The "i'm not interested" international friendlies thread

[frimmers3]

There is hope...we made the 40th ranked nation in the world playing with ten men look fairly ordinary.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Very familiar with Honduras with them being in CONCACAF with the US. A thoroughly annoying team to play against, chippy, and borderline dirty, who would rather have you play down to their level than ever try to play up to yours.

The US beat a very solid Nigeria 2-1 just up the road in the same heat and humidity in Jacksonville. Jozy Altidore got a brace.

The US actually looked good, lol. And they went undefeated in their warm-up games. Michael Bradley looked world class against Nigeria. This means one thing...nothing, not a thing, nada, zero, zilch. England has a better chance of winning the whole thing than the US has just getting out of their group.

Borderline dirty? They were pure filth.

[Terminal Boardom]

Who, out of the England players, looked world class last night? If there was one, I didn't see him. Sturridge should have scored in the first half and in a Liverpool shirt probably would have done. We still give possession away too cheaply and against better sides, that will come back and hurt us. What the game proved to me is that chances to score will be few and far between and when the chance presents itself it has to be taken.

Probably the most impressive aspect of last night's game was that the England players kept their discipline in the light of a fairly robust Honduras side. How their player who kicked the ball into our player stayed on the pitch is beyond me.

Thankfully, there will be at least one England game on the BBC so I can avoid Chiles and especially Townsend.

[TBM]

You could tell they didn't really want to go back out after the delay and that they didn't want to pick up a knock against another dirty South American side. It'll be different next Saturday, the tempo will be a lot higher

[Royal Rother]

Who, out of the England players, looked world class last night? If there was one, I didn't see him.

We haven't had a single world class player since, for a brief time, Michael Owen.

Oh, and Ashley Cole, but world class full backs are a bit meh....

[Victor Meldrew]

Would like to say "it was only a friendly" but England is one of the few sides that treat them almost the same as any match so last night's result /performance was not very good against a team rated 33rd compared with our 10th.
Lallana once again played well and is sure to start against Italy.
Wilshere and Barkley both irresponsible in giving the ball away-they need to look at that Germany game in the last World Cup and see what happens when you lose possession against better teams and the likes of Ecuador and Honduras are far from being the better teams.
Sturridge and Welbeck need to sharpen up in front of goal.

The most depressing aspect , as Hoddle said, is the lack of movement-England do just what Reading do, pass-and-wait rather than pass-and-move and in that respect both teams are lazy.
I don't think anything much has been learned from drawing these friendlies against moderate opposition other than that the players are quite fit and are having a really jolly time.
Fortunately I am in Portugal for the early part of the competition so will try hard to find non-ITV coverage of the games and won't have to listen to Townsend going on so much about our players being "unlucky" every time they f*** things up.

[Libertine]

Very familiar with Honduras with them being in CONCACAF with the US. A thoroughly annoying team to play against, chippy, and borderline dirty, who would rather have you play down to their level than ever try to play up to yours.

The US beat a very solid Nigeria 2-1 just up the road in the same heat and humidity in Jacksonville. Jozy Altidore got a brace.

The US actually looked good, lol. And they went undefeated in their warm-up games. Michael Bradley looked world class against Nigeria. This means one thing...nothing, not a thing, nada, zero, zilch. England has a better chance of winning the whole thing than the US has just getting out of their group.

Borderline dirty? They were pure filth.

I was trying to be kind. I was watching the US friendly so I didn't actually see how badly they behaved in the game against you guys. You answered my questions though, lol. Type of shit we have to put up with in CONCACAF all the time...

[Whatevs]

Wilshere and Barkley both irresponsible in giving the ball away-they need to look at that Germany game in the last World Cup and see what happens when you los.

Barkley turned into traffic in his own half, lost the ball and they were straight in on the back four.

Part of me hopes the more senior players pick up injuries so Roy is forced to play some of the younger players like Sterling etc. He'll be able to do so without the bollox from the press.

[super darren caskey]

Who, out of the England players, looked world class last night? If there was one, I didn't see him.

We haven't had a single world class player since David Beckham

[AthleticoSpizz]

Adrian Chiles?

Would rather have oxf*rd piles

Still better than S$y tho

[Royal Rother]

Who, out of the England players, looked world class last night? If there was one, I didn't see him.

We haven't had a single world class player since David Beckham

Do you really think he was world class?

World class crosser of the ball but I don't think the rest of his game matched that.

[Royalclapper]

Hope Roy has a word with Sturridge, why does he try and turn every chance he gets into some emphatic epic of a screamer? Sometimes he just needs to put it in the net without the unnecessary nonsense. He's a good player who scores good goals but sometimes it's really infuriating watching him trying to write his own spectacular headlines.

[Ian Royal]

Would like to say "it was only a friendly" but England is one of the few sides that treat them almost the same as any match so last night's result /performance was not very good against a team rated 33rd compared with our 10th.
Lallana once again played well and is sure to start against Italy.
Wilshere and Barkley both irresponsible in giving the ball away-they need to look at that Germany game in the last World Cup and see what happens when you lose possession against better teams and the likes of Ecuador and Honduras are far from being the better teams.
Sturridge and Welbeck need to sharpen up in front of goal.

