大象传媒

Critics say that the players need to reach the levels that help us beat Germany (5:1) and Argentina (3:2), but I would suggest that we need to be playing against a team of Germany or Argentina's (or Portugal's) calibre to reach those levels.

England are far more comfortable playing against a team that isn't entrenched in its own half (we rarely thrash the so-so teams).

So I have a great amount of hope.

This seems as good a place as any to talk about yesterday's game. The media is obsessed by Beckham. He is a figure who polarises everyone: you idolise him or hate him. And understandably, there have been lots of calls to drop him from the team. But the obsession with Beckham masks the fact that another England player has been playing appallingly badly - far worse than Beckham. Frank Lampard has had a terrible tournament. In four games, he has not made one decent pass, one telling tackle and his finishing has been appalling. He's got himself into some good positions, but has consistently missed the target or shot tamely at the keeper. Yesterday's match was perhaps his worst. There came a moment in the second half where confusion in the Ecuadorian defence left Lampard one on one against the keeper, and he tried to square the ball to Rooney, only to hit the simple pass several yards behind Wayne. His form is dreadful. Many commentators have lambasted Beckham and asked whether he can justify his inclusion in the team on dead-ball situations alone, but they miss the fact that the entire England team is designed to allow Lampard and Gerrard to play together in midfield. Which means that yesterday England played with a five man midfield and Rooney was sadly isolated up front. The Manchester United fattie did as well as he could on his own, but it was clear that he was highly unlikely to score. So, if Sven really wants to be bold, he should worry less about Beckham and think about dropping Lampard and reverting to a 4-4-2, with Carrick or Hargeaves as a holding player, Gerrard as an attacking midfielder and letting Peter Crouch join in the attack alongside Rooney.

I agree with Atom Ant's posting, and having seen the Portugal Holland game last night, I believe that there was not a great deal (even when 11 v 11) to really bother England should they even up the performance a single gear. Who should be more worried, a team facing an ageing Figo or one with a getting-to-look-very-dangerous Rooney....

It will be very interesting to observe how FIFA deal with the Figo incident. It's sad to say but I suspect if it was Rooney or Vierra for example a ban would already be in place. The refs poor performance does not excuse Figos' actions. IF FIFA allow this it brings the game into disrepute. I wait to see if fair play wins the day.

Totally agree. England are a counter attacking side that are good at hitting on the break. It takes two teams to play a game of football and the opposition so far have not been good enough to allow us to see the true nature of our game.

England can only play against what is put in front of them and so far they have done that and progressed. The next match will be a far better indicator of how good the team is so I reserve judgement until then.

I am not only tired of watching the England team after their unatractive style but amazed that the commentary team are now condoning time wasting, cheating, diving and faining injury to steal games. What happened to my game is fair play?
There was a time when the players were allowed to tackle without a yellow card being produced because some prima donna goes down like he has just been shot or stood on a land mine.

I can not believe these so called experts. Why are they so dismisseve of englands performance. I think england have done well and should be encouraged to go further all this negative waves do not help. I think what ever they do these people will find faults, even if they beat argentina in the final they will say it is only argentina it was not brazil. I think they should keep their opnions to themselves, especally the people they get on Five Live. ENGLAND to go all the way.

Agreed that Lampard should be dropped but Beckham's ability to conjure up a goal from a dead-ball is too valuable a weapon to leave on the bench. It's a get-out-of-jail card that will break a deadlock when we're in against the best of defensive sides.

Dead-ball situations aside, Beckham has been awful positionally and his inclination to go inside from the right while Joe Cole does the same from the left means we end up with no width on the pitch...just a free-for-all in the middle.

Carrick did a good job as link-man and deserves to keep working and improving in this role.

I have no problem with the formation or Rooney up front on his own. He has shown he has the capability to receive a long ball and make the yard of space needed to shoot from the box. He also has the ability to hold up play and let his attacking midfielders move into space ahead of him to receive the short pass.

Hopefully Neville will be fit again come next weekend...and with Ashley Cole finding his form, we're looking good on our flanks.

Start Aaron Lennon wide on the right to work the flank with Neville and give us some width. Move Beckham inside where he wants to play and where his natural inclination is to sit back and deliver balls to the front-men. Give Gerrard, Rooney and Joe Cole free license to interchange positions and shoot at will and keep Carrick ahead of the back four to cover for our creative attacking players.

When everyone is playing in their natural positions and when the team maintains it's width to create space in the midfield we'll have no trouble scoring the goals that will settle the nerves of Robinson and Terry.

It was a strange game yesterday, but I have to agree with most of the posters, England did what was necessary and, except for one freak incident, were never under pressure. Looking back, all the goals against have been a bit strange, and were caused by defensive errors rather than teams breaking our defence down.
England are definitely capable of winning this world cup, but we need to narrow the gap between the midfield and the attack. I thought the selection for yesterday was excellent - but the team didn't gel like I thought it would.. Given the opportunity to get forward, neither Gerrard nor Lampard seemed too keen, which left Rooney too isolated.
Still - more encouraging!

England had a bit of luck when they meeted Ecuador! And thoose who says that Beckham shouldn't play are stupids, because it was thanks to him that England won the match...

I even thought Hargreaves played well yesterday in the RB postion, I thought he played far better than either Carragher or Neville - who played particularly badly in the first game constantly giving the ball away - he's also fairly slow.

Performances from this England team have thus far been below expectation, but this is one of the problems with English sport - too high expectations!

We have players who are without doubt amongst the best in Europe and maybe the world, but so do many other teams in this tournament, who have also failed to impress.

At the end of the day, at this level of competitivenes, it is often an individual piece of skill that seals a win. Argentina only got through their second round game because of that superb goal. Same with Protugal, and now England. Individual brilliance in three out of the four knock out ties so far have been the difference.

So for my money, we should have great optimism about our chances in this competition, because we have got several individuals who are capable of popping up and giving us that flash of individual genius that will get us through to the final. We may not be playing great football, but it only takes a split second for Steven Gerrard to release a thunderbolt from 30 yards, or Rooney to turn a defender and break the back of the net.

Come on England!

Erikkson has it right when he says all the discussion regarding Beckham is stupid.

It is tiresome that the ex-England players Terry Butcher and Paul Parker, just can't do the decent thing and say "Okay, maybe, I was wrong."

so, England play badly, but have got the results they need...

I find it a bit disappointing however, that a poor team can be in the last 8 of the world cup, never having beaten a team ranked in FIFA's top 30 !

Surely the competition at this level should be better arranged, in order to give the viewing public the spectacle the world cup has been hyped as. A second group stage for instance?

Looking at it from a positive side, England are getting better. They are improving and peaking at just the right time. I personally would love to see Lennon on, perhaps as a sub in the second half. He has the pace and precision on the right to destroy most defences. He is one of the few England players to take the opposition on and make room for him self (Joe Cole & Rooney apart). They have to look to play short and accurate balls, rather then long and sloppy balls. After the game last night with Deco not playing against us, the Portuguese will be worried. He is the heart of their midfield. England will play better football against Portugal, because they will be out to prove a point and of course seek vengeance for Euro 2004.

Diving foreigners?
Is it just me or is anyone else getting cheesed off with Joe Cole ( in particular) rolling around every time he is touched. Frank Lamps prone to going to down easily too . Jon Terry got someone booked by doing it yesterday. What a strange coincidence that they all play for the same team.

Soon, the farce that has been England's World Cup campaign will be over, and we can finally stop getting forcefed pathetic excuses for their woeful displays. Most popular so far have been:

A: The heat;
B: Being kept up past their bedtimes by noisy German fans; and
C(this is my favourite): The standard of the opposition!

"No wonder we couldn't play well against them - They're rubbish."

Come on Portugal - Put this overated team of posers out of their misery.

It's funny - just the other day I was reading how Scolari was a genius for changing his formation 5 times in one game, and Sven gets slated when he changes it once in 4 games. I think we have looked - apart from the set piece wobbles during the Sweden game - utterly in control defensively. Ecuador, apart from the chance after John Terry's '50p head' header, didn't get anywhere near to breaking us down. All great/winning teams start with defensive strength, let's continue to build and wait for Rooney to sprinkle some magic dust in the quarters.

I agree with 'Atom Ant'. When you play against teams with 10 players in defence it is not easy to break through them.

If you look at teams like Brazil and Argentina, they always keep 3/2 players up the pitch in attack and will leave more room at the back for England to exploit.

I'm sick of the pundits and experts putting England performances down. We keep winning!! Get behind the team and we will go all the way!

i thought we looked better in the new formation, just a pity we had lampard in midfield who could not hit a barn door if he tried, what is he doing in there? a few times he was even getting in the way of gerrard making a pass. Beckham looks knackered and has even less mobility then Zidane. Why is it as soon as lennon comes on we look like we could go and score a few. Beckham has scored his free kick now and going by statistics it will be another 3 years before he scores another. Gerrard and Rooney are just as good at set pieces. Carrick was brilliant, playing through balls to Rooney and Gerrard like you see Riquelme and Cambiasso doing for Argentina. Thats where virtually all our chances came from. I still think Crouch is best coming off the bench for the last 20 minutes when the opposition defence are tired, we all remember what happened when he came on against Argentina in the friendly. Sven, give Lennon the second half, him and J Cole could destroy defences.

Were Terry Butcher, Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer watching the same match yesterday? Terry says "...the experiment of having Michael Carrick as the holding player didn't work" and "Carrick wasn't really at the race..", whilst the two Alans described Carrick as "outstanding" and "a man of the match performance"

Why does everyone want to pick a team? We are through to the last eight and Lampard has been the most influential player throughout the England games. The positions he has found at this level are fantastic and he's yet to complete the job and score. We should be happy with that. Talk about dropping him is nonsense. These are the only questions for Sven now: Do we need to start with Neville/Hargreaves/Carragher/Beckham at right back? Who is best in this game to be holding in midfield - Carragher/Hargreaves/Carrick/Beckham?
Who is upfront - Rooney alone or Rooney and Crouch? Pending the above answers then questions during each remaining match will be - When to introduce - Hargreaves - Carragher - Carrick - Crouch - Lennon and maybe Bridge or Walcott? How hard is that?!!! The Q's facing Sven at Real Madrid are surely much tougher!!!

