As I was at the friendly with Slovakia today I thought I'd post a thread and post my player ratings. It really is true that watching football on TV is no substitute for the real thing... (sorry for length)

 

David James: Only played half the game. Didn't have much to do, but anything he did he did well. Looked more solid than he sometimes does. 6/10

 

Glen Johnson: I thought he played really well today. Was solid defensively and good going forwards. His delivery into the area was the most consistant of the first half. 7/10

 

Ashley Cole: Booed when the teams were read out before the match but it didn't phase him. Was as solid as anyone else in defense and worked the left side well, especially in the first half with no one else regularly on the left. 7/10

 

John Terry: Good game from the skipper. Looked more assured than Upson. Lead the line well. 7/10

 

Matthew Upson: Looked decent enough but one mistake which forced a good save from James. Against better opposition it could easily have been more costly. 6/10

 

Aaron Lennon: I've seen Lennon once before, in an U21 International last November. He was awful, by far the worst player on the pitch and outclassed by lower league players such as Michael Kightly, Sylvan Ebanks-Black and Kyle Naughton. Today he didn't really do much to change my opinion of him. He was improved but still fairly poor. His final ball is awful, especially in the air. He can only seem to play a decent ball if it's short and to feet. Him crossing and aiming for Crouch's head, you may as well just give the opposition a goal kick. His positional play was very good, I have to say, but his control often let him down. There were too occasions where he got into a position to shoot, once where it looked like it was better to square to Crouch, the other there wasn't really anyone free in the centre. Unsurprisingly, he went for the pass that time and it came to nothing. The other time he shot, forced a corner but Crouch would've had a better chance of scoring. Fortunately, he wasn't near being our worst player on the pitch. 5/10

 

Gareth Barry: An incredibly solid game, assured helping the defence and often offered help going forward. Was disappointing not to see him get any chances to whip in a dead ball. 7/10

 

Frank Lampard: Got better as the game went on. Looked far more assured when Gerrard was taken off (non-shock). His dead ball delivery in the first half was poor. Well taken goal. 7/10

 

Steven Gerrard: The free role that Rafa plays him in certainly looks like his best position, he played very well playing some good balls and had excelletn link-up with Rooney. Was a shame to see him replaced at half time, he'd played really well. 8/10

 

Emile Heskey: An 8/10 rating may seem high for someone who didn't quite manage to play 15 minutes. But those 15 minutes were when England were by far theiir most dangerous. He made Martin Skyrtl (a solid Liverpool player) look like somone I wouldn't put in Forest's team. Every ball in the air he won, every ball to feet he was first to it. He was running into channels and playing great flicks to Rooney and Lennon, may have been a flukey goal but certainly deserved for his work for England over the last couple of years. Once again, he did very well to beat Skyrtl. 8/10

 

Wayne Rooney: I've always said Wayne Rooney could have the potential to be as well regarded as the likes of Ronaldo and Kaka, but unfortunitely his unselfishness, temperment and personality will always mean he probably won't be. After a week of him being in the headlines for the wrong reasons he responded in the best way possible, with one of the best performances I've ever witnessed. Whether he was in the centre, on the left or on the right he was superb. He played brilliant balls to the likes of Heskey, A Cole, Beckham, Gerrard and Lennon. He was everywhere and didn't put a foot wrong. Well deserved man of the match award. 9.5/10

 

(with still seven months left until Wayne's 24th birthday he today won his 49th England cap and scored is 21st England goal. Coupled with the upcoming forwards England have he has a superb chance to beat Peter Shilton and Bobby Charlton's records and become England's most capped player and top scorer of all time)

 

Subs:

 

Carlton Cole (for Heskey): Him coming on really interrupted the flow of the game, he was shocking. Had about 4-5 touches in 20 minutes, lost headers that Heskey was winning for fun and made barely any attempt to make runs. 4/10

 

Peter Crouch (for C.Cole): He did ok, considering he wasn't really fit enough to play he lead the line well. Unfortunately had a goal disallowed after Terry tried to snatch it. 7/10

 

Ben Foster (for James): Pretty much the same as James really, although had less to do. 6/10

 

Stuart Downing (for Gerrard): If you take everything good I said about Aaron Lennon out you've pretty much got a perfect description of his performance. Dire. I thought he might build on his excellent performance against Germany last year, but he really hasn't. 4/10

 

David Beckham (for lennon): A brilliant performance and proved he's still more than worthy of his place in the squad. Even if it was just for his set-piece ability he's better than the majority of alternatives. Put Lampard, Lennon, Downing & Gerrard to shame really with his deliveries. Created one goal, should've created one for Crouch and a couple of other good opportunities too. He did well going forwards and tracking back and his link-up play with Rooney was also great. 8.5/10

 

I didn't really see any of Michael Carrick as I was one of the many to shamefully leave the ground after the third goal went in. It was the right decision though really, my friend who stayed till the final whistle (about 10 minutes later) who was sitting nearer to Wembley Way than I was sent me a text to say he'd just got to his car (parked within 200 yards of mine) and I was already 2/3 of the way back to Nottingham!

