England Team Thread

[EJG1980]

Is correct.

Townsend was even more embarrassing than Young.

Halfway through the first half my Dad said that listening to Townsend talk made him feel sick I was ready to dive for cover after he defended Young, thought it might make Dad throw up.

[abigsmurf]

Any official confirmation of this?

No official confirmation but I can't see UEFA not coming down hard on Serbia. No country is going to want to host them after that.

[ShadowDancer]

Nice shot by Rooney - bent it towards the keeper. He aint on his game nor has he been for a while. Glen Johnsons legs seem to be getting crazier.

I'm frustrated, possesion and nothing.

[Nu-Eclipse]

No official confirmation but I can't see UEFA not coming down hard on Serbia. No country is going to want to host them after that.

Sorry, but I can see UEFA doing next to nothing at all, given their track record in terms of incidents like this...call me sceptical, but it'll probably be miniscule fines, slaps on wrists and a match or two behind closed doors at best.

Meanwhile, Scotland have somehow managed to draw level with Spain despite being outplayed for most of it at Hampden Park...amazingly, they look like winning it with 20 mins left. Incredible.

EDIT: Maybe not - Spain are back in the lead.

[prinnysquad]

Bleurgh, terrible. Even the decent players looked like clueless saps by the end.

Far too deep for much of the game, and a lack of movement in the attack. The Gerrard to Rooney pass showed that space was there to be found if some guile was used.

Loved the way that, with Wilshere on the bench and Montenegro tighter than a virgin clunge, Muppet Show throws on the good old tried-and-failed SWP.

[ShadowDancer]

Same old story, teams show a bit of resolute, we only ever break them down once we score and we didn't score, we didn't look that threatining either.

Adam Johnson was my pick of the bunch, hes came on loads. Barry was poor, as mentioned, I'm just a bit upset/angry, possesion is pointless if you can't do sod all with it.

Grrr.

[abigsmurf]

No players performed and Rooney had an especially awful game. Towards the end when he had a run on goal and had to get around a defender at full speed. The defender barely had to make an effort to take the ball off of him. In that situation you should be forcing a good/dangerous tackle if they're to get the ball off of you.

Yet again Capello seemed clueless. Players didn't seem to really know if they should be making runs or playing long balls. You had situations where Ashley Cole ran up and put in a cross when there were no people in the box.

And putting on SWP? Why? He's hardly the man to shake up a stale game. Can't help but feel this is the kind of game where they really needed Lampard or someone at least who had confidence taking on players and making shots under pressure.

[parkinho]

Barry was probably Montenegro's best player. Rooney was woeful again, Gerrard far too deep and the whole team generally lacking in guile and creativity. The few times we did get into promising situations we lacked an end product.

Fair play to Montenegro though, they had a gameplan that worked and stuck to it whereas we didn't have a plan B when it was obvious the original approach wasn't working. Poor but hardly unexpected.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Barry was probably Montenegro's best player.

[Adrock]

No players performed and Rooney had an especially awful game. Towards the end when he had a run on goal and had to get around a defender at full speed. The defender barely had to make an effort to take the ball off of him. In that situation you should be forcing a good/dangerous tackle if they're to get the ball off of you.

Yet again Capello seemed clueless. Players didn't seem to really know if they should be making runs or playing long balls. You had situations where Ashley Cole ran up and put in a cross when there were no people in the box.

And putting on SWP? Why? He's hardly the man to shake up a stale game. Can't help but feel this is the kind of game where they really needed Lampard or someone at least who had confidence taking on players and making shots under pressure.

Capello was telling and has been telling Rooney for a long time to player further up top. Obviously that hasn't occured. Gerrard seemed to be intent on trying to spray long Hollywood style balls throughout the game, he managed a few but not enough to make a real impact on the game.

I have much more faith in the idea that Capello isn't the one who is clueless, but the players are the weak link.

SWP is poor, I agree, but he is just about the only option around at the moment. English football is lacking real quality, intelligent players. That is obvious.

Lampard wouldn't have made a massive difference to the game, although you'd be guaranteed he'd get further up the field than Gerrard did. Gerrard seemed to be playing deeper than everyone bar the center backs. That highlights one of Gerrard's deficiencies when playing in center mid. Hmmmm, so I suppose with having one of the pair higher up top it could have made a difference.

[fallenangle]

I've said this before here: Rooney just doesn't know how to play along side a strike partner particularly one being used as a target man as Peter Crouch was today. The few times, and that wasn't until the second half, he actually kept close to him, as he should, he actually had some joy.

But stuck there up front with no support and pitiful service meaning most the action was outside the final third of the pitch anyway Crouch had to drift back just to see the ball. This and the way they were playing him meant Crouch's effectiveness, and with him the whole attack, was actually being undermined by Rooney's wanderings.

Capello should have taken off Rooney not PC and put on that Bolton guy much earlier. I think he and PC might have worked far better.

But in any case the service from either wings just wasn't good enough whatever the forward configuration. That's despite those guys being England's best players on the night their final balls were mostly awful. As for the free kicks and corners never have I seen such waste.

[rmoxon]

England have needed a great left winger for ages, we finaly have one in Adam Johnson and the manager plays him on the right, he played a right footed player on the left and then put Crouch up front.

What is the point in putting Crouch up front if no one is actualy going to cross it to him?.

Shocking managment as usual, no suprise there I guess.

I disagree with Adrock, Capello has no clue.

[Mayhem]

We weren't great but bloody hell, the referee was f'ing useless a lot of the time as well...

[parkinho]

We weren't great but bloody hell, the referee was f'ing useless a lot of the time as well...

Absolutely - how did he miss the hand ball in the second half that would have given a penalty? Sunday league refs are far better than most of these morons.

[Adrock]

England have needed a great left winger for ages, we finaly have one in Adam Johnson and the manager plays him on the right, he played a right footed player on the left and then put Crouch up front.

What is the point in putting Crouch up front if no one is actualy going to cross it to him?.

Shocking managment as usual, no suprise there I guess.

I disagree with Adrock, Capello has no clue.

Thing is, if Johnson and young were our best players then that speaks volumes. Both of them, Johnson especially, were able to beat their defenders with ease most of the match, which is why Montenegro doubled up on them. Regardless of left or right preference the only quality that went into the box came from a solitary Davies cross at the end, oh and the crouch header. It makes no difference once you've beaten the man which foot you use, you should have enough time to get that sorted and get that cross on target.

On a more worrying note, as soon as Montenegro doubled up on the wingers it must have created space somewhere on the pitch. Utilising that new space is and has always been the problem with English players. The movement is atrocious.

That's why I don't blame capello.