I am about fed up with Terry Butcher's view on everything - lets be honest no one really cares what he thinks the England team should be and what formation they should play. Terry is never going to be anywhere near a good enough a manager to manage England. His name was never even thrown about in the run up to Sven's replacement and I think almost every other manager in the world was on that list at some point. So Terry, do us all a favour and keep it to yourself.

Don't think they will stumble through to the final like Germany in 2002.

First Germany has experience with this type of dreadful gameplay,

second: this time bigger guns are still in the tournament, Germany met in 2002 Paraguay, USA and South Korea before they met Brazil in the final, it was really an easy route,

fourth with only one real forward, England is just too limited, hunt down Rooney and then they will have to rely on Beckham on a setpiece - easy game for any contender (somehow Ecuador didn't want to win, if they played more offensive like Mexico they would have won 4:1),

fifth there will probably be Brazil in the semi... Good luck.

I may be on my own here but I saw a reasonable improvement in yesterday's performance. Our passing had improved and we certainly gave the ball away less than we have been.

I think the formation worked although, I would like to see Erikkson give Gerrard a bit more of a free reign to push forward and support Rooney.

I never though I would say it, but it will also be good if Neville gets back in time to bring a bit more structure to the back four.

We will have more room to play against Portugal anyway, and if Lampard can find his shooting boots, we will be looking great.

I wish I had a job that paid over 拢50,000 a week, I could repeatedly do an anverage/poor performance in and just shrug it off as a bit of bad form.

Where did I put me CV...

Apart from 1 instance in the first half when Ashley Cole made a tremendous block, it was nice not to have to be too worried each time the opposition entered our half of the pitch. It was also good to see us not dropping off and defending too deep after we went a goal up.
As for formations, I've long maintained that England will NOT win the World Cup playing 4-4-2. Whenever we play the really top teams we always get outnumbered in midfield. Who can forget Portugal in 2000 under Keegan then Brazil and Portugal under Scholari in 2002 & 2004 respectively. Still though we have so called experts calling for 2 up front. This is particularly annoying when it comes from ex pros who themselves played in England sides who couldn't keep the ball for toffee (just look at the possesion stats for past World Cups if you don't believe me).
Can we also stop the "drop Beckham" nonsense that seems to be gathering pace (there's even been mention of dropping Lampard in some of the previous comments). Beckham's England future is something that may well be discussed after the World Cup but now is not the time. As for Lampard, I'd be more concerned if he wasn't getting into the scoring positions but pleasingly he keeps coming back for more and I'm sure he'll pop up with a really important strike at some stage.
To sum up, we may not be playing at our very best at present but we sure are better off than the likes of Holland and Czech Republic.

I think england are playing well enough to proceed. The Plus points are rooney and carrick playing well in the new formation.

It has to be 4-5-1, we cant have Rooney and Crouch both on the pitch, because we have no cover on the bench.

The main minus is the lack of impact made by Gerrard and Lampard in a midfield where they both have licence to attack. They need to click with each other.

I dont really want to see any tactical changes, other than using Neville at rightback if he is fit again.
Perhaps if lampard is ineffective next game, put lennon on and stick becks in the middle.

I must be the odd one out here - I thought that was a decent performance. It had its good points and it had its scares and mistakes but overall all, at least 66% of the play was good. It was just in the last third, with the balls through to Rooney (or lack of service to him) that England fell down.

There was a scare at the back but overall, Terry and Ferdinand with a holding midfield player to protect them look a decent prospect. I'd only be tempted to move Hargreaves back to holding once Neville is fit, otherwise Hargreaves' pace and tackling are better suited to right-back. Hargreaves had a good un, Ashley Cole was man of the match in my opinion and, without setting the world on fire, Carrick looked solid. England look a difficult team to break down.

Beckham's tackling and tracking back were very good - he works hard for the team and perhaps those criticising him only see an England shirt defending rather than looking for the number on the shirt. He played a lot more on the floor and a lot less of the lump-and-hope balls he's been guilty of.

Going forward was the problem. Gerrard, Lampard and Cole were too easily dealt with. If you play a narrow 4 like that (Beckham included, Carrick playing mostly in defence) they will be coralled by a decent defence and Ecuador have a decent defence. The aim has to be to deform that defence - you do that by bringing in runners on the wings who need to be covered. But Joe Cole won't pass to Ashley on the overlap to cross in - so there's no need to mark Ashley Cole. And without Lennon running on the right, Beckham will probably cut inside. All you have to do is crowd out Beckham and put pressure on the narrow-lying midfield and you can keep England out. The proof for this was when Rooney started making runs down the left. Suddenly Ecuador were exposed - but he had no-one to cross to because no-one was making runs into the box. You either make runs up the wing or runs into the box but if you do neither, you're being lazy - and possibly don't deserve a result. Lennon coming on was a defensive move - he helped to pin back the Ecuador defence and midfield and provided some relief to a midfield at risk of being over-run.

Rooney had a fantastic game with no service, no quality in the box and no support - he deserves better from his team-mates.

Going back to Beckham, I agree with Butcher - he should be dropped. "Oh - but he scored, if he wasn't on the field he wouldn't have scored" - well that's a little simplistic, no? After all, WITH him on the field, how else were England supposed to score? Narrow balls through the midfield were cut out by the Ecuador defence. More narrow balls through the midfield were cut out by Ecuador's defence and finally, just to try something different, some narrow balls through the midfield were cut out by Ecuador's defence. England hadn't run out of ideas, they hadn't got any in the first place and the fault lies squarely at the feet of the manager and his assistants.

Without Beckham you play Lennon. With Lennon you have pace down the right and crosses into the box. With that, you occupy a right-back, a right-sided midfielder and possibly a centre-half some of the time, leaving gaps for the rest of the England team to exploit. Joe Cole then plays down the left with a bit more room. Ashley Cole is overlapping - that occupies left-back and left-sided midfield player. Suddenly Portugal are looking short-handed in midfield with their 2 best midfield players suspended. England need a back 4 and a holding player - essentially a back 5, but that's ok, the holding midfield player, Carrick (Hargreaves at right-back) has space to get forwards and make nice passes. Drop Lampard, you can not be that hopeless and keep your place, get Gerrard in the middle of the park. Rooney drops deep because that's what he does, Crouch goes all over the place and remember the Portugal back 4 are already stretched with the 2 England wingers and 2 full backs making a nuisance of themselves. Gaps will appear, goals will be scored, England finally come good blah, blah, blah, nonsense.

You could almost drop Beckham into the holding role. The job involves tackling, which he does more and more these days, and passing which he stills seems fairly adept at. It also gives everyone else bags of service.

It's very encouraging to see the level of optimism in these posts. Also, the willingness to back England when we're not playing our best football.

The best word to sum up yesterday's match is 'better'. Still not the greatest game we've ever played but better than our previous 3 games.

I've read Terry Butcher's review of the game and I'm not sure which match he was watching, I thought Carrick was fantastic. He's not as destructive as Hargreaves but he's an awful lot better on the ball, putting in some really good passes.

People have been complaining about Beckham's performance. Beckham may only have scored the goal, he did have one of his quieter matches but he wasn't feeling well yet still tracked back to defend all match - did anyone see Joe Cole intercepting passes 25 yards from our goal? - oh and let's not forget....he scored the winning goal. What else did he do? What else does he need to do more like. Would anyone turn down a 1 - 0 win in the final from a Beckham free kick or cross just because 'he's been a bit quiet', I think not.

The only thing that did worry me about yesterday's game - apart from the fact that Lampard can't hit a barn door with a prawn trawler at the moment - was that Joe Cole doesn't seem to realise that when all his tricks and flicks don't work it's perfectly acceptable to just pass the ball to another England player...they were the ones wearing white shirts Joe. Must be a Chelsea thing as Lampard seemed to struggle to find a team mate as well!

All in all I thought it was a better performance than the previous games and I think we should retain the system for the Portugal game. Hopefully Neville will be back as that gives us more balance. Playing the 5 across the middle also plays to our strengths in having, arguably, the best midfield unit at the World Cup. Rooney should stay up front but Gerrard and Lampard need to get up to support him quicker.

Crouch is best staying on the bench and coming on if you need to change things - he's a player who can make an impact (as he did in the Argentina friendly) because he changes the way that teams have to defend. I don't believe he's a player who, at international level, can make such an impact starting the game.

That turned into a much longer post than I expected.

England DO have a fantastic chance of winning the World Cup. Not because they are playing well (they aren't) but because they are through to the last eight despite not playing well. I think that one of the problems has been that so far England have played teams that they are expected to beat, and have therefore played quite timidly. If they win 5-0 everyone says that the opposition were rubbish, and if they win 1-0 everyone complains. Let's hope that England raise their game and that we get some proper performances to go with the results. Which brings me on to my main point - what is more important, winning the World Cup or playing well? On the surface, the answer is easy. Most England fans would happily swap a lucky World Cup win for an impressive defeat in the semi-finals. But think about it. What does a World Cup win mean for you? For me, it's about respect. It's about being able to tell anyone in the world that I am an England fan, and them respecting the team and acknowledging that England have deservedly won the Cup. But that respect doesn't come simply through wins, it comes through great performances. Look at Greece. They are current European champions, but very few people respect their football. They acknowledge that the team was well-organised, but they would be hard-pressed to remember a goal that Greece scored in Portugal 2004. Contrast this with the Dutch teams of 74 and 78. They failed to win the World Cup, losing in successive finals, but everyone respected the football they played, and remembers the players and the goals they scored. If England want the respect of their footballing peers, they must play great football and worry less about results.

I agree that Lampard is having a bad tournament. Beckham offers too much in the way of crossing, free kicks and commitment to even consider dropping him in my opinion.

I think the main issues with the England performances have not been so much down to individuals not playing to their best but more the systems and substitutions that Sven is imposing on the team.

