I think the heat probably got to England

Nah, that was 2002's excuse, they need to think of another one for this year!

Its no big deal playing poorly in the opening game

 

Teams have LOST the opening game before and gone on to win the tournament

That was a very flat performance by England in the second half. Owen being taken off was a LUDICROUS idea as Crouch playing as a lone striker won't work ... especially when all the balls being crossed to him are headers. On the up side though, Downing had a very good game when he was brought on which reassures us that all hope is not lost if Joe Cole gets injured.

 

We've should beat Trinidad in the next game but I can see Sweden holding us to a point ... no matter HOW inconsistent they are at the moment.

That was a very flat performance by England in the second half. Owen being taken off was a LUDICROUS idea as Crouch playing as a lone striker won't work ... especially when all the balls being crossed to him are headers. On the up side though, Downing had a very good game when he was brought on which reassures us that all hope is not lost if Joe Cole gets injured.

 

We've should beat Trinidad in the next game but I can see Sweden holding us to a point ... no matter HOW inconsistent they are at the moment.

 

Owen was a MAJOR doubt even a couple of weeks before the tournament, he is not long back after a 5 month lay off, what is the point in risking him too much against c**p teams only for him to get injured and miss the qf/sm/final or whatever ?

 

Owen going off was fine as we pushed Fat Frank further forward and he nearly scored a couple of goals

Whatever happens England will either top the group, or be Runners-up, if Sweden go power mad against T & T & Paraguay, I think Sweden will hold us to a point as well

Owen going off was fine as we pushed Fat Frank further forward and he nearly scored a couple of goals

 

 

A couple of goals :blink: they were too high, I think only 1 nearly hit the target, or was that Gerrod :unsure:

Whatever happens England will neither top the group, or be Runners-up, if Sweden go power mad against T & T & Paraguay, I think Sweden will hold us to a point as well

 

Please have a cold shower Mikey or throw an ice bucket over yourself you are panicking way unnecessarily :o :o There is no chance whatsoever of England not qualifying

 

Today was not a defeat it was still 3 points so its a good sign that England can play $h!te and still win

 

Paraguay are a poor team as are Trinidad, I doubt Trinidad are much better than Jamaica

 

Sweden and England will qualify

Not a great performance particularly in the 2nd half but the right result.

 

Still not sure about Sven's decision to take an unfit Owen. England will qualify I'm sure but a striker crisis later on could cost them.

Phew,

 

Three Points :) - that is all what matters in very hot conditions that heavily favoured Paraguay.

 

That referee should be sent home, he was an absolute disgrace who along with Valdez was arguably Paraguay's best player! :angry:

 

According to the Radio 5Live - Michael Owen's substitution was tactical. :o

He'd have been absolutely knackered/ Not fully fit and playing at 30degrees...

Joe Cole I think was the only player who had the right idea about how to beat them, the way he was running at them made Paraguay hesitate and of course it got the ball into their half which we struggled to do in the second half of course. -_- Ferdinand was also great at the back especially in the first when he always seemed to be there to head it away when it came in unlike John Terry who was slightly disappointing. :( I have NO idea what Sven was doing by taking Owen off and leaving Crouch on his own as he is not the type of player that can play up front on is own, Joe Cole was a striker for a while, yes while Downing was on the left but if Sven was going to take Walcott then surely he was going to bring him on to prove why he decided to take him instead of Defoe? :rolleyes:

 

I like Sven and don't want to see go (face it, he's better than McClaren -_- ) but I have no idea what he's playing, it's lucky that we managed to win but Sweden won't be like Paraguay...

 

Might as well stay here and say what I think through the Sweden game as I have to watch the game on my little TV in my room. :(

Nah, that was 2002's excuse, they need to think of another one for this year!

It's a valid excuse when it's that hot. You'll see as the tournament goes on that the games at 2pm won't be as good as the later games as you shouldn't play in thos conditions!

It's a valid excuse when it's that hot. You'll see as the tournament goes on that the games at 2pm won't be as good as the later games as you shouldn't play in thos conditions!

But the things that every other country (apart from maybe Brazil :lol: ) could use that excuse too ;)

Owen was a MAJOR doubt even a couple of weeks before the tournament, he is not long back after a 5 month lay off, what is the point in risking him too much against c**p teams only for him to get injured and miss the qf/sm/final or whatever ?

 

Owen going off was fine as we pushed Fat Frank further forward and he nearly scored a couple of goals

 

Yes I realise that he may not be 100% fit to play the full 90 minutes but to bring on Downing was silly. He's a player who is a natural crosser, just like Beckham which subsequently lead to Crouch getting balls crossed in from either side and once Crouch got the ball there was nowhere for him to go. If they'd have pushed Joe Cole forward then that would've served the purpose but as far as I could see it was just Downing on the left wing, Beckham on the right, Lampard central attacking midfield, Gerrard pressing central midfield, Crouch up front and Joe Cole floating around somewhere between the left wing to central midfield. They need to sort out minor structural problems like this if they want to advance to ANY respectable round in the Cup.

Please have a cold shower Mikey or throw an ice bucket over yourself you are panicking way unnecessarily :o :o There is no chance whatsoever of England not qualifying

 

 

 

I'm not panicking read my post properly do you have to attack every comment I MAKE :rolleyes: :P

Whatever happens England will neither top the group, or be Runners-up, if Sweden go power mad against T & T & Paraguay, I think Sweden will hold us to a point as well

To be fair, the state Sweden are in at the moment I don't think they have the ABILITY to go power mad against Paraguay.

I'm not panicking read my post properly do you have to attack every comment I MAKE :rolleyes: :P

You said neither instead of either ;) NEither top or runners-up means not qualifying... :)

I've just seen NO ONE has got a result right yet in the predictor game. :lol:

You said neither instead of either ;) NEither top or runners-up means not qualifying... :)

 

Exactly

 

That's what I read too and when I posted it was on the basis that we would not qualify from phase 2 ;)

Today England were very poor, well it was mainly Sven's negative tactics. Why did he take Owen off?, if he'd ever watched a Liverpool game before then he'd know that Crouch is useless as a lone striker.

 

J.Cole gave England's best performance and Gerrard was also very good but he didn't shine at all in the second half.

 

That was bad. Sven was bad. Downing was awful.

 

 

Why did Sven sub Owen for the useless Downing ? All he did was run at their defence and lose the ball. Surely you would replace Owen with a striker, you can't have Crouch up on his own, as all he does is do flick-ons. And taking off our best player of the game (J Cole) for Hargreaves, WHAT was that about ?! Anyway, 3 points is all the matters and I expect a much beter performance against Trinidad & Tobago.