getting rid of the best manager we have had in years would be the worst thing that could happen to the team
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I agree that we should stick with Capello, but I don't agree that we 'constantly' get rid of managers.

Most of them get a good few years in the job - even Maclaren.
 
birdy961 said:
Anyone for Tennis?:naughty:
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We have a good record of getting put out in the early rounds of that also.

As far as the football goes, England has quality players, therefore it must come down to pressure. Every world cup, the media builds the team up, expecting them to win the whole thing. I still think they will make the quarters and maybe the semi's, but that will not be good enough for the media, so Fabio, Rooney and co, better be ready to get slated!
 
Lasagne said:
I agree that we should stick with Capello, but I don't agree that we 'constantly' get rid of managers.

Most of them get a good few years in the job - even Maclaren.
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yeah, true. not sure where that came from actually, I meant to say getting rid of managers will leave us in no better state than we are already
 
joescrivens said:
yeah, true. not sure where that came from actually, I meant to say getting rid of managers will leave us in no better state than we are already
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Yeah I'm sure you're right there. Capello did a great job in the qualifiers.

It's not his fault if his players can't make a simple pass or control the ball properly. I'm sure it must be the pressure - some of those players are fantastic in the premiership and in Europe.
 
We hardly had a difficult qualification group. Fact is he can't motivate a team to play well in a world cup. He picks Carragher who is slower than me and tried to leave out the best centre back in Dawson. He picks carrick who has been rubbish all season and at half time should have taken Lennon and lampard off.

He needs to get some balls and drop half the team. I was telling mates 2 weeks ago I thought Rooney was best player in world, he has been cack in last 2 so let's give Defoe and Crouch a go, can't be any worse.
 
I'll be honest, I'm really getting worried now.

I still think you'll get out of the group and as some of the good teams are struggling I think you'll do better than I'd expected previously :( You really only can get better which is a major concern.

edit: thisis my personal view, nothing to do with the forum :)
 
cambsno said:
We hardly had a difficult qualification group. Fact is he can't motivate a team to play well in a world cup. He picks Carragher who is slower than me and tried to leave out the best centre back in Dawson. He picks carrick who has been rubbish all season and at half time should have taken Lennon and lampard off.

He needs to get some balls and drop half the team. I was telling mates 2 weeks ago I thought Rooney was best player in world, he has been cack in last 2 so let's give Defoe and Crouch a go, can't be any worse.
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Why on earth should 23 players in a world cup playing for their country need motivating? They are on the greatest stage in the world playing for their country, that should be motivating enough.

Your blaming an Italian manager for not being able to motivate players that are playing for their country in a world cup? Are you serious?

As for the group I seem to remember Croatia being in that group and spanking them twice. I also remember a bunch of friendlies against decent competition, many of which we didn't win but performing pretty well against them. Doesn't matter what our group was like, the performance of the team got much better under capello when he took over.

Carragghers selection in the team hasn't been a poor choice, have we conceded goals because of him? As for dawson, I'm sure he'll play him next, but he's second pick over carracgher every time at a world cup, he has zero experience of being there.
 
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Maybe they dont need motivating but he seems to be de-motivating them. Managers are vital even with the best teams, and even the best players need some kind of motivation or guidance. With the players we have there certainly are issues...

We have not conceded goals with Carragher, but we were playing against Algeria, who if they had someone half decent up front could well have scored! Croatia are not that great a team, so spanking them means little.
 
cambsno said:
Maybe they dont need motivating but he seems to be de-motivating them. Managers are vital even with the best teams, and even the best players need some kind of motivation or guidance. With the players we have there certainly are issues...

We have not conceded goals with Carragher, but we were playing against Algeria, who if they had someone half decent up front could well have scored! Croatia are not that great a team, so spanking them means little.
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I suppose not, I mean they are only ranked 10th in the world. :shrug:

[Realizes it's probably pointless debating with someone who writes a sentence like that. ]
 
And France are ranked 9th... when you look at the FIFA rankings you see Denmark and Sweden nearer Costa Rica at 40 than most countries and the Czechs at 33. Hell, Scotland make the top 50!
 