What is wrong with a simple 4 4 2? I think we would get more success with Rooney and Crouch up front, Cole (left), Beckham (centre), Gerrard (centre)and Lennon (right.) The defense is fine as it is. This does mean losing Lampard who is our worst performer so far (in my opinion) but it also means that we have a direct replacement if Gerrard tires himself out or isn't getting into the game.

If Sven plays the right players and in a formation that we can cope with, we should progress past Portugal at least.

I believe a team must change its system to suit its personnel. The national manager has very little control on what kind of players come through the club ranks, his only control is to find a system that best suit the players available.

For a few years now, England has had good midfielders and defenders, but a shortage of world class strikers. People criticise Sven for not taking Defoe or Bent, but I am not convinced they (nor Crouch) can crack to defences. Owen too, is clearly not the player he once was.

With all sympathy to Owen, his injury was a 'blessing' because it forced Eriksson to 'invent' a system out of necessity. England did look more comfortable with 4-5-1 against Ecuador, even though it was an uninspired display. They were not pegged back as they were against Paraguay and Sweden defending a narrow need.

Though I agree with 4-5-1, I cannot agree with choice of personnel. Beckham's goal, wonderful as it was, was a 'curse' in disguise. It merely hides his obvious shortcoming.

Top players do well in set piece AND play ball, not one at the expense of the other. At this level, a team rarely get more than 3-4 free kicks in a position to score, but a player has to contribute the full 90 or even 120 mins. Beckham did not do that for the past 4 matches. Furthermore, he never had the quality to be a leader on the pitch, even during when he was at his peak.

But my main criticism of Beckham is that he has developed into a very selfish player, whose motivation for winning the world cup is the commercial rewards that lie ahead, leading him to do things that could be good for his personal success but is detrimnental to the team otherwise.

In his first season at Real Madrid, he wanted to play midfield with Zidane, clearly out of his depth. Against N Ireland for England, he wanted to be holding midfielder. During matches, he constantly moved inside instead of down the flanks. An increasingly periphery Beckham always chose to hit long balls forward to attempt a Hollywood pass. Before he scored the goal against Ecuador, he wanted to talk about the team and not his own form. After the goal, he talked about how he silenced his critics and walked - alone - around the stadium taking the salute from the fans.

I was Beckham's fan back in 1998 and while he was with Man United. It is not by the performance of one match or one tournament that I started to lose faith in him. The cumulative evidence of his behaviour on and off the pitch has made me very disillusioned with England's captain.

I shudder at the prospect of Beckham lifting the world cup though I am an England fan. There will be no escape from the image of Beckham by then.

If we can win this thing playing badly then I for one wont complain. We should be taking more positives. I have only heard a few "peaking at the right time" quotes.

I do get worried about Lampard not bringing his Chelsea form to the England roll. Tactically I would restore Gary Neville and give at least 30 mins to the lively Lennon.

My only fear is chances are we may face Brazil in the Semi's... We can do it though... More positivity Please!!!

I think I detect a shift in the tone and content of the messages on this board. Clearly the team are still getting plenty of shtick for not playing very well but there seems to be more acknowledgement that results matter most coupled with improving performances. Results have been brilliant - 3 wins, 1 draw - and performances have without doubt been improving. It has been difficult to enjoy the world cup so far because of the standard of play from England but also because of all the negativity in the media. Now is the time to get behind the team, our team, and enjoy what is coming. If we lose, we lose but we have a real chance of further progress so roll on Saturday and Big Phil!!

What's with all the hate? I thought we played decently against Ecuador, moving the ball around well. At times in their final third fo the pitch there was a lack of anything due to the fact that they were defending with almost all of their players, how do you expect us to find space with so little of their half free.

As for Beckham, with only one forward to aim his crosses too it is not suprising hee didn't play as much part in creating chances as we sould like. He still works hard tackeling and the like and that combined with his superb set piece play means that his place in the team is more than justified.

I think that against teams that spread themselves a bit thinner and in more comfortable conditions (the heat is a reason for a certain play style but shouldn't be an excuse for poor performances) we will always be in with a good chance.

If we go out in the next round then it will have been a missed chance but what if we get to the finals playing like we have been doing, will there still armchair managers telling Sven how it should be done?

Oh and what is "Beckham has scored his free kick now and going by statistics it will be another 3 years before he scores another" supposed to mean? Do you understand statistics?

Have to agree with most of the above, except the obsession with 4-4-2. We've tried it for years and it's easily out-thought and invariably leads to (in)glorious defeats against cleverer teams. Even T&T could see through it. The better teams (Brazil, Portugal, Argentina) are much more fluid and happy to change formations where necessary.
It's worth remembering that we controlled the game for long periods yesterday and looked comfortable in intense heat against a willing if limited side. That is not the (relatively successful as it turned out) England that I remember from Mexico 86 or Japan 02. Those sides invariably started appallingly and finished strongly.
Look at this way, Argentina didn't find it easy against Mexico and there could well be a shock for Italy or Brazil waiting. You can only beat the team in front of you.

Whether we have have one game or three games left at the world cup, the good thing is that Sven's reign is finally coming to an end :) May his starring role in the West End production of The Emperor's New Clothes be a huge success - with his luck, it is sure to be !!! Good luck Real Madrid - you have an aging squad, too many egos, improving opponents in La Liga - yes, I can really see Sven turning that around - not that he'll be bothered as he collects yet another multi-million pound pay cheque !!!

It's very encouraging to read all the positive comments on here today. There are also some harsh comments, especially about Becks. I think that Bartholomew is particularly out of order.
What is strange is that, despite the performances not being what we'd like to see, I think that people are becoming more confident. The team has never looked to be under any real pressure.. that could be significant, because top players play better under pressure. This is where the competition really starts, and some will be found wanting - but I doubt if it will be any of our team!

PhilS, I agree with you 110 percent and apparently it isn't just the media who are overlooking Lampard's dismal performance and over-focusing on Beckham, it's the message boards too!

I feel too that Gerrard's performances (which admittedly aren't perfect but are at least showing flashes of his usual brilliance) are being overlooked in a big way. It isn't saying much, but right now he is England's top scorer!!

And I agree with Andrew, drop Lamps, put Crouch and Rooney up front and J. Cole, Gerrard, Beckham and Aaron Lennon across the middle. Lennon has been superb (I almost laugh out loud with relief when I see him handling the ball) and why he isn't played more is a mystery to me.

Agree with other post-ers that the shift in focus from criticising the England performance to acknowledging that without firing on all cylinders England are still through to the final eight is a good thing. I hope the players are of the same mindset. C'mon England!

I have to say well done england
and well done becks terry bucther is
a negative old man and should get
behind the team or shut up.
garrick was great and everyone can
see rooney is getting better and better,and still full of running
after 90 mins.the holland portugal
game was a disgrace from both teams
and england will show all the
doubters how to play football and
beat potugal in normal time i would
say to all the critics shut up
and get behind becks and the lads
come on england.

Just a quick one, I have to disagree with Greg S' post where he says:

"Most England fans would happily swap a lucky World Cup win for an impressive defeat in the semi-finals"

I think he would be hard pushed to find anyone who thinks that way. If you win the World Cup EVERYONE remembers and by definition you were the best team because you saw off all comers. What use is spectacular football if you don't win the game!?

Can the 大象传媒 arrange for professional commentators not ex football players, with obvious grudges against players and management, to commentate on the England games aired on your station.
My suggestion would be Adrian Childs, he is pasionate about the game but crucially a professional broadcaster.

Since Eriksson arrived in 2002, England had loads of "problems" in terms of balance.
The first problem was on the left hand side where no one was a clear first choice. Finally, Joe Cole got the job and did it pretty well.

Then, England had to find a good balance in midfield in 2004 with Scholes, Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham who clearly could not all play together, except in a sort of "attack or die" tactic that Eriksson was clearly not a fan of.

Still today, that balance is not clear. Lampard is not as good as he normally is with Chelsea, Carrick was not as good as Hargreaves was against Sweden (by the way, some fans and some journalist must look pretty stupid now) and Becks is always going to be "ok" with England.

The squad does not play well at the moment but there is no sign of tension like in the French squad for example which is a good sign and reminds me or Germany 2002 - Greece 2004.

Ironically - and that will be my point - we all thought that England had solved one of its major issue before the tournament: The goalkeeper issue.
Paul Robinson is a great goalie. He proved it this season with Tottenham.
However, he looks so unreliable at the moment. Worse, when Germany and France were/are fighting to choose between there goalies, England has no other option but to stick with a goalie that looks mentally affected by his early mistakes.
Of course, one may say that Greece won in 2004 with a dodgy goalie (Nikopolidis from Olympiakos), that Portugal were finalist with a sort of David James (Ricardo from Sporting) and that Cech is now back in West London even though he is a brilliant goalkeeper but I still believe that Paul Robinson could be the weakest link in this squad... It would be so devastating if England was kicked out against Portugal or in the semis/final because of a mistake of its goalkeeper...

Beckham claimed he was "unwell" prior to the game and it was later stated he was dehydrated by the England camp. How can a professional athlete be dehydrated BEFORE a crucial football match?! Wenger makes his players do unrine tests before games to check hydration levels and that includes a game in the middle of British winter. To me this clearly indicates Englands preparation is not good enough. They complain about the heat but clearly they are not monitored closely enough for it. Another major blunder and lack of detail shown by an incompetant management team...including Steve McClaren. I thought the team played reasonably well and put in a professional performance but if extra time had been required not being properly hydrated in those conditions would have really biten us on the backside. We have to learn from this

Let's face the true: the english side is playing an absolutely ugly football and with a hell of luck has came so far in the tournament. For the sake of the football, I do hope that any team performing poorly like we have so far should not go far than the quarter-finals.

Drop Lampard?!? Ridiculous. He has more shots on goal than any other player in the world cup. That means that he's consistently getting in to the right positions, getting the ball, and getting a shot in. A defender's nightmare! Sure, he hasn't scored yet, but only due to extreme bad luck. He's looked more like scoring than anyone else, that's the point. Think Owen v Crouch against T&T. Crouch kept missing, but Owen wasn't even getting chances. Owen went off, Crouch scored.

