Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Oh dear...
Northern Ireland 1 England 0
Let's just clear a few things up first:
Shaun Wright-Philips - you were appalling!
Steven Gerrard - rubbish!
Frank Lampard - waste of space!
Michael Owen - did he really play?
Joe Cole - couldn't cross a road!
Jamie Carragher - useless!
Owen Hargreaves - you are crap!
The rest weren't very good either, though didn't quite fall into the league of the above. At least Beckham, Rooney, all the defence and goalie tried.
What Sven is doing trying to play a system (4-5-1) that clearly does not suit the players he has is amazing. Get back to the tried and trusted 4-4-2, especially when playing (sorry but it's true) second rate teams like Wales and Northern Ireland.
Get Beckham back on the right where his crosses cause damage. Tell Gerrard to sit, and Lampard to go forward. Tell Rooney to play a deep centre forward role. Tell Owen to wait for chances. Find a left-sided midfield player who can cross, run, and defend - he doesn't have to be a world-beater, just average, that will provide balance (Suggestions on a postcard please). Tell the full backs to get forward and cross the ball, not to try to pass it to Becks or anyone else every time in case they don't get it quite right.
Awful, really awful.
This team have a chance to (still) top their qualifying group, by winning their last two homes games. If they don't do that, then the calls for an English manager to replace Sven will get louder and louder until that eventually happens. This is the first qualifying match that Sven has lost, so are we over-reacting? No, the team were poor on Saturday and no better tonight. If we don't get it together then the English cricket team will continue to dominate the sports pages over next summer too! Even though there's a World Cup being played... And would that be such a bad thing?
Let's just clear a few things up first:
Shaun Wright-Philips - you were appalling!
Steven Gerrard - rubbish!
Frank Lampard - waste of space!
Michael Owen - did he really play?
Joe Cole - couldn't cross a road!
Jamie Carragher - useless!
Owen Hargreaves - you are crap!
The rest weren't very good either, though didn't quite fall into the league of the above. At least Beckham, Rooney, all the defence and goalie tried.
What Sven is doing trying to play a system (4-5-1) that clearly does not suit the players he has is amazing. Get back to the tried and trusted 4-4-2, especially when playing (sorry but it's true) second rate teams like Wales and Northern Ireland.
Get Beckham back on the right where his crosses cause damage. Tell Gerrard to sit, and Lampard to go forward. Tell Rooney to play a deep centre forward role. Tell Owen to wait for chances. Find a left-sided midfield player who can cross, run, and defend - he doesn't have to be a world-beater, just average, that will provide balance (Suggestions on a postcard please). Tell the full backs to get forward and cross the ball, not to try to pass it to Becks or anyone else every time in case they don't get it quite right.
Awful, really awful.
This team have a chance to (still) top their qualifying group, by winning their last two homes games. If they don't do that, then the calls for an English manager to replace Sven will get louder and louder until that eventually happens. This is the first qualifying match that Sven has lost, so are we over-reacting? No, the team were poor on Saturday and no better tonight. If we don't get it together then the English cricket team will continue to dominate the sports pages over next summer too! Even though there's a World Cup being played... And would that be such a bad thing?
