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While I can understand wanting as many players to know what it feels like to play in the heat and humidity, not many know what it feels like for a full 90 mins thanks to eight changes against Korea - what a shambles!
Wes Brown was dire and shouldn't get another look in, Sherringham barely saw the ball and Keown couldn't win a header against someone half his size. Heskey was also unbelieveably non-existent against players half his size and James looked shaky in goal
On the upside, Hargreaves was the best of the bunch and now deserves Butt's place alongside Scholes who also didn't put a foot wrong while on the pitch. Mills looked Ok at right back, Ashley Cole just scraped it over Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole did OK and Owen & Vasell looked sharp. It will be intresting to see the starting line at the weekend - just hope we see very few changes on the day.
Digby
Wes Brown was dire and shouldn't get another look in, Sherringham barely saw the ball and Keown couldn't win a header against someone half his size. Heskey was also unbelieveably non-existent against players half his size and James looked shaky in goal
On the upside, Hargreaves was the best of the bunch and now deserves Butt's place alongside Scholes who also didn't put a foot wrong while on the pitch. Mills looked Ok at right back, Ashley Cole just scraped it over Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole did OK and Owen & Vasell looked sharp. It will be intresting to see the starting line at the weekend - just hope we see very few changes on the day.
Digby
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While I can understand wanting as many players to know what it feels like to play in the heat and humidity, not many know what it feels like for a full 90 mins thanks to eight changes against Korea - what a shambles!
Wes Brown was dire and shouldn't get another look in, Sherringham barely saw the ball and Keown couldn't win a header against someone half his size. Heskey was also unbelieveably non-existent against players half his size and James looked shaky in goal
On the upside, Hargreaves was the best of the bunch and now deserves Butt's place alongside Scholes who also didn't put a foot wrong while on the pitch. Mills looked Ok at right back, Ashley Cole just scraped it over Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole did OK and Owen & Vasell looked sharp. It will be intresting to see the starting line at the weekend - just hope we see very few changes on the day.
Digby
Wes Brown was dire and shouldn't get another look in, Sherringham barely saw the ball and Keown couldn't win a header against someone half his size. Heskey was also unbelieveably non-existent against players half his size and James looked shaky in goal
On the upside, Hargreaves was the best of the bunch and now deserves Butt's place alongside Scholes who also didn't put a foot wrong while on the pitch. Mills looked Ok at right back, Ashley Cole just scraped it over Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole did OK and Owen & Vasell looked sharp. It will be intresting to see the starting line at the weekend - just hope we see very few changes on the day.
Digby
I don't know about the rest of the team, but I believe that Seaman, Campbell, Keown and Cole should all play together in defence, simply because they play together at Arsenal and work well together.
I never did understand why they never played Winterburn, Adams, Keown/Bould and Dixon together in their heyday. You have an experienced, ready-made, quality defensive unit that work well together. Why the hell don't you use them?
I never did understand why they never played Winterburn, Adams, Keown/Bould and Dixon together in their heyday. You have an experienced, ready-made, quality defensive unit that work well together. Why the hell don't you use them?
Forgot to add...
Yes, their may be better individual players, but football is a team sport, and the unit will work best together, giving better overall results.
That's my belief, anyway.
Yes, their may be better individual players, but football is a team sport, and the unit will work best together, giving better overall results.
That's my belief, anyway.
Calm Down, you sound like a press reporter..
It was a friendly and with all the injuries this is the best to see what replacements can be used if the first 11 don't make it dont you?
Id rather Sven make changes now and find out who'd play well on these pitches rather than in an important game against Sweden/Argentina?
Issue such as who'd play well at Right back now Neville aint there, who can handle the heat & Humidity, can heskey play on the left, can butt/hargreeves replace gerrad or does Becks need to play in the centre..
Logically really Aint it..?
So relax, its only the first friendly game, whch allows the player's to play on a pitch which is different to them.
It was a friendly and with all the injuries this is the best to see what replacements can be used if the first 11 don't make it dont you?
Id rather Sven make changes now and find out who'd play well on these pitches rather than in an important game against Sweden/Argentina?
Issue such as who'd play well at Right back now Neville aint there, who can handle the heat & Humidity, can heskey play on the left, can butt/hargreeves replace gerrad or does Becks need to play in the centre..
Logically really Aint it..?
So relax, its only the first friendly game, whch allows the player's to play on a pitch which is different to them.
It certainly wasn't a very good display in either half. OK, we scraped a goal but the Koreans ran rings around most of the team. In the second half I thought Southgate was outstanding. A number of times he went past Korean players on the left side, and then fed Bridge or Cole.
Sinclair really didn't cut it. That game was crying out for a midfielder of Bowyer's quality. It's a disgrace that he isn't there now. The man was found innocent.
