We are a good team.. now we have got Steven "me me me me" Gerrard playing.

We're the best, we are #1. We can beat everyone, overhype? Man we are class. 3 years of 'uselessness' but we've played well in one game and won so all of our problems are sorted now.

Yeah right.

That's football for you. And as I said, that scoreling flattered Croatia, a competent ref and they'd have been looking at a cricket score against them.

Capello's current win % is better than any manager England have ever had.

Don't forget Rooney, but I guess as someone said Walcott is England's new saviour.


And English repoters still have enough b@lls to criticise the Italians, when the only reason their NT is finally doing something right is because they hired an Italian coach and pay him ridiculous ammounts to do a job that non of their countrymen can do.

Rooney had a decent game today, scored a goal and set one up. His work rate is incredible. Just need to get in the box more.

Well.. we'll never know if any English manager could do it, since they're never given a chance. It's just annoying how last week we were ****, and now we're amazing. When we are neither.

Portugal 2-3 Denmark

We can't miss about 5 or 6 one-on-one with the keeper. It's time to change tactics or adapt Cristiano as center-foward.

Oh, and set-pieces too. We always concede against taller teams like Germany, Denmark, etc... it's already a tradition. No matter what, no matter how good our CB's are... we always concede.

F NTs.

Wouldn't expect anything else from Don Fabio

I'm sure he'll still get criticised though

I saw it on livescore with about 20 minutes to go and it was 1-0 to Portugal. A few late goals then by the looks of it!

Apparently everything that went wrong in the McClaren era is Capello's fault as well.

Nah, he'll be branded a national hero!

-They scored at the 88' 1-1.
-We scored from the penalty spot at the 89'.
-2-2 from a set-piece at the 90'.
-2-3 in a long distance-shot deflected... and in at the 90+2'.

Always the same thing. Lack of concentration.
Completely dominant for 90' min... and we f up again. Bah.

I was of the opinion that they didn't want (or feared) the much added pressure with the England NT post ?

For the record... Portugal didn't lose in a World Cup qualifier in the last 12 years.

Sack Queiroz, get Scolari.

Well it's not easy after Portugal played such a tough match against Malta, I saw them sweat blood on the pitch to try and win that game so cut them some slack, it's obvious they would have been tired after such a difficuilt match

I heard Italy was pretty solid and had quite a bit to prove out there... a good improvement...

And I hear Kaladze wasn't half bad... he was pretty decent... despite that early foul...

Yeah that's such rubbish. I have to say that right away. England is inconsistent and lack depth. If a few of their stars get injured... what happens then?

Sell Kaka? Get Theo? That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.

Edit: There was another shocker today... the tiny country of Luxembourg defeated Switzerland LOL!

Gosh. Interesting results today. Well done to England (sorry Kurt and Ash, but I still don't especially like the team) for their win against Croatia.

Well done too to Daniele De Rossi and Italy for their win! I look forward to seeing the game on replay tonight.

I think Slovenia beating Slovakia is a bit of a shocker in terms of results too. The Slovaks have (on paper) a very strong team. Northern Ireland holding the Czechs to a 0-0 result is also noteworthy, as is the 3-3 draw between Finland and Germany.

yoann played really gud for france i read on goal here is what they wrote
Yoann Gourcuff 8: The pick of the French side. Despite only having played around a minute of international football previously, the young AC Milan midfielder, who is on loan at Bordeaux, commanded the match and was instrumental in France’s best moves.

It's possible, I don't know the reasons really, they seemed to go for Capello as first choice anyway.

I'm sure the media will by hyping us to no end, but to be honest, I don't care. The England players take tonnes of stick when we don't play well, they're accused of not caring and everything, and it's unnecessary. So they deserve the ridiculous hype they get after big wins.


Lacks depth? You do realise we were missing our first choice right back, centre mid and forward today? Not to mention having a striker playing at right mid.

This is why I think our country deserves the hype it gets. It doesn't matter what we do, we always get criticised by the rest of the World, give us a break for **** sake. There aren't many - if any - teams that have had a better start to qualifying, yet we still get criticised.

If you were missing some of your attacking players, where would you be? You rely on players that are overrated. Vastly overrated. Don't think after one game all your problems are suddenly fixed.

No breaks.

Want to know why? I'm tired of some sections of the press trumping up England as the best in the world. I'm tired of hearing how you are favorites to win the world cup.

I'm the first to admit our problems aren't over look above or in the last few pages if you don't believe me.

I think most people on this forum don't read our press, they stereotype to be trendy you know like people around the world saying "Bush is a di..." they say it to be apart of a following. They don't really truely have any understanding, I think this is the exact same here.

If you read our press you would see that we don't think we are the best in the world. We have been ripped to shreads by our own media these past few years, rightfully.

Whoever thinks we are favourites for the World Cup is just making that up. No realistic fan here thinks we can win it. If the media you read does then that's not our problem. Please be aware that some stupid overenthusiastic fan saying "England can win the world cup" does not mean that that is our media

Well said, Ash.

