Croatia Vs England

[Acidmouse]

Can't believe crouch with his England record does not get a look in.

[turny]

There are only 4 players who seem to really care about playing for England at the moment, David James, Joe Cole, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen (and only 1 of them started on Saturday).

Beckham cares, even if he is nearly as old and past it as tikay.

Have I missed any exciting moments ?

Yeah Beckham cares more than most, but i'm not sure he cares as much as he used to when he was captain.

You missed John Terry being branded a 'lionheart' when he chucks himself in front of a shot to block it - even though he was caught out of position in the first place which caused the opportunity.

This will probably sound daft (but hey i'm good at it) but imo John Terry still hasn't proved he's good enough to play at international level.I've watched him in a few games where i've thought his defending has been really poor.This isn't another dig at a chelsea player and he is immense at club level but i don't think he should be captain as i don't think he should even be guarenteed his game he still needs to prove his quality for England as i say imo.

yawn!!! imo

If he was saying the same about Rio Ferdinand your response wouldnt be yawn.

People need to take off their club blinkers when talking about the players playing for England - it is not only Chelsea fans, it is Liverpool, Man U and Arsenal fans.

IMO fwiw, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard should not be in the England team - they are over-rated and would not make any of the top clubs national sides.
John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are also over-rated. Ferdinand is made to look very good by playing alongside Vidic, likewise Terry alongside Carvalho.  Given the choice of defensive partnerships over Terry and Ferdinand and Vidic and Carvalho, to me it is a no brainer and would never be Terry and Rio.  

As i support Palace (no chance of anyone playing for England), i can be honest in how i believe that players have performed, without bigging up my own clubs players, and i'm not the only one who can see that our players are not as good as we like to think.

my response for ferdinand would also be yawn i think you'll find.

all 4 centre backs you named are very good players, all worthy internationals and all good enough. but only 2 of em are english so it must be terry and ferdinand.

carvalho is a great player in his own right and so is terry, likewise vidic and ferdinand.

as for ash cole and frank lampard not being worthy of their places i find this laughable tbh, tell me a better left back out there to replace cole? and other than stevie g another midfielder who has as much influence on a game than lampard?

i really dont want to get into a slanging match but im afraid your comments hardly inspire a good knowledge of football (being a palace fan may have something to do with it   )

i dont want a slanging match either - it is all about opinions, i have mine, you have yours.  you only have to look at the different teams that people pick to understand that everyone sees things differently.

I do however have a very good knowledge of football, having played the game at a decent level for a number of years, and also obtained coaching badges and watched a lot of matches (as my missus would testify!!!)

IN MY OPINION Ashley Cole is not a good player - i believe he is picked on his reputation for making decent forward runs that he USED to produce at Arsenal and is lucky that there are no other decent English left backs.  If he had been around in the years of Kenny Sansom and Stuart Pearce then i dont think he would have made it to double figures in england caps if any at all.
Lampard is a good player for Chelsea, mainly because of the players that he has around him (makelele and Essien the last couple of years), whereas for England he just doesnt do it.  Gerrard on the other hand, doesnt have the players around him at Liverpool, but can single handedly win matches for them, as he has done for England in the past.

My point about Terry and Ferdinand is that it is the other centre half that makes them look so good.  They probably are the best two centre halves that we have, but unfortunately they are not world class.

If you asked somebody who follows world football closely (not just someone who watches a major tournament on tv every 2 years and the odd champions league game to name their best X1, i dont think many English players would make that team.............................but again it all comes down to opinions.

exactly opinions,

with regards coaching badges they arent worth a wank imo, i coached youth and mens football successfully for many years and every time i was asked to start taking my badges i declined until i had to or give up.

coaching is all about ideas, individual ideas. why should we all be taught by the fa how to coach a certain way? i have my own ideas on how my teams shud line up and play i shouldnt have my ideas shackled by the f a wanting you to do it a certain way.

badges are just an f a money making exercise imo lets be honest its hardly produced any top class managers!

[Colchester Kev]

Can't believe crouch with his England record does not get a look in.

And that backs up bellys post "shows the shit we are in up front when defoe and heskey are the best we can muster" and when Crouch is next in line behind those 2 you know we are in trouble !


You dont get many chances at International level, you need a striker/strkers that can convert chances ... a 1 in 7 strike rate aint gonna get you anywhere

[turny]

he can hammer 'em away, he proves this in the premiership and also in games like vs Trinidad & Tob.

I LOL'd

[ ] That world football highly rated team from Trinidad & Tobago

ITB would have netted 4 against them !

with my eyes shut kev lol with you obviously supplying the sublime through ball lol

[AdamG]

he can hammer 'em away, he proves this in the premiership and also in games like vs Trinidad & Tob.

I LOL'd

[ ] That world football highly rated team from Trinidad & Tobago

ITB would have netted 4 against them !

which other player scored against T&T ?

defoe is 1 of the best available, also crouch is a great choice but has dropped in performance recently - hence why liverpool sold up.

Crouch and rooney would be 1st choice if crouch was on form, although he isnt.

Defoe beats heskey anyday - he can run for a starter.

rooney and defoe up front for me tonight.

[DUNK619]

rooney is a must   he turns in quality performances every england game doesnt he

[Acidmouse]

Crouch:

International Caps    28 
International Goals   14

I have no idea why he was dropped, him and owen up front would have been a handful.

