Capello's squad for Montenegro match

[EastStandBlue]

Gary Neville is this much derided figure in English football, but at least he could defend and attack in equal measure, combining the two with the rather useful quality of being able to land a pass at a teammate's feet.

 

[Boreham Shrimper]

Utter, utter bilge from throughout the England side today. Oh, and the officials were crap, picky and blind as well. :madman:

 

[Bluesmanager]

Well, that were a load of ***** and make no mistake.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

It's like expecting Chelsea to win 36 games out of 36, sometime it isn't going to happen and you're only going to draw.

I actually thought Montenegro were pretty impressive. Very well organised, technically excellent, they were good value for a point and you could see why they were top. The seedings placing them below Wales are an absolute joke. Easily the best opposition England have encountered in the group so far.

BTW bringing on SWP at all was bad enough, but on the left?

 

[* ORM *]

Never mind, here's a thought. You could be Scottish or Welsh. Arguably just as passionate and the Scots much more so but with less quality than we currently possess.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Oh i don't know Barners,watching the jocks get beat is quiet exhilerating,decisions decisions.

Yup.I'm so glad I switched over after watching 20 minutes of that dross.Scotland/Spain was an epic game.England was just awful.

 

[EastStandBlue]

It's like expecting Chelsea to win 36 games out of 36, sometime it isn't going to happen and you're only going to draw.

I actually thought Montenegro were pretty impressive. Very well organised, technically excellent, they were good value for a point and you could see why they were top. The seedings placing them below Wales are an absolute joke. Easily the best opposition England have encountered in the group so far.

BTW bringing on SWP at all was bad enough, but on the left?

Indeed... The papers I've seen this morning are all using this as more ammunition to fire at Capello, when there's little else he could've actually done last night (aside from bringing on SWP, who shouldn't even be in the squad). Had Vucinic been fit, Montenegro wouldn't have played so deep and England would've had considerably more space to operate. As it happens, they played a solid 4-5-1 tactic with two holding players and Boskovic operating just behind the forward, which meant Barry chose to sit deep.

They were all over Gerrard the instant he picked the ball up, and the moments he had time on the ball he picked an incisive pass that found a forward player. Ashley Young, I thought, was superb in taking on his man and drew an awful lot of fouls and free kicks... Definitely cemented his place ahead of Joe Cole, in my opinion. Crouch was completely ineffectual, which left Rooney isolated, feeding off scraps, adding to his frustration. Glen Johnson, the less said the better... The only conceivable reason Lolerpool fans put up with him is that they have far bigger problems to concern themselves with. He can't defend, his usefulness going forward is sporadic at best and he's looking more and more like Whoopi Goldberg by the second. I'd honestly rather have Micah Richards.

My only gripe was playing with two wide-men with the aim of cutting inside without switching them over to give Montenegro something to think about... This left us far too narrow at points and meant Montenegro could defend that much more narrow.

 

[haveaguiness]

Indeed... The papers I've seen this morning are all using this as more ammunition to fire at Capello, when there's little else he could've actually done last night (aside from bringing on SWP, who shouldn't even be in the squad). Had Vucinic been fit, Montenegro wouldn't have played so deep and England would've had considerably more space to operate. As it happens, they played a solid 4-5-1 tactic with two holding players and Boskovic operating just behind the forward, which meant Barry chose to sit deep.

They were all over Gerrard the instant he picked the ball up, and the moments he had time on the ball he picked an incisive pass that found a forward player. Ashley Young, I thought, was superb in taking on his man and drew an awful lot of fouls and free kicks... Definitely cemented his place ahead of Joe Cole, in my opinion. Crouch was completely ineffectual, which left Rooney isolated, feeding off scraps, adding to his frustration. Glen Johnson, the less said the better... The only conceivable reason Lolerpool fans put up with him is that they have far bigger problems to concern themselves with. He can't defend, his usefulness going forward is sporadic at best and he's looking more and more like Whoopi Goldberg by the second. I'd honestly rather have Micah Richards.

My only gripe was playing with two wide-men with the aim of cutting inside without switching them over to give Montenegro something to think about... This left us far too narrow at points and meant Montenegro could defend that much more narrow.

Just to stoke to fire I am going to disagree with you comment's about most of the players... Yes Gerrard was closed down quickly, but why was this? It was because everytime he got the ball he was standing still. He never moved into space and picked the ball up on the move. He never made a single run into the box. And he never got himself in anything like a dangerous position. He played 2 good passes in the first 15 minutes then dissapeared. Why is it that players like Xavi, Iniesta, Oezil etc can find space and time on the pitch when they are playing "lesser" teams?

