OT: What did you all think of England?

[MallyG]

Dunno how many of you saw the England v Sweden game last night (well, last night for us here in Europe!). Wonder what you thought? Shame for poor Michael Owen. It's quite spooky looking at his body-language and demeanour in the first two games almost gives me the impression that he had some kind of premonition that something was going to go badly wrong. Obviously, that leaves us extremely exposed with a still-recovering Rooney, a hardly world-class Crouch and an untried Walcott as our only strike options (not even gonna mention Defoe - oops! Did it again!!) The midfield looked good. The defence made some uncharacteristic errors which hopefully will not occur again. Would still have liked to see Aaron Lennon come on - or even Carrick, but not to be. Second half was a bit heart-in-the-mouth as Sweden gained confidence and smelt blood.
Still, at least we got the point, won the group and gained an extra day of rest before Ecuador, thus avoiding the stress of playing Germany on Saturday.

Btw, went riding at 6am this morning as evenings are obviously out.

[Climb01742]

england has yet to play as brilliantly as their players do during the EPL season. other teams, argentina and spain come to mind, seem to be playing at a higher level and more coherently as teams. but given the calibre of players england has, can they raise their game to the next level? moments of brilliance can win a game. that seems to be england's hope now. argentina looks the better "team", but could rooney or beckham or lampard (sp?) win a game with individual magic? that seems to be the question.

[MallyG]

I have a feeling that Gerrard is 'the man'.

[goonster]

Agree with everything you said. Rio and Terry were very much in charge in the first half, but the midfielders obviously have to be a bit more focused on defensive setpieces.

Gerrard on for Rooney? It worked yesterday, but is that the plan?

I hate to see players hurt, but Carragher > Neville, imo.

For a little while there, they were singing "Rule Britannia" like they meant it. ;)

(see also my post in the "ooops" thread)

[MallyG]

(see also my post in the "ooops" thread)


Saw your post. Thought you were spot-on!

[Andreu]

......were great for half an hour.
Defensively very weak (or indisciplined?) I thought for both of the Sweden goals.
Joe Cole impressed, Rooney absent.
How can they change so dramatically in the space of 45 minutes or did Sweden really play that much better? The problem with England is that they have two speeds at the moment and, seemingly, can not vary the way they play - extremely worrying for England fans since if they come up against an intelligent team who can read the game - they will lose. The way England play would be manna from heaven for a team like Italy who would soak up all the efforts in the 1st 45 minutes and then pounce in the second half.

Sweden hit the bar twice and could have actually won in the end. Though 2-2 I think was a fair result in the end.
Neither England nor Sweden will not get to the final based on this form.

[flydhest]

hej, ja Sverige!

Sorry, the wife is from Stockholm, have to be happy for them.

[christian]

Joe Cole and Gerrard very impressive. Thought the play in the midfield was generally lacklustre in the second half. I think Sweden will have to play a fair sight better to get through Germany, and England will probably knock out Ecuador, but not go much further.

BTW, the columnist in the New York Times called Crouch "The Human Hair-Pulling Asparagus." Brilliant!

- Christian

[Kahuna]

Tjena flydhest! I'm with you bro. My wife also hails from the skargord.

Good close game.

hej, ja Sverige!

Sorry, the wife is from Stockholm, have to be happy for them.

[BoulderGeek]

Couldn't care less about footie.

But, England as a country was pretty good to me.

I love:

Samuel Smith's Museum Ale on cask
Curry and chips
Promiscuous Yorkshire lasses

Not necessarily in that order.