Footyball! II

[Iskaral Pust]

[quote name='Smudge' post='1511626' date='Sep 9 2008, 17.49']As far as forwards go, maybe England will have to wait and see whether Wenger can turn Walcott into Henry...[/quote]

Good call by Smudge as Walcott has just scored a hat-trick for England away to Croatia. Rooney also seems to have played well - god knows he was due. Anyone watch the game? I'm just going by a web report.

Ireland managed to hang on for a 0-0 draw with mighty Montenegro.

[Paddy]

[quote name='Iskaral Pust' post='1513108' date='Sep 10 2008, 22.45']Good call by Smudge as Walcott has just scored a hat-trick for England away to Croatia. Rooney also seems to have played well - god knows he was due. Anyone watch the game? I'm just going by a web report.

Ireland managed to hang on for a 0-0 draw with mighty Montenegro.[/quote]
Ireland had the better of that game, but don't look like the finished article. Apparently most pundits were putting this down as a stern test for Ireland, but they coped well.
McGeady missed a really good chance near the end, and Montenegro were lucky to have the keeper placed in the path of a half-volley snap shot from Keane while on the turn and falling.
Also, just before half time, Ireland were denied an absolute stonewall penalty for a clear handball on the ground.

Northern Ireland had a [i]really[/i] good 0-0 against the Czech Republic. NI played all the football and created loads more chances than the Czechs. Disappointing they didn't win it, they deserved to.

Congrats to England on what appears to have been an excellent performance.

[john]

I watched the England game and the Scotland game on two big screens next to each other. An odd set-up in the pub I was in. The Scotland game was really tense and interesting with both sides attacking (and Scotland trying to play pass and move football :|)

The England game was very one-sided. Brilliant performance. I've no idea what happened - the Croatian team and the difficult stadium had no effect whatsoever. The one goal was very flattering to Croatia.

[Sir Thursday]

The England game was only one-sided once Croatia had a player sent off - in the first half I thought Croatia were the better of the two teams in what was a very cagey affair. But after Kovacs' red card (The amount of blood that came out of Joe Cole's head would suggest that it was most definitely deserved) Croatia took of Petric and consequently had no attacking threat. England then took over the game, and Croatia barely touched the ball in the last half hour.

Pletikosa seems to have a problem with the ball being shot across him from a wide angle to the right - all of Walcott's goals were scored like that, as well as one that he just managed to scrabble away for a corner. Walcott was a lively in the first half, but in the second play seemed to come down the left more often. He was on hand to score the goals though.

I have to say that I think the BBC was far too gushing in its praise of Rooney. Yes, he scored a goal and set one up for Walcott, but in the first half he was still dropping far too deep and it was only when the pressure was off and Croatia were just defending that he stayed in the danger areas and posed a threat. There was a situation in the first half where he ended up playing at left back, for example. Now surely that's Ashley Cole's job? He should be higher up the pitch, where he is actually useful.

It's a great result. I just hope that the English press don't look at the scoreline and think "If we can beat the #5 team in the world away from home, we should be able to steamroller everyone." Because the only reason they were able to do it was because Croatia played most of the second half with 10 men, and unless England have a reliable way of getting opposing players sent off, they're not going to get the opportunity to do this very often.


Sir Thursday

[Jon AS]

Conceding three goals against Finland: not good. Klose remembering where the goal is: a relieve.

Good to see Löw making attacking substitutions (Germany finished the game with four strikers and two attacking midfielders), sadly it wasn't enough to score a winner.

[Isis]

[quote name='Iskaral Pust' post='1513108' date='Sep 10 2008, 22.45']Good call by Smudge as Walcott has just scored a hat-trick for England away to Croatia. Rooney also seems to have played well - god knows he was due. Anyone watch the game? I'm just going by a web report.[/quote]For the first time in I don't remember how long I refused to watch the game. Perhaps I'll start watching again when Beckham is TOTALLY removed from the England set up. Having him involved is just going backwards. Again.

[Sir Thursday]

[quote name='Isis' post='1513472' date='Sep 11 2008, 08.40']For the first time in I don't remember how long I refused to watch the game. Perhaps I'll start watching again when Beckham is TOTALLY removed from the England set up. Having him involved is just going backwards. Again.[/quote]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Bentley would have been there instead if he was fit...but he pulled a hamstring or something like that.


Sir Thursday

[john]

I think Beckham's involvement amounts to a nod of consideration to a man who's been a faithful servant of the england team and not much else. Walcott was preferred to Beckham and they changed the way they played to accomodate him. I wouldn't be surprised if he's left out the next squad.

