Algeria v England [OFFICIAL THREAD]

[RoyalBlue]

It was all a bit rubbish really wasn't it? I'm a bit surprised (not really, regular h8rs) with the Heskey beef, the consensus around us was that he was one of the few to put in at least a few ounces of effort, unfortunately as his role is to hold up the ball for Rooney, who was totally uninterested, even his best game will do nothing. Were I capello i'd have taken rooney off for Defoe, but that was never going to happen was it? Noone in midfield gets any credit, although you've got to feel for lennon, who wasn't too dreadful but getting subbed for SWP has to sting, the little fella was dreadful. Another Lampard no show was to be expected but to be disappointed in Gerrard was a shame, he was clearly puttng in some serious effort, but nothing was going right at all

Can't believe Heskey got given 3/10 in the times - at least he was working hard, tracking back, winning ball and holding it up okay. Rooney got 4/10 and I doubt he's ever played worse.

Just picking on an easy target IMHO.

Fully agree. There is no way that Heskey should have been marked that low, particularly when you look at the utterly shyte performances from so many of the other players. At least Heskey fought like he wanted it. At one point, he even came back into his own area to recover possession.

[Jerry St Clair]

On a positive note as was mentioned on MOTD last night england drew there first two and were shit in '86 and '90 and they worked out OK, obviously if they repeat that performance on wednesday they'll be done and we can prolly all enjoy the rest of the tournament a lot more

Danny Baker said the other night that England weren't good enough to go out yet,

Remember folks, the standard template is to play shit in the group stages and 2nd round, before finally playing well in the QFs or SFs but going out heroically on penalties.

[RoyalBlue]

Yeh unless we can win on the beaches on the med our national team stands no chance.

Surely you know what I mean though? The point im making is that its from grass roots right up the scale. We've always been the big " hearts on the sleeve passion filled England", but even thats gone now to make up for a lack of first touches and movement. Mexico gave us a taster in the warm up games and someone we how fluked a win, algeria at times looked like they had better technical players tonight..its frightening.

Start training kids on technical abilities not physique. Xavi, fabregas and inesta are testaments you don't need brick shit houses in midfield ffs.

Absolutely spot on. Both my kids benefitted tremendously from attending Coerver and Brazilian (futebol de salao) coaching for a number of years. They have both progressed their football careers pretty well and despite both eventually ending up as keepers still surprise other players with their skills/technique. However, they were very much in the minority amongst their peers playing in the junior football leagues.

Our English disease was encapsulated by a coach within the professional game who a little while back told my kids and I that nowadays clubs tend to look for the physique of young players first and foremost and then consider whether they are any good as players!! The English mentality is that they can coach players to improve their skills but can't do much to alter their physique. I have seen some very good and skilful youngsters with terrifically positive attitudes disgarded by academies because they weren't regarded as being big/strong enough!

[Gav]

On a more cheerful note, I thought Ashley Cole played well and him shaking his head in disbelief at being forced to twat it out for yet another corner showed that he, at least, gave a shit.

[TBM]

the simple fact is even if we won last night then we'd still need something against Slovenia to guarantee going through so we're no worse off this morning as it just means we need a win not a draw againtst them

playing heskey just invites our defenders to hit long balls up field in hope. Rooney alone will mean we'll use the midfield more, draw the opposition onto us and then use the pace we have in the team to get onto thro balls. Not taking Walcott may work againtst us ad I feel his pace would frighten teams in the last 20

[1960]

Our English disease was encapsulated by a coach within the professional game who a little while back told my kids and I that nowadays clubs tend to look for the physique of young players first and foremost and then consider whether they are any good as players!! The English mentality is that they can coach players to improve their skills but can't do much to alter their physique. I have seen some very good and skilful youngsters with terrifically positive attitudes disgarded by academies because they weren't regarded as being big/strong enough!

So Messi oviously has no future in the game. Idiots.

[Man Friday]

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.

First of all, you are being just as arrogant as Gerrard with your dismissive comments about Algeria. They didn't just sit back and defend. They did attack us and, when they did, looked pretty threatening. Several of their players looked far more skilful than ours and they certainly played far more attractive football. They alo looked like they cared and, when things weren't going as well for them, looked to do something about it.

Even if what you say is true - how come other teams have the ability to break down opponents who treat it like their cup final and shut up shop?

Attacking our own heroes?!! Who would they be then? There certainly weren't any on show last night. The sooner we realise that our current professionals are a bunch of vastly overpaid, arrogant prima donnas, the sooner we might put our national game and team in order and stand a chance of winning something.

When ordinary supporters get hammered in this week's budget, just think of the likes of Rooney and Gerrard, who will still be living in the lap of luxury and ask, do they really deserve to be in that position.

