Japan vs England

[SaddlerSteve]

60 mins gone.
I know this isn't the full team we're going to start with but this is woeful.
Completely devoid of ideas.
Lampard should be banned from taking penalties.

[swiftyboy]

60 mins gone.
I know this isn't the full team we're going to start with but this is woeful.
Completely devoid of ideas.
Lampard should be banned from taking penalties.

Beat me too it by a few minutes Steve. It's so bad, it prompted me to start a thread too!

Very worrying considering how close to The World Cup we are

[PINNACLE]

60 mins gone.
I know this isn't the full team we're going to start with but this is woeful.
Completely devoid of ideas.
Lampard should be banned from taking penalties.

For gods sake dont tell sheff, at least he hit the target this time.

[Exile]

Thank the gods for "OG" who helped us to victory.

Only a meaningless friendly though. In other games, NZ managed to turn over Serbia, so don't read anything into it.

[Fray Bentos is God!]

Anyone who reads a lot into friendlies are silly.

Lampard's penalty was nearly as bad as the last one.

The Don knows.

[Registered Saddler]

The Don knows.

He does indeed. Pundits in the media are so ignorant it's untrue. We had the best qualifying campaign in years, but a couple of below-par performances in friendlies (which we WON) and suddenly we're not going to get past the second round. Cliche of the Eriksson era was 'there's no plan B', which was trotted out with tedious regularity. And yet those same pundits failed to spot that we played at least FOUR different formations against Japan, which was exactly the opportunity to try some alternative systems. Trust in Capello.

[Fray Bentos is God!]

The Don knows.

He does indeed. Pundits in the media are so ignorant it's untrue. We had the best qualifying campaign in years, but a couple of below-par performances in friendlies (which we WON) and suddenly we're not going to get past the second round. Cliche of the Eriksson era was 'there's no plan B', which was trotted out with tedious regularity. And yet those same pundits failed to spot that we played at least FOUR different formations against Japan, which was exactly the opportunity to try some alternative systems. Trust in Capello.

I'm even more pissed off at the people who are demanding that we hammer teams 3 or 4 nil with 25 pass moves and 90% posession.

Had a mate on Monday say how our performance was disgusting because the little stat box poked up saying Mexico had 60% possession. He didn't take into account that a lot of this possession was in their half and not really venturing past the centre circle. We were bloody winning!

I had to have a wry smile when the same box came up while we were losing showing that we had 60% posession. Wonder if he thought we were playing well then.

[Duke]

I'm not to concerned about the performance to be honest , we were better in the second half after the substitutions.

Lampard needs to work on his penalties , and I''m a little worried about the wide right mid field place ,we'll miss Beckham a lot more than many realise .

[swiftyboy]

I'm even more pead off at the people who are demanding that we hammer teams 3 or 4 nil with 25 pass moves and 90% posession.

Had a mate on Monday say how our performance was disgusting because the little stat box poked up saying Mexico had 60% possession. He didn't take into account that a lot of this possession was in their half and not really venturing past the centre circle. We were bloody winning!

I had to have a wry smile when the same box came up while we were losing showing that we had 60% posession. Wonder if he thought we were playing well then.

Completely dissagree there FBIG. Mexico had 60% possession, PLUS they played us off the park in the first half. There passing and movement was lightening quick at times, and we couldn't get the ball off them.

Like I said before, we have arguably the best technical manager we have ever had, yet Ive never been so worried, before a major competition!

[Neil Ravenscroft]

I'm even more pead off at the people who are demanding that we hammer teams 3 or 4 nil with 25 pass moves and 90% posession.

Had a mate on Monday say how our performance was disgusting because the little stat box poked up saying Mexico had 60% possession. He didn't take into account that a lot of this possession was in their half and not really venturing past the centre circle. We were bloody winning!

I had to have a wry smile when the same box came up while we were losing showing that we had 60% posession. Wonder if he thought we were playing well then.

Completely dissagree there FBIG. Mexico had 60% possession, PLUS they played us off the park in the first half. There passing and movement was lightening quick at times, and we couldn't get the ball off them.

Like I said before, we have arguably the best technical manager we have ever had, yet Ive never been so worried, before a major competition!

That's because we don't have many technically competant players. We give the ballaway too much

[Fray Bentos is God!]

I'm even more pead off at the people who are demanding that we hammer teams 3 or 4 nil with 25 pass moves and 90% posession.

Had a mate on Monday say how our performance was disgusting because the little stat box poked up saying Mexico had 60% possession. He didn't take into account that a lot of this possession was in their half and not really venturing past the centre circle. We were bloody winning!

I had to have a wry smile when the same box came up while we were losing showing that we had 60% posession. Wonder if he thought we were playing well then.

Completely dissagree there FBIG. Mexico had 60% possession, PLUS they played us off the park in the first half. There passing and movement was lightening quick at times, and we couldn't get the ball off them.

Like I said before, we have arguably the best technical manager we have ever had, yet Ive never been so worried, before a major competition!

Did they, I could swear we were 2-1 up and the 1 only came with about 40 seconds left.

Terry, Lampard, Barry, Cole (Ashley and Joe) out of the Mexico game.

Yeah, worry is the word.

[swiftyboy]

Did they, I could swear we were 2-1 up and the 1 only came with about 40 seconds left.

Terry, Lampard, Barry, Cole (Ashley and Joe) out of the Mexico game.

Yeah, worry is the word.

I don't think you were watching the same game Mate. Mexico outplayed us first half. And we were at home!

[Fray Bentos is God!]

Did they, I could swear we were 2-1 up and the 1 only came with about 40 seconds left.

Terry, Lampard, Barry, Cole (Ashley and Joe) out of the Mexico game.

Yeah, worry is the word.

I don't think you were watching the same game Mate. Mexico outplayed us first half. And we were at home!

4 of the probable first 11 out including a midfielder that scored 20 odd goals plus our only world class defender. Oh yeah, also Capello's favourite anchor player.

Jesus, I wish people would get a sense of perspective about friendlies. This is England's downfall.

Portugal drew with Cape Verde Islands, France drew to Tunisia, Serbia got beaten by NZ, Spain let 2 in against Saudi Arabia, Algeria lost 3-0 to ROI, Czech Rep hammered USA 4-2, Australia squeaked past NZ and Mexico drew with Ecuador.

Whereas we have beaten 2 teams going to the World Cup.

[saddlerken]

We am ace

[Fray Bentos is God!]

Did they, I could swear we were 2-1 up and the 1 only came with about 40 seconds left.

Terry, Lampard, Barry, Cole (Ashley and Joe) out of the Mexico game.

Yeah, worry is the word.

I don't think you were watching the same game Mate. Mexico outplayed us first half. And we were at home!

4 of the probable first 11 out including a midfielder that scored 20 odd goals plus our only world class defender. Oh yeah, also Capello's favourite anchor player.

Jesus, I wish people would get a sense of perspective about friendlies. This is England's downfall.

Portugal drew with Cape Verde Islands, France drew to Tunisia, Serbia got beaten by NZ, Spain let 2 in against Saudi Arabia, Algeria lost 3-0 to ROI, Czech Rep hammered USA 4-2, Australia squeaked past NZ and Mexico drew with Ecuador.

Whereas we have beaten 2 teams going to the World Cup.

I'll just add to my own list and say that Mexico - who we did beat, beat world champions Italy.