England V Belarus Match Thread.

[Ashley]

Good game. Great win for England 12Pts on the board now. Gerrard & Rooneys goals

Tunchev kept Torres quiet, if he played

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Heskey and Rooney looked very good up front.

It was good to see Gerrard give a good performance in an England shirt, but if he had a left foot he could've had two goals.

Take nothing away from him though.

[Joe.]

Good professional performance from the team tonight, I'm pleased.

Rooney looks a different player now he's finally playing in his proper position right in the middle. Heskey also had a great game alongside him once again, I hope he keeps going, he'll get his goal eventually.

I also think tonight's shown exactly why Capello needs to play Gerrard through the middle, just behind the front two. Absolutely brilliant first goal, and obviously should have scored a second goal but for his comedy miss.

Lampard and Barry did a solid enough job in the middle, and I thought Lampard in particular worked hard for the team.

[Asha]

Tunchev kept Torres quiet, if he played

For Georgia?

[lildave3]

Good game. Great win for England 12Pts on the board now. Gerrard & Rooneys goals

Tunchev kept Torres quiet, if he played

Eh?

Aren't Spain playing Belgium?

Anyway, looking forward to the highlights tonight, sounds like a decent performance and it's obviously a pretty good result.

[Joe.]

Spain have had their work cut out playing three teams tonight haven't they?

[Corky]

On other forums there are England fans moaning

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

On other forums there are England fans moaning

They can piss off. First half wan't great, I can understand criticism of that, but it all got solved by Capello and the second half was, not exceptional, but more than adequate.

[ousefox]

i thought they were playing Belgium aswell..

[Corky]

They can piss off. First half wan't great, I can understand criticism of that, but it all got solved by Capello and the second half was, not exceptional, but more than adequate.

I actually despair at some of our national team "supporters". Winning the World Cup probably isn't good enough, they'll still find a flaw in there somewhere.

[Joe.]

I don't really see what major faults they can find tonight really...

Only little flaw I'd say is that we don't keep the ball enough, and we've got too many players who think they can pick out a pin point accurate pass from 40 yards *cough* Rio *cough*.

[Ashley]

My bad

[RowlattsFox]

Think we miss Hargreaves in the middle, especially in away games. We lacked someone putting the foot in during the first half when Belarus were dominating possesion. Barry is not a natural defensive midfielder.

Other than that though I have no complaints. we're looking much better going forward in recent games and Heskey and Rooney wer both excellent and are forming a good partnership.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Rooney looks like he enjoys playing for England alongside Heskey.

And when he's happy he seems to produce the goods.

[purpleronnie]

Rooney looks like he enjoys playing for England alongside Heskey.

And when he's happy he seems to produce the goods.

It cetainly works better than defoe and rooney.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

I rate Defoe over Crouch though, certainly a more natural finisher.

Crouch always looks like a giraffe on ice.

[lildave3]

Rooney looks like he enjoys playing for England alongside Heskey.

And when he's happy he seems to produce the goods.

Of course he does, every striker around loves playing with Heskey.

[Milky]

It's a shame all these games aren't on the BBC or ITV so the whole nation can enjoy it. Gerrard and Rooney were class. Oh and Heskey

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Of course he does, every striker around loves playing with Heskey.

I bet Crouch doesn't like him.

[Finnegan]

What a goal for Germany.

What a goal.

Sorry Wales.

If you're going to lose, that's the sort of goal you don't mind losing to.

[lildave3]

I bet Crouch doesn't like him.

That's because he's a tool.

If you're going to lose, that's the sort of goal you don't mind losing to.

I imagine you're pretty pleased with that result, yes?

[Corky]

I bet Crouch doesn't like him.

We all love Our Emile

[Joe.]

If you're going to lose, that's the sort of goal you don't mind losing to.

Yeah just seen it, impressive strike there.

Looked like a respectable result for Wales, even if it is a defeat at the end of the day.

[Bert]

I hope you took my advice. I did say 3-1! 9/1, cheers then.

Also had Gerrard to score first and 2-0. I know I should've done Gerrard 3-1. Never mind.

A good professional performance, 3 good goals, 3 points, we sit nicely on top of the group with 12 points.

Lampard won a lot of the ball tonight, Rooney was class.

[Tevez]

Rooney and Heskey were fooking brilliant tonight. Also Gerrard who was my MOTM. The guy is brilliant, I slated him tonight to Alb before the game and he comes up with a great goal and carried the team. I really think he leads by example and gives us a different dimension to attack which I think no International team come up with.

Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard hardly set the world alight tonight and didn't convince me one single bit. Capello has obviously told them in training to drop in and let Gerrard in the free-role tonight and frankly it's worked much better. Bridge did alright considering he's only had 4 competitve games this season but if i'm honest I think Chrissy Powell would of done a better job at left back. The way people slated Ashley Cole on Saturday was ridiculous at least Cole puts a decent ball at the right time. Unlike Bridge.

Upson hasn't convinced me to earn a right to play in the XI he is still abit shaky and doesn't like to keep possesion whereas Rio Ferdinand is probably the most composed defender English Football has got but still needs a great CB partner. (Vidic @ Utd, Terry @ England).

Another thing I pointed out is how much a miss Joe Cole is. If he was on the left side we'd of completely battered Belarus (bar no injuries i.e Terry). But a win is a win, we did the job. As much as I follow the Scotland, England are a passion and Croatia, Kazackstan (sp) Andorra and tonight made me proud to be English.