I thought the team selection against Ecuador was spot on. Hargreaves was a revelation at right back, Carrick did his job well, and while Beckham is a shadow of himself, I think Lennon's better as a sub than starting and giving the other side 90 minutes to figure him out. We just need to tell Beckham to go wide and not keep cutting inside. He made his name not by scrapping infield but as the best crosser of the ball from the right wing in the world, and needs to be reminded of that.

England 2, Portugal nil; Lampard to score twice.

I hate to say this: I think that we will have to trust in the manager's decision - for one thing we really have no other choice.
Sven has sufficient pressure on him. I am not a fan of Sven, I do believe that he wants to win the Worldcup, it would make him even more wealthy and [apparently] attractive to the opposite sex.

I have no idea what motivates his decision-making; from taking a 17 year old in place of Defoe, or even Bent, and then not playing Walcott, to playing only 4-4-2 until the World cup final then changing formation from game to game or even from half to half, Sven's eccentric approach to football management completely baffles me.

I have decided that because I do not know what goes on inside the world of the FA and the England football camp I will just have to hope that all goes well on the pitch when it really counts. I want to see England in the finals, I believe that we have the talent and ability to achieve that, I also hope that management decisions do not prevent England from reaching their true potential.

What I was saying is that most England fans would prefer to win the World Cup playing badly than play amazingly well and lose in the final. I was also trying to say that people don't merely remember results - they remember performances.

I totally agree with Greg S, and in fact I would go so far as to argue that Beckham has been one of the more successful members of the squad so far despite him performing well below par.

Let us not forget that Beckham has supplied or scored 4 goals so far in this copetition, which far out weighs anyone else's contribution.

There is no doubt he under-performing, but when you look at what he has provided, there is an argument to suggest that we wouldn't even have reached the knockout stages without him.

People go on about Lennon - who has looked good in both games, but what is the end product of his labour?

And Joe Cole .... he was great against Sweden but he too has supplied less goals from all the chances he has created than Beckham has with the few chances he has created.

Get off Beckham's back and have a look at one or two other under performing stars, like Lampard.

I will say one thing about Lampard though - he's getting in the position, so surely he'll convert one soon.

Nonetheless I'd be more inclined to go with Greg s.'s suggestion and bring in an anchor man, which will allow us to set Stevie G free (another nman who hasn't really hit the hights yet!)

If England were so poor, how come Ecuador only had one serious goal scoring chance?

Stop with this nonsensical negativity.

Greg S wrote
"What I was saying is that most England fans would prefer to win the World Cup playing badly than play amazingly well and lose in the final. I was also trying to say that people don't merely remember results - they remember performances."

Guess it's a pity you wrote the exact oposite the first time then ;-)

p.s. come on England

Probably the wrong place to put this but I didn't know where else to go! Is there any chance you could put a Luis Figo and / or Christiano Ronaldo mask on the world cup mask section??
These would be great ready for Saturdays match!

Cheers
Dave

Were the Radio 5 Live and 大象传媒1 TV commentary teams at the same game? I was driving back home yesterday afternoon so had to content myself with radio commentary. Alan Green, Terry Butcher, and Graham Taylor's comments led me to believe that England were appalling and that Carrick had been anonymous. Yet when I watched the video recording I saw Carrick having a pretty good game and an England performance that did enough in the circumstances. In fact with some better finishing it could easily have been 3-0 (or 3-1 had Ecuador scored from that one and only real chance they had). The 大象传媒1 commentary team were reasonably positive about the overall performance and were raving about Carrick's role. Having now seen the game I tend to agree with the TV commentators.

I'm with Patrick - lets all be honest, some significant fortune has got England thus far. And if we are really honest, we know they've got no chance (they way they look at the moment) against Germany, Argentina, brazil or Italy.
I wish them all the best, but they are no way near the best in the world, FACT.

Playing badly yet still winning. Isn't that the hallmark of a quality team? Play well and win convincingly, play badly and still win. I seem to remember the much lauded England rugby team having quite a few so, so games in the Rugby World Cup, but they knew how to win, believed they would and did. This England team haven't quite clicked yet as the pre-Rugby World Cup team did, but I have a similar feeling about the team. Back then, during a close run match I was worried and on the edge of my seat, but somehow there was still a belief the result would come. I have the same feeling now about this England team. Their very presence, the positions they are adopting, the skills of individuals, seem to be doing the job even though we know, as a team, they can do better. They aren't just a team having a bad game, they are the real deal having a bad game but have the headroom to raise the standard. Really exciting stuff.

Something which really struck me while watching this world cup is the lack of movement in the midfield. Time and time again I see the midfield or full-backs in possession with no one wiling to make space around them for the simple pass. While watching other teams (Argentina, Brazil, Germany) the players work hard for each other to create space and develop moves which ultimately lead to goalscoring oppurtunities. Having an attacking mindset does not mean the players must stand on the edge of the opposition box and wait for the ball. England seem to push upfield and wait for the ball to arrive at their feet and when it does they tend to have thier backs to goal. Now, this I am sure is not because of a lack of technical quality, as creativity, workrate, and awareness are in abundance in the midfield. Fitness cannot be an issue for the renowned super fit franky and stevie.

England need to get ionvolved in fluid passing moves to move the ball up the field and frank lampard and Gerrard need to time their breaks forward, to spring attacks on the opposition defence.

We cannot rely on rooney to score, lets not forget his goalscoring tally in qualification... so i feel if this point is addressed then england have a real chance of going all the way.

Something which really struck me while watching this world cup is the lack of movement in the midfield. Time and time again I see the midfield or full-backs in possession with no one wiling to make space around them for the simple pass. While watching other teams (Argentina, Brazil, Germany) the players work hard for each other to create space and develop moves which ultimately lead to goalscoring oppurtunities. Having an attacking mindset does not mean the players must stand on the edge of the opposition box and wait for the ball. England seem to push upfield and wait for the ball to arrive at their feet and when it does they tend to have thier backs to goal. Now, this I am sure is not because of a lack of technical quality, as creativity, workrate, and awareness are in abundance in the midfield. Fitness cannot be an issue for the renowned super fit franky and stevie.

England need to get ionvolved in fluid passing moves to move the ball up the field and frank lampard and Gerrard need to time their breaks forward, to spring attacks on the opposition defence.

We cannot rely on rooney to score, lets not forget his goalscoring tally in qualification... so i feel if this point is addressed then england have a real chance of going all the way.

Is it just me, or would bringing Neville back be a backward step? When it comes to the long ball game, Neville is the worst culprit. How may times have we seen him lug the ball forward aimlesly, only for it to come straight back at us?

Contrast this with Hargreaves. He played simply and with culture, rarely giving the ball away. When we were under pressure, instead of kicking the ball away, he carried it forward, and then played a simple ball, relieving the pressure. This combined with a similarly mature performance from Carrick was what won us the game yesterday.

In many previous high profile matches, we have finally lost because we were unable to keep the ball after we had scored. With the players we have, I would back us to score once against anyone. Now, with this formation, and these players, I would back us to hold on to that lead.

Hats off to Beckham for a brilliant goal yesterday. But those that use this as a reason to keep him in the side are missing the point. The whole reason that we end up desperately relying for goals on set pieces late on in the game is because we are currently getting no penetration from midfield. Beckham cannot beat players with pace or skill and his much vaunted long-ball (sorry "passing") skills seem to have deserted him. Time to give Lennon a shot, and then we may not need to rely on the hit or miss tactics of relying on free kicks for our goals.

I see there are still some of you with the misguided notion that 4-4-2 is actually going to win us the World Cup. Well it isn't and I don't want to have to say "I told you so" when it all ends in tears. There's no gaurantee with any system but at least with 4-5-1 we have some chance as opposed to none.

There was a comment earlier about Lennon's final contribution that I fail to understand. It was his run and turn that gave Becks the space to cross and find Crouch for thr goal against T&T. Becks doesn't seem to be able to engineer that space for himself lately.(Maybe he may be better in a free roll?)

I do think, though, that Lennon is only an impact player for the 2nd half, as is Crouch.

Amazingly with Sven's squad selection we have a couple of options to change games and quite like the way he can change systems. All the worlds best teams have to be fluid with players and systems.

Becks can come in the center to make way for Lennon, if you lose Lampard or a holding player.

Carrick/Hargreaves can play the holding role if you sacrifice a forward or Lampard/Gerrard.

Even going 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 if chasing a game.

There are loads of options that we can adapt these very good players to but it all begs the question about the Sven's outlook on friendlies.

We have reasons to be cheerful and if we get the momentum we CAN go all the way. Look at 1990! We were dire apart from a stunning semi-final and who remembers all the bad games? Ireland we were very poor, drew 0-0 with the Dutch, scraped past Egypt 1-0,Belgium forgotten because of Platts wonder goal. Cameroon ripped us apart and gifted us 2 pens!

So come on boys do it for the Country!

so, England play badly, but have got the results they need...

I find it a bit disappointing however, that a poor team can be in the last 8 of the world cup, never having beaten a team ranked in FIFA's top 30 !

Surely the competition at this level should be better arranged, in order to give the viewing public the spectacle the world cup has been hyped as. A second group stage for instance?

The BOTTOM line is England are in the Quarter Finals.
I am a Welsh guy, living in NYC and think it is fantastic that an English side playing so poorely are in that position.
But what i wish is that there would be one game, similar to their German win (and to how Germany are playing) where we show the world that the players truly are some of the "greatest" and that it is not just Hyperbole, thats all.
So that even if we go down, it was with a fight and our competition can say, "Jesus, England were unlucky that was the best game i have ever seen"
As opposed to to the usual comments, and we ALL know what they are.
All the best England, - a Welsh fan.

