England V Holland Match Thread

[mystiroakey]

First topic message reminder :

my prediction 3-1 or 3-0 welbeck to score

[liverbnz]

gerrard single handedly won a cl final- lets be honest- the guy deserevs massive repsect as a club player, just not as an international- because he has never really worked out for us!- maybe not really his fault- however not the time to blame anyone or any system, time to get a fresh squad in- out with the old in with the new

Another myth. He was every bit as bad in the first half of that game as he was good for the rest of it. He was the driving force behind it, but 'single-handed' is extremely unfair on the likes of Carragher, Hamann, Alonso and Dudek.

[mystiroakey]

if anyone single handedly won any game then gerrard did that game!i saw it with my own eyes. No single footballer has ever single handedly won a game of football in a theritical sense!!!

[liverbnz]

I porbably took your 'single-handed' a bit to literally, but the substituition of Hamann for Finnan at HT was key.

[TopHat24/7]

if anyone single handedly won any game then gerrard did that game!i saw it with my own eyes. No single footballer has ever single handedly won a game of football in a theritical sense!!!

Beckham for England against Greece took us into the tourney on his own. Now THAT is a single-handed performance, one of the best I've ever seen.

[mystiroakey]

that goal was something else wasnt it!!

was that also the euro greece won?

[dyrewolfe]

Gerrard shouldn't have started full stop as his even his club form has been below par this season. That said, its not really fair to single him out as he is only one of a number of players whose club form has never been replicated in an England shirt.

Other than that I think the "kids" did okay, considering they were England's second string, with a new manager, up against largely the same Dutch side that got to the final of the last World Cup.

I hope whoever the next England manager is, they take Pearce's ideas and run with them. Use Euro 2012 as a proving ground for these younger players and give them the experience of playing in a tournament. They will only improve with time and should be moulded into an effective unit in time for WC2014.

Continuing to rely on the "experienced failures" will only lead to more disappointment, so we may as well head into a tournament, NOT expecting much for once.

[dummy_half]

Dyre
Agree with a lot of that - I actually think the biggest disappointment of Capello's management was that he wasn't prepared to take the bull by the horns after the 2010 WC performance and really strip the team of the deadwood and give the youngsters a proper go.

Some of the 'kids' showed that they will be good international players (Sturidge, Johnson, Richards, Wilshire, Rodwell, Jones, Walker maybe Smalling), with a good foundation of somewhat more experienced players like Parker, Cahill, Hart and Rooney for the team to be built around. A few of the other youngsters will fall by the wayside - not convinced that Fraser Campbell or Welbeck will be the long term solution to our goalscoring problems.

I thought we played quite well at times, and showed good patience playing the ball from the back and through midfield - no point at international level and especially against teams like the Dutch (or Spain) in just humping the ball up the park and hoping to win a knock-down or second ball. The defence was solid when we had the full backs and defensive midfielders in position, but we got caught twice by giving the ball away too easily in midfield with the shielding midfielders and at least one fullback looking to advance. Robben and colleagues are very good at exploiting counter-attacking opportunities like this.

[Josiah Maiestas]

No we are pretty terrible too, but we only have a population of greater London. What's your excuse for being awful?

the old population card, it could certainly play a part, if not for the fact that greater london was atleast 50% foreign.

[Josiah Maiestas]

holland are a good team, especially robben he is still one of the worlds most difficult to defend against wingers, but I still expect England to atleast reach the final in Ukraine, when rodwell and wilshere are playing.

[dublfcynwa]

No we are pretty terrible too, but we only have a population of greater London. What's your excuse for being awful?

the old population card, it could certainly play a part, if not for the fact that greater london was atleast 50% foreign.

And what exactly has that got to do with anything? First you call me a paddy and now your rambling about foreign people in London. England has 10 times the amount of people as the Republic and your not that much better now are you? at any sport for that matter. We even beat you at cricket in the world cup and we don't even know the rules.

[GG]

Wales beat you at rugby too

[mystiroakey]

yeah thaks for reminding me you scamp!!

are you ever gonna forget that win?>

[Guest]

gerrard single handedly won a cl final- lets be honest- the guy deserevs massive repsect as a club player, just not as an international- because he has never really worked out for us!- maybe not really his fault- however not the time to blame anyone or any system, time to get a fresh squad in- out with the old in with the new

for once mysti i agree with you

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