Ashley Young was awful. He ran into blind alleys all game. His freekicks were appauling. Why did he dive? He was about to be taken out but decided to perform a perfect 10 over the guys leg! Not once did he go down the line and try and cross it, he was just completely predictable (that can go for the entire team to be fair though!). Adam Johnson was not exactly brilliant on the other side, but at least he tried to mix it up with cutting inside and going round his man. Plus Adam Johnson gets a special mention because he has to put up with playing infront of the dross that is Glen Johnson, enough said!

It also sounds like you are trying to stick up for Rooney by saying Crouch was rubbish. Yes he was poor, but Rooney gave the ball away pretty much everytime he got it, that I'm afraid is not Crouch's fault, but Shreks fault. He is rubbish at the moment and shouldn't have been in the squad.

Now onto the Man of the Match... How good was Gareth Barry! He showed everything I would like from a current England International. He showed good pace, an ability to retain possession, a good passing range, an attacking instinct and a tackling ability to rival the best!

Apart from that at least we didn't lose although we nearly did! Time to get Huddlestone into the midfield instead of Barry, give Gerrard a kick up the bum and tell him to get back to be more dynamic and attacking like he was for Liverpool, if he can't do this in the next couple of games give Wilshere a go. Up front would be hard to critise yesterday as we only really had 3 options and none of them worked. Shows how much we miss the pace and stirking instincts of Defoe. And at right back, well Richards, Onuoha... anyone just anyone but Glen Johnson!!!​

 

[EastStandBlue]

Gerrard couldn't make any runs forward, owing to Montenegro having two defensive midfielders, with one in reserve, protecting a resolute and narrow back four... If he was to run forward, he'd be running into bodies and he'd quickly lose possession. Players like Xavi, Iniesta and Oezil tend to find space because others create it for them... Particularly in the Spain squad that have four or five midfielders who are excellent in possession. Barry doesn't create space for anybody, Crouch is hugely static and Rooney's bombing around clipping people's ankles.

I've got a lot of time for A.Johnson, he's probably one of the more exciting prospects we have at the moment, but his decision making is poor at times... That needs to be refined, but he simply has to be playing regularly at Man City for that to happen. I know he's amongst the games at the moment, and long may it continue.

Can't agree with you about Barry, though. He's horrendous. He has no pace whatsoever, he keeps possession because he only passes it five yards to Gerrard or Ferdinand and I can't recall many passes of his that actually went forward. There's nothing wrong with that, Torsten Frings carved a career out of passing it to Michael Ballack, but he wasn't what was needed last night. Wilshere has been tearing teams to pieces with his intuitive passing on the edge of the box, but he sat out the last 30 while Barry continued to not be pressed and continued to give the ball to Glen Johnson.

Anyway, people could pick apart individual faults all day to no avail... Capello picked the best eleven currently available, sent them onto the pitch with the right idea and it just didn't come off. The substitutions certainly could've been more inspired, but you will have nights like this in international football. Klinsmann said exactly that in Lineker's documentary the other week, when you're formulating a national team, results will go against you and you will have teams who come for the draw and escape with one. That's not the problem at all, it's responding to those disappointing results with impressive performances and learning from them.

Unfortunately, courtesy of a frankly appauling ignorance when it comes to the state of youth development of this country during the early 2000s, we're about five or six years away from having options.

 

[chadded]

Rooney ...... He is rubbish at the moment and shouldn't have been in the squad.

Now onto the Man of the Match... How good was Gareth Barry! He showed everything I would like from a current England International. He showed good pace, an ability to retain possession, a good passing range, an attacking instinct and a tackling ability to rival the best!

! Time to get Huddlestone into the midfield instead of Barry,​

Rooney needs time away from football, a la Tiger Woods and Golf, or he might never recover.

AS for Barry, you say he was MOTM, and everything you want to see from an England player, and in the next sentence you want him dropped? I'm confused.

 

[haveaguiness]

Sorry, it was ment to be tongue in cheek about Barry. He was Horrendous and he actually sums up everything that is wrong with English football at the moment. How he is the best (in Capello's eyes) in that position is just mind boggling.

I too think that Adam Johnson is a breath of fresh air in the team, but give it 4 or 5 more games for England for that to be knocked out of him. The same happened to Lennon. After the Croatia game he never wants to take anyone on for England anymore and just goes backwards or sideways.

I can't agree with you about Gerrard though. There were ample times yesterday when England would hit a striker and Gerrard was 40 yards behind them both, standing on the half way line with a gaping hole in the middle of the park. They were pretty much man marking him which should, for someone of his ability speed and power, make it easy to find himself some time and space going forward if he just moved around a little.