Also, did anyone else hear about the guy in the MLS breaking his leg doing a goal celebration for a disallowed goal? Ouch. I wince every time I see one of those backflips.

[Black Wizard]

Yeah I heard about that on Chick Young's World of Football on Radio Scotland last night.

[lessthanluke]

Roy Keane is awesome.

[url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/7609778.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...and/7609778.stm[/url]

[Iskaral Pust]

[quote name='LessThanLuke' post='1515667' date='Sep 12 2008, 14.36']Roy Keane is awesome.

[url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/7609778.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...and/7609778.stm[/url][/quote]


That guy Jack Warner seems well balanced though - a massive chip on both shoulders.

[Maltaran]

[quote name='Iskaral Pust' post='1516039' date='Sep 12 2008, 22.04']That guy Jack Warner seems well balanced though - a massive chip on both shoulders.[/quote]

He's also corrupt - Trinidad played a friendly against Scotland a while back, and Warner tried to get the SFA to make out the cheque to him personally, instead of the Trinidadian FA, plus he got caught selling World Cup tickets on the black market.

[Black Wizard]

If Yorke played for Luxembourg then Warner wouldn't have given a crap, but since it's his home country he shows bias. He should resign or be sacked.

[Daeric]

I saw an interview that Keane did about Warner yesterday, and its amazing how he managed to reign in the pyscho complex from his playing days to the calm collected manager he is now.

[H von T]

[quote name='SirRots' post='1516537' date='Sep 13 2008, 06.07']I saw an interview that Keane did about Warner yesterday, and its amazing how he managed to reign in the pyscho complex from his playing days to the calm collected manager he is now.[/quote]
He was such a bastard as a player, but I find myself pulling for him as a manager. I appreciate his honesty about his club and the idiocy of FIFA.

[Isis]

Agreed, john, but I don't really think that a national team should be picked on the basis on whether someone is a nice guy/has played a lot of games/is a good role model for the game or whatever. And when I say, 'don't really think' that would be a [u]massive[/u] understatement. :)

Anyway, nice to see some crappy reffing didn't affect the result today. It's been a long, long time coming.

ETA: Go Hull! :lol:

[Calibandar]

Liverpool vs Man United 2-1. The downward slide continues. Ryan Babel matchwinner, IMO he's one of the greatest talents in the game.

Blackburn-Arsenal 0-4. Looks to have been another super display from the Gunners. Adebayor is back with a hattrick.

Chelsea now playing Abu Dhabi City

[lessthanluke]

And Robinho scores. You gotta laugh.

[Calibandar]

[quote]I saw an interview that Keane did about Warner yesterday, and its amazing how he managed to reign in the pyscho complex from his playing days to the calm collected manager he is now.[/quote]

I totally agree with this. Even as a Man U fan I could never bring myself to be a fan of Roy Keane as a player, I just had to tolerate him in the side. This doesn't mean I don't acknowledge his value but appreciating Man U as a club does not make me one of those fans who support everything blindly and I know I would have disliked Keane if he played for another club as well, so it's the same when he played for Man U.

As a manager though, totally convincing, often cool and collected, getting very good results, and definitly my choice along with Mark Hughes for succeeding Alex Ferguson.

[Iskaral Pust]

I'm delighted with Liverpool's result today. I was following it on text updates on my BlackBerry. FSC never shows the early Saturday game, which seems to figure Liverpool quite frequently.

I think it confirmed that United are off form at the moment. After the first 20 minutes it seemed that Liverpool were dominating - without Gerrard and Torres! Decent debut by Riera, Alonso put in a performance for once (any chance he could sustain that form?) and Mascherano is the best defensive midfielder in the league. Kuyt and Keane look like they can't score at the moment. Brown's OG was fortuitous, but Liverpool keepers have gifted ManU plenty of goals in recent years.

Calibander - I like Babel too, although I'm not yet sure where he fits in our system. His first touch needs some work and he is not a natural on the left (always needs to cut in). He would probably do well on the right in 4-2-3-1, but it seems that Kuyt is undroppable for some reason. He is more a striker than winger, but Keane curtails his opportunity there. He is also more effective as a sub. He drifts out of the game too much when he starts.

Lampard just scored a second for Chelsea. Well taken goal, but did anyone else notice Hamann's shocking nonchalance as he jogged back to support his defence as Chelsea broke forward? He let Joe Cole and Lampard go past him with no effort to track either of them. Perhaps the Kaiser is getting a little old - and he's just been subbed off.