Not surprised with all the England bashing here (I sometimes think the list
is as much anti-England as pro-Leeds), but I think people are missing the
point.
The first game in any group is always going to be difficult and frankly,
given the opposition (the USA will be the strongest opponent for England)
the main objective is to avoid defeat. Mission accomplished. The US are
physically very strong and fit, and they are disciplined and organized -
that's NOT easy to break down, and although I fully agree that England did
not play well, in the end I think it is an acceptable result. It's true that
England will have to play better if they have ANY hope of progressing to the
latter stages, but for now I wouldn't panic.
I thought Heskey did really well and Gerrard is a man amongst boys. I also
thought Glen Johnson did well. Rooney is the one world class player that
England has, and as such he HAS to be involved more if we are to make any
significant progress. On the down side obviously Green will de replaced now
(I assume), Milner may completely miss out again and Terry, King and
Carragher (for various reasons) look like the weak links. Ashley Cole is a
poser. Lennon is interesting because he gets in some great positions and
then seems to lack confidence. In the first half he should have taken a shot
with the outside of his right foot (aiming for the far corner); instead he
crossed meekly.
The point is, England are not all that good, so I think yesterday was a
pretty decent start.
Thank Christ we didn't lose, my life would have been unbearable.
Adrian Dingle
Atlanta Whites
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Walker" <[email protected]>
To: "Damian Walsh" <[email protected]>; "list leedslist"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 2:56 AM
Subject: [LU] A few England thoughts
First of all I'm a massive club before country man, even more so these days
with the overpaid rubbish that turns out for England. Still I was still
jumping around the room when Gerrard put us in the lead early on.
There were 2 really annoying factors for me watching the game on ITV.
Firstly the bloody horns. I hate them and for me they are ruining the
tournament. I don't mind them so much when you're watching S Africa v Mexico
because they don't know any better and that's the only way you're going to
get any sort of atmosphere, but when it's England I want to hear the fans
not a deafening din that just makes it sound like planes are flying over for
the full 90 minutes. Is this someone's pathetic attempt to prevent trouble
by just drowning any banter between rival fans ? It's pathetic.
Secondly, Clive Tyldesly - is he bumming Emile Heskey ? My god, how many
times did he mention how good Eskey was last night ? It was nauseating. I
thought Heseky did the basics ok but how many times was he off-side and when
he got his one and only chance as a striker in a one on one he did what
Heskey does best and fluffed it. I also thought he didn't play well with
Rooney at all - some of that first half might have been down to Shrek but as
a partnership it just didn't happen.
Also, Tyldesley kept reminded us that the Lampard / Gerrard combination was
working effectively ? Really ? I thought Gerrard, apart from the goal, was
average. He gave the ball away more times that I've seen him do all season
for his club. He looked lost. Main reason for that though, I thought, was
his partner Lampard who was shite. I've never been a Frank Lampard fan,
never considered him good enough for England despite all his goals for his
club. He had one decent effort and then there was a couple of unbelievably
bad free-kicks. Why is he in the team ?
As for the result and performance in general I have seen us play worse in
opening games. I thought 1-0 to us would have been a fair result although
1-1 wasn't unfair. I thought the USA showed they can play and they had some
decent chances.
Scores:
Green - 2. I used to bang on about how Nigel Martyn should be England no 1
when Seaman had made the position his for so long. When Nige did get his
chance he looked like a novice, shat himself and ended up costing us the
match. It demonstrated to me that going into the big competitions you need
experience in this position and you just can't go in with a rookie keeper.
The occasion is too big.
Johnson - 8. Definitely one of the positives both defending and attacking.
Cole - 6. Didn't do enough going forward but not really troubled at the
back.
Terry -6. Did ok.
King - 6. Thought he did ok whilst on but he's obviously not fit so why we
pinning or hopes on him. It seems to me that with the keeper position and
the Rio injury (blessing in disguise IMO) that Capello never had a Plan B
for these 2 positions. 6 million a year !!!!
Lampard - 3. Poor,
Gerrard - 6. Great goal.
Lennon - 6. One or two good moments and one or two disapointing moments. I
think he always looks like an Under-16 player taking part in a man's game.
He never seems to connect cleanly with the ball as if it's too big for him.
He does however have pace and can create chances but not today. Is he a
luxury in that midfield ?
Milner - 2. Not a winger, not a left back, not an England player.
Heskey - 6. Did ok but hasn't scored since Feb.
Rooney - 7. First half anonymous. Really tried second half to make things
happen. Nearly worked.
Subs:
Wright Phillips - 3. Looked out of his depth.
Crouch - 3. Oh dear.
Can't remember who else came on.
I think we'll win this group.
----- Original Message ----
From: Damian Walsh <[email protected]>
To: list leedslist <[email protected]>
Sent: Sun, 13 June, 2010 7:23:55
Subject: Re: [LU] 1-1
who's mistake cost the game - Green's "assist" or Heskey's miss? Discuss.
I have to say though that over the whole match Lampard was the most
disappointing England player, at least Heskey & Green made some positive
contributions to the match whereas Lampard seemed (through the distorting
lens of the telly) to contribute nothing.
I thought that England's passing was poor - not to the level you'd expect
from an international team.
Damian
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and the hardest time in a sailor's day is to watch the sun as it sails away
_______________________________________________
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accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors.
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and the hardest time in a sailor's day is to watch the sun as it sails away
_______________________________________________
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accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors.
Leedslist mailing list
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http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist
and the hardest time in a sailor's day is to watch the sun as it sails away
