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Yeh oopppsss i meant captain:o i've got england head mash LOL

Sven is very boring anyway he has no backbone.

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Why knock Sven? You knew his tatics before the world cup and they nearly got us through, just think what you would have done in his position, your boss says we are firing you in 3 months time for something not releated to your work, you will have the person taking over from you sitting next to you the whole time, you will give positive answers when ever your questioned about your job and never critise the workers or the company.
Great position to be in, England will win nothing as long as you have a system like you have at Lancaster Gate.
Mclaren in charge, well won't be qualifing for many more world cups or european championships in the near future.
As for Rooney I don't think you can blame his club side and I for one would love too, he's whats becoming for the future of the UK, a spoilt chav with money, can do what he wants and doesn't have to answer to the consequences.

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got 3 karma points deducted for my post,thought the idea was for people to express opinions. never mind i wont lose any sleep.

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Portugal shgould be investigated by FIFA - that ain't football, that's theatrics worthy of the Royal Ballet School.
Can't let our players go either - no bottle until the last 5 minutes; what's the point in that?!
Lampard & Gerrard might aswell have stayed at the hotel for all the good they did.
Rooney, Lennon & Hargreaves wanted the win more than anyone - they gave everything & didn't deserve to lose - they were let down tremendously by Eriksson, their team-mates and the ref.

...and please Steve McClaren - include some decent penner takers next time eh!

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Did anyone notice Ronaldo’s wink as he walked away from the Rooney incident after trying to influence the ref? That said it all for me and if he hadn’t interfered Rooney may not have got sent off. You can hardly blame the lad for pushing someone away when they have just barged into you and it was this push that sealed his fate not the alleged stamp.

I would just like to point something out. When you have both feet off the ground it isn’t easy to arrange where to land and you go where gravity takes you. There was no deliberate movement to stamp, he just came down in an awkward place.

But the real villain of the piece is the coach. What was he thinking of in taking only four strikers two of whom were suspect and one was a lumbering ox on the ground. Owen was not match fit – there was no real guarantee that Rooney would be fit to play at some time and Crouch, well he may be good in the air – at 6 feet 7 inches he should be, but on the deck he is all uncoordinated arms and legs. When he runs it looks like he is running in treacle. In fact his height will always be a problem because when he jumps for a ball it will always look like he is taking a ride on someone’s shoulders even when he isn’t.

Whatever induced him to play Rooney up front as lone striker? Rooney isn’t a lone striker player. Whenever he got the ball he was immediately surrounded by at least three defenders and there was no one around to offer an outlet. It’s no wonder he got frustrated. So don’t be too harsh on the lad. He had the odds stacked against him right from the start and didn’t have the maturity to cope. The Portuguese were out to wind him from the start and they did.

The future? Get rid of Beckham, Owen, Crouch. The first two are past it and the third isn’t up to it. Get back to 4 – 4 – 2 the system that we know best. Make John Terry the captain. A captain needs to see what is happening all over the field to be useful and you can’t do that from midfield/attacking. Play either Lampard or Gerrard in midfield but not both. Teach Joe Cole not to be so greedy. His role is to beat the defenders and get the ball to the strikers not go it alone with half a dozen men in the area waiting for the ball. Owen Hargreaves given the opportunity instead of the usual last 15 minutes showed his tenacity and should be first choice for his role. During his short spells Lennon did very well and had the beating of most defenders with his pace. Use it whilst he still has it even if it means dropping Lampard or Gerrard. Cole on the left and Lennon on the right would give defenders something to think about.

As for the penalties, they were abysmal. The Portuguese and Germans were just as tired as our lot but they had belief in their abilities. We didn’t! Beckham’s ability with free kicks and long range accurate passing didn’t just happen. He practiced, practiced and practiced and we should do the same for penalties. Practice until every man jack can trot up and blast the ball into the net out of the goalie’s reach. The whole squad should be able to take a penalty with confidence - even the goalkeeper. I accept that there is little or no pressure in taking a penalty on the training ground but there could be inter-player competition to liven things up a bit. 20 penalties each every day. Maybe even a bet on the side. £100 each in the kitty, winner takes all. I mean they spend more than that on the horses.

