Croatia v England

[Flynny]

So you are saying we need to have a holding midfielder? We are playing very easy teams, I dont see why we cant have Gerrard and Lampard playing a free role.

Wasting a player of Gerrard or Lampard's quality for Gareth Barry to sit in front of Terry and Ferdinand is a waste.

Not when they both consistantly under-perform for England, especially together. Lampard gets the boos but Gerrard is just as bad. I think Hargreaves will probably come in for Barry when he's fit though.

[The Reverend]

So you are saying we need to have a holding midfielder? We are playing very easy teams, I dont see why we cant have Gerrard and Lampard playing a free role.

Wasting a player of Gerrard or Lampard's quality for Gareth Barry to sit in front of Terry and Ferdinand is a waste.

Yeah, i think we do. We've had Gerrard and Lampard trying to play together for about the last 4 years and it hasnt worked at all, and i dont see why it would start working now.

All good team's have holding midfielders. Chelsea had Makalele, Yanited have Carrick/Hargreaves, Milan have Pirlo, Madrid have Diarra.

It does seem a waste to not play probably the two best midfielders in England together i agree, but sacrifices have to be made if they cant play together.

[Tommy G]

Fantastic result. Thoroughly enjoyed it

Thought Walcott, Rooney and wes Brown all played excellent. Heskey was average and would swap him for crouch still, he was offside like a donkey for Lamps goal, although inactive really to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Once Hargreaves is fit, swap with Barry definately. good team spirit and effort last night which has been lacking for a long time in this team.

[Samilktray]

good team spirit and effort last night which has been lacking for a long time in this team.

Yet you still want to make changes?

[Tilley]

Still can't believe we beat them 4-1.

[Tommy G]

Yet you still want to make changes?

Yeh, get Barry and heskey out and bring in Crouch and Hargreaves. Only 2 changes.

Barry is the most over hyped player in the Prem, he is built up by the media and how Villa thought he was valued at £18m is beyond me. As for Heskey, he doesn't offer anything for us apart from falling over and getting offside 80% of the game.

Just my opinion mind..

[Samilktray]

Yeh, get Barry and heskey out and bring in Crouch and Hargreaves. Only 2 changes.

Barry is the most over hyped player in the Prem, he is built up by the media and how Villa thought he was valued at £18m is beyond me. As for Heskey, he doesn't offer anything for us apart from falling over and getting offside 80% of the game.

Just my opinion mind..

Right then.

[James.]

As for Heskey, he doesn't offer anything for us apart from falling over and getting offside 80% of the game.

Rubbish.

I love Bruno. He was magnificent for us yesterday.

[Bert]

Fantastic result. Thoroughly enjoyed it

Thought Walcott, Rooney and wes Brown all played excellent. Heskey was average and would swap him for crouch still, he was offside like a donkey for Lamps goal, although inactive really to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Once Hargreaves is fit, swap with Barry definately. good team spirit and effort last night which has been lacking for a long time in this team.

Heskey actually pushed that scumbag Simunic over, actually. The lino didn't raise his flag either, so it wasn't offside.

Also, Heskey won a lot of balls last night and did very well in the physical battles that he had. A key part in the second goal.

His presence alone is enough to cause defenders trouble. Although Crouch has a better goalscoring record, Heskey, is quicker, stronger and brings more space for others into the game than Crouch does.

[Unabomber]

Yeh, get Barry and heskey out and bring in Crouch and Hargreaves. Only 2 changes.

Barry is the most over hyped player in the Prem, he is built up by the media and how Villa thought he was valued at £18m is beyond me. As for Heskey, he doesn't offer anything for us apart from falling over and getting offside 80% of the game.

Just my opinion mind..

Did you not see that it was Heskey and Barry who were doing alot of the hard work, to allow players like Rooney, Lampard, Walcott to have enough space to create things for us?

Heskey was key and in my opinion had a good game, was strong and he didn't loose the ball much.

[Tommeh]

Had a spare half hour and have Just been reading through the thread, some of the things said on the 1st 7 ages were unbelivable.

Noticed this one also though.

