English Football Thread 2012/2013

[War]

- Milner has basically made himself a fixture now. Think Lampard has just become a bench player.

- Long may Hart good work continous. We have spent so long after Seamer retired looking for a stable goalie, dont want to by hyping him too much.

- The sooner G Johnson gets dropped the better. The man just can't defend.

- Has expected our central defenders are horribly susceptible to quick ground passing. It was cringeworthy watching Dawson/Jaigelka tonight @ times.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Generally agree with those points. G Johnson is quite awful at times, and offensively he's hardly great either. But I will disagree about Jagielka/Dawson. I thought they did a good job, they definitely had a strong presence about them, and this was only their first time pairing together.

I'd also like to add how good Walcott's movement and intelligence is. I actually think he has a great footballing brain, he continually makes fantastic runs into great areas and also draws defenders out of position (Defoe's second goal). People have a go at him for making bad decisions but I think it's his intelligence (assisted by his lightning pace) that makes him such a potent threat. If he works hard and continues to improve his technique, he could be an excellent player.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

- Milner has basically made himself a fixture now. Think Lampard has just become a bench player.

- Long may Hart good work continous. We have spent so long after Seamer retired looking for a stable goalie, dont want to by hyping him too much.

- The sooner G Johnson gets dropped the better. The man just can't defend.

- Has expected our central defenders are horribly susceptible to quick ground passing. It was cringeworthy watching Dawson/Jaigelka tonight @ times.

A good, crisp peformance by the lads, although a better team would've troubled us and made it a closer result - Bulgaria did have their chances. Rooney was very industrious, Defoe was superb, Hart seems to have a real 'aura' about him, as one of the commentators said - I said that first time I saw him for England U21s or something like that against the Dutch in a penalty shootout, Milner was a constant threat - and Walcott is looking more like the player who destroyed Croatia. Who needs Lampard? As we've discussed many, many times, Gerrard and Lampard cannot play in the same team!

MasterBlaster76 added 17 Minutes and 21 Seconds later...

Hart's progression to England No. 1 status will prove to be very important. As the lads said, he sends confidence flowing through his defence and the rest of the team. Maybe, just maybe, if he had been in goal instead of Green for the USA game, our tournament wouldn't have gone south in such a drastic fashion. I'm not saying we would've won, or even beaten the Germans, but the way that Green gaffe goal went in, it took the wind out of our sails after a very bright start vs the USA.

Edit: Watched the highlights. Didn't give Rooney enough credit - as well as his workrate, his creativity was superb as well. He deserved a goal from that chip, but his passes to play in Defore were wonderful - as was his touch. It was as day is to night compared to his touch at the World Cup!

 

[Auwais]

It was a pretty poor Bulgaria side but Rooney excelled in the play-making role behind Defoe.

I still think if Capello could get Scholes out of retirement or have an on-form Carrick available, he'd move Rooney up top on his own. Right now he's having to drop him deeper to make up for that lack of creativity IMO.

 

[War]

But I will disagree about Jagielka/Dawson. I thought they did a good job, they definitely had a strong presence about them, and this was only their first time pairing together.

They played together in that friendly in August in the second-half.

Eveytime the Bulgarians played a qucik ground passes, they looked horribly slow on the turn. The reason Dawson got injured all was because he was beaten on the turn & ended up injuring himself.

I would hate to see those two againts strong pacy centre forwards, they would be destroyed. We already saw in a friendly vs Spain how Villa made a mess of Jaigelka. The sooner we get Terry/Ferdinand back the better - i just hope to god, Rio's recent injuries hasn't crippled his speed.

It was a pretty poor Bulgaria side but Rooney excelled in the play-making role behind Defoe.

I still think if Capello could get Scholes out of retirement or have an on-form Carrick available, he'd move Rooney up top on his own. Right now he's having to drop him deeper to make up for that lack of creativity IMO.

No doubt.

But i'm sure even if Carrick regains his mojo if he can every dictate play from the mid-field TBDH. Really dont rate him on the international level.

But yea, really want Scholes back. I think we can qualify for EURO 2012 without him. But we all should be keeping keen attention to Scholes - one game @ a time. If come May 2012 he is still playing this well for United - Capello should definately try to tempt him back out of retirement.

Who needs Lampard? As we've discussed many, many times, Gerrard and Lampard cannot play in the same team!

TBF to Lamps. He & Gerrard did work well playing together in Euro qualifying.

But the thing is now more than ever, Gerrard either neither to playing as an attacking mid-field or centrally. Can't afford him to be playing out on the left anymore - he needs to the focal point of our mid-field play. Thats why i saw Lamps could miss out now - since Milner can play on left very well.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Another good performance - and against a team who beat the eventual World Champions in the summer. Great that Rooney has scored again for club and country, he should start banging them in now. Johnson has been a revelation for me - no idea why he didn't go to the World Cup.

Funny - you look at that team and then look at the World Cup team - it's day and night, isn't it? Yet many of that team were at the World Cup! I reckon there's quite a bit in the 'they were tired' theory - they looked tired. Now, they look refreshed - there is sharpness all over the pitch (OK, Hart had a bit of a 'mare tonight, but everyone's allowed those occasionally) - there is understanding and there is movement! All three of which were completely absent from the World Cup campaign!

 

[War]

Would love to see England play 4-3-3 with Walcott & Johnson flying down the wings. Paceeee.

But like during the WCQ Capello seems to have got the right formation going again. Only obvious change is Terry/Ferdinand back in the centre.

