Monday, November 14, 2005

Michael Owen for England (v Argentina), 12 November 2005

It's just bloody typical, isn't it?

I have spent years of my life watching pointless international friendly matches, where England labour with a useless system, make endless tactically inept substitutions and occasionally scrape a lucky win.

So on Saturday I decide to drive an hour to go and visit a pal of mine for the evening, and miss what one of my colleagues has today called" the best football match I have seen for a long time."

sigh.

So, reflections please? We were good, apparently. Rooney was great, so I gather, and Motty nearly exploded as the third England goal went in. We can play a system with a holding midfielder ("Makaledley" as the Guardian have christened him today), we may have reserve full backs, reports of the end of Becks' career are premature and, shock horror, we might have the mental mettle to tackle a decent side.

anything to add?

4 comments:

Dom said...

Some observations on the England game

1. It's still OK to like Rooney in an England top & hate him in a Man U one!

2. Real Madrid are fools - Owen is a class striker & better than all of theirs - fact.

3. Beckhams career is not over.

4. Not convinced by King at International level, Cole should start in midfield.

5. Argentina are still cheats!!!

swisslet said...

I missed the game too. And the cricket. And the rugby. Way to go sportsfan!

My thoughts? How typical of a distinctly average England side to pull a result out of the bag in a non-competitive game to get the nation excited and to raise expectation levels to heights not previously reached by any side beaten by Northern Ireland.

Beckham lacks tactical discipline and suffers from an over-inflated sense of his own worth. Apparently our central defense is suddenly vulnerable. We have little or no cover to our first choice full-backs. We have no proper solution on the left wing. Our strikers don't play well together (Peter Crouch is *not* the answer, and don't even try to say that it is). We have a coach with no tactical flexibility and apparently no motivational powers to speak of. And finally, we are terribly reliant on a 19 year old prodigy with a suspect temper and a habit of getting injured at key moments.

7/1 for the World Cup? On yer bike.

ST

Flash said...

Well I thought it was a superb performance against world class opposition.

And, jocks aside, let's try & retain a sense of optimism here, shall we?

It's not impossible for us to go & win it.
Just unlikely.

Paul said...

You say an international team would never take off their best player with the oppostion looking beaten in the world cup, but didn't England do that in 1970 against West Germany only for the decision to sub off Charlton to backfire horribly?

I'll admit bias here, but surely Scott Parker should be given a crack in midfield ahead of Ledley King and Michael Carrick?

(Sadly, I recognise this won't happen, as with only one friendly to go before he names his squad, Sven's hardly likely to tinker too much).