Algeria v England [OFFICIAL THREAD]

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

It is peculiar how genuine top players instantly turn shit as soon as they put the white shirt on. This hasn't happened with players in the past, your Charlton's, Lineker's, Robson's, Moore's etc. Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard are in that class of player yet none come close to reproducing their club form over any length of time.

I don't think it's entirely a modern phenomenom - I give you John Barnes.

It's clear we're one of the two worst sides at the tournament - take your pick between England and France.

[floyd__streete]

Wow that was beyond dump. David James was good the rest weren't.

Glen Johnson is laughably atrocious, Gerrard out of position and totally ineffective. Lampard not good enough, Rooney the biggest disappointment absolute garbage. John Terry also, utter toss.

Needs to change the system get two natural wide players in, get Heskey out the side and they might scrape a win.

^ pretty much that. I have become increasingly less optimistic by the minute since Carragher/SWP/Heskey were picked for the squad, these players simply do not deserve to be there. Why no Joe Cole tonight? Slovenia must fancy their chances on tonight's evidence, perhaps they will do the World Cup a favour and knock this nothing team out. Lamentable reflection on the so-called best league in the world. I have watched England through World Cups 90, 98, 02, 06 and Euros 92, 96, 00, 04 and that is easily the worst tournament performance I can remember. Beyond saving, I fear, because - most damningly - the manager is underperforming too.

[Row Z Royal]

RIP Dangerous

We may knock the Scots and Welsh, and they may be crap, but I'd take their passion in wearing their national shirt over these bunch of overpaid, overhyped, wife swapping, granny shagging, coke sniffing, bar brawling, phone intruding, drink driving, car crashing, spineless, gutless, passionless bunch of twats.

[leon]

Point already made, but the sheer arrogance of Gerrard saying that was their cup final. Who the f*ck do they think they are? Everything that makes me hate football.

Exactly having just seen England outplayed for 90 minutes I found that throwaway comment disgraceful- although he's right, Algeria did play like it was a World cup final - with passion and skill and outplayed the opposition. England reminded me of France tonight - overpaid, indolent and utterly disinterested.

[Maguire]

I'm a moderate when it comes to assassing my team's performance but fukk me that was appalling.

Seriously, Rooney was pathetic and should have been subbed. And what does Joe Cole have to do to get a game? Pathetic pathetic pathetic.

[Maguire]

I can't leave it. I really can't

Rooney was utterly atrocious. It was like he'd never met a football before.

RIP English football

[AbovetheI]

...and that's why I won't be watching another England game these finals Mags.

Utterly atrocious. Didn't look like they cared.

[No Fixed Abode]

Why the fack didn't Gerrard play?

[Millsy]

Hold on.

This *was* Algeria's cup final.

They put a million men behind the ball, closed everything down, had forty men man-marking Rooney and didn't have a single meaningful shot on goal.

WTF were we meant to do FFS?

We go several chances on goal but when a team has shut up shop and gone home you need a lot of luck. Other teams lost yet we kept a convincing clean sheet and could've won on another day. Germany lost, France lost, Spain lost and Brasil were lucky to beat North flipping Korea for flip's sake!!!

Positives - James was solid. Barry was solid.

Face it - we're not one of the best in the world but we have every chance of winning this.

The sooner England fans realise this and either get their heads out their arses and stop believing we should be winnign every match 20-0, or get their heads out the toilet and stop believing we're awful and have no chance, the sooner we'll stop acting like spoilt little kids throwing our toys out the pram and attacking our own heroes every time we don't get what we want.

[Millsy]

I can't leave it. I really can't

Rooney was utterly atrocious. It was like he'd never met a football before.

RIP English football

You never watched footy before?

Never heard of a small team totally marking a star out of a game????

[FiNeRaIn]

Hold on.

This *was* Algeria's cup final.

They put a million men behind the ball, closed everything down, had forty men man-marking Rooney and didn't have a single meaningful shot on goal.

WTF were we meant to do FFS?

We go several chances on goal but when a team has shut up shop and gone home you need a lot of luck. Other teams lost yet we kept a convincing clean sheet and could've won on another day. Germany lost, France lost, Spain lost and Brasil were lucky to beat North flipping Korea for flip's sake!!!

Positives - James was solid. Barry was solid.

Face it - we're not one of the best in the world but we have every chance of winning this.

The sooner England fans realise this and either get their heads out their arses and stop believing we should be winnign every match 20-0, or get their heads out the toilet and stop believing we're awful and have no chance, the sooner we'll stop acting like spoilt little kids throwing our toys out the pram and attacking our own heroes every time we don't get what we want.

So how do man united and chelsea cope when everyone goes to shut up shop against them? They win anyway...

So what you mean is England just aren't very good.

[10539.4 Miles Away]

Hold on.

This *was* Algeria's cup final.

They put a million men behind the ball, closed everything down, had forty men man-marking Rooney and didn't have a single meaningful shot on goal.

WTF were we meant to do FFS?

We go several chances on goal but when a team has shut up shop and gone home you need a lot of luck. Other teams lost yet we kept a convincing clean sheet and could've won on another day. Germany lost, France lost, Spain lost and Brasil were lucky to beat North flipping Korea for flip's sake!!!

Positives - James was solid. Barry was solid.

Face it - we're not one of the best in the world but we have every chance of winning this.

The sooner England fans realise this and either get their heads out their arses and stop believing we should be winnign every match 20-0, or get their heads out the toilet and stop believing we're awful and have no chance, the sooner we'll stop acting like spoilt little kids throwing our toys out the pram and attacking our own heroes every time we don't get what we want.

Sorry Mr Gerrard, you really can't defend that performance. Yes, we all realise that teams will shut up shop but that shouldn't be a surprise, what you need a bit of guile, nouse, and, importantly, heart to break it down. All 3 of these were missing last night. I challenge you to name one player who displayed all three.