Mixed emotions about Bents goal, sort of happy for him. In the past in ENG colours has Martin Tyler & Alan Smith said on commentary ATT, in the past those are the kind of chances he has made a meal of for ENG, that he buries week-after-week @ Sunderland (spurs before). But unfrotunately when Zamora is fit again - he may be dropped still.

Haha if Johnson learns to defend to any decent degree - he would be one of best full-backs in the buisness.

 

[themuel1]

Haha if Johnson learns to defend to any decent degree - he would be one of best full-backs in the business.

Problem is positioning and awareness should be natural for a defender. It's not taught. It's improved, but Johnson seems to lack those fundamental abilities to start with. I think it's awful we have a right back who can't defend.

Watched a game in 2002 ESPN Classic - England v someone else, Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Rio, Ashley Cole, all in their prime. Terrific defence. It's pathetic now.

 

[War]

Problem is positioning and awareness should be natural for a defender. It's not taught. It's improved, but Johnson seems to lack those fundamental abilities to start with. I think it's awful we have a right back who can't defend.

Watched a game in 2002 ESPN Classic - England v someone else, Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Rio, Ashley Cole, all in their prime. Terrific defence. It's pathetic now.

Indeed. I'm still hoping Micah Richards can regain his mojo this season & dispalce him @ RB. Since he is much more sound defensively. Or maybe if Ferdinand returns strong & partners Terry well again - ive heard Jaigelka can play RB (although i dont recall ever seeing him do that @ Everton).

That 2002 ESPN Classic game was probbaly just after the 02 WC i guess, If you say all 4 where @ their peaks.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

What a game that was! Games like these justify that why the Premier league is world’s most watched football? I do not know what the hell was Moyce complaining to Referee? No offence but he should feel lucky to get a point there. And yes Howard was the player of a match for me.

 

[JBlues08]

What a game that was! Games like these justify that why the Premier league is world’s most watched football? I do not know what the hell was Moyce complaining to Referee? No offence but he should feel lucky to get a point there. And yes Howard was the player of a match for me.

David Moyes was complaining because he felt additional time should be added into the injury time since Cahil and Arteta scored during those time. I can understand where he is coming from. After all, Mark Hughes was livid when Man City lost in the Manchester derby last season when additional time was added to injury time because of Bellamy's celebration.

However, I do agree with you that Moyes should be thankful for a point there. Who's to say Man United will not go on and score the 4th goal had there been more time added? Manchester United should have probably won it based on their second half's performance and chances. Nonetheless, they dropped another 2 points on the road. :laugh

J-Psychic added 6 Minutes and 22 Seconds later...

Anyway, I'm pretty happy that Chelsea won against West Ham but not quite with the performance especially with the back four. The attacking play was too narrow and Obbina(spelling?) caused a lot of problems. He could have easily scored. Also, I hope Bosingwa will be back sooner rather than later because I don't think Ferreira is a solid Right Back. Next weekend's match against Blackpool should be tricky even though it's at Stamford Bridge.

Also, Man City's draw against Blackburn made my day even better! Did any of you guys watch the match? Blackburn's defending at the end was pretty heroic! Welcome to the Premier League, Mancini!

 

[MasterBlaster76]

This has happened twice now. Once against Fulham and now against Everton. I'm especially annoyed about today's one. Why the hell did we knock the ball long, giving it straight back to a team that had just scored??? If we had kept the ball in midfield for a bit, until a clear opportunity to work it into the corner came up, we would've killed the sting and won the game. But no - we had to hoof it forwards. I have a feeling those two late goals vs Everton and Fulham will cost us dear come May.

Positives: Berbatov is really looking like a player now and we had no Rooney, yet that wasn't a problem - Rooney or no Rooney it was the last three minutes that cost us.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

The defence looked very shaky though. Evans was beaten aerially all throughout the game, so it's no surprise there were two goals from crosses. Neville looks way to slow physically and mentally to cut it nowadays.

Evra was awful, so often caught out of position today and he was subbed off for Park for being so bad. Which meant that O'Shea went to left back, and there was no more shield in front of the back four. If there was, surely O'Shea would've been in position to stop the 3rd goal?

Dr. Pepper added 2 Minutes and 55 Seconds later...

But having said that, there are quite a few positives to take from the game. Utd look very potent offensively. There are always plenty of bodies in key areas offensively and there's a threat all over the final 3rd. Last season we seemed very reliant on the right hand side, and I think that has changed now. And Berbatov and Scholes continue to produce excellence this season. Berbatov looks very good, and Scholes is just brilliant.

As the season progresses, we'll improve and Utd will look much more stable defensively, and take more chances offensively. It's just frustrating that 4 points have been dropped so easily at the beginning of the season.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Yes, it always looked likely that we'd concede today, but the way we threw away a two goal lead was unacceptable. The other team score in injury time? Keep the damn ball in midfield and kill their momentum! Don't just give it straight back to them! As soon as the long ball was knocked forwards and intercepted, I thought 'they're going to score now'.

One thing I'd say about Nani is he still has a tendency to shoot when there are better options. That chance he had today, had he just squared it to Park who was in acres on the penalty spot, I'm sure he would've tucked it away as Park's finishing has improved quite a bit. Oh well - nothing can be done now; bet the players got it with both barrels from Sir Alex!

These four points could really come back to bite us come May.

 

[LongLegs?]

It's been one of those odd days. Man Utd conceding 2 in injury time, Blackpool beating Newcastle(although this one's not that odd I guess but odd enough), AC Milan losing to Cesena 2-0, and Barca losing to Hercules by the same scoreline. Bremen and Bayern playing out a goalless draw, which is odd since they usually play high scoring games.

But, yeah, unacceptable from Man Utd today. Berbatov scoring yet again is a good sign though.