But Walcott can't do anything other than that productively. He has no end product

Didn't see the game but great a great result and what sounds like a good performance, not getting too carried away but I'll probably be a bit more excited come 2010 should we qualify

[Tilley]

To be fair, that quote Joe said before the game, 90% of us would have agreed before the match.

Obviously now, he has been made to eat those words.

[Manwell Pablo]

To be fair, that quote Joe said before the game, 90% of us would have agreed before the match.

Obviously now, he has been made to eat those words.

Always been a bit indifferent toward Theo, sometimes brilliant, sometimes not. He caused more problems last night against a class team than he did against Andorra. My opinion of him wont change because of one game.

[The Reverend]

Always been a bit indifferent toward Theo, sometimes brilliant, sometimes not. He caused more problems last night against a class team than he did against Andorra. My opinion of him wont change because of one game.

Us Leicester fans know better than most, that if a team gets 11 men behind the ball like Andorra did, it doesnt matter how bad they are, its very difficult to break them down. Walcott did so well last night because he had a lot more space to use his big asset, which is his pace. Croatia came at us more, creating even more space.

It happened at the Walkers lot's last season, and its extremely difficult to play against, no matter how good a team is.

[Manwell Pablo]

Us Leicester fans know better than most, that if a team gets 11 men behind the ball like Andorra did, it doesnt matter how bad they are, its very difficult to break them down. Walcott did so well last night because he had a lot more space to use his big asset, which is his pace. Croatia came at us more, creating even more space.

It happened at the Walkers lot's last season, and its extremely difficult to play against, no matter how good a team is.

Yes but the men they put behind the ball were 7 Postman 2 insurance brokers and a giglo not 11 footballers.

[Hullfox]

Just got back in from Croatia and had to read the whole thread through and have a little self satisfied giggle.

A couple of observations from being there that may or may not be of interest depending upon which side of the fence you sit on.

The atmosphere from the home crowd was immense for a roofless stadium. It was driven (believe it or not) before the game by the music played on the PA. I don't know what the songs were in the context of the nation but three sides of the ground singing as one was intimidating to say the least. They shut up after the first goal went in and only sparked back into life in the last ten minutes. Englands complete domination put paid to the noise.

Like many people, I don't watch enough of Messrs Barry, Lampard and Rooney to formulate a true opinion of their worth to their club or nation but having seen them in action last night, they were all three of them immense. They ran tirelessly and performed exceptionally. You do not have a resounding victory against a side like Croatia without dominating the middle of the park and Barry and Lampard did that. I'm not sure who it was who berated Barry as being overvalued but I would point out that Benitez saw fit to Bid nearly £18m or thereabouts for him. MON saw fit to think he was worth more and kept him and Capello whose knowledge of a footballer is far better than any of us chooses him to represent our country. I know which opinion I think is closer to being right.

After Theo, the player who was receiving most recognition from the crowd was Heskey. He could not be contained and his running created so much room it was universally appreciated by the travelling fans. He looked like a man who wanted to give all for the cause.

Capello was a constant presence on the touchline giving orders and talking to individual players. When Croatia scored he was absolutely livid. Despite the game being safe, it mattered that we conceded and it mattered that we conceded in the way we did.

I could go on and on but I'm too knackered to keep typing. I would say though that the whole Setanta for Englands away games is down to bidding. They outbid all other TV companies with the Croation FA. We were having a drink at the Media hotel before the game and they were still trying to sell the extended highlight rights 4 hours before kick off.

Overall it was a fooking treat to be there.

[Hullfox]

Yes but the men they put behind the ball were 7 Postman 2 insurance brokers and a giglo not 11 footballers.

My slant on that game Manny is that if you were say, Newcastle or a similar sort of Premiership side and you were drawn away in the cup at Harlow Town or similar with their 7 postmen etc, you'd take a 2-0 win every time and thank the lord that the banana skin had been avoided. Expecting to win these games is fine but with free flowing football against 10 men behind the ball will not happen in the majority of cases.

[The Reverend]

Yes but the men they put behind the ball were 7 Postman 2 insurance brokers and a giglo not 11 footballers.

lol

I know Manwell, but it's still hard to break down. Look at us last season. One might say a lot of our first teamers last season are too good for the Championship. But when for example, Barnsley and shit like that came to the walkers, they just defended and hit us on the break. Its the same for England against Andorra, except Andorra dont break lol

[James.]

