So, England won against Croatia, a historic win, one ‘apparently’ that is up there with the 5-1 drumming of Germany. In all honesty, I have to blatantly disagree.
It was a great win and Theo Walcott played superbly and completely deserved his hat trick but it was only Croatia. They have dazzled the world recently and are an overachieving fifth place in the world rankings. 4-1 sounds like a thrashing but it was Croatia who had the first shot on target, and they were reduced to ten men. It could have been a harsh decision has I have seen players do similar incidents and get away scot-free. Therefore, Croatia were reduced to ten men and they were missing two of their most influential players: Nico Kranjcar and Eduardo. Hardly memorising really.
Beating the old enemy Germany was much more significant and worthwhile. Man for man, England should be all over them but the good thing is that it has seemed to get the public back on their side.
Fans and ‘fans’ have claimed that this will be a fantastic new era, etc, etc we have heard it all before and it will all end is disappointment. I did really enjoy watching the game and confidently, and mean it, cheer when Walcott scored all of his goals and there was even a little glimmer smile when Wayne Rooney scored.
Frankly, we have an easy group and if they do anything par walk it, Fabio Capello should hand over his six million pounds to Terry Venables for business opportunities or Glenn Hoddle so he can actually make any sense.
Has this justified leaving out Michael Owen? No not at all, has everyone forgotten about the Andorra appearance already. Does England only play with any dependency when we play the supposed big boys and Croatia you regard as one of them. I find it all rather embarrassing.
Steve McClaren did beat Argentina with an Owen brace. Russia, who I regard a better team than Croatia, were beaten 3-0 by England. Israel by the same score.
So far, France, who lost 3-1 to Austria, has beaten us, yes you did read that correctly. A draw against Czech Republic, and they actually have a decent outfield player now.
An unimpressive 2-1 win against Switzerland. A draw against USA or was it a win. It does not really matter.
England simply turned up on a good day. Every player played well but let us see a repeat against someone of note before generating so much hype and too be let down again. I am afraid no real test be there until the actual 2010 World Cup, we may have to wait until then.
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17 comments:
totally agree with u matey, i really do. ity was a good win but it was a lackluster croatia without their two best players. we hardly set the world alight. im a big big big fan of heskey, he is a great player but last night he was pretty quiet. for me we still miss someting...
When did Steve McClaren beat Argentina? Wasn't it Eriksson?
I think you're a bit harsh on Croatia. They are ranked fifth, maybe not deservedly but if so then shouldn't are not too far behind. Put simply, before last night, they were a better team than us. They had beaten us both the last times we played them.
Thats why everyone is excited. And its not just the score, it's the way we played. That was the best England performance since Eriksson was in charge. When was the lst time Rooney was that good, or Lampard was that confident in possession or JT and Ferdinand did pretty much 99% of things right?
If we can't get just a tiny bit hopeful over this result, then what hope is there? Capello may as well quit - he can't win.
i disagree...terry looked dodgy all game. Lampard did look reasonably good but nothing compared to his chelsea form...and rooney was again good but allways under performs for england...it was a good performance but nothing to write home about.
And I agree with Mr Tilley.
I for one am not getting *too* overexcited, I'll leave that to the so called fans you see in the pubs..but there is reason to be optimistic.
For one, yes, Croatia were missing Eduardo and Kranjcar - but we were missing Gerrard and Hargreaves. It works both ways.
And their home record is fantastic. It can be daunting to play in Croatia, but we coped with relative ease. We played with no fear. Winning there by 4 goals is pretty remarkable, whichever way you look at it, and do so the way we played is something special.
Leaving out Owen? You have to say the decision looks vindicated at the moment, though the door isnt closed on him just yet. Fitness is still an issue I think.
Yes, it's a win, and a good one at that, but we have to hope complacency doesnt creep in and this proves to be the highlight of Capello's tenure.
Croatia were where 4 years ago?they just took advantage of a naive england side with McClaren still in charge. You may have been right with the Argentina game tilley I simply this from the top of my head.
England should be beating teams of this calibre. they get paid the wages for it, Hargreaves - Kranjcar not the same Shauny, Hargreaves is not a starter.
