Croatia Vs England

[turny]

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.

if you read again i think find i said gerrard should be in ahead of lampard. but people are debateing whether lampard should play now gerrards out imo thats a nothing debate.
but i also feel that under a manager with the right ideas  lampard and gerrard can adapt to play together.

your comparison of the lampard/gerrard situation to the shilton/clemence situation is laughable imo and not worth commenting or debating, if you cant see why im sorry im not wasteing my typing finger  

[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.

  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

You can only score against the team you play against   I aint a huge fan of crouch tbh just i think hes been treated badly. Esp since we struggling to score.

[kinboshi]

Crouch wasn't included in the squad.  Bonkers if you ask me.  

David James is playing well - and if he stands out in the Premiership as a quality keeper (which he has been doing), then that's international standard imo.

All the talk of individual personnel is a bit of a smokescreen really.  England has the players to put out two decent sides (not world beaters, but decent).  The way we played against Andorra was woeful, and a team made up of players from the Championship would have won by more than 2-0.

Tonight we're playing a decent side.  But even with the players we're missing, we should have more than enough to beat them.  We'll have to play a lot better than we did at the weekend though.

[kinboshi]

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

That makes your signature completely meaningless then.

[relaedgc]

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

Massive point IMO.

Lampard shouldn't be in an England shirt, either. Personally don't think he gives his all when playing for his country. You can't play him and Gerrard and I am not picking Lampard.

I don't follow any Prem teams so happy to argue with any Chelsea nuts that can't separate the blindingly obvious from their club loyalty.

[Acidmouse]

Reading the papers and listening to the interviews this week it all seems doom and gloom. I think they need to be more positive and create a real team spirit, not come out with excuses about playing at home is hard coz of the crowds.


Hold on didn't Lampard win England player of the year recently?

[Matt50]

Tonight we're playing a decent side.  But even with the players we're missing, we should have more than enough to beat them.  We'll have to play a lot better than we did at the weekend though.

Croatia are at home.  Croatia beat us twice in the qualifying stages of the Euros.  Croatia qualified for the Euros, we didnt.  Croatia are ranked 5 in the world. England are ranked 15.  I dont see any reason why we should have enough to beat them.

[turny]

Crouch wasn't included in the squad.  Bonkers if you ask me.  

David James is playing well - and if he stands out in the Premiership as a quality keeper (which he has been doing), then that's international standard imo.

All the talk of individual personnel is a bit of a smokescreen really.  England has the players to put out two decent sides (not world beaters, but decent).  The way we played against Andorra was woeful, and a team made up of players from the Championship would have won by more than 2-0.

Tonight we're playing a decent side.  But even with the players we're missing, we should have more than enough to beat them.  We'll have to play a lot better than we did at the weekend though.

i think the performance against andorra was not as bad as made out. the days of beating "weaker" nations by 5 or 6 goals are long gone. these teams have wised up and get everyone behind the ball at every oppurtunity so are harder to break down.

those who play football will tell you the hardest teams to beat are those who dont want to play, that just want to survive. a bit like a rock in poker happy to blind to the money lol

[kinboshi]

Tonight we're playing a decent side.  But even with the players we're missing, we should have more than enough to beat them.  We'll have to play a lot better than we did at the weekend though.

Croatia are at home.  Croatia beat us twice in the qualifying stages of the Euros.  Croatia qualified for the Euros, we didnt.  Croatia are ranked 5 in the world. England are ranked 15.  I dont see any reason why we should have enough to beat them.

I'm not saying we will.  I'm saying with the players we have available we should be able to beat them.

[relaedgc]

Reading the papers and listening to the interviews this week it all seems doom and gloom. I think they need to be more positive and create a real team spirit, not come out with excuses about playing at home is hard coz of the crowds.


Hold on didn't Lampard win England player of the year recently?

Did he win it when we were being competitively challenged during a major tournament?

[Matt50]

Tonight we're playing a decent side.  But even with the players we're missing, we should have more than enough to beat them.  We'll have to play a lot better than we did at the weekend though.

Croatia are at home.  Croatia beat us twice in the qualifying stages of the Euros.  Croatia qualified for the Euros, we didnt.  Croatia are ranked 5 in the world. England are ranked 15.  I dont see any reason why we should have enough to beat them.

I'm not saying we will.  I'm saying with the players we have available we should be able to beat them.

But we have had these players available for the last 2 years and didnt look like doing it then.  I really hope i am wrong, but i struggle to see us getting anything tonight.

[turny]

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

Massive point IMO.

Lampard shouldn't be in an England shirt, either. Personally don't think he gives his all when playing for his country. You can't play him and Gerrard and I am not picking Lampard.

I don't follow any Prem teams so happy to argue with any Chelsea nuts that can't separate the blindingly obvious from their club loyalty.

i am a chelsea nut and i think its me your getting at.

all i say is read my posts regards gerrard and lampard properly then throw your accusations of club loyalty.
please dont insult my intelligence i have prob forgotten more about football than you know lol.

as for argueing im afraid we dont do that here on blonde we do debateing  

[Acidmouse]

I think there are shouts for plenty others in the England team to be dropped before Fat frank.

[AdamG]

I think there are shouts for plenty others in the England team to be dropped before Fat frank.

who

[relaedgc]

No, Turny, just in general.

I have to argue this sort of thing with Billy a lot, too. I agree that with Gerrard out we should play Lampard but I wouldn't play Lampard if I had the choice of the full squad.


Who was the keeper they played v. Croatia last time and he blundered ( I think it was the Croatia game )

Carson, I believe? I'd be more inclined to play him over James. I think he's good, but probably felt the pressure that night.