[mcnoiserdc]

I liked watching USA today. I feel something for USA, I guess that is the influence of listening to millions of american musicians, whatching millions of american movies and tv shows which connect one to them. Well the hate for the wars still call me to reality though
 
Well they fought and they could win if not the strange foul I didn't see.
 
England sucked big and Capello disappointed me. No connection on the team, no inspiration, no equilibrium, no spark, too much wrong passes.
 
He should have tried two wingers. free role for gerrard and rooney alone is enough. Heskey is doing well but that system makes the team play only on side and despise the other. The other thing is that the team should be more compact, shorter. If you look at the team positioning after the finish you'd see what I am talking about, but this may be too deep
 
Now I have to say that Brazil is going to win this. They are the only solid team now, plus almost anyone on the team can pull some match winner trick.

 

[IanM]

 
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Well they fought and they could win if not the strange foul I didn't see.

Yep, we've hit the stage of the competition where poor refereeing will happen more often and really hurt some teams. Not only should USA have been allowed the goal, there were at least two Slovenian players with arms wrapped around USA players i.e. two legitimate cases to award a penalty. At least USA still have a good chance to go through.
 
Quote:

England sucked big and Capello disappointed me.

 
Now there is an understatement! Capello was supposed to be the strong manager, be his own man and ignore the English press, disregard reputations and not pick players based on their popularity.
 
Quote:

No connection on the team, no inspiration, no equilibrium, no spark, too much wrong passes.

Quote:

The other thing is that the team should be more compact, shorter                                        

 
Add to that no movement. I think it's just pointing out what every football fan can see but somehow Capello and the England players just can't do anything about it. It's been a problem for so long it's absurd, I think England are self destructing even more than the French squad. It looks like there is no unity and it may be that the Vanessa Perroncel affair has destroyed what little team spirit there was.
 
Quote:

He should have tried two wingers. free role for gerrard and rooney alone is enough. Heskey is doing well but that system makes the team play only on side and despise the other.

 
Joe Cole is our most important player -  he can balance either wing and play with intelligence, and yet Capello doesn't like to use him
 
Rooney was shocking last night, but at least it's unusual for him to be that bad. Gerrard has always been inconsistent, lacking discipline and doesn't have any sort of tactical intelligence - so we often get the totally ineffective running around headless chicken act from Gerrard.

 

[Fido2]

Yep USA got robbed. I wonder whose pocket that milk-dud headed referee is in?

 

[mcnoiserdc]

Ian I agree with you, but how come gerrard who usually is very disciplined with Liverpool now is a complete lost man on the pitch?
I also like Joe Cole. I even thought mourjnho would pick him up for real.next match he may play

 

[cravenz]

Quote:

Ian I agree with you, but how come gerrard who usually is very disciplined with Liverpool now is a complete lost man on the pitch?
I also like Joe Cole. I even thought mourjnho would pick him up for real.next match he may play

 
I'm a pool fan, but quite honestly, the England managers have not been using Gerrard the same way he plays for Liverpool e.g. Gerrard drifting to the left side of midfield at the start of the match yesterday and then the right.
 
I would have preferred seeing Joe Cole running down the left and having Gerrard and Lampard sit in the midfield rather than having Barry in there.
 
On a side note, the refereeing standard has been shocking and the referees have had poor positioning and often found themselves in the way of the ball/players.

 

[IanM]

There is no mystery with Gerrard - at Liverpool he has the luxury of a team built entirely around him, to exploit his best attributes and accommodate his worst. It's no surprise that with Xabi Alonso gone, Liverpool's balance has been broken and Gerrard has endured a poor season. I strongly believe the situation is compounded by Gerrard's personality, he is of relatively weak character compared to the best sportsmen who have that relentless winning mentality that drives them to perform well no matter what.
 
I hope that doesn't come across as too damning of Gerrard, he is a good player and great asset to almost any squad. Right now though I feel he should be dropped as he is a key part of England's problems i.e. all the players are spread out too much, isolated from each other and forced into the poor long passing all the time. If the aim is to make the team more compact and facilitate more controlled short passing then J. Cole should come into the side as he can work well with Lampard and A. Cole.
 