I still think that we are currently picking the best "players" available and not the best team, yesterday was a little harder because of the injuries but it has been happeneing for far too long. Man city for example have the best attacking options in the Premier League, yet the struggle to score goals. This is because too many of them are too similiar and do the same thing, drop deep for the ball. You need a balance and they haven't found it yet, much like England haven't had a balance for years.

 

[chadded]

Sorry, it was ment to be tongue in cheek about Barry.

Ah, I'm with you now. I missed the first half through work, and wasn't too interested in the second, so unlike others I won't comment on something I didn't see.

 

[haveaguiness]

Yeah I maybe should have added a little smiley really... It was so bad the highlight of the night was when the pub staff started walking round with free jacket potatoes with Chilli Con Carnie on them for a little snack for everyone. They could clearly see everyone was getting annoyed and so decided to defuse the situation with nibbles!

 

[EastStandBlue]

Man City struggle to score goals because Mancini is as ignorant as he is dapper and refuses to admit that building his front line around Carlos Tevez, rather than incorporating him in it, was the wrong thing to do. Tevez isn't someone to spearhead an attack as he's a loose cannon who plays a free role, dropping deep to pick up the ball, chasing in the channels and generally making a nuisance of himself... They have Adebayor in reserve, but he can't buy a game because of his personal problems with Mancini despite his ability to lead the line rather well when he wants to.

I wouldn't say Barry's the best in Capello's eyes, he's merely all we have in that position. Thuddlestone isn't quite as defensive minded as Barry but has a far, far superior passing range, but we just don't have someone like Gattuso for Italy, Vieira for France or Marchena for Spain... Someone to do the dirty work for none of the praise. I had hoped Fabrice Muamba would continue to develop, but he appears to have stagnated and could do with a fresh start.

 

[haveaguiness]

Do we need to be defensive minded against most of the teams in this group though? Xavi Alonso isn't the greatest tackler in the world but he used to do that holding role for Liverpool pretty well and still does it for spain. Huddlestone has been playing a more defensive role for Tottenham this year to be fair, being a foil for the likes of Modric, Van Der Vaart and Bale to show case their talents by being able to actually pass to them!

As for Fabrice, he is still only young and after watching the Under 21 game the other day and various Prem games when he plays I feel he is very under rated. Is is very athletic and quick, but he also has some composure on the ball and isn't afraid to go forward if he has to. I think he could be the answer in a couple of years time after a little more progression. Just ask many Bolton fan's about his handling of Gerrard and Lampard over the last couple of season's and they will tell you just how good he is!

Cattermole is another option but he needs to sort out his temperament. There is no denying he is a good footballer and he also has that bite about him to not be bullied at international level, but currently if a game passes and he hasn't been sent of people are shocked!

Oh and Scott Parker of course, who intrestingly is in the England squad on FIFA 11, something we missed there...

I just think it's amazing that from one of the most successful under 21 team's that we had in recent times none of the 4 central midfielders most regularly used (Huddlestone, Muamba, Cattermole and Noble) have yet progressed to even being a regular England squad memeber, with Huddlestone being the only one that has even been considered.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Michael Carrick!

 

[haveaguiness]

Michael Carrick!

He has hardly played the last year or so for Man United though and when he has he's been very poor and is completely out of form. Surely we need someone that plays week in week out for their club just like Shaun Wright-Phillips does :stunned:.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

He has hardly played the last year or so for Man United though and when he has he's been very poor and is completely out of form. Surely we need someone that plays week in week out for their club just like Shaun Wright-Phillips does :stunned:.

Apologies, I rarely watch Premier$hite football. He does however have the skill set that we need.

We needed an international version of Kevin Maher last night to move the ball around better.

I assume SWP is mainly at Man City in a ball-boy capacity.

BTW Did we finish with 5 Man City players (Hart, Lescott, Barry, SWP, Johnson) on the pitch? When was the last time we had 5 players from the same team playing for England at the same time?

 

[Napster]

When was the last time we had 5 players from the same team playing for England at the same time?

Don't know, but the record is 8 from Arsenal in the 1930s.

More recently, seven Manchester United players were on the pitch for England for a few minutes at the end of the 3-1 World Cup qualifying win against Albania in Tirana on 28 March 2001, but two of them came on as substitutes. The seven were starters Gary Neville, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Andrew Cole and substitutes Wes Brown, who came on at 29 minutes, and Teddy Sheringham, who arrived at 84 minutes.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Ah, I'm with you now. I missed the first half through work, and wasn't too interested in the second, so unlike others I won't comment on something I didn't see.

I saw the first 20 minutes.That was enough to convince me to switch over to Scotland v Spain.Classic game.