Eng-er-land!!!

[Paxton Dazo]

Our feeder club must regret selling him to us now.

 

[BensGrandad]

Agreed Bof, much better 2nd half performance & probs deserved to win it in the end.

I know the Dutch made a load of changes thrmselves in the second 45, but I think it's high time Beckham got the chop. He's past it imo & I reckon we look a better side without him in it.

*Awaits heresy-based flaming*

Why should you want to drop the player who was the best player on the field
in the first half and rightly agreed by the pundits Sherringham and Townsend who know a lttle bit about the game.

 

[Icy Gull]

Agreed Bof, much better 2nd half performance & probs deserved to win it in the end.

I know the Dutch made a load of changes thrmselves in the second 45, but I think it's high time Beckham got the chop. He's past it imo & I reckon we look a better side without him in it.

*Awaits heresy-based flaming*

I have felt that Beckham should not be playing for a while now, but 1st half last night I thought he was our best player, shame Barry and Rio Lynch had their "lazy" moments. I couldn't be arsed to watch the 2nd half, was Beckham dreadful then?

 

[Marc]

If it was'nt for the two major mistakes we woul've won last night FO SHO, there should be no defending of Rio & Barry for those mistakes.....any pre-season jitters is complete bollocks as they are Pros and should be set for the new season anyway. Thought Beckham was alright but for me he is now a Sub to bring on in the last 20mins to change things.

Carlton Cole, Milner, Defoe all looked terrific to me. Milner especially, got alot of decent crosses in and a great assist too. Cole looks like a great target man and IMO is the next Heskey but could do better.......infact Cole & Rooney upfront sounds more tempting right now after last nights performance....just hope he stays fit enough.

The rest were Average, Green in goal looked dominant in the air and made some good saves and was at no way in fault for either of the goals.

Still think Ashely Cole is a liability and I would have Bridge in there as he can cross the ball. Jonhson looked abit pants too but he does like to get forward and cross from time to time, his link up play with the forwards in and around the box was good (Lampards effort especially)

 

[keaton]

Anyone who suggests dropping Beckham after watching last night, is quite clearly biased. I'd suggest dropping Ferdinand, Johnson and Barry and maybe they'd think about what the basics of football are rather than their wage packets, hair or egos

 

[Mendoza]

Green looks really suspect when he kicks it. Not sure I want him in goal for England.

And why is it when we play the bigger teams in the world of football, we always look like a bunch of Sunday league kickers with no control, technique or brains to play football and just end up hoofing it or being hurried into making mistakes?

It is frustrating to watch, although we did deserve to win

 

[Icy Gull]

Green looks really suspect when he kicks it. Not sure I want him in goal for England.

And why is it when we play the bigger teams in the world of football, we always look like a bunch of Sunday league kickers with no control, technique or brains to play football and just end up hoofing it or being hurried into making mistakes?

It is frustrating to watch, although we did deserve to win

We are the Wimbledons (old school) of World Football, always have been, probably always will be.

 

[Commander]

Really? I don't think he was rubbish, but he hasn't got any pace now; rarely (if ever) takes players on: gives the ball away too often; he can't tackle..

I guess we'll just have to agree to differ then.

He's never had any pace and he has never taken players on- he's never been that type of player.

 

[Marc]

Green looks really suspect when he kicks it. Not sure I want him in goal for England.

And why is it when we play the bigger teams in the world of football, we always look like a bunch of Sunday league kickers with no control, technique or brains to play football and just end up hoofing it or being hurried into making mistakes?

It is frustrating to watch, although we did deserve to win

agreed about Greens kicking, forgot he was CRAp at them last night, barely reached the half-way line when a defender passed it back to him.
As for hoofing then it clearly worked in the 2nd half, MIlner got back and did it a couple of times straight to Cole who controlled it everytime brilliantly. Think Fabio may of said "stop fannying about with it and just clear your lines" for the 2nd half....hence we saw more long balls from defence.

 

[The Wizard]

Thought it was a decent performance other than the mistakes, I thought Green's kicking was fine and having watched the game again I can only see two occasions on which his kick didn't reach the half way line.

My ratings Would be.....