I also accept the pressure of the occasion does have an effect but if you can’t take a penalty with confidence in the first place then pressure doesn’t make any real difference.

Finally Beckham has resigned as captain because he could see the writing on the wall and decided to go before being pushed.

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Right all the way there Jambutty; except I would rather see Gary Neville as captain.

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Funny isn't it, when Sven started selecting his team they were all considered too young and immature and although there are a number of new faces there are also quite a few names that he's stuck with through thick and thin but now they're looking like they're past it - surely we missed the middle bit where they were at their peak.

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Totally sums it up , well said jambutty :)

I hope Rooney pastes that little brat all over the place the first opportunity he gets! :mad:

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My head still hasnt recovered from yesterday. Ive decided watching a football game in a pub isnt conductive to my health seeing as i stayed in till closing time! What I can remember of the game when we went down to 10 players we played better. We always lose when it comes to penalty shoot outs. You can practice taking penalties until the cows come home but its still totally different when it comes down to taking them during the match or the shoot outs. Beckham resigning as captain - Steven Gerrard or John Terry for captain.

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it should be that PIGGING SWEDE thats dropped deep into the hole john.:engsmil:

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As much as I agree with you about your view on penalties shillelagh, if you don’t know how to take a penalty in the first place then the pressure just gives you another problem.

This:

Quote:

You can practice taking penalties until the cows come home but its still totally different when it comes down to taking them during the match or the shoot outs.

is just an excuse and a pretty lame one at that in preparation for when a penalty is missed. But our lot trotted up and tried to side foot the ball past the goalkeeper. I ask you side foot a penalty? Don’t they know how to kick a dead ball hard? Obviously not! I mean its not as if the ball is particularly hard. They should try taking a penalty with the old type leather ball. So they should learn and practice over and over until they got it right and it became second nature.

The pressure on Beckham taking a free kick is not too much different than that in taking a penalty in a penalty shoot out. It is probably even greater because he has a mass of defenders between him and the goalmouth and somehow he has to get the ball over the wall, get it to dip under the bar whilst at the same time avoiding the goalkeeper. As I said he practiced for hours as a youth until he got it right time after time after time. When it came to the real thing he was confident that he could do the business and only had the pressure to worry about. You could see from his face that his concentration was total and pressure didn’t even get a look in.

I can only hope that the new boss has got the bottle to do what is necessary and build for Euro 2008 and beyond and not pander to the clammering of the press.

We need the best team that is available not the best 11 players.

Whilst they are in the practicing mood they could try practicing to trap a ball and kill it dead with one touch, learn how to head a ball in a particular direction rather than just somewhere and pass with accuracy. Far too many passes go astray although the commentator usually says it has been intercepted. Well maybe that does happen some times but most times the pass is a bad one. Finally instead of waiting for the pass to arrive go to meet it then it won’t be intercepted.

The bottom line for me is simply if we have the ball the opposition cannot score unless we do it for them.

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Have a look at:
http://www.ihateronaldo.com/

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I cant understand why rooney was playing up front on his own... Rooneys strengths are running at defenders with pace and power, he cant do that with his back to goal laying the ball off to the 5 midfielders, who are supposed to come running through. Why not have played crouch with Rooney off him and drop lampard? I just think Sven tried to accomodate everybody in the hope that one of the players would come good on the day. I am afraid to say that it was a lack of tactical know how and the squad selection was wrong. I really did think this time england would win on penalties. they had the initiative. Ten men and portugal still could not break england down. Surely at that point the players should have taken heart and enjoyed taking the penalties? Did the manager point that out? Probably not. A really big chance to have progressed against a weakened portugal team who lacked a true centre forward. Did anybody notice scolari put Ronaldo up front just after Rooney got sent off? I think he did that in the attempt that an England player (probably Terry who was on a yellow) would take revenge. He changed it after 15 minutes or so putting postiga on if i remember after nobody took the bait.

Hopefully McLaren will adopt a style of play that suits the players better