*Official* English Football Season 2007-08

[aussie]

Sorry, what?

Cole preferred position is in the centre of the park in case you forgot he made a name for himself playing in the centre for West Ham. Its just over the years for both club & country he has be converted into a very effective winger & wing striker.

Not that it would be the best decision to play him in the centre in such a crucial game, but as it is if i had to pick between him or Barry in the centre, Cole would be it given i have no recollection of Barry ever playing in the centre for Villa.

 

[BoyBrumby]

We should really be 2 or 3 up by now. Israel don't seem to have come with a Plan B.

Mind you, with our keeper a Plan B isn't always necessary.

 

[aussie]

yea, Owen could have scored twice in one play. May the good work from everyone continue in the second half...

 

[Scaly piscine]

Owen scores... hmmm

 

[aussie]

# 38 for our country's most reliable poacher, lets go England..

 

[Matteh]

Barry did alright then.

 

[roseboy64]

Yeah.

Umm no. Jenas is a better central mid than Barry as well. Barry plays best on the left IMO.

 

[aussie]

Part one completed. A lot of positives to take from this game everyone played well IMO. A solid performance againts the Russians on wednesday and i'll back England to qualify without too much worries.

 

[Matteh]

Umm no. Jenas is a better central mid than Barry as well. Barry plays best on the left IMO.

Fool.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Barry always looks a step behind the pace in midfield for England to me. I thought he was fairly pedestrian personally.

 

[roseboy64]

Fool.

Meh.... Maybe should have said Huddlestone.


P.S No. 10,000.

 

[grecian]

Barry did okay we bossed possesion in the middle of the park. Joes still the best option on the left, but that's mainly down to lack of options

Will be different against Russia, though. The inevitable over-reaction to Wright-Phillips performance is going to annoy me. The guy still cannot cross the ball, but he was lively and bright, and at least gave us a bit of pace in midfield.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Sorry, what?

Er, well, as has been pointed out already, he can play in the middle.

 

[Matteh]

Er, well, as has been pointed out already, he can play in the middle.

Why on earth would you put Cole in the centre though? After moaning about the Lampard/Gerrard combination for so long, seems idiotic to replace Lampard with the same sort of player.

 

[grecian]

Er, well, as has been pointed out already, he can play in the middle.

Should play in the middle, if he were a continental that's where he'd play. He's our most technically gifted player, but England managers and coaches and even more, supporters are frightened of that type.

They're called lightweight, and fancy-dans. If Zidane were English we'd of stuck him on the left-wing and berated him for not tracking back.

Look at the career of the most technically gifted Englishman I've ever seen, Glenn Hoddle. A tragic waste, imho. A team should of been built around him.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Why on earth would you put Cole in the centre though? After moaning about the Lampard/Gerrard combination for so long, seems idiotic to replace Lampard with the same sort of player.

I'd have had Cole in the middle ages ago if it wasn't for the fact that we have no-one else on the left. Don't see Cole as a similar player to Lampard at all myself.

 

[Craig]

So England won, but i sounds like the usual performance?

Went to watch Lativa v Northern Ireland myself and was part of the 7500 strong crowd, when you consider at least 1000 of them were from NI and some Lativan guy we met on the way to the ground kept calling them Irish as a subtle insult. Actually it was great in that it was only 4 Lats and me and a friend brought the tickets on the street when it was being sold in the ticket office for 5 Lats, and you can move around as well, so you could sit somewhere more expensive for free almost.

Watching England v Israel would of been crap IMO, this was a really good game and I enjoyed the experience of a real internatonal match for peanuts. Plus I learnt a bit of Lativan.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

So England won, but i sounds like the usual performance?

No, it was a huge improvement on what we have seen before. If you'd have forgotten about the nightmares of Tel Aviv, Barcelona et al, you would have described this as a slightly over-par performances, a 6 or 7 out of 10. The ball was moved at pace and Wright-Phillips and Cole showed why we have to play two proper flair players out wide against teams like Israel. We should have won by more tbh, if it wasn't for Owen looking a bit lacklustre. His lack of a left foot still holds him back a lot, particularly now he has no pace left in him.

 

[Shaggy Alfresco]

A solid performance againts the Russians on wednesday and i'll back England to qualify without too much worries.

Hmmm.

To qualify, we need to beat Russia at Wembley and then draw in Moscow (or the other way round). If Russia get 3 points from either of those games, we can pretty much kiss goodbye to Euro 2008 unless Israel can somehow beat them.

Russia should get six points from their games against Israel and Andorra, while after playing them we still have a tough game against Croatia. I think England has to have a lead over Russia when we play Estonia.

 

[aussie]

^^
need to have a lot at the standings. But if thats a case then things are pretty serious still.

Disappointed that Hargreaves won't be fit on wednesday. Even though Barry played well in the centre i'm sure i'm not alone in worrying about how he will go againts Russia since England won't be bossing the mid-field so easily. But hopefully Barry can surprise us.

Hopefully before these qualifers are over England can get to play their full-strenght side, damn all these bloody injuries have really been disheartening but on the other hand it has tested our depth.