However, I do have to add a qualifier: Fox Soccer Channel here in the US devotes more than half its daily news broadcast to stuff from or about England (league or NT). THAT is unbelievably annoying. And while I'd argue that (at least in 2006) there were some pundits in the UK hyping up an English WC victory, the responsible press (ie, NOT the Sun) is actually...well, not entirely blinkered.

Can imagine that being annoying. However it's not really our fault if you're broadcasters want to show the EPL but I do see what you are trying to get at.

2006, we were bigging ourselves up yes. I thought we had a small chance back then, now I have no hope. The WC is out of Europe so inevitably its going to be won by one of the South American's anyway. I think if we made the Quarters/Semi's we've done well, very well.

I think it's the online medium, people see blogs by irresponsible English reporters and take that as our whole media. The only way you could truely get a jist of what our media is like is if you lived here.

It's like me saying so and so has told me one of your news stations are rubbish. How do I know? I don't live in your country. It's just stereotyping and saying the 'English press is bad blah blah' is one of the best forms of it on this forum.

you dont know porty

im watching the france-serbia replay right now on setanta...and that goal.com report is accurate. This commentator is raving about Gourcuff and no joke he's playing amazing. He's linking the defensive midfield to the attack like a virtuoso. France has been missing this sort of performance in their line up since WC 06..This is Gourcuff's first start for the Les Bleu and he is really impressing. His touch is perfect, his passing passing is accurate, and more importantly in my opinion, the TIMING of his passing is perfect, something he lacked when he played with us..ALL of his set pieces have been accurate and dangerous..he is directly responsible for the anelka goal..and he hit a SCREAMER off of the crossbar from outside the 18 with his left foot which the commentator started screaming goal before it hit the bar. (which proves his adept shooting with both feet).

I swear i've been in the same boat as most of the rest of us in this forum who felt he needed to leave and go on loan..but if he is going to develop into a player who can play like this consistently, I am looking forward to selling Seedorf back to Ajax and recalling Yoann. (my sig )

PS. Branislav Ivanovic scores a THUMPING header off of a set peice for Serbia's goal, and he battled HARD against Henry and Benz/Anelka. He did get beat a few times, made some necessary fouls..and frankly didn't do too much wrong in my eyes. HUGE upgrade over Kaladze.

PSS - Vidic the great was embarassed by Anelka for France's second. Gourcuff turned beautifully and fed the ball to Anelka in front of the box in such a way that Vidic was caught off balance, Anelka megged Vidic on the turn, and then megged him again with this shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner. Class from Anelka, but first from Yoann.

fun to watch yoann develop. The commentator did make sure to mention that he's ours til 2012.

Hah. In general terms, I think the English media (specifically BBC) is probably the best and most objective in the world. The one exception I make is for sports as there's too much anglocentrism for my taste - but where it's understandable.

If we were missing attackers.. you do realise we called up only 3 strikers, and one of those was Emile Heskey? Michael Owen wasn't fit enough to play, and Steven Gerrard was missing. So which vastly over-rated players did we rely on exactly?

Relying on over-rated players? Most people in England - both fans and the media - didn't want Walcott in the squad, we don't think he's good enough. Man, talk about that for hype! Then we have Gareth Barry, the guy that's not even worth £18m, not good enough for the top 4. Could we hype him up anymore! Yet these guys did the job, Walcott took his hat-trick very well and Barry did a great job on Modric, he made sure Modric had as much involvement in the game as my neighbours fish. Who set up Rooneys goal? Europes best player, Jermain Jenas. Yeah, Barry, Jenas, Walcott. 3 names that the English media hype to no End. You'll find that we've done better today WITHOUT our stars. No Owen, no Beckham, No Gerrard, probably Englands biggest 3 stars since the turn of the century.

Our media thinks we'll win the World Cup? Maybe you didn't see all the predictions in our papers today then? They all thought we were going to get beaten, badly.

Who said our problems are fixed? This is the problem with everybody outside of England, they seem to get so annoyed when we do well that they're so quick to play everything down. Who on earth has said our problems have been fixed? The only person that's implying anything of the sort is you. I'm not sure why it is that everybody always has to try and bring things down, you're criticising us after we've just done this? I mean come on, nobody has ever even beaten Coatia in Zagreb before, forget doing it with a scoreline like that.

Hey, guys who watched the England game: Did Jimmy Bullard get on the pitch?

Right. You're still overrated and overhyped. Stop basing everything off one performance.

Nah he didnt.

He wasn't even named as a sub in either game.


I'm not, I watch more England games than you, I think I know very well how good my players are. And Italy are also overhyped and overrated, so what're you getting at?

But that's the problem, you down playing that game. Have you seen Italy and Milan lately? They've been nothing short of useless, but you're quick to defend them aren't you?

Have you never heard the saying, you're only as good as your last game?