After Theo, the player who was receiving most recognition from the crowd was Heskey. He could not be contained and his running created so much room it was universally appreciated by the travelling fans. He looked like a man who wanted to give all for the cause.

Really pleased for him. He's a f**king hero.

[dandannieldanok]

Did you manage to take any photos Hullfox?

[Hullfox]

Did you manage to take any photos Hullfox?

Got some on my phone as the camera was left at home.

This is where I will have to try and overcome my lack of computery knowledge and try and upload them.

[Joe.]

It seems the players I slate and berate seem to be the ones doing things this season First with Fryatt, and then Rooney and Walcott who were arguably our best two players last night. Before the game I wouldn't have included either

But I stand by my opinions on Walcott and Rooney still, I'm not that fickle not to.

[Uncle Albert]

Yeah, i think we do. We've had Gerrard and Lampard trying to play together for about the last 4 years and it hasnt worked at all, and i dont see why it would start working now.

All good team's have holding midfielders. Chelsea had Makalele, Yanited have Carrick/Hargreaves, Milan have Pirlo, Madrid have Diarra.

It does seem a waste to not play probably the two best midfielders in England together i agree, but sacrifices have to be made if they cant play together.

Shame neither of us will be right then isnt it?

Because Gerrard will come back in but it wont be for Barry or Lampard it will be for Joe Cole. Shame really, because I feel Gerrard and Lampard could work if they were able to go out and play their own games instead of worrying on who is going to sit. (Nonesense) Especially against teams like Andorra, Kazakstan, Ukraine and Belarus. Who wont be testing teams especially at Wembley.

Thought Wes Brown had a brilliant game last night, never looked in danger and his support play was top notch. Rooney in the second half looked like the type of player he was against Croatia in 2004, got involved effectively and scored a brilliant goal.

'Trio' Walcott, absolute brilliant. Looked really confident after he scored his first, always looked to beat his man and find an end product. Heskey was good aswell, won so many headers that created attacking chances. Alot better than Crouch in this role. Was impressed with Jenas aswell when he came on.

[purpleronnie]

The Ukraine match will be the real test.

You heard it here first.

[Sparky]

Just got back in from Croatia and had to read the whole thread through and have a little self satisfied giggle.

A couple of observations from being there that may or may not be of interest depending upon which side of the fence you sit on.

The atmosphere from the home crowd was immense for a roofless stadium. It was driven (believe it or not) before the game by the music played on the PA. I don't know what the songs were in the context of the nation but three sides of the ground singing as one was intimidating to say the least. They shut up after the first goal went in and only sparked back into life in the last ten minutes. Englands complete domination put paid to the noise.

Like many people, I don't watch enough of Messrs Barry, Lampard and Rooney to formulate a true opinion of their worth to their club or nation but having seen them in action last night, they were all three of them immense. They ran tirelessly and performed exceptionally. You do not have a resounding victory against a side like Croatia without dominating the middle of the park and Barry and Lampard did that. I'm not sure who it was who berated Barry as being overvalued but I would point out that Benitez saw fit to Bid nearly £18m or thereabouts for him. MON saw fit to think he was worth more and kept him and Capello whose knowledge of a footballer is far better than any of us chooses him to represent our country. I know which opinion I think is closer to being right.

After Theo, the player who was receiving most recognition from the crowd was Heskey. He could not be contained and his running created so much room it was universally appreciated by the travelling fans. He looked like a man who wanted to give all for the cause.

Capello was a constant presence on the touchline giving orders and talking to individual players. When Croatia scored he was absolutely livid. Despite the game being safe, it mattered that we conceded and it mattered that we conceded in the way we did.

I could go on and on but I'm too knackered to keep typing. I would say though that the whole Setanta for Englands away games is down to bidding. They outbid all other TV companies with the Croation FA. We were having a drink at the Media hotel before the game and they were still trying to sell the extended highlight rights 4 hours before kick off.

Overall it was a fooking treat to be there.

Happy days must have been awesome , i went to Andorra match saturday and loved the whole pre match banter with other club fan and although game wasnt great it was still a cracking experience , last night must have beat that tenfold