Starting XI

Green - 7 - Decent performance & I thought his kicking was fine

Johnson - 5 - Poor Performance, hope its only a one off
Terry - 7 - Solid as usual
Rio - 7 - Apart from the ridiculous mistake looked comfortable all game
Cole - 6 - Didn't do a great deal

Beckham - 7 - Best player on the pitch for England first half, his passing was impeccable as always.
Lampard - 6 - Not much of note
Barry - 5 - Poor game, again I hope its a one off
Young - 6 - Wasn't given much service but looked better when Carrick came on

Rooney - 6 - Worked hard as always but didn't have a great game
Heskey - 5 - Not a fan of his and don't believe he should be starting.

Subs

Carrick - 7 - I thought England improved as soon as he came on, very good array of passing
Defoe - 8 - Looked Dangerous all the time, took his two goals well
Cole - 7 - Held the ball up brilliantly, looked very good
SWP - 6 - Typical SWP performance, looks dangerous at times but fades in and out of the game
Bridge

 

[Twinkle Toes]

He's never had any pace and he has never taken players on- he's never been that type of player.

Fair comment, but he had much more pace than he has now & did used to look to beat a player or 2 to whip a cross in. Don't get me wrong, I think the guy's been a great pro overall & a fine player in his pomp. But ever since he single-handedly took the Greeks on & got us to the World Cup, he's been in decline & living off past performances in my opinion. I guess I can see his experience as being valuable to the current England squad, but I personally feel his inclusion in a starting 11 affects the balance of the team & restricts the way we play. That said, he did have a decent 45 last night & the likes of Johnson, Ferdinand & Barry hardly covered themselves in glory..

 

[NS Herald]

Thought it was a decent performance other than the mistakes, I thought Green's kicking was fine and having watched the game again I can only see two occasions on which his kick didn't reach the half way line.

My ratings Would be.....

Starting XI

Green - 7 - Decent performance & I thought his kicking was fine

Johnson - 5 - Poor Performance, hope its only a one off
Terry - 7 - Solid as usual
Rio - 7 - Apart from the ridiculous mistake looked comfortable all game
Cole - 6 - Didn't do a great deal

Beckham - 7 - Best player on the pitch for England first half, his passing was impeccable as always.
Lampard - 6 - Not much of note
Barry - 5 - Poor game, again I hope its a one off
Young - 6 - Wasn't given much service but looked better when Carrick came on

Rooney - 6 - Worked hard as always but didn't have a great game
Heskey - 5 - Not a fan of his and don't believe he should be starting.

Subs

Carrick - 7 - I thought England improved as soon as he came on, very good array of passing
Defoe - 8 - Looked Dangerous all the time, took his two goals well
Cole - 7 - Held the ball up brilliantly, looked very good
SWP - 6 - Typical SWP performance, looks dangerous at times but fades in and out of the game
Bridge

Well it looks like you might need to watch it again - what about Milner?

He's has come a long way since his appearance at Withers for Swindon a few years ago but even then he looked a class act.

I suspect he could be a real surprise in SA if he get's his chance as he is a very very good player

 

[Roadrunner]

bbc and sky news says fighting before match between rival fans,15 arrests.could be interesting there this eve after the game i would imagine.ajax fans are hardly angels

The rival fans involved were Ajax and Feyenood, not (as the sensationalist press were intimating) between Dutch and English fans, who generally get on pretty well. I've been to this fixture 3 times now, and I've never seen any hint of trouble. Maybe the price of beer is lessening the impact alcohol has in fuelling such clashes (we were paying anything from E4 to E6.50 for a pint yesterday).

Thought we played pretty well last night, individual errors aside. Defoe took his first goal brilliantly, Millner was lively when he came on as well. Contrary to what other people seem to think, I believe these friendlies are of real importance as they are the only time we get to play against the top qualty sides outside of tournaments.

 

[Pavilionaire]

We've gone to the home of the 3rd-ranked team in the world and got the better of a 2-2 draw. Therefore, Capello continues to perform wonders.

I prefer to focus on the keeper situation because the outfield largely takes care of itself. Green made some good saves, but I wonder how much of the sloppy defending in front of him was down to a lack of communication between him and his defence?

Some keepers, i.e. Grobelaar, Southall, Schmeichel would have given Rio an absolute bollocking over thast first goal.

I don't know whether Green contributed to this problem but it's soemthing to think about in the next game.