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The Official English National Football Team Thread


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The two brightest for me were Defoe and milner (Defoe because he is a much bigger goal threat than Heskey). And I will be surprised to see milner dumped after that display. I cant argue with you on Lampard though. He doesnt add anything special to the team. When a country has two good players in one position sometimes they have to drop one of them if they cant play well together or it unbalances the team. Brazil dumped Alves and Spain dumped Fabregas. Lampard should be dumped if he continues to underperform

Luckily for Gerrard he's the captain, played exactly the same as Lampard and Barry was the worst out of the 3 yesterday.

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We're really going to need a 5 man midfield against Germany (3 centrally anyway, and protection for Cole and Johnson on the flanks). I suppose this could be done with the personnel we had on against Slovenia in various ways, but with Rooney being a doubt due to his injury, at least one change is likely. I can't see Defoe playing up front on his own, and neither Crouch nor Heskey suit the lone striker role, so I'm not sure how we'll do it if Rooney can't start. Defoe would need heavy support behind him, and Crouch/Heskey would need players running past him, which is never our strong point. Perhaps it'll be Heskey in the middle with Gerrard and Milner either side of him, but who knows what Capello has planned.

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Both Lampard and Gerrard played pretty well I thought. Barry was pretty poor, but then he's rarely anything above distinctly average.

If Rooney's injured we would have to play 4-4-2, don't have anyone else capable of playing up there on their own. Think we'll be playing 4-4-2 anyway, can't see Capello changing it after a good performance.

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Yeah we do seem to perform better against the better teams so I'm not too worried we'll get destroyed by Germany. Very 50-50 that game, wouldn't be surprised to see it go to penalties :D Hopefully we will play the same team that played vs Slovenia against Germany.
Love it when people say that. I'd love for someone to actually back that up with some stats because all I remember is we scrape through to this round in most competitions and then struggle and get knocked out as soon as we actually play a decent team. Didn't we scrape pass Ecuador and Denmark last time and as soon as we played anyone decent we got beat?

Good point , tbh i cant remember England beating a major team in big match since 1966.

They must have but as i said i cant remember and it isnt a very good sign as i am dedicated follower of football since WC 1990 at least.

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One thing I will say about this England team, though, is they don't concede too many goals. Didn't concede many in qualifying, only conceded in one game in WC2006, only conceded one goal so far. Yes, you could make the argument that we haven't played so many strong sides, but Italy, Spain, Brazil and Germany have all conceded against relatively smaller sides.

I fancy it to be a tight game on Sunday. Should be an interesting watch for sure.

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Cole was pretty poor when he came on. All that talk about him unlocking defences and his passes were either reaching the opposition or running through to the goalkeeper / out for a goal kick.

Wouldn’t say Spain dumped Fabregas either as I don’t think he’s ever been first choice in their midfield.

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could be worse, we could be Italy at this point in time, same position us we were heading into the last game, but no reaction so far.

I for one think we'll sneak past the Germans, as long as Barry raises his game, his passing has been not at his best.

Will be interesting to see if Capello how we plan to stop Lahm bursting forward, best full back in the world imo

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Cole was pretty poor when he came on. All that talk about him unlocking defences and his passes were either reaching the opposition or running through to the goalkeeper / out for a goal kick.

I think Cole has his uses. To hold the ball up when we're doing the usual "defend deep, pump it long" lead-holding technique though, is not the time to use him. He is much more useful when it is the opposition who are sitting deep and we are having to play through them. Heskey would have been a better replacement for Rooney.

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could be worse, we could be Italy at this point in time, same position us we were heading into the last game, but no reaction so far.

I for one think we'll sneak past the Germans, as long as Barry raises his game, his passing has been not at his best.

Will be interesting to see if Capello how we plan to stop Lahm bursting forward, best full back in the world imo

I am glad Lahm is going to come up against Ashley Cole as I would not like to see Glen Johnson trying to defend against him.

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Yeah agree. Could easily get out numbered in midfield. Both Schweinsteiger and Khedira really like to break forward and get in the box. Really like them 2. The don't sit too deep and like to get invovled around the box.

schweinsteiger hardly moves, it's khedira who goes forward.

honestly the man who is going to win the game for germany is mesut özil, if barry and lampard aren't on top of him we don't have much chance. he'll win the game on his own if we don't stop him.

we were ok yesterday, and it wasn't a "very good" performance at all. and we aren't going far with rooney playing like this. nothing changes, we still need to play 4-1-4-1/4-2-3-1 (especially against germany) and the only thing i've learned is that milner needs to play.