I've only read and briefly watched the highlights on ITV, but the impression that I get seems to be a good one. I'm not suprised Rooney put in a great performance - he masses to prove to the media, Capello and himself. He really let himself down last week, but just goes to show how you can turn it all around in your favour. I'm not suprised Gerrard played really good too. He's in really good form at the moment, but he's developed so much under Rafa that he's not really an out and out midfielder anymore, he's much more an attacking midfielder. I don't believe that he can fully play in the same way he does for Liverpool with Rooney in front of him though as Rooney and Torres are v.different players.

 

I definitely got the impression Downing was f***ing atrocious though, which is a real shame as I like him, but he just seems far too inconsistent and not really international class...

Rooney was on excellent form tonight (from what I saw of highlights), hopefully he can repeat the performance for next weeks game.

i hope he's $h!t vs Ukraine and England lose 4-0! fecking hate our NT, full of ABUs

Aaron Lennon: I've seen Lennon once before, in an U21 International last November. He was awful, by far the worst player on the pitch and outclassed by lower league players such as Michael Kightly, Sylvan Ebanks-Black and Kyle Naughton. Today he didn't really do much to change my opinion of him. He was improved but still fairly poor. His final ball is awful, especially in the air. He can only seem to play a decent ball if it's short and to feet. Him crossing and aiming for Crouch's head, you may as well just give the opposition a goal kick. His positional play was very good, I have to say, but his control often let him down. There were too occasions where he got into a position to shoot, once where it looked like it was better to square to Crouch, the other there wasn't really anyone free in the centre. Unsurprisingly, he went for the pass that time and it came to nothing. The other time he shot, forced a corner but Crouch would've had a better chance of scoring. Fortunately, he wasn't near being our worst player on the pitch. 5/10

 

Spot on, the advantage he has over Beckham is that he can get past people but if don't have an end product that a winger does (i.e. crossing the bloody ball) then what's the point? I do see why he was called up as he has played better recently but I'd still rate Walcott as by far the best alternative to Becks and if not him then SWP as much as it pains me to say that!

 

Frank Lampard: Got better as the game went on. Looked far more assured when Gerrard was taken off (non-shock). His dead ball delivery in the first half was poor. Well taken goal. 7/10

 

I don't know if it was just me but it wasn't the first time where I thought he'd done absolutely NOTHING until he scored a goal near the end! I still think that Capello CAN finally come to a solution with him playing with Gerrard but it's still gonna take a bit of time.

 

Steven Gerrard: The free role that Rafa plays him in certainly looks like his best position, he played very well playing some good balls and had excelletn link-up with Rooney. Was a shame to see him replaced at half time, he'd played really well. 8/10

 

I was laughing when he went past Skrtel as you can imagine Rafa told him to make sure he doesn't get anywhere near him in case he caused him an injury :lol: Anyway his passing was excellent tonight and I think he may have that left position for a while now as he can still get to the middle as well, I think with a bit of work he can much more dangerous from corners than he was last night though, I see what Lamps was trying to do.

 

Emile Heskey: An 8/10 rating may seem high for someone who didn't quite manage to play 15 minutes. But those 15 minutes were when England were by far theiir most dangerous. He made Martin Skyrtl (a solid Liverpool player) look like somone I wouldn't put in Forest's team. Every ball in the air he won, every ball to feet he was first to it. He was running into channels and playing great flicks to Rooney and Lennon, may have been a flukey goal but certainly deserved for his work for England over the last couple of years. Once again, he did very well to beat Skyrtl. 8/10

 

I always keep saying him and Rooney are the keys to England's success, there is no other forward player in the world who you wouldn't question about a lack of goals because just his presence makes a huge difference which for some reason not that many fans seem to notice. :unsure:

 

Wayne Rooney: I've always said Wayne Rooney could have the potential to be as well regarded as the likes of Ronaldo and Kaka, but unfortunitely his unselfishness, temperment and personality will always mean he probably won't be. After a week of him being in the headlines for the wrong reasons he responded in the best way possible, with one of the best performances I've ever witnessed. Whether he was in the centre, on the left or on the right he was superb. He played brilliant balls to the likes of Heskey, A Cole, Beckham, Gerrard and Lennon. He was everywhere and didn't put a foot wrong. Well deserved man of the match award. 9.5/10

