Eriksson being soft?

jason · 30-03-2005, 16:21

Sven-Goran Eriksson believes Azerbaijan's 8-0 defeat by Poland was a freak result that his England side will not be trying to match in tonight's World Cup qualifier.
England beat Northern Ireland 4-0 on Saturday to stay top of Group Six, while Poland's demolition of the Azeris kept them a point behind with a far better goal difference.

Unhappy with the newspaper euphoria over how many goals England might score in Newcastle, the England manager told reporters on Tuesday: "I didn't like what I saw this morning.

"I spent 15 years in Italy and the Italians say that talking about how many you're going to score in your next match always brings bad luck.

"Azerbaijan's game on Saturday was unreal. Everything went well for Poland -- every time they got the ball in the box they scored -- and everything went wrong for Azerbaijan.

"I don't think Azerbaijan are as bad as that result showed or that Poland are that good. It was just one of those games where everything went well for one team and everything went badly for the other."

Rather than trying to match Poland's feat, the Swede wants England to focus on reproducing the sparkling form they showed in Saturday's victory at Old Trafford and making sure they take all three points.

"I will just talk to the players about putting on the performance we did on Saturday and trying to win the game," he said.

"As a manager, I don't think you can tell your players to go out and score five or eight goals. Football's not like that."

IS HE BEING CAUTIOUS OR WILL WE SCORE 10?

Cafu01 · 30-03-2005, 22:33

Game finished 2-0 and should have been a lot more

vorlon24 · 30-03-2005, 23:16

They almost scored against us on a couple of occasions - one was more clear cut, but it could have happened.

But then, we should have scored far more heavily than we did - a double figure was definitely on the cards

John_Timmins · 31-03-2005, 16:29

i dont think it was they almost played six at the back so it was always going to be hard for england to break this down no matter how crap they are

vorlon24 · 31-03-2005, 16:45

You saw the number of chances they had, the number of shots that were missed.

Although England won, they will need to play better than that in the Finals next year

jason · 31-03-2005, 17:10

Owen couldn't have scored in a brothel last night nevermind at st.james's.

They'll have to play a lot better in september against wales!

Bazf · 31-03-2005, 17:17

Maybe not with this clown in goal.......

Coyne asks for Wales forgiveness

Wales goalkeeper Danny Coyne apologised to his team-mates after his blunder handed Austria a late winner away in the Ernst Happel Stadium on Wednesday.

The Burnley stopper inexplicably let Rene Aufhauser's weak shot squirm under him with three minutes remaining. "I saw it all the way, it bounced just in front of me and I thought I had everything behind it," Coyne said. "It went straight through me, I've no excuse and I've let down all the lads who worked so hard in the game."

Cafu01 · 31-03-2005, 22:07

Bazf im glad you commented on "this clown" on Saturday when he was Man of the match for Wales, or did you miss that one???

Cafu01 · 31-03-2005, 22:08

And dont come up with a sly comment like i didnt miss that one but Danny coyne missed the one where it went through his legs, i know what your like

Bazf · 01-04-2005, 00:11

Your answering your own questions again.............

but I will check with Dingle weekly to see if any investagative reporting needs doing

Cafu01 · 01-04-2005, 15:40

We will have to have scouse weekly then for you