Ukraine v England

England have been rotten.

They have indeed but at this stage it's all about the result!

haha, the classic England line.

I had no doubts they would win, but honestly, expected them to be better than this.

I GUARANTEE that within 48 hours Platini and/or Blatter will come out demanding goalline technology, because England have benefited from its absence. UEFA and FIFA hate us. You wait.

haha.

You're right this will FINALLY tip the scales i should think.

way in.

The official was right there! HTF did he miss that ? The Ukraine team were hard done by.

meanwhile

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England do seem more organised under Hodgson, than under Capello. Hodgson seems to have more of an idea with regards to substitutions and the timing of them.

"in Woy, we twust"!

Hipster_Nebula wrote:meanwhile

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Great goal from Elmander. He is the sort of striker we could with at Bolton.

Worth a punt?

Well we are through ....and daft as it may seem I think we can beat Italy.

Once again the opposition ran rings around us but couldn't get it in the net. Three deflections and hit Rooney on the noggin....that was that.

I suppose it's the result that counts but that's not good enough for me.

On the bright side: Terry & Lescott were our best players tonight, non stop and solid.

On the dark side: I clocked 9 minutes into the first half before Gerrad or Parker touched the ball .....Stevie's first touch was a 40 yard hoof straight out of play....Parker then played six passes .....sadly all backwards.

I'm no expert but that probably has somat to do with us being parked in our own half for long periods......Aye England / Bolton ....hard to tell the diference at the moment. Still on we go !!!!

We Wuv Woy is in the air today. So he ended up starting Rodney, and maybe that's a good thing now we're through as his touch and control were appalling and time on the pitch can only help. Gets a tap in and all is forgiven. Young was poor again and in general we seemed incapable of keeping the ball apart from a few tidy spells. As predicted, Woy went narrow and only brought width on at the end. It's a Catch 22 - if we can't keep the ball when play is compressed in the middle of the park, we put ourselves under continuous pressure, but at the same time by playing narrow we can defend well as a unit - totally mirroring Coyle's dilemma last season (except OC refused to play narrow when required) I still think Carroll is the man for this tournament - never been a big fan but he's coming good at the right time. He's the only striker that the ball sticks to and so far his control and passing have been exemplary plus he puts it about and all these teams that try to emulate Barca are scared shitless of him. But to get the most out of him we need width and Woy is too cautious to go with that from the off. I just get frustrated with all the wasted possession, but it's the price we have to pay for having no wide outlets in order not to concede. Still, we're through and I suppose that's all that matters. Even if we crash and burn against Italy, I think Woy has done enough in a short time with players of hitherto dubious attitude to get the plaudits - so we'll be back to rampant nationalistic hype and inflated expectations before you know it - if it's not started already. Personally, I prefer being the no hoper underdog.

terenceanne wrote:
On the dark side: I clocked 9 minutes into the first half before Gerrad or Parker touched the ball .....Stevie's first touch was a 40 yard hoof straight out of play....Parker then played six passes .....sadly all backwards.

I think we watched different games, I thought Gerrard was outstanding and Parker not far behind.

Our problem was two strikers who couldn't control the ball, nevermind hold onto it, and wingers that did f**k all. Again.

Reebok Trotter wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:meanwhile

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Great goal from Elmander. He is the sort of striker we could with at Bolton.

I can never tell if you're joking but in case there's any doubt thats ibrahimovich.

as for England, i thought Parker and Gerrard played well too, but their work was all defensive, a containment exercise against ukraine who are bang average is a bit telling.

I honestly thought England were woeful, i'll be interested to see how they do against Italy.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:
as for England, i thought Parker and Gerrard played well too, but their work was all defensive, a containment exercise against ukraine who are bang average is a bit telling.

I honestly thought England were woeful, i'll be interested to see how they do against Italy.

Hmmm, seem to remember you claiming I was always negative when it came to BWFC, seems you have a similar stance to England.

We won the group. Bar 10 minutes against Sweden we have had the best defence in the competition. If Roy could just get the wingers going we could win this tournament.

Stop moaning and get behind the team Hipster!

Hipster, I was of course joking.

Gerrard played OK but I don't think he deserved MOM. It should have gone to one of the central defenders.

I would go with Walcott in place of Milner for the clash with Italy.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:
as for England, i thought Parker and Gerrard played well too, but their work was all defensive, a containment exercise against ukraine who are bang average is a bit telling.

I honestly thought England were woeful, i'll be interested to see how they do against Italy.

Hmmm, seem to remember you claiming I was always negative when it came to BWFC, seems you have a similar stance to England.

We won the group. Bar 10 minutes against Sweden we have had the best defence in the competition. If Roy could just get the wingers going we could win this tournament.

Stop moaning and get behind the team Hipster!

I don't "support" England so everything i say about them is from the standpoint of a neutral, which generally gets you a more realistic view.

I've already said i think Parker has been superb, he isn't technically gifted but what you do get is 100% effort and tenacity 100% of the time. I love watching him play, he runs himself into the dirt.

I was just reading the paper which had Ashley Cole as MOM.

They poured scorn on Milner giving him a 4/10 saying he's out of his depth.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

I don't "support" England so everything i say about them is from the standpoint of a neutral, which generally gets you a more realistic view.

I've already said i think Parker has been superb, he isn't technically gifted but what you do get is 100% effort and tenacity 100% of the time. I love watching him play, he runs himself into the dirt.

I was just reading the paper which had Ashley Cole as MOM.

They poured scorn on Milner giving him a 4/10 saying he's out of his depth.

But you're English, you have to support England by default! If I turned on the tv and England were playing the USA at basketball I'd automatically support England even though I know very little about the sport or the players.

Ashley Cole was ok, but Terry and Lescott were better. Milner has been a passenger for three games, I hope Roy picks someone else on Sunday.

I won't go into it again but sadly i have a disconnect when it comes to England because of the players on show, i simply can't cheer them on. Not really bothered whether anyone thinks its wrong or stupid, thats the way i am. I'm certainly not alone either, on the forums over the years i've heard this stance echoed by a fair few.

largehat wrote:I GUARANTEE that within 48 hours Platini and/or Blatter will come out demanding goalline technology, because England have benefited from its absence. UEFA and FIFA hate us. You wait.

You were right LH, Sepp Blater has announced this morning on twitter than GLT is a "necessity" now...

(seriously)