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I think Cole has his uses. To hold the ball up when we're doing the usual "defend deep, pump it long" lead-holding technique though, is not the time to use him. He is much more useful when it is the opposition who are sitting deep and we are having to play through them. Heskey would have been a better replacement for Rooney.

I’m not knocking Cole as I rate him as a player, or at least I did. After spending so long out with injuries and not seeing too much of him when he returned to fitness, he has that element of uncertainty around him.

The way people were going on about his exclusion you’d think he’s just come off the back of an amazing season and was a sure thing. It’s a strange football phenomenon where players suddenly become a hell of a lot better when they’re not playing.

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I’m not knocking Cole as I rate him as a player, or at least I did. After spending so long out with injuries and not seeing too much of him when he returned to fitness, he has that element of uncertainty around him.

The way people were going on about his exclusion you’d think he’s just come off the back of an amazing season and was a sure thing. It’s a strange football phenomenon where players suddenly become a hell of a lot better when they’re not playing.

He has had a terrible season and actually played a lot of games yet both England and Chelsea fans want to see him play and are under the impression he isnt yet fit or he hasnt played that much. I cant believe my Joe Cole dislike is so high at the moment :D

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We can't play with one striker (rooney) that is not scoring. I'm pretty sure he will start with Rooney and Defoe and so he should.

Then our midfield two will have to be very clever to ensure Ozil is covered in Germany's midfield three.

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um, in playing that way we are playing to win. why would we play to draw or lose?

I think you need to watch germany again, if özil has space we are in trouble. neither lampard or gerrard are on the same creative level as him for his country.

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Because if Rooney isn't scoring or if hes marked out the game, the chance of us getting a goal is very slim. We need another natural goal scorer. Lampard is but hes not really scoring for England atm.

Ozil might be more creative thats what Barry is for. Lampard and Gerrard have attributes he doesn't have.

At the end of the day, Capello has played 442 every game, and I don't think he is going to change now. So its pointless.

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I have to say I thought we played worse when Rooney came off, fit or not. Cole behind Defoe wasn't working as we had no muscle up front whatsoever.

Agreed. I don't want Heskey- I think he is useful for 10-15mins here like he was yesterday.

Either Gerrard behind Defoe, or Crouch and Defoe. Would be some journey for the Crouch and Defoe partnership- Pompy to Spurs to WC match against Germany within 18months.

(if Rooney can't play of course)

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We need to play to win, not draw or lose. We need two strikers that can score. Forget this silly 451 crap.

Sure Ozil is good, so is Gerrard and Lampard.

Wow. 451 = playing to lose? Do Utd play to lose? Barca (433 is more or less a 451)? Or any of the other countless, successful teams who play a variation on the 451?

If we play a 442 and give Ozil space between the defence and the MF, we will be playing to lose. You say "that's what Barry is for" but that leaves Lampard marking 2 CMs.

This game's going to be tough enough, but it's going to be even tougher having 2 against three in the middle of the park.

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Using Man United or Barca are not good examples. 433 is good but, you we need at least two strikers, or natural goal scorers up front.

It's not really a case of if we play 442, I'm pretty sure Capello is going to. I don't fear Ozil, and think they should fear Gerrard, and Lampard.

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I think you need to start showing mr özil some respect.

who's going to fear lampard (a guy who won't attack or do anything in an england shirt) and gerrard (a guy who is pretty ineffective on the left) :D

if anyone needs fearing for england it's rooney.

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Saw a stat in Times, I think that Germany attack on their right side 3 times more than their left

No doubt due to a certain Phillip Lahm. Coupled with the fact that a centre back played at left back in the first two games and a right back played there in their last game :D

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Germany are busy blowing smoke up Rooney's arse "we fear him / he hasn't fired yet and he will soon" ... they maybe think he didn't do well under pressure so why not add more pressure.

Germany are very tidy indeed but they don't have the ominous air they used to have, then again we don't have Lineker!

Ozil's a top talent, their forwards don't strike fear right now but Rooney isn't terrifying anyone atm either tbf, they all know where the net is though and that includes Rooney.

Hopefully we won't concede those weak free kicks in the last 1/3.

Did I hear that King may be back?

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