 

(with still seven months left until Wayne's 24th birthday he today won his 49th England cap and scored is 21st England goal. Coupled with the upcoming forwards England have he has a superb chance to beat Peter Shilton and Bobby Charlton's records and become England's most capped player and top scorer of all time)

 

Being a United fan he's my current favourite player, all the way through the game he was always running trying to do his best for his team and never slowing down, he lets you down on the occasion but you can guarantee that he'll give you nights like this one. Btw to add to the last paragraph Owen get his 21st goal on his 50th cap and even I never thought he'd ever be this prolific for England :o United and England are a completely different team for the better with Rooney playing.

 

Stuart Downing (for Gerrard): If you take everything good I said about Aaron Lennon out you've pretty much got a perfect description of his performance. Dire. I thought he might build on his excellent performance against Germany last year, but he really hasn't. 4/10

 

His great international performances are few are far between imo, I know he's not left footed by why doesn't he call up Ashley Young and play him on the left? He's by far a better than what Stewart Downing will ever be!

 

David Beckham (for lennon): A brilliant performance and proved he's still more than worthy of his place in the squad. Even if it was just for his set-piece ability he's better than the majority of alternatives. Put Lampard, Lennon, Downing & Gerrard to shame really with his deliveries. Created one goal, should've created one for Crouch and a couple of other good opportunities too. He did well going forwards and tracking back and his link-up play with Rooney was also great. 8.5/10

 

He's gonna be essential if we're gonna get to the World Cup let alone do anything in it but I think we showed tonight that we need to use him carefully, he doesn't have the pace that Walcott has but just for his set piece ability if you bring him on you can always rely on him but I say we should use him carefully because when he does come on we do get very predictable so we need to work on that.

 

Overall we were finally able to play a confident performance at Wembley, our passing was excellent and I think it showed that the defeat to Spain brought us back to earth and so now hopefully we can keep this all going on Wednesday as I'm sure Fabio won't underestimate Ukraine like I feel some fans are!

Surprised no one has mentioned this yet…

 

England 2-1 Ukraine

 

England win with John Terry’s late winner after Ukraine looked to have held a lacklustre England to a draw after Chelsea flop Shevchenko had cancelled out Crouch’s first half goal. Were we lucky to maintain our 100% qualifying record or is it a sign of a good team to play badly and still come away with 3 points.

 

1 England 5 5 0 0 16 4 +12 15

2 Croatia 5 3 1 1 10 4 +6 10

3 Ukraine 4 2 1 1 5 3 +2 7

4 Belarus 4 2 0 2 9 6 +3 6

5 Kazakhstan 5 1 0 4 6 16 -10 3

6 Andorra 5 0 0 5 1 14 -13 0

 

Key Fixtures:

 

06/06/09 Croatia v Ukraine

06/06/09 Kazakhstan v England

 

10/06/09 England v Andorra

 

09/09/09 England v Croatia

 

10/10/09 Ukraine v England

 

14/10/09 England v Belarus

 

If we win in Kazakhstan and Croatia and Ukraine draw again we’ll virtually be there, which would be the ideal situation; Croatia at home and Ukraine away look like the trickiest games of the campaign.

 

we were lucky tonight, I guess 09/09/09 will give us an indication of whether we'll make it

Surprised no one has mentioned this yet…

 

England 2-1 Ukraine

 

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned this yet:

 

Bolivia 6 Argentina 1

 

With the sole exception of England, it couldn't happen to a better country.

we were lucky tonight, I guess 09/09/09 will give us an indication of whether we'll make it

If England have beaten Kazakhstan and Andorra, victory in this match will seal qualification.

we were lucky tonight, I guess 09/09/09 will give us an indication of whether we'll make it

I can see it now! 09/09/09 Emergency for England :lol:

 

We're on the right track now, Capello is the kind of manager that we've needed since the turn of the century so we've just gotta keep our on the ball and we should hopefully get there.

I can see it now! 09/09/09 Emergency for England :lol:

 

We're on the right track now, Capello is the kind of manager that we've needed since the turn of the century so we've just gotta keep our on the ball and we should hopefully get there.

 

I hope Capello has planned for penalties :kink: And :rofl: at Argentina.

I don't really think we were that lucky the other night. I think we fully deserved to win, we were poor but what exactly had Ukraine done better than us?! They were even worse!