Do you think England will win the World Cup?

[nin9abadga]

lets roll out the old cliches "the sign of a good team is one that continues to win despite playing poorly". this is the only thing that encourages me so far, we can play better, although im certainly not confident!

however, i don't want to play really well and lose again, like Portugal last time, Argentina etc. i don't want to go out on penalities or to a disallowed goal. plus our form has the effect of dampening expectation which is always a bonus.

nin9a

 

[Yas786]

Nope they wont win it although they have a very good chance of progressing against Portugal, thanks to that numpty of a ref who completely destroyed last nights game.

 

[Sem]

i reckon they will beat portugal

after euro 2004 the players are going to be extra hungry for revenge
and i reckon Rooney will play extra hard because of last time

 

[radikal_dj]

I would say Joe Cole has merited his place in the team now

Correct, and in response to the above noted mistake in my line-up, I would like to add a correction. The strongest line-up that Sven can field for the portugal game is:

----------------Robinson-----------------

Carragher---- Ferdinand----Terry----A.Cole

-----------------Carrick------------------

----Lennon------Gerrard-------J.Cole-----

------------Crouch---Rooney-------------

 

[radikal_dj]

And if a change of shape is needed:

----------------Robinson-----------------

Carragher---- Ferdinand----Terry----A.Cole

-----------------Gerrard------------------

---------Beckham-------J.Cole------------

----------------Lampard------------------

------------Crouch---Rooney-------------

 

[Gilly]

The strongest would be this:

              Robinson

          Terry - Ferdinand

Beckham                          Cole

              Carrick

Lennon        Gerrard          Cole

              Rooney

              Crouch

 

[kaiowas]

And the scary thing is, that could work.

GILLY FOR ENGLAND MANAGER!!!

 

[radikal_dj]

Yeah Gilly - your one excepton from my suggestion being that Becks plays at Right-Back, I agree with that, Yeah for sure, your line-up is the strongest - lets mail it to Svennis.

 

[Gman]

Yeah Gilly - your one excepton from my suggestion being that Becks plays at Right-Back, I agree with that, Yeah for sure, your line-up is the strongest - lets mail it to Svennis.

all well and good mailing it to sven but is he really running the show?? from what i;ve seen it's always macca that writes the notes, shows them to sven who in turn probably says "OH yes that looks good ... make it sooo".

 

[Vandle]

Yeah Gilly - your one excepton from my suggestion being that Becks plays at Right-Back, I agree with that, Yeah for sure, your line-up is the strongest - lets mail it to Svennis.

Figo or Ronaldo would have a field day down our right hand side.

Gilly Out!

 

[CChrisca]

It's got to the knockout stage now - what have we got to lose by putting Lennon on for at least one half of the match at least he's young, virtually unknown by the other teams and seems up for it?

Threaten not to pay the team or Sven unless they win the tournament - that should do it !!!

 

[da_mic_1530]

I think they can.

I don't think they will.

man speakth truth

 

[Sadgeek]

Gilly's selection doesn't look too shoddy, though I would drop Beckham entirely. Other than set-pieces I don't feel that he brings too much to the game.

Hargreaves did ok there, and if you brought in Carragher in place of Rio, then you would get more stability without breaking the defence when Owen gets forward.

I might be tempted to drop Robinson too, he's looked too out of sorts at times.

 

[Mr_L]

Hargreaves did ok there, and if you brought in Carragher in place of Rio, then you would get more stability without breaking the defence when Owen gets forward.

Then you'd remove half the pace that the back four has. I think Carragher is good, but I think Rio is more reliable at the minute.

I like Gilly's formation. Against T&T that's pretty much how England played (after the substitutions), that was also the best spell of football that they played in the whole tournament. I still have issues with Crouch, but as we don't have many other options that's probably the way to go.

As for winning the WC I'm not sure. Portugal have been weakened by their last game. In particular their sendings off, but the players on yellow cards might be less willing to tackle to avoid a suspension. I think England can overcome Portugal to get in to the semi's, after that I don't know...

 

[JohnnyG]

I'd like to drop Robinson too as he looks very shaky at the moment & is not commanding his box or defence at all, only problem is there's no-one better to play in his place. Clemence should know what faults he has at the moment & will hopefully sort them out in training

 

[Uriel]

Having seen Carson play (I'm a Sheff Weds fan), I'd say he has better command of his area then Robinson and communicates with the defenders well. Can't comment on his shot stopping ability. In the few games he played for us on loan the defence usually looked so well organised that he didn't have a lot to do.

 

[Locrian]

Honestly, the amount of negativity and jumping on the bandwagon. Who knows what we are capable of. Dont forget last sunday it was 30 degrees and hopefully it will be cooler this time. Even though i disowned england against sweeden i still firmly believe they can do it and can go all the way, even with their current level of performance.

 

[Gilly]

Bear in mind I said that was England's strongest side. I stressed that point.

I didn't say that was the side I'd play against Portugal.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

We could've won given the players we have in the team and at home but I don't think we will with Sven in charge. Sven's very much life a clueless chef. He's got all of the ingredients but doesn't know what to do with them. He just wacks them in a bowl and hopes a gateaux comes out the other side. Sven is the brother of the swedish chef from the muppets.

 

[McMav]

Cant see it on current form.