[turny]

Can't believe crouch with his England record does not get a look in.

agree here i would have him ahead of both heskey and defoe on his international record alone.

but as kev says we are still in the shit up front

[AndrewT]

good players adapt to the right system, people said ballack and lampard wouldnt be able to play in the same team at chelsea i think they have proved that wrong.

agree gerrard should play ahead of lampard but i dont think that we should forget lampard is miles above any other midfielder available to england

Doesn't matter if he's better than any other midfielder - if he's second best for his position he shouldn't play, unless he can prove he's better than another player in that position. Lampard is an attacking central midfielder - good for him. But that position is filled by Gerrard - what else can Frank do?

When Peter Shilton was England keeper, I don't remember Ray Clemence getting too many games in midfield because he was too good to leave out.

[AdamG]

Can't believe crouch with his England record does not get a look in.

agree here i would have him ahead of both heskey and defoe on his international record alone.

but as kev says we are still in the shit up front

indeed we are - is crouch even available tonight?

[Matt50]

There are only 4 players who seem to really care about playing for England at the moment, David James, Joe Cole, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen (and only 1 of them started on Saturday).

Beckham cares, even if he is nearly as old and past it as tikay.

Have I missed any exciting moments ?

Yeah Beckham cares more than most, but i'm not sure he cares as much as he used to when he was captain.

You missed John Terry being branded a 'lionheart' when he chucks himself in front of a shot to block it - even though he was caught out of position in the first place which caused the opportunity.

This will probably sound daft (but hey i'm good at it) but imo John Terry still hasn't proved he's good enough to play at international level.I've watched him in a few games where i've thought his defending has been really poor.This isn't another dig at a chelsea player and he is immense at club level but i don't think he should be captain as i don't think he should even be guarenteed his game he still needs to prove his quality for England as i say imo.

yawn!!! imo

If he was saying the same about Rio Ferdinand your response wouldnt be yawn.

People need to take off their club blinkers when talking about the players playing for England - it is not only Chelsea fans, it is Liverpool, Man U and Arsenal fans.

IMO fwiw, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard should not be in the England team - they are over-rated and would not make any of the top clubs national sides.
John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are also over-rated. Ferdinand is made to look very good by playing alongside Vidic, likewise Terry alongside Carvalho.  Given the choice of defensive partnerships over Terry and Ferdinand and Vidic and Carvalho, to me it is a no brainer and would never be Terry and Rio.  

As i support Palace (no chance of anyone playing for England), i can be honest in how i believe that players have performed, without bigging up my own clubs players, and i'm not the only one who can see that our players are not as good as we like to think.

my response for ferdinand would also be yawn i think you'll find.

all 4 centre backs you named are very good players, all worthy internationals and all good enough. but only 2 of em are english so it must be terry and ferdinand.

carvalho is a great player in his own right and so is terry, likewise vidic and ferdinand.

as for ash cole and frank lampard not being worthy of their places i find this laughable tbh, tell me a better left back out there to replace cole? and other than stevie g another midfielder who has as much influence on a game than lampard?

i really dont want to get into a slanging match but im afraid your comments hardly inspire a good knowledge of football (being a palace fan may have something to do with it   )

i dont want a slanging match either - it is all about opinions, i have mine, you have yours.  you only have to look at the different teams that people pick to understand that everyone sees things differently.

I do however have a very good knowledge of football, having played the game at a decent level for a number of years, and also obtained coaching badges and watched a lot of matches (as my missus would testify!!!)

IN MY OPINION Ashley Cole is not a good player - i believe he is picked on his reputation for making decent forward runs that he USED to produce at Arsenal and is lucky that there are no other decent English left backs.  If he had been around in the years of Kenny Sansom and Stuart Pearce then i dont think he would have made it to double figures in england caps if any at all.
Lampard is a good player for Chelsea, mainly because of the players that he has around him (makelele and Essien the last couple of years), whereas for England he just doesnt do it.  Gerrard on the other hand, doesnt have the players around him at Liverpool, but can single handedly win matches for them, as he has done for England in the past.

My point about Terry and Ferdinand is that it is the other centre half that makes them look so good.  They probably are the best two centre halves that we have, but unfortunately they are not world class.

If you asked somebody who follows world football closely (not just someone who watches a major tournament on tv every 2 years and the odd champions league game to name their best X1, i dont think many English players would make that team.............................but again it all comes down to opinions.

exactly opinions,

with regards coaching badges they arent worth a wank imo, i coached youth and mens football successfully for many years and every time i was asked to start taking my badges i declined until i had to or give up.

coaching is all about ideas, individual ideas. why should we all be taught by the fa how to coach a certain way? i have my own ideas on how my teams shud line up and play i shouldnt have my ideas shackled by the f a wanting you to do it a certain way.

badges are just an f a money making exercise imo lets be honest its hardly produced any top class managers!

end of our discusion - we both have our own opinions and will leave it at that.

[DUNK619]

                                                 jamesd

        richards              rio                          terry              acole



        gerrard               rooney               barry              j cole


                                 owen             crouch

[TheChipPrince]

Crouch:

International Caps    28 
International Goals   14

I have no idea why he was dropped, him and owen up front would have been a handful.

  Yes goals are goals, but you cant help think about the teams hes scored against...

  Hungary
  Jamaica
  Jamaica
  Jamaica
  Trinidad and Tobago
  Greece
  Greece
  Andorra
  Andorra
  FYR Macedonia
  Estonia
  Austria
  Croatia

[Horneris]

I cant agree with having a 38 year old goalkeeper in the Squad, when we're looking at 2010 and 2012 tournaments and beyond.

Even tho he is the best atm, others need bedding in for these tournaments.

[Horneris]

At leat Gareth Bale jus bottled a penalty for Wales away at Russia.