England Team Thread

[Nu-Eclipse]

Outrageous.

[nakamura]

Simply astonishing.

[Adrock]

But he never performs when it counts.... :P

I have been a fan of Ibrahimovic for a good while now, happy to see him finally do something in front of mostly blinkered English types who dismiss him.

[Nu-Eclipse]

If Hodgson honestly thinks that England played well tonight, then how fecked are England when they actually start playing badly?

Reminded me of the time when he tried to state that Liverpool played well during the derby at Goodison back in '10, despite EVERYBODY knowing that wasn't the case.

So glad he's England's problem now.

[fallenangle]

When I saw Hart running out to that ball you could see he'd come too far, got underneath it and wasn't going to head it properly. That's exactly what Ibrahimovic saw too. He anticipated the weak header and moved back to get into a better position but it was still going over him so he went for that overhead kick. As soon as you saw the trajectory you just knew it was on target, I was shouting "I don't believe it" long before the ball had even crossed the line. Brilliant skill and his volley goal was pretty special too.

[vanpeebles]

Had the misfortune of being made to watch this last night by the other half. Ibrahimovic was awesome but Joe Hart was appalling, should be dropped after that display, he's starting to a look a bit dodgy.

[EJG1980]

But he never performs when it counts.... :P

I have been a fan of Ibrahimovic for a good while now, happy to see him finally do something in front of mostly blinkered English types who dismiss him.

Steam usually come out of my ears whenever he's on a match on English TV. "He's pretty good, but he hasn't scored that many goals against English teams in the Champions League, has he?" Yes, because that's the only thing that counts!

If he'd signed for an English club in the summer and banged in 20 goals this season, you'd probably have people talking about how he'd "finally" proven himself

[Nu-Eclipse]

Steam usually come out of my ears whenever he's on a match on English TV. "He's pretty good, but he hasn't scored that many goals against English teams in the Champions League, has he?" Yes, because that's the only thing that counts!

Lionel Messi used to get the same ****.

[nakamura]

Joe Hart is a very good goalkeeper with world class confidence and attitude. I have never seen him as a world class keeper. He makes so many mistakes.

[NW2013]

When I saw Hart running out to that ball you could see he'd come too far, got underneath it and wasn't going to head it properly. That's exactly what Ibrahimovic saw too. He anticipated the weak header and moved back to get into a better position but it was still going over him so he went for that overhead kick. As soon as you saw the trajectory you just knew it was on target, I was shouting "I don't believe it" long before the ball had even crossed the line. Brilliant skill and his volley goal was pretty special too.

Absolutely. It was a great goal, put a massive smile on my face.

Steam usually come out of my ears whenever he's on a match on English TV. "He's pretty good, but he hasn't scored that many goals against English teams in the Champions League, has he?" Yes, because that's the only thing that counts!

To be fair it's mainly Andy Townsend that says that and you get what you deserve if you listen to that bell end. I wish ITV had a 'mute commentary' option.

I think England could have actually won the game but there were sloppy individual errors (mainly from Hart, who I don't like) and concentration slipped after the substitutions. Would have been good if Zaha had more time on the pitch.

As a Spurs fan I was pleased Caulker did well. ITV were trying to blame him for the first goal but he put in a good block after the midfield had lost it and was unlucky that it bounced back to Ibrahimovic.

[Kit]

Best result for 25 years for England. Feel a bit sorry for San Marino. Getting smashed like that in pretty much every outing must be incredibly demoralising. Maybe they should be a lower international division where non pros play?

Surprised to read people saying the game is pointless and what not. Fans always moaning! if they'd have won 3-0 I bet they'd be on Englands backs about not scoring enough against poor opposition.

Anyway, fun game.

[sj33]

Rubbish! Couldn't match Germany's 0-14 trashing of them! :P

I jest, of course. I wonder if they should have a preliminary qualification round for teams like this in order to give them games against comparable opposition, rather than throwing them into the deep end and watching them drown. All nations deserve a chance to compete, but it might be fairer for everybody if lower-ranked teams such as San Marino have to enter a preliminary stage against other lower-ranked teams first.

[EJG1980]

I think a pre-qualifying round for the minnow nations would be a good idea. Just about every other competition have preliminary rounds for the smallest clubs (FA Cup, Champions League, Europa League, etc.) before the bigger teams join in, so there's no reason it couldn't be done for international football too.

Southgate (I think) made a good point last night, that teams like San Marino are playing virtually every match with the attitude of "Let's try to lose by five or less" so they'll never attempt to play football and they'll never improve. If they have matches against similar sized teams much more often, they'll be playing matches to actually try and win, and thus you may get a little bit of improvement among those small nations and the one or two that make it into full qualifying would be better prepared.

[Baseley09]

Based on last nights result I can pretty much predict that England will win the World Cup.

[sj33]

Well, they do say it's a results-based industry. Can't argue with 0-8!