Ok, flame on....


I'll start, another shite performance and now Owen is out too. We have very litte chance of winning the World Cup tbh, Current form is just dire.

I'll just say what I said in IRC (but with some proper english spelling loveliness):

Man that game was painful to watch, I can't believe it... every time we score in ANY game, we slack thinking we've already won it.

Ignorance.

Utterly poor. Great goals as usual, but teamplay was non-existant.

considering i had like 800 heads in front of me and all the screens in my pub i missed the majority of the game.

Owens injury looked painfull - Joe Coles goal was Class and tbh a few months ago id of kicked him in teh nutts if i saw him - but hes great for england so be it.

I heard the commentator mention hargreaves again that he was enjoyin the game - did he play well??

fat Frankie was same ol same ol missing chances - I cant believe he was started just because its his birthday - only for Gerrard to come on and do what needs doing

Rooney did he last the whole game ? and how did Theo get on?

Hargreaves was ok, but I don't think he did anything else any decent midfielder in a holding role could do.

Lampard is class tbh, yup he's been missing, but to be fair the stuff he's missing are long shots he's created himself. He always seems dangerous on the ball near the box, imo it's only a matter of time before he gets some goals.

Rooney lasted 70mins or so and was subbed to make sure he didn't strain himself. Can't say he had too much impact on the game. I still consider him over-hyped. Amazing player no doubt but we chould/should be able to win a World Cup without him.

Theo? Sven didn't play him AGAIN. What's the point in bringing him along ffs? Last night was the perfect time to try him out: Owen injured and we were going through to the next round regardless of the result. We could of seen how he copes in a big environment. I can see the merit of bringing on Gerrard, but are we meant to expect that Walcott is going to be thrown on the pitch, untried/untested against the likes of Argentina/Brazil/Spain?

atm we're stuck with Crouch and Rooney (if Rooney can last a full match). Either that or we're going to be playing 4-5-1 for the rest of the CUp.

Game of ups and downs, moments of brillance from the likes of Joe Cole, again, filled me with confidence. Rooney had the spark at times even though you could tell he wasnt anywhere near his best. I liked his attitude aswell, even though hes not match fit; you could tell he was struggling a bit and no doubt was pretty tired, he was still mega pissed to be taken off, he wanted to carry on giving his all.

But on the whole im worried, very worried, after our poor performances prior to tonight I was at least hoping we would come out the group stages looking fairly solid defensively. But at times it was a complete and utter shambles, we looked SOOOO unbelievabley vunerable from set pieces. Rio Ferdinand does my nut, hes obviously a good player and Campbell was out for most of last season so isnt at his best, but Rio is such an arrogant dick; he thinks hes so much better than he actually is. I bet he wasnt injured, he just couldnt be arsed. However having said that it was Terrys initial cockup that led to the first goal, rather than making an easy clearance he "controlled" it to a Swedish player who won a corner which led to sustained pressure causing the goal(several corners came after that initial corner). And Campbell looked liked a bit of a donkey trying to clear the ball in the 2nd goal. Overall i'd say there was 20 minutes or so of frankly Conference level defending.

I agree bringing Gerrard on was the right choice, he has the ability to score goals and tackle well providing more help defensively, just what we needed. Thing is I don't think the team is used to playing 4-5-1 and Hargreaves certainly isn't the man for the holding midfield position in my opinion, although he didn't have a bad game. Also like malis said what was the point of bringing Walcott if hes just gonna sit and fooking watch. Cant expect him to come on vs the top teams and perform with so little International Football under his belt, he hasnt even played in the Premiership yet! Its a joke, Sven is a loon, I can see some sense in bringing Walcott, hes an unknown and like Owen and Rooney have done in previous tournaments as relatively unknowns on the International stage he could surprise some people, but not without a least a bit of practice. Problem is in not one of the group games have we been in a comfortable enough position to bring him on, we've had to make tactical changes to try and win games or protect a lead, rather than letting some of the more inexperienced players have a kick.

Like I said there are some pluses, Cole looked good, Rooneys got potential, we won the group and we havent a game lost. Little consolation however; unless theres a miracle and we actually start playing like a team and to our potential we aint winning this World Cup thats for sure. Losing Owen will obviously be a huge blow aswell, looked to me like he damaged his medial ligaments; the way he had a lot of weight on that knee and it flexed. I did a similar thing whilst playing at School a while back, bent my knee the same way, fortunately I didnt snap the ligaments but tore them a bit and was on crutches for a week, however I wasnt completely back to normal for weeks if not months. His looked worse than mine if anything so unfortunately I have the feeling we won't be seeing him again this World Cup. ;[

wow mega post!

just watched the repeat of the game same old england good first half - Sh!te second - man all those corners scared teh Beejezus out of me although i knoe the final scorealready they could of easily got a few more

lol, nice one Chris. I'm gonna have to wait until lunch time to read that!

England's new formation is shite

So owen is out for 5 months - after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.

Gutted for the guy althugh he wasnt bang to form - hes a good person to have around the penalty box and teh England Dressing room - one of the better role models for young kids

is it me or does owen always seem to be injured around national cup times.

yeah he's cursed with an unlucky streak when it comes to injuries. This might be his last World Cup too.

Beckham was a complete shambles again, surely its time he was dropped.