Spot on. This is the most misguided post you've ever made 2WW. In the end WE were lucky to get a draw, not them. They outplayed us. They didn't just defend. Remember, it was our centre-forward that repeatedly had to come back to OUR penalty area to defend. Plus, Barry spent a fair amount of time in OUR penalty area defending. Don't patronise them, 2WW - they played better than us and WANTED it more (more harrying, chasing, proper tackles). Had they been better finishers (including free-kicks) it could have been 2-0 to them. By the end, I was just glad to come away with a draw in order to live to fight for another day.

[PlasticRoyale]

Still think we'll win it...

[cmonurz]

Capello's selection policies have come up for scrutiny before - whatever you think of James as a keeper, he is clearly one of the more intelligent members of the squad, and I think you can read between the lines of his comments below. Trouble in the camp?

James confirmed that he was informed he would play instead of Green only a couple of hours before kick-off.

He said: "I found out five minutes before we got on the bus. Usual standard. The selection process is the same regardless of what match it is. That's the way the manager wants to do it, and we accept that.

"We train hard now for a few days and wait for the selection again five minutes before we leave again on Wednesday."

Asked whether he was close to his fellow goalkeepers, James said: "I'm not close to anyone."

[PEARCEY]

^ Refreshing honesty from James.

[Kitsondinho]

James has ALWAYS been a loner......I remember Robbie Fowler once told 4-4-2 mag that James was "a great lad but a bit wierd....always on his own."

[Silver Fox]

Hardly surprising that someone as intelligent as David James wouldn't choose to keep the company of his fellow pros, doesn't mean he hates them, so that quote doesn't suggest trouble in the camp at all to me

[Maguire]

Spot on. This is the most misguided post you've ever made 2WW. In the end WE were lucky to get a draw, not them. They outplayed us. They didn't just defend. Remember, it was our centre-forward that repeatedly had to come back to OUR penalty area to defend. Plus, Barry spent a fair amount of time in OUR penalty area defending. Don't patronise them, 2WW - they played better than us and WANTED it more (more harrying, chasing, proper tackles). Had they been better finishers (including free-kicks) it could have been 2-0 to them. By the end, I was just glad to come away with a draw in order to live to fight for another day.

Much as I'm still seething about the abject nature of our performance yesterday, this ^^^ is absolute nonsense. They didn't outplay us and to say "if they were better finishers (including free-kicks) then they might have won 2-0" is just totally It's like saying "if we were better at football we might have won 4-0". Just doens't mean anything. They barely drew a save out of James so christ knows how they might have won 2-0.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

What was the point of taking Joe Cole if he won't even consider him? Lennon isn't running at players so we need to change it around.

[Man Friday]

By shooting on target. By taking half-decent free kicks 20 metres out. When it came to finishing they were as woeful as us thankfully but in terms of teamwork and skill (esp down our right flank) they outplayed us. You think we were the better team on the night? What match were you watching?

[Maguire]

By shooting on target. By taking half-decent free kicks 20 metres out. When it came to finishing they were as woeful as us thankfully but in terms of teamwork and skill (esp down our right flank) they outplayed us. You think we were the better team on the night? What match were you watching?

If you think they should have won 2-0 then I'm afraid I think you tuned in to the wrong channel.

[Man Friday]

I didn't say they SHOULD have won 2-0. I said "it could have been 2-0 to them" (if they had taken their couple of half-chances). It could have been 2-2 if we had also taken our two half-chances.

[Maguire]

I didn't say they SHOULD have won 2-0. I said "it could have been 2-0 to them" (if they had taken their couple of half-chances). It could have been 2-2 if we had also taken our two half-chances.

Or presumably 2-0 to us if we'd taken a couple and they hadn't Genius.

It was 0-0. Neither side looked like scoring. Atrocious game. We are bringing nothing to this world cup.

[exileinleeds]

All England games are being moved to Gay Adult TV next week, as the site of 11 arseholes getting hammered is too much for the BBC.

[Man Friday]

I didn't say they SHOULD have won 2-0. I said "it could have been 2-0 to them" (if they had taken their couple of half-chances). It could have been 2-2 if we had also taken our two half-chances.

Or presumably 2-0 to us if we'd taken a couple and they hadn't CORRECT - YOU CATCH ON FAST Genius.

It was 0-0. Neither side looked like scoring. Atrocious game. We are bringing nothing to this world cup.

CORRECT AGAIN.

All I was saying is that (a) they outplayed us and (b) they could gave won 2-0 (whilst accepting that we also could have won 2-0 - it's just that they would have deserved to more than us based on overall play).