WTF were we meant to do FFS? Well, asking star man Rooney to put a decent shift in would be a great start.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Demonstrates everything wrong about the English game and in particular that overblown piece of self important CRAP called the Premiership that's full of overpaid mediocre foreigners cos clubs can't be arsed to try and build sides with a decent complement of English players.

And why oh why do the FA have to keep appointing non-British managers to the top job? Harry Redknapp, Roy Hodgson, Martin O'Neill would all do a vastly better job than the dreadful Capello.

That's no excuses though for the utterly inept piece of stinking dog mess that that bunch of couldn't care less prima donnas served up last night. Absolutely appalling from beginning to end, continually passing back to the keeper, no urgency, no game plan, no ideas, a prat of a manager who has no clue about team selection let alone what to do when things aren't working.

Our best player last night was Crouch and he was on the field for 7 minutes! Gerrard was hopeless as he was stuck out on the wing instead of a winger. We had the usual hopeless Lardarse doing nothing in the middle.Why doesn't Cole (J) get a game at least we might get some balance in the team. Heskey was Heskey and we played with 10 as Rooney was utterly dreadful for the 2nd game running and might as well have not been on the pitch.

And as for Wayne Rooney and his idiot comments about the fans booing last night, well that just sums him and the team up.

For gods sake fly the whole bunch home now and save the embarrassment of the thrashing we'll get from Slovenia.

[chilipepper91]

It is peculiar how genuine top players instantly turn shit as soon as they put the white shirt on. This hasn't happened with players in the past, your Charlton's, Lineker's, Robson's, Moore's etc. Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard are in that class of player yet none come close to reproducing their club form over any length of time.

If you've got an average team and England have, then you have to get the best out of what good players are available. The first thoughts should be how can we get the best out of those 3. Playing Gerrard on the left and Rooney as a 2nd forward is simply not the way of doing that. So the manager has to take his share of the blame. There is little consistency in the selections and things are constantly changing, it doesn't bring any consistency in the play.

Perhaps Lampard benefits in playing for such a strong club side which makes him look better than he really is. He was shocking at the last World Cup and has been just as bad at this one. He really isn't as good as the media hype suggests IMO. I also wouldn't put him alongside the likes of Moore and Charlton. Not even close.

Well if Capello does name his squad two hours before kickoff then he can shock Rooney and stick him on the bench - exactly what he deserves. I don't care if he's our best striker, his attitude has always been in question and he can't expect to get away with comments like that.

[Schards#2]

Having returned to this thread slightly less tired and emotional, i'm still struggling to find the adjectives in the english language to describe the sheer ineptness of that performance.

This is a hard bunch of individuals to support as so many of them, individually, are utter twats, and after last night I find myself hating them. Is it too much to ask for the likes of Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney to play to a standard even approaching what they produce within their comfort zone for their respective clubs? Apparently, yes - and that is what makes it so appalling, these players have the ability to, if not compete with the very best in the world, certainly breeze past the likes of Algeria.

Yet, this 'golden generation' is again utterly failing to produce anything above mid table championship level football. England were shit in every game in Germany, failed to qualify for the 2008 Euros and are being shit again here. These players are clearly talented but they have let the country down in every way imaginable during their era. I hope fans next season let the likes of Lampard etc know that, however good they may be at their club, they have totally failed their country in both attitude and results.

It seems we just don't want it enough and these tossers then get upset when fans who will have been saving for years to watch them, have the temerity to air their views. You get the impression they feel they doing us a favour being their. If that's the case they can piss off and we'll play someone who cares, assuming there is someone in the squad.

And yet, at this late stage, all England have to do is start performing somewhere close to the ability they have, and still a semi final is there for the taking. Get your collective fingers out you overpaid tossers because even if you don't care, there are around 50,000,000 that do and this country could do with a boost and whilst you are a bunch of prima donnas that no one can feel proud of, you're all we've got.

[Schards#2]

Oh and LOL @ me for being annoyed, being surprised and being bothered to post about it.

[Maguire]

I can't leave it. I really can't

Rooney was utterly atrocious. It was like he'd never met a football before.

RIP English football

You never watched footy before?

Never heard of a small team totally marking a star out of a game????

Oh don't be so naive. His touch (which is nothing to do with being marked) was absolutely atrocious. The ball was pinging 5 yards off him and his passes were going nowhere. I've never seen him play as badly before and I must have seen him play 100+ times. He should have been hauled off with half an hour to go and replaced by someone who might have given a shit.

Lying here with a hangover trying to be reasonable about it but I can't - Enlgand were unspeakably bad. Just dreadful, and it's embarrassing to see your national team stinking up a tournament as much as we are doing in South Africa.

Make or break time now - let's see if there's a heart beating in any of them now, Somehow I doubt it.

[soggy biscuit]

EngLOLand

[PieEater]

I don't think the attitude of "we just have to beat Slovenia" helps.

They managed to outplay Algeria for a lot of their match, so our chances of beating Slovenia seem remote unless something changes drastically. More likely we'll draw, the Yanks will beat Algeria and we go out and that will be just about what we deserve.

[under the tin]

Edgy at the back, dull and lifeless in the middle, ineffective up front.

This is the same group of players who sailed through the qualification stages, and has only really been outplayed once in the last few years: the friendly with Spain. Even when we have lost, we have still managed to "give someone a game"

Tournament football is all about building momentum and confidence. We have neither.
Seems to me that the core of the side has dropped out of form at exactly the wrong time, and the only thing that can spark a revival is an inspired performance by a hungry flair player, namely Joe Cole.
On what I've seen so far, we won't make it to the last sixteen.