International Friendlies - England vs Norway/Belgium [May 26th - June 2nd 2012]
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Caporegime
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Ashley Cole was man of the match imo.
Caporegime
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Another solid, if uninspiring, performance. Bar the striker and the left midfielder that'll be the team that starts against France imo.
I can't stand Tyldesley & co, ITV football coverage is miserable. Jingoistic, racist, lowest possible tabloid drivel, barely concealed contempt for players of Manchester United's rivals etc. Only way to make it tolerable is watching with the sound off.
Caporegime
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Holland already 4 up, Van Persie going for a hattrick, ripping Ireland to pieces so far.
As for England, meh, boring, Belgium play as less than the sum of their parts, but ultimately they have/had no one upfront, Hazard and Dembele play in such a way that you want a top notch striker ahead of them, to create chances for, or play a one two and get in behind from. Aside from Dembele and Hazard the best they have offensively is Fellani, who has spent a few years learning to mostly foul a lot in midfield. They got it towards the edge of the box easily, but without some real quality upfront working in the middle of the penalty box, they had little to no penetration beyond out defence.
Rooney looked cack when he came on, again he so frequently gives the ball away in stupid positions, no real threat, poor passing. Shouldn't be someone we build the team around.
At this stage the team should be focusing on Young, he's been involved in almost every single goal either assisting or scoring it since he became a starter 18months ago or so. Problem is he's easily our best offensive player right now, by a god damned mile, but with Gerrard or Rooney on the pitch everyone seems to pick them out and give them the ball constantly as if they are the guys who will create things. Building a team around a very poor performing Gerrard based on his old reputation is so daft.
As for England, meh, boring, Belgium play as less than the sum of their parts, but ultimately they have/had no one upfront, Hazard and Dembele play in such a way that you want a top notch striker ahead of them, to create chances for, or play a one two and get in behind from. Aside from Dembele and Hazard the best they have offensively is Fellani, who has spent a few years learning to mostly foul a lot in midfield. They got it towards the edge of the box easily, but without some real quality upfront working in the middle of the penalty box, they had little to no penetration beyond out defence.
Rooney looked cack when he came on, again he so frequently gives the ball away in stupid positions, no real threat, poor passing. Shouldn't be someone we build the team around.
At this stage the team should be focusing on Young, he's been involved in almost every single goal either assisting or scoring it since he became a starter 18months ago or so. Problem is he's easily our best offensive player right now, by a god damned mile, but with Gerrard or Rooney on the pitch everyone seems to pick them out and give them the ball constantly as if they are the guys who will create things. Building a team around a very poor performing Gerrard based on his old reputation is so daft.
Soldato
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Rooney is rubbish, check.
Young is amazing, check.
Gerrard is past it, check.
Probably copy and pasted from the last England game thread, and the thread before that, and so on and so on.
Young is amazing, check.
Gerrard is past it, check.
Probably copy and pasted from the last England game thread, and the thread before that, and so on and so on.
Northern Ireland
If it was the Republic it would be actually interesting, but the North are in freefall with players defecting to the Republic
Caporegime
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I didn't say Young was amazing, I said he was the best England player and had been for 18 months, I didn't say Gerrard was past it , I said he was poor I don't think it has anything to do with age. I always thought he was massively over rated and he's now playing in a role he's NEVER been good at, sitting deep in midfield trying to defend and pressure the opposition.
Rooney, did infact look poor, not long after he came on he inside his own half, passed it 20 yards backwards without really looking and gave it directly to Belgium beyond our entire midfield leaving our defence in trouble. He's done that a lot lately for England, he drops ultra deep for no apparent reason then decides to pass back blindly with zero discipline(something Gerrard also likes to do which is another reason he sucks in the role. I can't think of a single player who has given away more goals with truly dreadful back passes than him tbh).
Young was relatively uninvolved today, because the whole offence looked rather rubbish, as much as Belgium did nothing after getting into the final third, we barely got it in their half in an effective way with any of our attackers able to go at them. Young got an assist with a well weighted pass exactly where it needed to be, other than that he got not a whole lot of the ball, he wasn't amazing, he certainly wasn't poor.
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Caporegime
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young was very poor today. either he was just lazy or the entire midfield and defence for Belgium were simply faster than him?
sure he got an assist but apart from that he barely did anything positive all game.
sure he got an assist but apart from that he barely did anything positive all game.
But that nothing was twice as good as any England player oddly -
That stat might contain corners I guess, but hey you've gotta be quite good if your nothing is double that of your opponents.
I was twice as good as any England played on my arse at home. He didn't do much at all, no one did.
Soldato
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He had nobody to supply that's why. His movement, possession and passing was fantastic, England players couldnt get near him. He isn't a striker. He sa creative midfielder who had nobody ahead of him to interchange properly with. He'll be impressive next season for Chelsea.
Ok, wp.