The key point about yesterday was that when we played through Carrick it worked like a dream. When Robinson hoofed it we never achieved anything. What does Robinson expect to achieve by doing this and why do the back four pass back to him knowing he will do this?
The thing I noticed about Carrick is that he always passes along the ground, often through the eye of a needle - this is more difficult to defend than a high long ball which gives the defender more time to decide what to do. Also, through his positioning he does not expend much energy which can only be good in the current conditions. Other positives were Wayne Rooney's last 15 minutes once he got his second wind and Aaron Lennon's intelligent play on the right - never conceding possesion.

If England think they can win the world cup they have shown very little to convince the punters.
Euraguay were one of the poorest teams in the tournament and England struggled to get a result against them.
God help them when they come up against a good side!

[b]ishouldbeenglandboss said:[/b]

[i]"Try Lennon and A Cole as wingbacks and with three quality central defenders, Carragher, Terry and Ferdinand we don't need a silly defensive midfielder.

Becks more central with Gerrard and Lampard further forward.

Play J Cole roaming behind Walcott and Rooney." [/i]

Mate, if you could really get FIFA to let us play a 3-5-3 as you suggest, then you really SHOULD be England boss!!

Anyhow, back to the point... I'm thoroughly fed up with all the slagging comments. OK, England weren't great, but they WERE much improved, and have consistently made chances.

I totally don't see where the Five Live interviewer gets off calling the performance re: Ecuador as "Abysmal", "Dire" and "Embarassing". It was a 6 out of 10 performance, not 2 out of 10).

Is he just trying to make a name for himself, or endear himself to the foreign press camp? Or maybe just get Butcher to say something quotable?

If Lampard had half his usual accuracy, we'd have been getting 3-0s not 1-0s and everyone would be happy.

You can only beat what's in front of you. Come the getter opponents and our big guns will perform.

As always I am perplexed and slightly amused at the reaction of the media to Englands performance yesterday.I was driving after the game and I listened to Alan Green on Radio 5 who professed that "If England went on to win the WC playing like that it would be an embarrassment " ..to who ? England or the other teams that lost to us ?
The hysteria following yesterdays win is endemic of a press desperately seeking copy to fill column inches ,finding fault where there is little and endlessly sifting through pointless minutae. Like prepubescent girls squabbling over which boy band is coolest and who liked them first,there is a vitriolic delight in running down England, especially from mainly mediocre ex-players and sadly deluded wannabees .Of course we should always take it with a pinch of salt,mainly because if we believed our press England wouldn't have won an International game for the last ten years.How many times have we heard that our opponents were technically superior or mystified us with their speed and movement? I swear that everytime an England team takes the field I expect to see 11 Mr Magoos .
Yet strangely enough we are in the last eight ...again and do you know something I would rather watch some winning dirge than be out going down in media friendly glory .

Euraguay?

I agree with Alan Green's comments - first time for everything - if we play as badly as we have done and still win the World Cup it will be a disaster for football. The beautiful game deserves much better. Truth is we won't win it.

We won't even get past Portugal. So far we've played the mighty Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago, the ordinary Sweden and the mighty Equador.

It's not like we've got through a group consisting of Brazil, France and Spain.

When did England last play good football? The 5-1 won against Germany I reckon.

It was always gonna be a case of us losing as soon as we came up against a half-decent team. It doesn't really deserve to have been in the last eight. Once again this fact will hide just how poor our national team is. Oh well.

What is wrong with the English? Their team is winning, and they are busy slating the coach and the players. Beckham is getting goals and winning games,and they think he is not worth it.
The truth is, Ericsson is the best manager England have had in a long, long time, though the English themselves would love to blame him for just about anything they can think of - including the rift between Brown and Blair.

Grow up England. Learn to enjoy the good times while they last!

I think England have been their usual diappointing selves and the longer they continue to play this way (against weaker sides or otherwise), the easier it will be for a decent side to brush them aside.... Portugal included.

Unbeaten in four World Cup matches and through to a QF date with Portugal - what more could you ask for?

Well, how about a proper game of football for one, where England play with fluidity, movement, seamless and accurate passing, quick and effective one touch moves, attacking flair and lots of goals!!

You can complain about whether Sven brought enough strikers, whether Owen's injury has affected the team, whether the heat has sapped all the energy from the fair skinned northern people and whether we play too many matches in our domestic season.....but ultimately and more importantly we have not played well and I am dreading coming up against a Portugal team even without Deco, Costinha and possibly Ronaldo.....it's another QF defeat for a team that has once again flattered to deceive and has nowehere near lived up to their billing as the best players since 1966 to have the potential to bring the trophy and football home.

I'be been more excited watching Ghana....at least they play good attacking football and want to win matches.

A perspective from California. Enough with the Beckham bashing. This is a squad of excellent players who have yet to bring it all together, but the momentum is growing. American TV commentators are mediocre American soccer players (are there any other kind)- oh for some professional commentators with a perspective on the game. I watched the Trinidad and Tobago game in a British pub in Las Vegas surrounded by real fans. What a difference! Go for it lads, you can go all the way. Some of us out here have faith in you.

for god sake will evryone stop complainig were winning arnt we? weve done well to reach the quarter finals and thats better than most teams

for god sake will evryone stop complainig were winning arnt we? weve done well to reach the quarter finals and thats better than most teams

Why should beckham be in the england team he can't tackle, he can't beat a player with skill, and apart from yesterday the last free kick he scored was against greece back in 2002, I'm sure if you gave any sunday league footballer as many chances as beckham has had to score a free kick they would probabaly score more than 1 in 4 years

If England don't start performing better they'll be the man falling from a building saying "so far so good, so far so good, so far so good" as he passes each floor.

it was great to see that beckham goal yesterday steered around the bend gracefully but i was gob-smacked to see victoria backham jump up and look for the camera, "LOOK AT ME". no i dont think so i would rather watch the game victoria. As for those who can only think the worst i think we are in good possion for rubbish football dont you .

Obviously I hope that I am made to eat my words and that somehow England can produce the top quality performances (boring or otherwise) that ultimately win the thing. But how anyone can, in all seriousness, defend the style of play, tactics and appetite of the team is beyond me. Beckham and Gerrard have been the only consistent performers, consistency being the key word as everyone else has, despite moments of brilliance from a few, been distinctly average. I love him, but Lampard has just not looked up for it, Paul Roninson has only escaped Calamity James moments by sheer fluke and Terry and Ferdinand just can't seem to perform well together at the same time. Don't get me wrong, of course England have shown in the past what they are capable of, but it's an insult to talk about them winning it when you look at how the Argies, Brazil, Portugal, Aussies etc. have managed to play. Guess it will all be revealed Saturday!!!!

we played badly but it is the score that counts not the way we play so cut them some slake come on england

So England are in the quarter finals... Four games played three victories and one draw. Who have they beaten? 3 very ordinary teams. This is the luck of the draw so you can't blame England for that. However, the quality of the football has been absoloutely awful. "Who cares if we are winning?" many say. I have never witnessed such a series of dreadful matches, sheer tedium, a team with no idea how to put 4 passes together, a team which creates practically no danger even when playing against Trinidad!!! I think England have got some good players, maybe Rooney getting fitter can help change things. But really as a team they have shown nothing to suggest that they can compete with the best, yet people still seem conviced that they can win it. Wasn't this a team that lost to Northern Ireland during qualification? The only reason for optimism that I can see is that their next opponents will be missing 2 or 3 key players for the quarter final. Not being an England supporter the thought of them scraping through to the semi finals with another boring performance is just too much to bear. If they do win I hope that at least they play some good football, so far they have given nothing to the world cup.

I don't think that England have been playing particularly well but there have been some great talking points.
I think people should be talking more about Ashley Coles Awesome save with his knee. It has to be the best save of the World Cup bar none.
Lets just hope that we can keep grinding out the results and not get any bad luck like Australia (they were robbed).
England 2-0 Portugal

Is it a case of having the best generation of players within the last thirty years, or having the worst manager within the last thirty years?

Sitting over here in Canada I'm amazed at the self-delusion about Rooney. The lad is clearly not match-sharp. He was too slow on 90% of his possessions. The couple of good moves he did are what's expected of a striker at this level of competition yet they're greeted as if he's the second coming of Pele. Maybe he'll be sharp by the Final - if they get that far. If England are going to win they're going to win from midfield - and that, very much, includes Lampard, who's just a terrific player.

Everyone wants to contribute to the morale-boosting of the England camp, myself included - so Come on England!!!
Everyone wants to be involved, everyone wants England to win 10 - nil every game and are disappointed whan it doesn't happen.

So I think you should all show a little more respect for the teams that we have been up against, they've all played really well.

A goal is 8yd x 8ft, and a ball is about 9 inches across.

Put Rooney in goal. Nothing will ever get around him.

As long as he doesn't get sent off for a tantrum...

Terry Butcher, ah yeah i remember him, part of the highly succesful 1988 Euro Championship team wasn't he?

What annoys me most is ex players and ex managers getting on the current teams back, if you are so knowledgeable and so good, why didn't you win anything with england?

A win is a win. England are in the quater finals without playing well, they can only get better.

Bearing in mind that in the history of the tournament there has only ever been one team [Brazil 1970] that have ever looked the business from the first whistle of the group games, what is all the fuss about? I'd even go as far as saying that although the Argies are by far the best thing on offer as a sure bet in this one, they are not a patch on that Brazilian side. Jeez if a side as 'poor' as ours [?!] can beat them 3-2.....

We are not playing anywhere near our best and yet we have reached the last 8. In my book that's more down to a lack of class/ability on the oppositions part more than ours.

It's true though, we can't win this on this form and don't deserve to either. The solution is simple and easier imo as the games get 'bigger'.

England are building some momentum and I will not be surprised to see this become more apparent v Portugal on Saturday. More so after last night's show of ill discipline on their part. Better teams than them would have risen above the Dutch side's disgraceful tactics and blown them away without all the cards being brandished. Poor reffing? More poor professionalism by the players if you ask me!

I am fed up with the media's overreaction to England's performance. Every negative is seized on, every positive is given but a passing comment. We were not "shocking" as Terry Butcher claims, we were ok, with some decent passing and held the ball quite well at times.