The most depressing aspect , as Hoddle said, is the lack of movement-England do just what Reading do, pass-and-wait rather than pass-and-move and in that respect both teams are lazy.
I don't think anything much has been learned from drawing these friendlies against moderate opposition other than that the players are quite fit and are having a really jolly time.
Fortunately I am in Portugal for the early part of the competition so will try hard to find non-ITV coverage of the games and won't have to listen to Townsend going on so much about our players being "unlucky" every time they f*** things up.

Thought we showed considerable movement compared to normal when Barkley and Wilshire came on. Disappeared a bit when Honduras went down to 10, but then there wasn't much to exploit with it as they just camped around their 18 yard box.

Much rather see us trying and failing - giving away silly goals on the break because of it, than the same tired static nonsense.

[Royal Rother]

Absolutely. Wilshere certainly hasn't lived up to the / my hype (yet) but he drives forward and tries to go past players, as do Sterling, Lallana and Barkley. Refreshing after the stagnant rubbish we have been subjected to for much of the last 10+ years and the even more massive over-hype of Wayne Rooney.

Going down trying and learning is way preferable to abject failure whilst being unambitious and boring.

[winchester_royal]

Absolutely agree those who find the argument that 'oh well Barkley sometimes loses the ball trying something different' a little tedious.

The lad is 20 and is trying to be the type of player that can open up opposition defenses. Of course occasionally he is going to try something that doesn't come off, even the very best players have that problem, but he still succeeds more often than not and is electrifying to watch. We moan about stagnant football that goes nowhere, and we moan about players who try to take the ball forward in risky maneuvers that don't always pay off. Sadly the British public will never be happy. Maybe we deserve Farage.

[TBM]

Absolutely agree those who find the argument that 'oh well Barkley sometimes loses the ball trying something different' a little tedious.

The lad is 20 and is trying to be the type of player that can open up opposition defenses. Of course occasionally he is going to try something that doesn't come off, even the very best players have that problem, but he still succeeds more often than not and is electrifying to watch. We moan about stagnant football that goes nowhere, and we moan about players who try to take the ball forward in risky maneuvers that don't always pay off. Sadly the British public will never be happy. Maybe we deserve Farage.

But cos of that, isn't he better to bring on with say half hour to go once we've worn the oppo down

[Whatevs]

Absolutely agree those who find the argument that 'oh well Barkley sometimes loses the ball trying something different' a little tedious.

The lad is 20 and is trying to be the type of player that can open up opposition defenses. Of course occasionally he is going to try something that doesn't come off, even the very best players have that problem, but he still succeeds more often than not and is electrifying to watch. We moan about stagnant football that goes nowhere, and we moan about players who try to take the ball forward in risky maneuvers that don't always pay off. Sadly the British public will never be happy. Maybe we deserve Farage.

I think the beef with 'losing the ball' is that he loses it in his own half with little protection behind him. It's just a concern rather than an absolute football philosophy

[Mr Angry]

If ever a player is in that side because of his reputation, its Rooney; he takes up the space of others, hasn't the discipline to play wide and frankly, apart from a tap in from 6 inches against Ecuador (where Lambert handled the ball before the goal) Rooney has looked less of a goal threat than Glen Johnson.

[Hoop Blah]

Absolutely agree those who find the argument that 'oh well Barkley sometimes loses the ball trying something different' a little tedious.

The lad is 20 and is trying to be the type of player that can open up opposition defenses. Of course occasionally he is going to try something that doesn't come off, even the very best players have that problem, but he still succeeds more often than not and is electrifying to watch. We moan about stagnant football that goes nowhere, and we moan about players who try to take the ball forward in risky maneuvers that don't always pay off. Sadly the British public will never be happy. Maybe we deserve Farage.

But cos of that, isn't he better to bring on with say half hour to go once we've worn the oppo down

I would go along with that. I don't think the Italy game is the time to really throw him in at the deep end as it's a game we'd be happy with a draw in and they're strong side. There are lots of similarities being drawn between Barkley and Gazza in '90, which is totally understandable, but Gazza was a little more established and proven at that point. This might be 6 months too early for Barkley, and probably only because he lost a chunk of time through injury when he might've burst on the scene a little earlier.

It's really quite encouraging to see Hodgson sending them out in such a positive manager in the build up. He's been tagged as negative and boring over the last 4 or 5 years so to see him apparently looking to send out a more attacking side is refreshing.

[Hoop Blah]

If ever a player is in that side because of his reputation, its Rooney; he takes up the space of others, hasn't the discipline to play wide and frankly, apart from a tap in from 6 inches against Ecuador (where Lambert handled the ball before the goal) Rooney has looked less of a goal threat than Glen Johnson.

Well that and his goals return for a struggling Utd side, in which he was one of few positives this season, and his record for England in the qualifiers.

I think it's easy to see an untried and untested player, who hasn't yet failed, as a better option than a more experienced player who'd had their ups and downs but you have to time throwing the new players in carefully IMO. We've got a lot of inexperience in the side already, and with Rooney's potential to win games it would be very hard for a manager not to select him because a few youngsters look good in flashes.

Rooney really does need to step up to the plate though. I'm not suggesting he's undroppable, but his record outside of tournaments where, to be fair to him, we've thrown him in out of desperation when he's probably not been fit to play effectively, is good enough for a manager to stick by him. Initially at least.