I want to see some of the press on the continent. I'm starting to believe every single paper has some big spread on England by the way everyone says we're overhyped. Now, either we are not mentioned in your papers and you are basing this on the 'stereotyping of English media' again or we are actually in your papers nearly each time with your media saying how good we are and how we are going to win the WC? Which I would find a little strange.

It honestly doesn't happen here, I'd like to know what English 'media' you look at I'm intrigued? I don't imagine you wake up to English breakfast news channels, or to a reading of the Daily Telegraph.

Really? Do you know what I watch on TV and what I don't?

Italy is not overhyped and overrated. Want to know why? Despite recent problems, Italy has actually won a world cup pretty recently and made it into the Euro 2008 (though it wasn't to go as a win), that's far more than what I can say about England. 40 years and still waiting... and can't even win the damn world cup.

Nothing short of useless? Sweet now you're going to attack a team you claim to support. That Lugano game? Irrelevant to me. Italy secured a fine 2-0 home win against Georgia which displayed enough creativity, and I did get the replay. I was not pleased with the 2-1 away win at Cyprus, but that was the accumulation of lack of preparation and the fact that the Serie A only started a while ago.

So I don't think you're in any position to attack Italy or Milan for that matter.

In Italy's defense, they DID win against Georgia. The Italian press comments were along the lines of 'well it's better than against Cyprus, but that isn't too hard'.

I wanted to see Jimmy Bullard get a chance!

We did qualify for the last World Cup. FACT

I edited that. I realized the mistake.

I meant to say can't even win. 40 years and waiting.

Whatever.

I'm still waiting for the English media you so gratefully love to say overhypes us and says we are going to win the World Cup, please?

When not taking penalties, thank you. Personally, from what little I've seen of De Rossi, he's missed more than he's put in. Awesome player, though. True heir of Totti for Roma, at the very least.

and how isis 2-1 against cyprus any worse than england's win against andorra

^^ Ash, I just did a quick look at Gazzetta and Mediaset. They just have brief mentions of England's win so far. Eurosport Italy will probably have more.

Ha, I'm just intrigued to see if we get overhyped in Europe more than we do by our own!

Exactly. But do you see the difference:

Italy are defended for theirs, even though it took the 90th minute to win it. While England are labelled rubbish and over-rated. Even though it was incredibly comfortable and David James made 0 saves.

I see Legro did well in that match too... was pretty strong defensively... looks like we have another defender we can call up.

De Rossi... I really like as a player... I still remember what he did in the US-Italy match, but that's distant memory. He's been solid throughout.

how can you jump to such a conclusion when nothings been really published yet regarding the game.

FYI italy get regularly get bashed unless they win convincingly,I read enough of different sources to see that.

and how can you say it took them to the 90th minute? you dint even see the game to see what it was like, they dominated from start to finish besides a couple of lapses it was a very comfortable win.

This is the prime example here. You slagged England off for beating Andorra 2-0, yet Italy beating Cyprus 2-1 is considered fine?

It seems some people just don't like our NT and will criticise us for losing, but will never give credit where it's due. England have just done something no team has ever done, and done it empathically. Yet we're getting more criticism than Franc'es shameful result at the weekend, Portugal losing at home, and Germany conceeding 3 and not winning against Finland. It's pretty obvious to see isn't it. Especially when England are currently the best team in European qualifying, not one team has a better record than us.

(Does the fish doll get an Irn Bru for saying 'well done' on the win even though he's not an England fan?)

Yep!

It's not really congratulations Kurt and I are looking for though just a subtle they did quite well there in your minds. Instead of saying they just beat a team that no one's beat in there stadium before 4-1, a 19-year old just got a hat-trick but no he's overrated, I mean as I've just been told if it was Pato who got 3 tonight, well...
----------------------------------------------------------------------

This parts for zd guy: It's an example, I haven't done it because I hate Pato, it's because he's 19 as is Walcott and he plays for Milan, no need to reply in a huff...

Yes, of course.

Saying well done when we win, and you deserved the defeat when we lose, etc. is fine. But it's when there's only criticism and never praise that it's a bit unfair..

Rush of blood.

Where have i said that italy's result was fine? you just finished saying that italy are useless so i'm pointing out that england just had an equally embarrassing result a gainst a nation of 80 000, theres more people that live in my district than in that country.

please show me the criticism that england is currently receiving.

"Theo Walcott hit a stunning hat-trick as England thrashed Croatia in a World Cup qualifying tie in Zagreb."

"England avenged its two losses to Croatia in Euro 2008 qualifying by winning easily in Zagreb."

"Walcott Hattrick As England Crush Croatia"

"Reborn England storm Croatia fortress"

"Wonder Walcott"

sounds like major criticisms

You want know what unfair criticism is? after italy won the world cup all i herd was garbage from opposing fans and press, sh1tting on italy day and night after they just won the world cup, actually they began their campaign the day after.

I think he's talking about this board