Anyone explain to me why is it the players are told just two hours before the game ,who's playing and where ,as far as i know there has never been a proper explanation on this .Surly if the players knew beforehand they could work on stuff and gain some confidence in each other to which they lack just now,to me it's a tactic that's backfiring at the moment .Very frustrating because i genuinely want them to do well .I know when i played rugby ,the team were picked on wednesday after training ,it gave me a chance to gee myself before the weekend .Couple of times it happened last min and i hated it and played crap .
 
mxfun said:
Anyone explain to me why is it the players are told just two hours before the game ,who's playing and where ,as far as i know there has never been a proper explanation on this .Surly if the players knew beforehand they could work on stuff and gain some confidence in each other to which they lack just now,to me it's a tactic that's backfiring at the moment .Very frustrating because i genuinely want them to do well .I know when i played rugby ,the team were picked on wednesday after training ,it gave me a chance to gee myself before the weekend .Couple of times it happened last min and i hated it and played crap .
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Watch carraghers press conference from a week ago, he explained some of the reasons behind it. He said its pretty normal, he was used to it from Liverpool, that's the way it's always been done there too.

Some of his explanation was that it means through training everyone still tries just as hard perhaps, rather than being comfortable cos you know you are in the team, or ****ed off cos you know you aren't.
 
cambsno said:
And look how well Liverpool did last season...
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And the season before when they came second, and a few seasons ago when they won the champions league, still doing the 2 hour before the match player list then too but I guess that doesn't count eh?

I suppose it was a bit much to ask for sensible footy conversation, maybe I'll change tact and join in the ridiculous banter

GET CAPELLO OUT GET CAPELLO OUT!

:lol:
 
joescrivens said:
I suppose it was a bit much to ask for sensible footy conversation, maybe I'll change tact and join in the ridiculous banter
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Now you're getting it :p

The England team went to visit an orphanage in South Africa this morning. "It felt good to put a smile on the faces of people with no hope, constantly struggling and facing the impossible" said Jamal Umboto aged 6
 
dod said:
Now you're getting it :p

The England team went to visit an orphanage in South Africa this morning. "It felt good to put a smile on the faces of people with no hope, constantly struggling and facing the impossible" said Jamal Umboto aged 6
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theres nothing ridiculous about that! :lol:
 
Stunning performance by Portugal today. How i wish I could cheer on an England performance like that.
 
wisemen said:
Stunning performance by Portugal today. How i wish I could cheer on an England performance like that.
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That's going to give them a huge confidence boost
 
Yep - thought Portugal were great albeit in the 2nd half.
 
Uruguay are playing well, keeping a low profile. We were having a chat today about it, we reckon it's going to be a little country, no one would have thought about, that's going to win the world cup, or at least get to the final.
 
Can anyone here see past a south american country winning the cup? If I was to bet, I'd have to go with a Brazil v Argentina final (Brazil to win) with Uruguay looking good for the semis. Their playing very well but I don't think they're the finished articles yet.

Jumping ahead, can anyone see Brazil NOT winning it in 2014?
 
foodpoison said:
Uruguay are playing well, keeping a low profile. We were having a chat today about it, we reckon it's going to be a little country, no one would have thought about, that's going to win the world cup, or at least get to the final.
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That's why I have a tenner on them at 33-1
 
Please God let it be...

James
Johnson Upson Terry A Cole

Lennon Barry Lampard J Cole

Gerrard
Rooney

Best we can hope for i think. Let Barry protect the back 4 Lampard supporting Gerrard who in turn can support Rooney. And PLEASE play Joe Cole and Lennon. This way we have one of the best CF's in the world playing where he wants to play and 2 very fast wingers who can and will run at people. We all know that Johnson and A Cole are great on th overlap in the prem so please lets find our form.:thumbs:
 
Merc said:
Please God let it be...

James
Johnson Upson Terry A Cole

Lennon Barry Lampard J Cole

Gerrard
Rooney

Best we can hope for i think. Let Barry protect the back 4 Lampard supporting Gerrard who in turn can support Rooney. And PLEASE play Joe Cole and Lennon. This way we have one of the best CF's in the world playing where he wants to play and 2 very fast wingers who can and will run at people. We all know that Johnson and A Cole are great on th overlap in the prem so please lets find our form.:thumbs:
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Every single person in england wants this formation, my only hope is that capello isnt so stubborn that he's not going to play it simply because he doesn't want people to think he's caved in to what others think.

Damn John Terry for speaking out, Capello could have easily been thinking about starting joe cole for this match but may decide not to after Terry suggests it to the whole world because he doesn't want to make it look like he has lost control of the team
 
joescrivens said:
Every single person in england wants this formation, my only hope is that capello isnt so stubborn that he's not going to play it simply because he doesn't want people to think he's caved in to what others think.

Damn John Terry for speaking out, Capello could have easily been thinking about starting joe cole for this match but may decide not to after Terry suggests it to the whole world because he doesn't want to make it look like he has lost control of the team
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That's what I'm worried about.
I think that Capello will be concerned that people think he's not fit to manage, and by using a formation and starting team that we the people have been begging for will make him think he looks weak.

Odds are 7/2 for bets on Capello resigning.
 
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