England vs Mexico

[EastStandBlue]

On the basis of that performance anyone who thinks England are going to actually win the World Cup this summer must be barmy.
Let's face it England's second goal was a)offside and b) handball.
Reality check-Mexico will struggle to qualify from their group, which to be fair includes France,South Africa and Uraguay.Yet for long periods of the game their possesion and passing were much sharper than England's.They were much quicker too.They can't however defend from set pieces which will ensure they get an early flight home.

Mexico have finished in the last 16 in their last two World Cups, qualified for this tournament with relative ease and are a very, very good outfit technically that are underestimated at your peril. They won the U17 (or U18) World Cup four years ago with what is effectively this squad integrated with the more impressive seniors and were trying a 'keeper who is substantially poorer than their first choice; Ochoa.

Make no mistake, the first half performance from England was poor but I put that down to too many players playing in unusual posititions for a tactic that doesn't particularly suit us. Milner doesn't have the guile to be responsible to play in the centre when he has Carrick as a partner, while Gerrard on the left offers no defensive duty and he was swept inside constantly, which is why Walcott saw so much of the ball down the right.

Green made some good saves, but still palms everything right back into the box, whereas Hart came on and looked assured. I honestly don't know if Capello knows how David James is, because he's been manificent for Portsmouth since Feburary.

King was average, was lost at sea for their goal and Leighton Baines had a bit of a nightmare which, painfully, shows just how vital Ashley Cole is to our hopes. Rio didn't know what King was doing/capable of and, as such, struggled while Johnson smashed in a great goal, but still can't tackle.

Which brings me to Michael Guilherme Rodriguez Carrick. Every pass found a black shirt, every tackle was subdued, weak and ineffective and he caused every move of ours in the first half to break down. Capello had to bring Gerrard back into the centre just to sort him out. On that performance, and with just 90 minutes left to impress, he's going nowhere.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Mexico have finished in the last 16 in their last two World Cups, qualified for this tournament with relative ease and are a very, very good outfit technically that are underestimated at your peril. They won the U17 (or U18) World Cup four years ago with what is effectively this squad integrated with the more impressive seniors and were trying a 'keeper who is substantially poorer than their first choice; Ochoa.

Make no mistake, the first half performance from England was poor but I put that down to too many players playing in unusual posititions for a tactic that doesn't particularly suit us. Milner doesn't have the guile to be responsible to play in the centre when he has Carrick as a partner, while Gerrard on the left offers no defensive duty and he was swept inside constantly, which is why Walcott saw so much of the ball down the right.

Green made some good saves, but still palms everything right back into the box, whereas Hart came on and looked assured. I honestly don't know if Capello knows how David James is, because he's been manificent for Portsmouth since Feburary.

King was average, was lost at sea for their goal and Leighton Baines had a bit of a nightmare which, painfully, shows just how vital Ashley Cole is to our hopes. Rio didn't know what King was doing/capable of and, as such, struggled while Johnson smashed in a great goal, but still can't tackle.

Which brings me to Michael Guilherme Rodriguez Carrick. Every pass found a black shirt, every tackle was subdued, weak and ineffective and he caused every move of ours in the first half to break down. Capello had to bring Gerrard back into the centre just to sort him out. On that performance, and with just 90 minutes left to impress, he's going nowhere.

I don't underestimate them at all.What I said was they were good on the ball,kept possesion well, and were much quicker than England on the night.I saw them in action against Germany in the 1998 World Cup in France who knocked them out in the last 16.I don't think their current team is as good-playing Marquez in midfield shows they lack depth-and still think they'll struggle to qualify from a group which France should win easily but will involve a dogfight for second place with South Africa as the host nation not to be discounted.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Worldy by Johnson.

An absolute peach. I was lucky enough to be behind that goal and got a great view of it. Also nice to see how many of the Club Wembley ***** missed it as they were still stuffing their faces. Hope that last prawn sandwich was worth it...

 

[mattytheshrimper]

went to this one. really good day out. match werent the best but overall a really good send off for the lads. the amosphere was one of the best i have experienced with england even though it was a nothing match. bring on the world cup

 

[Davros]

Green made some good saves, but still palms everything right back into the box, whereas Hart came on and looked assured. I honestly don't know if Capello knows how David James is, because he's been manificent for Portsmouth since Feburary.

I agree with this point. Altho Green made two very good saves, he also spilt a fairly tame effort back into the area. Fortunately no-one was around to tuck it away. Harts handling was superb.

Also, for the second one-on-one that Green saved, the part that Johnson played by putting massive pressure on Vela was massivly under-rated, as it meant he had little option than to shoot right at Green.

Thats said, Green was a lot better than i expected.

 

[chapperzUK]

For all these comments about Carrick's performance, he still managed to get a 87% pass completion!

 

[BoyWonder2]

Some people did themselfs favours and others played themselfs well out of contention on that showing.

The positives where both goalkeepers performances. Hart's handling was excellent although he wasn't really tested, and Green made a couple of decent saves, but his handling was suspect. Johnson looked good going forward, but naive defensively but he got himself 90 minutes that would have helped his fitness and Rio got 45. Crouch is really pushing for a starting position with yet another goal. Rooney was his hustle and bustle self.

On the negative front. King looked a yard and a half short all evening. Yes he scored, but that glossed over a poor performance from him. Carrick was woeful in the midfield and with Baines, probably played themselfs off of the plane to SA for the summer.

Was a bit of a stop start performance from England but not as bad as people seem to think. Some of our conter attacking play was excellent, and whilst we had a few dodgy moments at the back, we was missing half of our regular back four in Terry and Cole.

 

[Davros]

For all these comments about Carrick's performance, he still managed to get a 87% pass completion!

and if he lost those 13% in the attacking final third, no-one would really mind, but when he seems to give those 13% away right in front of his back 4 all the time, its a BIG 13%!

 

[Uncle Leo]

Good article here about Mexico from Zonal Marking (a site well worth following)

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/05/27/mexico-tactics-world-cup-2010-javier-aguerre/

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Good article here about Mexico from Zonal Marking (a site well worth following)

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/05/27/mexico-tactics-world-cup-2010-javier-aguerre/

Now that does look a good site.


**bookmarked**

 

[EastStandBlue]

Yep... ZM is, by far, one of the best sites around if you're into tactical analysis.

 

[Pubey]

Now that does look a good site.


**bookmarked**

yep they're well worth following on twitter too, write some very good stuff