Football: WORLD CUP 06 and close season/transfer discussion.

No Name · Post by **No Name** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:57 pm 0

And Hargreaves was amazing tonight. I'll not be criticising him again after that performance.

Rev. Stuart Campbell · Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:59 pm 0

mac monkey wrote:I have, Sky + it, and the ref is clearly not interested, and playing for a free kick.Until Rooney pushes Ronaldo, but it looks like he say's something at the same time to Ronaldo, which maybe the reason he got sent off.

ITV just showed highlights, and slow-mo replayed the incident. The ref appears to very clearly gesture that it's the stamp Rooney's being dismissed for.

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:59 pm 0

No Name wrote:Gerrard and Lampard should have been competing for the same place. So should Beckham and Lennon. When Beckham went off tonight and Lennon came on I actually fucking cheered. I'm no Beckham hater - the guy has scored enough great free kicks for us to deserve a place in the B-list of elite players - but his time was up in this World Cup. Lennon frightens people. Beckham doesn't any more.

Yep.

McClaren won't drop Beckham, either. And Beckham was recently (before the World Cup) talking about breaking Peter Shilton's appearances record for England. He can still deliver a telling pass or set piece, but I think we're better off having players that can go past people, which he can't.

Mind, he could play inside Lennon I suppose. Do you think they'd give us special dispensation to plat 4-5-2?

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:01 am 0

No Name wrote:And Hargreaves was amazing tonight. I'll not be criticising him again after that performance.

Yeah, I'll happily retract everything bad I've ever said about him. When played in his best position, he can do a tremendous job. It's just that this tournament has been the first time he's really been allowed to play in that position, for England.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:04 am 0

It now seems bleedin' obvious to the entire country that the best midfield will be Cole, Hargreaves, one of Gerrard/Lampard and Beckham vs. Lennon vs. Wright-Phillips (assuming the latter ever plays).

Can't believe McLaren won't work that one out too. But then again managers never fail to surprise.

I'd love to know what Arsene Wenger's team would be.

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:06 am 0

Dio wrote:I'd love to know what Arsene Wenger's team would be.

Bet Walcott wouldn't be in it.

aureole · Post by **aureole** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:19 am 0

Aii. Great game. I can't believe we scuffed so many shots (and that Portugal never thought to take the ball a little closer to goal).

All-European semis, that's a turn-up for the books though. And no Brazil in the final either.

20thCenturyBoy · Post by **20thCenturyBoy** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:39 am 0

Acronym wrote:Riot in.... Jersey. You couldn't make it up...

Apparently there's a large Portuguese contingent who live in Jersey, a bloke at work comes from there. He predicted a riot last week.

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 1:11 am 0

Self fufilling prediction for the WC 2010 : We'll get knocked out on penaltys.

Thought on Svens reign : He could grind out results but couldn't deliver in big games. He got us to each tournament top of our group, can't complain about that. His nemesis was always Scolari, and Ricardo played a couple of blinders in the penalty shootout. His crime was less in the results, but more in the manner. Then again you can't demand a Germany 1, England 5 every other game. All in all he was boring but didn't do a terrible job.

Part of me hopes McClaren brings a more aggressive style to England, but not necessarily the cavalier style of Keegan. Use this Euro qualification group as a testbed for new solutions to England, even if we don't qualify, to make a fresh attempt at the future. Playing the same formation with the same players time and time again left us without the abillity to adapt.

Acronym · Post by **Acronym** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 1:28 am 0

20thCenturyBoy wrote:
Acronym wrote:Riot in.... Jersey. You couldn't make it up...
Apparently there's a large Portuguese contingent who live in Jersey, a bloke at work comes from there. He predicted a riot last week.

Obv. they should all support Scotland and be happy.

(Can't Channel Islanders play for any of the Home Nations? I think that's how Scotland got Dominic Matteo..)

PFVA · Post by **PFVA** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 2:19 am 0

20thCenturyBoy wrote:
Acronym wrote:Riot in.... Jersey. You couldn't make it up...
Apparently there's a large Portuguese contingent who live in Jersey, a bloke at work comes from there. He predicted a riot last week.

I was reading this and wondering for a while "Jersey? Yeahp there is an enormous contingent but who the hell are they rioting against? Then i ralized it's not New Jersey but Jersey Island.

