Friday, June 16, 2006

 

England scrape through

A second win in two games is enough to see England through to the Round of 16 thanks to a 2-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago in the early hours of this morning.

Well, in my humble opinion, they looked like shite. The scoreline flattered them. T&T just defended the entire match and were extremely disappointing. I was hoping they'd push forward on the break at least but they hardly managed that. Shaka must really be sick of the sight of Gerrard!

England struggled to break them down and looked very lacklustre. To be honest, as an Australian who really only follows England because I know the players and because I support West Ham, it's getting very hard to continue to support such a bloody boring team. I fucking hate Sven Boring Eriksson, I hate Ashley Cole, I hate Lardarse, and I hate Crouch. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but I'm starting not to give a shit any more - they simply don't add up to anything like the sum of their parts, Eriksson's tactics are dull as ditchwater, and they just aren't as exciting to watch as Argentina, Spain, Brasil, or, God help us, even Germany.

I certainly would like to review my initial opinion that England would make the semi finals. Unless they pick their game up dramatically they are not going to beat Germany and could well struggle against Ecuador.

One thing I'd like to mention - Rooney. Sure, the kid is brilliant, one of the best all round footballers I've ever seen. But he ain't the saviour of English football and Eriksson (and McLaren) need to recognise that. Sven just keeps talking him up and putting pressure on him. No player could live up to his hype and I feel for the lad. Bringing him into the side and expecting the team to suddenly start winning is just misguided. All the other players would naturally absorb some of that expectation and fail to perform themselves, with or without Rooney. England need all their players to perform at their peak for the entire tournament if they want to win it. At the moment, that's not happening.

Robinson 6 - Not totally convincing but okay.
A. Cole 6 - Overlapped a couple of times and got stuck in defensively.
Terry 8 - A bloody man-mountain is this fella. He might be blue scum, but he's one fantastic defender.
Ferdinand 7 - Did his job.
Carragher 6 - Adequate, but no Neville in this position. (boy, that's hard to say)
J. Cole 6 - Tried his tricks but no end product.
Lampard 5 - Very much below par.
Gerrard 6 - Barely involved apart from the goal.
Beckham 6 - Free kicks, crosses, and corners went astray too often - but the one for the goal was pinpoint.
Owen 5 - Out of sorts.
Crouch 6 - Fucking lucky to score. I'm sure Beckham said to him at half time, "Look, I know you're trying, but you can't head a ball for shit.. Next time you're looking for a cross, just stand perfectly still and I'll try and ricochet the ball off your forehead into the goal."

Rooney 7 - Lively.
Lennon 7 - Promising.
Downing 6 - Adequate.

(oh, and Shaka 6)

* In other news. West Ham have signed Jonathan Spector for a half million quid. Is he the right-back we've all been wanting, or is he cover for the other defensive positions?



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