I have watched enough games of football to know when I see a shocking performance, and this wasn't one of them. Was it great? No. But then neither was Brazil's against Croatia or Australia. And yet I am sure that come tomorrow every time Ronaldinho steps on the ball or Ronaldo cleverly stands still in the penalty box the pundits will coo with delight at the way only a Brazilian could display such genius, and how it puts England to shame.

Right - first things first. STOP HARPING ON ABOUT 1966.

That was 40 years ago.

In saying that however, England have an excellent opportunity to win the World Cup this year, IF and thats a big if, they get their act together and start thinking before playing their shots.

Joe Cole in the Equador game was a prime example, keeping his head down and just kicking the ball without even looking to see where the other players were. C'mon England, sort it out.
David Beckhams goal in the 70odd minute was a cracker, and well deserved.
Wayne Rooney is not what he's cracked up to be. Seriously, dont get me wrong, he is a good player, but not a required factor for the starting squad. Especially without Michael Owen their to connect with set pieces with Wayne, I think Sven would be better off with Peter Crouch up front.

Just my 2 pence worth.
Oh and by the way, I'm taking some flack from my brother for being a Scotsman backing England!!!!! :O)

England All the Way!!

Let me summarise what I think the masses are saying... we've got the players (even now without Owen), but I am not sure we've got the manager to go all the way. Why does Erikson make such banal selection errors? More worrying is that his successor elect is is protege!!!

Hi!

As a german who likes to watch english premier league football, I am sorry to say that I am VERY disappointed of the performances of the english team so far. And what I (and most german experts) do not understand is why most of the players are suffering so much from the weather! I agree that it is difficult to play under these conditions (done that myself), but these are highly paid professionals! Players in general are not allowed to complain about weather conditions as the english ones did after the Paraguay match. At least that is common opinion here in Germany. The other team has to deal with it as well. If a german team would complain about wheater conditions the news papers would tear them apart! So the english players should overcome their "innere Schweinehund" - their weaker self and start to do more. I think you, as supporters, deserve at least that!

To me this team cannot be compared to the 1990 and 1996 england teams, dispite of the so called world class midfield. No doubt, their individual class is outstanding, but they are not functioning as a team and they lack in surprise moments. (I am not saying they do not act like a team!) However, A.Cole (or is it J.Cole?? I am always confused, sorry), the player in the left midfield, is an exception, but Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham cannot be compared with good old Gazza. I observed a lot of situations when Gerrard and Lampard just got in each others way. And just relying on set pieces will not be enough. So the consequence for your team should be to play either with Gerrard or Lampard, but not both. Let Owen Hargreaves play, I am serious. Look at the first half of England vs. Sweden!

Oh and one final word about being a title candidate. The current greak coach Otto Rehagel once said "Die Wahrheit liegt auf dem Platz" - The truth is on the pitch! Not in the news papers, not inside the players' or some experts' heads or somewhere else, i.e. they have to prove on the pitch they can win the cup! This hole situation reminds me somewhat of the german team in 1998. There every player said after each match "oh, we know, we can do better, we will show you next match and we know we can win the cup"...well I do not need to tell you when and how Germany went out then, do I? By the way the english 1998 team was also much better than this team. So I am sceptical the team will get in the final.

Nevertheless, I hope England will stay in the tournament, because the english supporters are always creating a great atmosphere, apart from the 0.01 percent of idiots that are everywhere. ;-)

So have a good time in Germany and good luck!

It's all well and good saying that the standard of football doesn't matter and that it's results that count, but if every team played with this attitude would anyone bother with the world cup or football? England have been average but not as poor as claimed. Due to the English culture of football,england teams will never be able to play the type of game that controls games from start to finish, dictating the flow of the game. However, they do have the capacity to score goals against any team. If they take their chances they will be in the position to capitalise while the rest of us sweat nervously as the opposition dictates for long periods. Hopefully Mc Claren will take slightly less than five years to choose a settled team! England will beat Portugal despite Sven but will take their leave, respectfully, in the Semi's.

4-5-1 looked quite good but Rooney didn't have enough support. He was never going to score all on his lonesome and with the accuracy of the midfield players on the blink, England never really looked like scoring from open play. Send Beckham out wide (for a change) and have Lampard / Gerrard to give Rooney someone to pass to. Give Crouch the last 30 minutes and with players out wide putting crosses into the box that gives up more chances to score from open play (and if you keep Beckham on the pitch then we can score from set-pieces AS WELL). Defensively things could be with being a little more cohesive, particularly against set-pieces. Also agree that we should expect more from 'professionals', that said COME ON ENGLAND!

The main issue with England's performance so far is that they have not looked like a team that can rally from going behind a goal or two. In the Trinidad and Ecuador games there were real opportunities to be behind and with the standard of play and lack of attacking imagination, so far, they looked incapable of coming back against any of the teams left in the tournament. What really is at issue is whether or not Eriksson has the ability to make changes during a match to change up the flow of play. Crouch has demonstrated the ability to come off the bench and make a difference, as has Lennon, but the decision, so far, has been to stick with off-form players for too long in a game. Tournaments are won by tactics and team chemistry: Argentina and Germany are prime examples in this World Cup. I say Sven tries a revised starting lineup including Carrick, Lennon, and Jenas, sitting Lampard out for the first half and bringing Crouch in later, as needed. Also, Beckham is not up for a full ninety minutes in this tournament, unless you have a fully fit Neville to cover.

While lamenting England's last proformance in my local pub, the following was heard. Motson had just commented that there were three balls on the pitch and that England had difficulty playing with one ball. Quick as a flash, the local wag was heard to say, "Thats because they are more used to playing with two"

Hope springs eternal.

in agreement with Greg S about Lampard- infact the hype about this player is quite remarkable- even in the Prem he only scores from mis-kicks and deflections....he's completely talentless and is really getting found out on the big stage. Rooney must have wanted to kill him after he handed a golden opportunity to him on a plate only to see him blast it higher over the bar than johnny Wilkinson- perhaps Frank has missed his true vocation and should consider taking up rugby. And how many times does A.Cole have to pass to J.Cole then run on down the wing before J.cole notices him?

I think we better stop the England team bashing,this team will probably end up winning it!

No they are not playing free flowing exciting football.that`s for sure...

I certainly blame Erickson & Co.... totally non-inspirational....England deserve a Gus Hiddinkt or Scholari...great tacticians and motivators!!

But we have Mclaren?? Big Mistake by useless FA....

If only Erickson would be a bit bolder, play Lennon & yes Walcott...straight away you change the pace.and the way we will play...

but Erickson will not change bugger all,untill it`s to late
10 minutes to go..against Portugal...

The only England Captain to have previously lifted the World Cup was knighted but could we as a nation ever accept an official "Lady Victoria Beckham" ? I somehow think not.

Another lifeless aimless performance from the 'best England football team in 40 years'.

'We'll get better' they keep saying while getting steadily worse.

England are an embarrassment to the greatest sporting event in the world.

Every other match has had drama, excitement and thrills while England trudge around lifelessly and throroughly boring the pants off every other country watching.

'It's the result that counts'

Nonsense. Why not just put every country into a hat and pull out the results randomly hoping we get given a win every time then?

If England were to win the World Cup; despite playing in this ordinary manner, will everybody still be complaining? I, for one, will be dancing and singing in the streets and "Lady Victoria Beckham" will be most welcome.

Crisis, what Crisis.

We are in the QF of the world cup finals, havn't done to much wrong, it hasn't been pretty and the reason for that is the teams we have played against.

I was lucky enough to have been to the Paraguay game they wern't anything special but the South American style never really lets us play our game. Trinidad, well we won 2-0 and still the country complained. Then Sweden, well at least we didn't lose.

Equador dispatched 1-0 and we are unbeaten going into the Quarter Finals.

Bring on Portugal, we will play better, up the tempo, and get revenge for Euro 2004.

Lets face it Brazil in the Semi's would be a cracking game, both teams starting to fire on at least 3 cylinders, before you know it we will be in the final playing Germany in their own backyard, we all know what happened last time that happened.........1-5.

God wouldn't that be MAGIC

Watching England has been the most tedious, not to say frustrating, aspect of this World Cup. The performance against Ecuador reminded me of the fumblings of an amateur chess player, playing the moves that he has learnt and not able to adapt, be flexible, be spontaneous. England clearly cannot play a five-man midfield: they do not have the personnel or the wit to do it. I shudder when I read McClaren comments about them being comfortable with the system, as they had two full practice days since the Swedish game to get it sorted out. Forget the heat, the Swede (with the finest set of players for a generation)has got England playing at a snail's pace when English football, for all of its failings, is about passion, pace and desire. And why pluck Carrick out of the air when the poor boy is evidently not up to the job. Am I the only person who thought he was utterly useless the other day? Why pick a "passing" holding player when there is no one to pass to, because no one knows where they should be playing? He was so easily bypassed and didn't seem willing to make a tackle. Even the central defenders seemed reluctant to give him the ball, instead booting the ball into the corners for Rooney (well Beckham would never get there) to chase. At least Hargreaves made a worthy effort in that position, even if he is totally impetuous in the tackle. And leave off Lampard. He might have left his shooting boots at home but at least his getting into the right positions, which is more than can be said for Gerrard, headed goal against Sweden excepting. He seems bereft of confidence, much like the once indominitable Terry.
Let's get back to the 4-4-2 (or 4-4-1-1 - never have I read about so many formations: are you all Swedish out there?) that everyone understands. Let's hope Neville is fit to return to bolster Beckham and his ageing legs down the right hand side, and return Bridge to the left hand of midfield (one of the very few Erickson ideas to have worked before it was discarded) leaving Cole to support Rooney and cause some menace instead of cutting in from the left flank all the time. Forget Downing. Why was he on the plane at all? Something to do with Middlesborough?
The FA missed a trick in not getting Hiddink as coach. Can you see things getting any better under McClaren, when Middlesborough have consistently been the most tedious team in the Premiership to watch. Back full circle I think...

When England wins the World Cup the pundits will still be complaining about our performance...