The England squad is unbalanced, the strengths and weakness all tend to be in the same areas and not enough variety in the players' best qualities (that's probably true of most international squads) but England cannot field a team that is similar to the Liverpool team that included Alonso. Trying to accommodate Gerrard in this way is very difficult, trying to accommodate Gerrard and Rooney to give them both the freedom they both want is impossible.
 
Rooney gets frustrated and loses tactical discipline too often as well, but he is more consistent than Gerrard. However I think the manager needs to be stronger and use Defoe + Crouch more, and be able to withdraw Rooney when he is having a poor game.

 

[tru blu]

I dunno…after a week or so my respect is growing for the team that everyone seems to think doesn't play defense: Argentina. Maybe their opponents haven't been all that difficult thus far, but the team just seems to be able to turn it on.

 

[mcnoiserdc]

Well not that you are wrong, but you are asking 2 things that aren't going to happen.
 
So I think heskey should go out, and Cole, milner, SWP in. that is possible! And yes england needs Barry to hold the midfield
Quote:

There is no mystery with Gerrard - at Liverpool he has the luxury of a team built entirely around him, to exploit his best attributes and accommodate his worst. It's no surprise that with Xabi Alonso gone, Liverpool's balance has been broken and Gerrard has endured a poor season. I strongly believe the situation is compounded by Gerrard's personality, he is of relatively weak character compared to the best sportsmen who have that relentless winning mentality that drives them to perform well no matter what.
 
I hope that doesn't come across as too damning of Gerrard, he is a good player and great asset to almost any squad. Right now though I feel he should be dropped as he is a key part of England's problems i.e. all the players are spread out too much, isolated from each other and forced into the poor long passing all the time. If the aim is to make the team more compact and facilitate more controlled short passing then J. Cole should come into the side as he can work well with Lampard and A. Cole.
 
The England squad is unbalanced, the strengths and weakness all tend to be in the same areas and not enough variety in the players' best qualities (that's probably true of most international squads) but England cannot field a team that is similar to the Liverpool team that included Alonso. Trying to accommodate Gerrard in this way is very difficult, trying to accommodate Gerrard and Rooney to give them both the freedom they both want is impossible.
 
Rooney gets frustrated and loses tactical discipline too often as well, but he is more consistent than Gerrard. However I think the manager needs to be stronger and use Defoe + Crouch more, and be able to withdraw Rooney when he is having a poor game.

 

[oqvist]

How on earth did Greece make the list... I do know they fluked a european championship win but still
 
Shocked how overrated England always are I must say. Those was as easy to rule out as Greece.
 
Otherwise it´s so hard to say with the big teams since they often go in with a crap attitude in the group play since they minds are already set on the cup play. Which means they generally have an advantage if they actually manage to get through the group play. France have to many big egos to succeed so even if they do manage to sneak through I rule them out as well.
 
Argentina I dont know what to think. Their team is strong but I think Maradona will coach them wrong sooner or later. Unless he is just a marionette leader to make every other team respect them less?
 
Brazil, Spain. Even Italy despite very poor showing today is my votes... Though that is booring so I say Serbia if they stop playing handball
 
Netherlands is entertaining to watch but I don´t think they will go all the way this WC either.

 

[Pianist]

Actually I think Brazil played very well against North Korea. Their first goal was amazing. They are a great team! It's just that North Korea defense was awesome.

 

[Pianist]

Dammit, the red card against Kaka was so unfair! I really liked Cote D'Ivoire when they played against Portugal. I don't like them no more after this game.

 

[oqvist]

Keita and some of his fellows doesn´t do a lot to get your sympathy do they. Horrible to see how they actually try to hurt people as much as possible due to feeling inferior I suppose
Brilliant tactic to run into someone to get a yellow card on Kaka lol. Takes the drama lesson school so many footballs player attend to one step further...
 
Great game by Brazil though

 

[sinquito]

MEXICO !
 
But back to reality I think that Germany or Brazil have the greatest chances to win, but who Know, definitively not Italy nor England nor Spain, maybe Argentina.

 

[Happy Camper]

Who's the best floppers? Seems they have the attention of the refs and it's ruining an otherwise exciting cup. Well, that and the zuzu horns.

 

[Pianist]

Wow, Switzerland could've easily won against Chlie! Stupid referees!

Oh and poor North Korea - I feel sorry for you.