England debrief, most and least impressed by

[beorhthelm]

most impressed by Johnson. i've alwasy knocked him as a right back who's shit at defending, but he's been pretty decent all 4 games.

Oxlade looked good too and Walcott demostrated what he's about - when given the chance. Welbeck was decent and his goal was sublime.

Least impressed by Young. whats he done other than one run in the first game. utter waste of space, offers little defensivly and not provided anything like the width or pace he should of going forward. should have been dropped for Oxlade.

not too impressed by Rooney either, near his peak with a rest should really have been firing on all cylinders but looked off the pace.

 

[Zebedee]

Johnson was the England MOM for me.

 

[brakespear]

Johnson was the England MOM for me.

And English player of the tournament for me.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Top of the glass Gerrard
Second of the class Johnson
Last is Rooney/Milner/Young

 

[Adsgull]

Johnson was class even with that lump Milner in front of him. Cole was top aswell we were let down by unbelievably poor starting wingers and a failure to close down pirlo who made everyone else look poor

 

[Bring back Bryan wade!!]

As soon as Gerrard's legs went we looked shit. Simply nowhere near Europe's finest teams. FIFA world ranking of 7 is a joke.

 

[Gullzone]

Johnson was the England MOM for me.

Me too
Gerrard had a great tournement but was off the pace tonight

 

[brightonrock]

Young was shocking offensively in all four games, but he does track back a lot better than Walcott or Chamberlain. The back four were generally very good; Lescott, Johnson, Gerrard & Parker the stand-outs.

 

[JBizzle]

Most impressed with Carroll, Gerrard, the back 4 and Hart.

Least impressed with Rooney, Young.

Milner is what he is and does what he does so neither impressed nor disappointed.

I do however feel pretty positive about England over the next few years.

 

[brightn'ove]

Positives:

Very good defensively, solid at the back.
Younger players are looking very good, and coming from good passing teams, arsenal (walcott, the ox) man u (welbeck) etc [still to see how phil jones et al perform at international level.]
Players looked extremely passionate (apart from ashley young who can f*** off tbh), for the first time in a long time.

Negatives:

Still shit at penalties
Negative going forward, still looking for the long ball most of the time.
'star' rooney gets an automatic starting place despite being not match fit, extremely rusty and utter shit.

All in all... it balances out. I think the next tournament (if we qualify) if we get rid of some of the deadwood and start playing positively, we'll get to the quarters again.

We will never, ever, win a penalty shootout. Ever

 

[Oscar]

Best was Gerrard and Johnson
Worst was Rooney who, for an experienced England player and so-called world class player, was utterly awful tonight and not much better in the one other game he wasn't banned from.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I don't like Johnson or Terry that much, but to be fair they were both immense tonight.

I don't know what happened to our midfield after half-time, they spent 75 minutes just watching the ball, it never stuck up front and we couldn't keep it anywhere for more than two passes. Rooney and Gerrard didn't have good games going forward, we missed them tonight. To be fair to Gerrard he has been superb in the other three games, but he wasn't at that level tonight.

Hodgson's devotion to Milner is baffling, and Young is there to do damage in this kind of game. He didn't.

All in all, it's amazing it went as far as penalties.

 

[MACROBLUE]

Second Class in all respects.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I don't like Johnson or Terry that much, but to be fair they were both immense tonight.

I don't know what happened to our midfield after half-time, they spent 75 minutes just watching the ball, it never stuck up front and we couldn't keep it anywhere for more than two passes. Rooney and Gerrard didn't have good games going forward, we missed them tonight.

Hodgson's devotion to Milner is baffling, and Young is there to do damage in this kind of game. He didn't.

All in all, it's amazing it went as far as penalties.

And why did they just stand and watch that Pirlo bloke?

 

[beorhthelm]

Milner is what he is and does what he does so neither impressed nor disappointed.

exactly, people judge him harshly then bemoan others who go for glory. the same goes for Gerrard, he was good as i expect him to be, but didnt step up more.

 

[brightn'ove]

as much as it pains me to say it... John Terry had a very good tournement. Not spectacular, but rock-solid. Made some fantastic tackles, especially in the game just gone.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Ok its a bit embarrassing to get knocked out yet again on penalties but I am happy that we have been spared a spanking by the Germans. On the whole we have performed about how I hoped but not on a par with the best teams. We are rebuilding under Hodgson and hope that Oxo-Chamberlain, Walcott, Welbeck, Cahill, Jones, Cleverley, Jagielka, Lescott and other youngsters get a decent go now rather than just cameos. I would persevere with Hart as he is young although he didn't quite live up to the hype for me, especially on the penalties.

The main worry is our lack of world class players who frighten the opposition, something the FA needs to sort out by capping the numbers of foreign players in the Prem. Not enough young English players at the highest level. But will the new TV money just create another spending spree rather than give any incentive for playing young home grown players?

Finally, how ironic that one of our best players at the Euros was John Terry yet many would not have taken him because of his baggage. I'm not a fan of him as a person but have to admit he was immense for England. Maybe he knows this was probably his last chance at this level.

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

Terry and Johnson were great tonight.

 

[blockhseagull]

Positives - Back 5

Negatives - Rooney, Young and Milner.

Walcott again promised much and didn't deliver, but I don't think the way we played really helped him.

We lack a real true World class player who can affect a game, Portugal are an example of a average side who with a world class player can be successful

 

[The Hon Sec]

Embarrassing tonight. Having got used to watching my team playing possession football on the ground it was difficult to watch Hart continually lump the ball up front and give it back to the opposition. Poyet has been educating me obviously. Most England players did their best but not good enough. Some promising young lads though with more to come.