For goodness sake this is England that we're talking about...give me workwanlike wins rather than plucky, brilliant defeats any day...

The most problematic area of the England team is the goalkeeper. Robinson flaps on crosses and any half decent shot will go past him. He has become the butt of the Italian media's jokes and ENgland simply cannot win the World Cup with a goalkeeper who should simply not be there.

Robinson is a good keeper. The problem he's got is actually quite silly... but true. In four games, he hasn't had a shot to save. Goalkeepers gain confidence from saving shots. Robinson hasn't had anything to do in four games except gather crosses.

DID ANYONE SEE THE LACK OF JOY IN MCCLAREN'S FACE WHEN ENGLAND SCORED?THIS GUY LESS PERSONALITY THAN ERIKSSON.GOD HELP US ALL.

play beckham at right back and lennon right wing.drop hargreaves and maintain same formation.portuguese defenders had problem with robben running at them.Lennon will give them the same problems.or simple drop Lampard (show senior players they are not indispensable)and bring becks in field and put Lennon on the right.

I hear all that's said about "it's the result that counts"... and that would be true if we were beating Spain, Argentina, Italy etc .... but we're talking trinadad, Paraguay, Ecuador etc.. not exactly big teams. We should be steam rolling these teams.
Rooney is not fit, and Sven doesn't seem to have a clue about how his players play. We should have a referendum to decide the team and formation, and the old red button to decide sunstitutions. Let the people run this show !!

Come on England! Throughout the World Cup much of the English print and electronic media have been unrelentingly negative about the team. As an American sports fan, this is rather hard to comprehend.

Here in Boston, we have arguably the most critical media in the country. But when a team is winning ugly, few would ever complain. Winning is the object of the game! When you make mistakes or don't play your best, yet still win, that is a good thing! Many in the English media don't seem to accept this and it seems an ugly win might as well be a crushing defeat.

Last night on Five Live's 606, Alan Green said (as I remember it), "If England win the World Cup playing the way they are now, it will be an embarrassment." (My emphasis.) Let me clear my throat. Ahem... WWWHHHAAATTT???? Surely Alan needs to increase the dosage of his neuroleptics because that is simply preposterous. I don't care if England plays the most cynical game of long ball in history if they go all the way. Would it be nice to see some creativity and invention along the way? Of course. But a win is all that matters! Period. End of discussion.

I'm not looking for mindless optimism, but the facts are these: 1) England has conceded only two goals in four games, including three clean sheets, and 2) the much maligned David Beckham has played a crucial role in four of England's six goals. No, he doesn't tackle. No, he hasn't got pace. But where would England be without his ditribution and free kicks?

If it makes the English media happy to slag the team at every chance, fine. Maybe that's how they have learned to steel themselves with the possibility of failure. But they are missing out on enjoying a nice run that has a good chance of earning Becks and Co a semi-finals berth. If the media wants to dwell on negativity, it's only their loss.

As an Australian, but also an England fan I am dissappointed in their showing in the world cup.
They are slow and ponderous. I cannot believe how bad they were against Ecuador. Gerrard, Lampard and Terry probably had their worst games in years. Beckham looks out of sorts but keeps trying. Hopefully things will improve, theycan still win the cup, but things have got to improve

We have always played well against the better teams, and the fact that we haven't hit our peak yet is encouraging. Don't over look the fact that trying to score goals against teams that play football in their own halves is by no means an easy feat.

How far have England got to get in this World Cup before they actually get some support from our negative press and a lot of our supporters.
I think if you asked any football supporter to name one team that they thought would make the final they would probably say ...Brazil..yes? Why? Well apart from their ability to play thrilling football (although they haven鈥檛 done to much at this world cup so far) their supporters believe ... no sorry it is unthinkable to their supporters that they wouldn鈥檛 make the final.
How must that feel to a team knowing that they have the total belief of their supporters? How difficult does that make it for them to loose? How hard are they going to try to make sure they get to that final?
Now lets go back to England, they I鈥檓 sure have belief in themselves, but if they went out of the competition now they could safely say 鈥渨ell we made it further than people expected us to鈥�.
Why don鈥檛 we make it harder for them to loose? Why don鈥檛 the press try some positive headlines rather than the negative all the time. Is the glass half full or half empty? for as many negative points in the England v Ecuador game there were as many positives. Roony played the whole game and looking better all the time. How about the excellent and accurate passes that Carrick was putting through to Roony, Ecuador were extremely lucky that some of them didn鈥檛 get through to him. Beckhams brilliant goal鈥 could go on鈥ome on press 鈥� supporters 鈥� get behind England 鈥hey will make the final!

Come on guys 'n' gals, let's get real here!!!!!!

Do you really believe that the only world class football players have English nationality? Of course not! Yes we have the creme de la creme of English players on our team but other nations have their creme de la creme as well.

When faced with such class opposition, NO TEAM is going to look brilliant. What we have here is the best playing the best and it is going to look like we're struggling - because it IS a struggle, not just for us but for all the teams out there.

Billy D from the USA is spot on here. We have been winning and we are still in with a chance, so stop moaning about our boys and start enjoying the performance they give us whilst they are trying to beat the world's best.

And so far....they have.

I love England, I am driving around with an English flag on my car, proud that England is the in the World Cup...but...embarrassed at how they are playing. Why are they so reticent in the goal. Why do they keep passing sideways or backwards? Unless they suddenly start playing exciting football, there is no way they can win. Since I don't expect they are reading these comments, I don't feel the need to say "Come on England". I would love to feel proud of the way they play though.

Come on guys 'n' gals, let's get real here!!!!!!

Do you really believe that the only world class football players have English nationality? Of course not! Yes we have the creme de la creme of English players on our team but other nations have their creme de la creme as well.

When faced with such class opposition, NO TEAM is going to look brilliant. What we have here is the best playing the best and it is going to look like we're struggling - because it IS a struggle, not just for us but for all the teams out there.

Billy D from the USA is spot on here. We have been winning and we are still in with a chance, so stop moaning about our boys and start enjoying the performance they give us whilst they are trying to beat the world's best.

And so far....they have.

There is no doubt that England can play better. They have to have a better system. Michael Carrick is the best passing and playmaker of all the midfield players we have. So to put him in a holding role, even though he played well, is a waste of his talents.
He made a few penetrating passes against Equador which unfortunately were not capitalized on. He needs to be able to float around in midfield using his talents to the max.
Using 5 players in midfield takes away all the creativity of Carrick and all the other midfield players.
Every time Lennon has been on the field there is a threat. He has speed to burn plus it also creates gaps in the defence of the opposition.
Watching the games that England have played it would seem Sven's stategy is trying not to lose as opposed to
going after a win.

Sven is a little eccentric on times but in some ways his lack of passion may have been a blessing in disguise. England have played well within themselves for the first four games. If we had been managed by a typical English manager e.g. Kevin Keegan, Graham Taylor etc. we would have gone all out for the last four games and had nothing left for the QF, SF and maybe even the finals. The team we have got now is definitely better than 2002 and 2004 QF. If we do go a goal down hopefully we can start stepping up through the gears. Also for example Brazil appear to have a pretty poor defence which the midfield should hopefully be able to exploit if we can get past Portugal. As somebody mentioned previously we also have the luxury of bringing on impact substitutions i.e. Lennon (might even be worth giving him a whole game) and Crouch (remember the Argentina friendly!).

I would probably stick with Hargreaves at right back because he can tackle well but most importantly has the pace to get himself and the team out of trouble. I have always thought Gary Neville to be one of Englands most consistent players but I do wonder if this a tournemant to far for him. I thought Carrick played well and so I would stick with him as well.
I agree that some of the pundits have been talking absolute rubbish. I think everyone realises we haven't played particularly fluent football but tournemant football is all about peaking at the right time and saving your best performances for when you need them. We haven't needed to play well yet because we have played some rally poor teams. It might be tempting to drop Lampard but I would stick with him because he is most definitely due a goal. He has missed a couple of sitters but they have been in games that haven't really mattered.
What I fear the most is that we will go out gallantly like we always do in one of the next three matches. I remember vividly the heartbreak of losing to Germany in '90 and '96. I don't think my ticker could another couple of games like that so here's to us winning the world cup without penalties or extra time!

Watching the English play football is like watching grass grow in the winter. The team shows no love for the game they are out there playing. Watch Brazil, Argentina, every African team out there, watch Korea: they all just love being out on the pitch kicking that little ball around. I also can't bear to watch a team get a goal ahead then just kill time till the end. I haven't seen anything impressive so far that makes me think the players are having more fun than Eddie the Eagle. At least he was 100% heart. This is what the English team seems to lack. Thus said, I hope they take the Cup home. David deserves to have it live in his home a bit at least as the only player who seems happy to be out there.

Poor England. No world cup win in 40 years (is that why you're always so obsessed with things that took place decades if not centuries ago? Battle of the Somme, WW2, 1966?). But at least you were holding one title: Worst shootout scorers ever!... Well, you were. Up until today. Tiny Switzerland has taken that away from you... leaving you with... hey, you've got a Queen.

;-)

It seems to me that the English team is pacing itself, holding back reserves to play the tougher teams that are ahead. A better bet then playing flat out from game one and wearing out by game three. The critics are going to complain either way so the rest of us true fans will support the boys all the way, no matter how they play. That's called loyalty.

Please, a little more credit for Ecuador, and a bit less of this 'England struggle against teams that stick ten men behind the ball' nonsense. Neither side showed much ambition during the game, and Ecuador created just as many chances as England. They have beaten much better sides than England in recent years, so were no overawed by the occasion or out to play for a draw. One flash of briliance from Beckham from a set piece was all there was between the sides. And never again let a word be said in England about Johnny foreigner and their time-wasting because England's time wasting antics after going 1-0 up were despicable.

I see that England are approaching the game like a top class swimmer in the olympics at the early heat stages - just do enough to get into the finals. England haven't lost and on average England have conceded less than a goal a game and scored more than one a game. That is enough to win the World Cup.