Here at the end of the first game the enormous contingent of Portuguese supporters that filled 3 entire tables of the 50 or so at the Pub still had a bit of a surprised expression in their faces having a hard time to believe that we had won. The remaining of the pub was filled by English supporters that of course weren't happy but no one rioted*. I was with Americans who happen to love football - a rarity but there is some.

On the second game we got there late, because one of my friends had to go back to work because the Shuttle was supposed to leave today but then it got cancealed, ended up in a small space offered by the French that were already at those 2 tables and with the rest of the Pub taken over by the Brazilians. At the end as an enormous contingent of Brazilians stay behind they were too busy crying and complaining about the poor football the team had played to think about rioting**.

__________________________________________
* The Portuguese more willing to riot, generally watch the games at their own Club Associations. Benfica and Sporting have associations here and people go watch the matches there. It also has the advantage of keeping them separate in case of riots between the 2 team supporters. Porto has only about 1 dozen or 2 supporters (one being me) and there isn't enough of us for an Association or a riot.

** If Argentina would have won, riots could be more of a possibility. Brazil is quite open to supporters of other nacionalities w/ one exception: Argentina. Actually one of the comments i heard at the end was: "It sucks, we played horrible but hey Argentina is out too." (being added as a consolation).

GeeZa · Post by **GeeZa** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 7:49 am 0

I'm late to the "party" (I watched the game this morning US time and have been out all day), but I'd like to post some comment.

Firstly I take back everything I've ever said about Hargreaves. I was wrong. That was one of the best individual performances from an England player I have seen in years. I'd be tempted to make him captain after that. And I'm also going to stop sticking up for Lampard. He's a great player but was *awful* throughout this tournament and I'm not sure he has a permanent place in a future England team. I can't believe I just said that.

I'd also like to see Beckham retire gracefully from England.

I honestly felt Portugal were poor, without Deco they're not half as good and they were there for the taking. Key issues for me were both Lampard and Gerrard having nightmares, and the disaster that has been one-up-front. And on that subject (Rooney), I think he deserved to go. He's clearly felt the pressure on him during the build up to the World Cup, but his outlet has been anger and barely contained thuggery. I didn't feel he contributed anything in any of our games. He was a ticking time bomb imo and like Beckham's petulance against Argentina, it's cost us a good chance of winning this cup. But anyway, Sven's squad selection was exposed as soon as Owen limped off. I still hope Rooney sorts out his problems because he remains the rawest talent we have.

Portugal did enough, and love or hate Ronaldo he caused us problems. England were the better side overall (just) but one knew when it went to penalties that it was over. An absolutely nerve-wracking but fantastic game to watch. I can now at least enjoy the rest of the tournament without the massive stress involved. Amen to that. Can Italy shit on Germany's cup-cake? That's the question.

At this stage you'd be a fool to write-off France who may just be hitting form at the right time.

I probably shouldn't say this but my views on this despicable little twerp Orava are already a matter of record on this (otherwise fabulous) forum. I wish he'd just leave. A really crass and insulting troll without even the faintest shred of intelligence.

merman · Post by **merman** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:12 am 0

Guru-Meditation wrote:Self fufilling prediction for the WC 2010 : We'll get knocked out on penaltys.

Thought on Svens reign : He could grind out results but couldn't deliver in big games. He got us to each tournament top of our group, can't complain about that. His nemesis was always Scolari, and Ricardo played a couple of blinders in the penalty shootout. His crime was less in the results, but more in the manner. Then again you can't demand a Germany 1, England 5 every other game. All in all he was boring but didn't do a terrible job.

Part of me hopes McClaren brings a more aggressive style to England, but not necessarily the cavalier style of Keegan. Use this Euro qualification group as a testbed for new solutions to England, even if we don't qualify, to make a fresh attempt at the future. Playing the same formation with the same players time and time again left us without the abillity to adapt.

That's a very fair summary. Of course the hypocritical Sunday papers are full of Sven-bashing today. I bet they already had the "Sven is bad" and "Please don't go Sven, you won us the World Cup" stories on file...

Dio · Post by **Dio** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:25 am 0

Of course. Personally, I can't complain much about anyone who gave me the highlight of my football-watching that was England 5 Germany 1, but I'm still sure it was time to move on.

perranegra · Post by **perranegra** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:17 am 0

From the bbc...

David Beckham has decided to step down as England captain after holding the role for six years.
More to follow later.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 138288.stm