Gerrard should be the only man to walk straight back in but why perform against Croatia and disappoint against the other four teams in the group.
stevey where do i start???
firstly lets remember that we didn't qulify for Euro 2008, we are ranked just one place above scotland, who we all take the piss out of but are actually just as good as us
this victory was as stunning as germany in '01 because of the importance of the win and the shock, who really thought we could go there and win?? no-one
if your going to talk about players missing at least compare it to the team we put out Steven Gerrard would certainly have played if fit, and the reason owen wasn't picked was cos he wasn't fit to start games, u don't pick a striker in a squad without being fit enough to start, if so pick alan shearer in the squad bring him on wen we get a penalty
and your saying the decision still isn't right to drop owen even though we won both games we played???? don't quiet understand that one
lookin at the comments there seems to b a little bit of bigging up your own team, not sure how heskey had a quiet night he was pivotal in every england attack, he may not have touched the ball but croatian defenders didn't no how to deal with him he's such a handfull, and yes gerrard should walk back into the side, but will he? under eriksson and mclaren yes not sure capello wil b quiet so sure
do agree that terry had an off night but 2bh we're nit picking really, he just need to let rio do the passing and get bk to his defensive qualities
Leaving out our best goalscorer since Shearer or even Linekar should be been questioned. Fit enough to make a huge impact for Newcastle fit enough to make a huge impact for England.
Terry and Ferdinand are the best centre halves in the game but let us remember the goal Croatia scored, it was high foot but Terry did not go into that with 100% commitment and he was on the floor holding his face and it was pretty obvious that he was not even touched. he should be the captain but lead by example. who was really a big threat for them that day.
I am not questioning that England played well but it was an off day for Croatia and is was a credit for Capello to go with Walcott and as he was the only major highlight against Andorra it was no surprise.
I was expecting a win as we should be beating these sides.
not qualifying for Euro 2008 was horrible and there should have been no excuse to not to qualify.
Naivity showed as the 2-1 defeat to Russia, the two defeats to Croatia is was commercial. we did not played well at all. Why?
are we not playing the same system, with the same players albeit Walcott.
At the moment I have not seen much difference. that is why I am still worried that this was a flash in the pan.
Croatia are not that good, they have a good manager and a few world class players but nothing to England measure.
the rankings do lie, how can argentina not get any rankings for getting a gold medal. What has the Czech done recently and they are extremely high.
Scotland are there as they had great results against Italy and France and when did England get a good result against anyone of note. the draws against Brazil and Germany do not really count.
Heskey played brilliantly, not really causing a goal scoring threat but led the line superbly. Rooney performed well as well and his passing was amazing and he took his goal well even though it was put on the plate for him.
All I am saying that we do not turn into a good team overnight which is what everyone is saying.
"England should be beating teams of this calibre. they get paid the wages for it."
And this sums up the problem that England face completely.
Why exactly? We are not as good as everyone makes out. We are overrated and overhyped - and we have been for years.
We're no more than a quarter final team, and no better than Croatia and the Czech Republic really. But people still expect us to walk all over them. And until this changes and people get some perspective, England wont prosper.
shaun u change ur opinion more times than i change my underwear....grow a backbone and have 1 opinion....and we shouldnt be beating teams...we have not won anything since le tournour....even that was a two bob tournament...sack cappelo and bring in a real manager like redknapp
I've changed my opinion? Do elaborate..
tart
Capello is a class manager, whether we all think it was a great result or not, the point is Capello doesn't. He has his feet on the ground and do not doubt that he will be telling his players that they have not acheived anything.
How people can doubt him after SEVEN games is shocking, how is a manager going to achieve anything with that kind of pressure being put on him?
The man should be knighted. Well, not really, but we'd be a lot better off if people layed off him and gave him and his players a chance. Even if they do keep letting us down.
ur last line just answered all ur questions, fella.
Well what's the point in putting them down? We've lost before we've even started. Even if the faith in the England team is somewhat blind, a bit of optimism with a healthy dose of realism wouldnt go a miss.
Then again, bashing England is the fashionable thing to do, isnt it?
I agree with Shaun. Its so easy to criticise Capello and the team and, yeah, they deserve it. But if they deserve ridicule then they deserve praise as well when they earn it and they most definately earned it.
I am not criticizing I am just claiming that this is not a classic, historic win. it is a win we should expect and the day we are beating Croatia is the day we are happy to be knocked out by Portugal in the quarter finals.
Capello has done OK but I have not seen a real class of difference between him and Sven or do i dare say it McClaren. the team could practially run itself at the moment.
Steven Woodgate for England manager - you heard it here first.
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