In the England-Trinidad game, the tempo was raised in the final half hour. Although it did take time for Crouch to score, England eventually won the game. We know what England are capable of doing so really there is nothing to worry about. True the performances have been dull and it is a bit concerning, but none of the England players have shirked from responsibility. No player should be criticised.

The weather is simply too hot for many teams, not just England to play normally. Even the shirts of the African players were dripping sweat because they are not used to the humidity in Europe. It's not often that Britain has hot summers so how can anyone expect England to play well in the heat. Most of the European leagues kick off in the evenings because of the heat factor and back in 2003 the football season started when temperatures reached record highs. When I went to watch Bradford play Norwich, the players were taking drinks breaks every few minutes when play was stopped because of the heat. According to local weatherman Paul Hudson, the temperature inside the stadium was over 100F.

In the olympics, commonwealth games, world championships etc the running races are usually held late evening. Obivously because the weather conditions are more appropriate for the athletes to run. For footballers to play football for 90 minutes in the extreme heat is an acheivement in itself.

England have the ability to go all the way and the players believe England can do it. The teams remaining in the competition are just as good as each other so the World Cup is anyones taking.

I have been watching "My Team" from across the pond and have not seen much of the press back in Blighty
Ok England have not played great for the last few games and the team seems a little slow...but were in the QF's!!
Of all the posters on here which are negative i wonder how many of you will be watching the game Saturday?
All of you!
When we go 2-0 up after Rooney has scored a wonder goal and Lampard has nailed his 25yrd shot into the top right corner how many of you will be complaining...not many ...most will be jumping up and down for joy ....shame on you guys/gals
Will it happen who knows i just look forward to supporting "My team"
I dont care what some cheap "tittie" paper prints
COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!

You don't see many people writing off Italy despite struggling against USA & Australia. Typical English attitude. - complete negativity.

Having just got back from watching England in Germany, you notice Beckham's contribution from the stands. When we lose the ball he sprints back to get himself behind the ball, and never stops running. Lampard on the other hand misses a sitter, loses the ball, and jogs slowly back hoping someone can get the ball back. For me Lampard is at last chance saloon.

I would go unchanged against Portugal, but Lampard & Gerrard need to do more. If Lampard doesn't improve then Lennon should be given a run on the right, and switch Beckham inside.

Against Brazil I would definitely start with Lennon anyway. Having pace on the flank should expose Roberto Carlos & give us more attacking options. Beckham's hard-work in the centre will give us more protection there too.

As many have said, lets be grateful we are in the Quater Finals.

We are yet to find our peak, but as lawro said during the Switz/Ukraine game last night, "there will be a big performance from the England team, its the law of averages."

Personally I think we'll have 2, the first in the Semis against Brazil and then in the final against Argentina.

I said before on another blog, lets get behind the team and of their backs.

Over a million people turned out in london to celebrate the England Rugby Union team win by 3 points. Woodward advocated the philosophy of 'history being written by the victors' and i am one to follow.
A win is a win and nobody will care if we go all the way and win. If we go out at the quarter finals or semi finals or even in the final then a better team have won. Simple as that - Then let the critics have their piece of meat.

PORTUGAL 2
ENGLAND 1

Four games, four unsinspired performances.
They said they would need to improve after Paraguay....
Guess what, they didn't!
They said it after all their games and still no improvement.
The most likely explanation is that they cannot improve.
Maybe if we stuck to playing our game and not Swedens game, we'd do better. We play fast flowing, counter-attacking football at a pace that continental sides find hard to keep up with.
We don't allow them time on the ball to think, we chase every cause, lost or otherwise and we do not sit back to defend a slender one goal lead!
If you keep them in their half, they won't score!
Show the boys some of the games from 1990-96, it may inspire them!

@comment 121

Well, they had their chance against Sweden, which is a strong team, isn't it? Look what happened when England took the lead. They started playing typical Eriksson-catenaccio-crap. In my opinion an even worse style than the Italians in 2002 with Trappatoni!

At several free kicks near the box ALL english players were alinged at the box! It almost looks like they are trying not to lose instead of trying to win, as someone else wrote here before.

Well, of course you win, I am fine with that, but I think they sould not win the cup, because it would be a bad sign for football. Others might say, O.K. let's copy that style. The result would be really boring games.

And at Billy D, that is exactly the reason why the media should criticise the english games despite of the results.

@comment 121

Well, they had their chance against Sweden, which is a strong team, isn't it? Look what happened when England took the lead. They started playing typical Eriksson-catenaccio-crap. In my opinion an even worse style than the Italians in 2002 with Trappatoni!

At several free kicks near the box ALL english players were alinged at the box! It almost looks like they are trying not to lose instead of trying to win, as someone else wrote here before.

Well, of course you win, I am fine with that, but I think they sould not win the cup, because it would be a bad sign for football. Others might say, O.K. let's copy that style. The result would be really boring games.

And at Billy D, that is exactly the reason why the media should criticise the english games despite of the results.

Unfortunately, and i hate to say this, if England do manage to lift the World Cup this time round it will be tainted by the fact that Sven is at the reigns. We will only win games in spite of him and not because of him and aside from any players and thier performances this is unacceptable. He is tactically inept, he is slow to react and couldnt motivate a marble to roll on a downhill sheet of ice. Im not sure if its because he isn't English, i say best man for the job whatever his origin.
It doesn't matter where on the park you look, at full strength we are a match for anyone. I understand anyone who indicates our strength in depth as a weakness but Sven only compounds that with his choice of 4 strikers. I can't name another manager who would have taken two recovering strikers, crouch and a player who hasn't played a premiership game. I don't even knock his decision to take Walcott, but to take him and not use him against Sweeden when nothing could really be lost is lost on me.
We have a squad big enough to take the two best in every position, so why take two players in Carragher and Hargreaves who are fourth best everywhere? I would actually have carragher as he is a quality centre back.
I could simply go on forever. Good teams have good players, World beaters have good players with good managers who know how to eak out every last drop of talent. We have a Sweede who couldn't get an Eek out of a scared mouse.

I see the fact that England are playing poor as the teams they're playing do put many men behind the ball, however the main factor is that their isn't any "needle" against Paraguy or T&T or Ecquador. England seem to need a reason (apart from winning the damn thing) to beat a team. The team think "we should beat these, but we'd look very silly if we don't" so we'll be a bit cautious, however against Argentina, or Germany (teams we love to beat) we know we'll do well. It's almost as if the team think they just a bit better than us, so why no go for it for 90 minutes. Now Portugal for instance has a bit of "needle" (Big Phil, Euro 2004) not as much as the Argies or Germany (we'll save that for the final) but I can see us playing better.

Am I going mad? I'm sure there was a string of posts on this thread yesterday from Stephan Blunt? Have they been removed? You have to be kidding 大象传媒! The guy was more paranoid than hippie in a tent full of DEA agents but his emails were harmless. They certainly livened up the thread. What's going on? Have I come to the wrong thread? Or has he really been censored? My God! Maybe his conspiracy theory is correct???!!!

My mistake, wrong thread! Sorry!

I am fustrated by all the talk about formations, England are planing badly and the press getting on the players backs. They know what they have to do.

The press annoy me. Everyone is getting on Becks' back. He has scored one, forced an own goal, set up Crouch on a plate for his goal and another chance that crouch fluffed. Whats Lampard done?

Becks played badly against Sweden. Well Edman was so far up Becks' backside I don't think many would have performed. Carragher never overlapped creating the space for Becks to get the crosses in.

The formations have worked. Hargreaves in the holding role worked, and he was moved to right back to create space for Becks, where Carragher failed, and for his pace to nullify the Ecuador wingers, where supposedily their threat came from. There was no threat from the wongers becaise Cole and Hargreaves did the jobs, and the formation worked.

A wins a win, if ugy or not. England won the rugby world cup playing ugly. Remember the semi final against france where Johnny Wilkinson scored all the points from penalties and drop goals. No one complains or remembers that, they all harbour on how we won the world cup. A win is a win, and I would prefer us to win ugly 1-0 and win the World cup than play pretty football and get knocked out, i think 99.9% of us would.

The whole world laughs at England's muddled plod - a nation that believes it deserves the world cup as its birthright, not as reward... 1966 and all that... sad.

It's not as bad as it looks. Against Ecuador (except for the backheader error by Terry) Ecuador never looked like scoring. So, once we were ahead it made sense to play safely and not to take any risks to penetrate unless there was a great opportunity presented. It was better to just let the minutes tick by, however uninspired the play may have looked. Same applied in the first two matches. Against Sweden we were never behind and never needed to score just to win the group. E. has ground out the wins by playing the percentages. The odds have broken our way a: and it's hardly E.'s fault that Lampard's finishing is off (If it wasn't we'd have had about 4 more goals).

It's not as bad as it looks. Against Ecuador (except for the backheader error by Terry) Ecuador never looked like scoring. So, once we were ahead it made sense to play safely and not to take any risks to penetrate unless there was a great opportunity presented. It was better to just let the minutes tick by, however uninspired the play may have looked. Same applied in the first two matches. Against Sweden we were never behind and never needed to score just to win the group. E. has ground out the wins by playing the percentages. The odds have broken our way a: and it's hardly E.'s fault that Lampard's finishing is off (If it wasn't we'd have had about 4 more goals).

A farmer has a carrot field, he needs to grow 500 carrots to break even and any more will be sold and he can make a profit. At harvest time he hopes for 1000 carrots(which he knows the field can produce), but due to bad management and underperforming workers he only gets 600. Should he be happy with his minimal gain? Or should he be unhappy as he knows he could have had so much more? WAKE UP ENGLAND!!! LET'S START PLAYING THE WAY WE CAN.......100 % ON SATURDAY!!!

I England tried and i am not anrgry with them because i could see that they were trying hard to try and score.As for rooney he shouldn't of gone off on one then we might of had more chance of winning the world cup if he didn't get himself a red card but we can't put all the blame on rooney so all is forgotten.I hope beckham is alright now from getting an injury.
My favouite player would be peter crouch because he is a good player and he looks sweet and i love how he dose his hair.
thats it for now from steph