Sinclair really didn't cut it. That game was crying out for a midfielder of Bowyer's quality. It's a disgrace that he isn't there now. The man was found innocent.
Fair point, except that Ferdinand didn't put a foot wrong today and Keown looked ordinary at best. Keown was unable to defend a corner against someone who barely came up to his shoulder and was half his weight, so what his chances are against world class strikers of a larger stature doesn't bear thinking about. I also think he has a suspect temper and is more likely to get sent off than Ferdy.
Digby wrote:
> Fair point, except that Ferdinand didn't put a foot wrong today and
> Keown looked ordinary at best.
That almost makes my point for me.
Split them up and maybe they're not so good, but together they can deal with almost anything.
> Fair point, except that Ferdinand didn't put a foot wrong today and
> Keown looked ordinary at best.
That almost makes my point for me.
Split them up and maybe they're not so good, but together they can deal with almost anything.
WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> Forgot to add...
>
> Yes, their may be better individual players, but football is a team
> sport, and the unit will work best together, giving better overall
> results.
>
> That's my belief, anyway.
You've surely answered your own question there. Football is quite rightly a team Sport and so just as individuals must function together as part of a defensive line-up so must a defensive line-up function as part of the team.
It may be that the Arsenal defensive line (excellent as they have proved themselves to be this season) is not suited to the way in which the England team plays.
I'm sure Eriksson (being his job and all that) has thought these things through thoroughly.
> Forgot to add...
>
> Yes, their may be better individual players, but football is a team
> sport, and the unit will work best together, giving better overall
> results.
>
> That's my belief, anyway.
You've surely answered your own question there. Football is quite rightly a team Sport and so just as individuals must function together as part of a defensive line-up so must a defensive line-up function as part of the team.
It may be that the Arsenal defensive line (excellent as they have proved themselves to be this season) is not suited to the way in which the England team plays.
I'm sure Eriksson (being his job and all that) has thought these things through thoroughly.
I agree with AbsoluT Neó, this was only a friendly, though Korea were treating it a bit more seriously, and the result doesn't really matter.
Isn't it a tradition that England usually underperform or have problems at the beginning of every major championship? Do you remember the start of Euro '96? A poor 1-1 draw with the Swiss, but we still went on to play some great football later in the tournament.
I wouldn't be too worried about this result, the idea of injuries were probably playing in the back of every players mind, so they didn't give 100% incase of injury.
Isn't it a tradition that England usually underperform or have problems at the beginning of every major championship? Do you remember the start of Euro '96? A poor 1-1 draw with the Swiss, but we still went on to play some great football later in the tournament.
I wouldn't be too worried about this result, the idea of injuries were probably playing in the back of every players mind, so they didn't give 100% incase of injury.
Hatboy wrote:
> You've surely answered your own question there.
It was more of a statement than a question.
However you play football, there are three distinct areas. If you have a solid, ready-made defensive unit, you should surely use it. Better, surely, only to worry about the right-back not fitting in than the whole back four (or five, including keeper)? Easier to cover and deal with.
> It may be that the Arsenal defensive line (excellent as they have
> proved themselves to be this season) is not suited to the way in which
> the England team plays.
Indeed. They play well, and that wouldn't suit England at all, would it?!
As far as I know, the "Arsenal defence" is about the only line-up that Sven HASN'T tried out for an entire match, and God knows he's had enough time.
If you're up against the best strikers, you need your best defence. And so far, Sven hasn't picked it.
Good though they may be, I'm afraid to say that the entire nation seems intent on pinning the hopes of our entire World Cup campaign on Owen and Beckham. So much so that they don't really care about who plays elsewhere in the team. And I'm sorry, but Owen and Beckham alone will not win us the World Cup.
> You've surely answered your own question there.
It was more of a statement than a question.
However you play football, there are three distinct areas. If you have a solid, ready-made defensive unit, you should surely use it. Better, surely, only to worry about the right-back not fitting in than the whole back four (or five, including keeper)? Easier to cover and deal with.
> It may be that the Arsenal defensive line (excellent as they have
> proved themselves to be this season) is not suited to the way in which
> the England team plays.
Indeed. They play well, and that wouldn't suit England at all, would it?!
As far as I know, the "Arsenal defence" is about the only line-up that Sven HASN'T tried out for an entire match, and God knows he's had enough time.
If you're up against the best strikers, you need your best defence. And so far, Sven hasn't picked it.
Good though they may be, I'm afraid to say that the entire nation seems intent on pinning the hopes of our entire World Cup campaign on Owen and Beckham. So much so that they don't really care about who plays elsewhere in the team. And I'm sorry, but Owen and Beckham alone will not win us the World Cup.
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