[Archived] England's Injury Crisis

[Fife Rover]

I thought that about the officials as well.

Apart from the "handball" Cashley was extremely lucky not to concede a penalty at the start of the second half.

Still, it was a much better performance overall. I thought this was down to having a succession of faces in the side who were either new or had a point to prove and actually looked like they WANTED to be playing for England.

Richards (Terry is always dependable) Barry, SWP (although it wasn't his best game) Owen (back from injury and a record to chase) and Heskey.

Keep the likes of Neville (G) Beckham and one of Gerrard or Lampard well away from the starting line up, and find dependable replacements for the other big time charlies Cashley and Rio and we really might start to go places.

I agree with what you say Rev, but the question is who to bring in instead of Cashley and Rio. For cashley the answer from us Roverites would be Warnock, but for Rio? That is not as easy; how many GOOD English CB's are there at present?

[RevidgeBlue]

I agree with what you say Rev, but the question is who to bring in instead of Cashley and Rio. For cashley the answer from us Roverites would be Warnock, but for Rio? That is not as easy; how many GOOD English CB's are there at present?

I'd go with the young lad at Newcastle personally Steven Taylor.

If you're good enough you're old enough as Richards has shown.

[DanLad]

I'd go with the young lad at Newcastle personally Steven Taylor.

If you're good enough you're old enough as Richards has shown.

A good CB at Newcastle?

You're talking crazy talk!

[Fife Rover]

I'd go with the young lad at Newcastle personally Steven Taylor.

If you're good enough you're old enough as Richards has shown.

OK with that Rev. Just wondering if we could trace an English ancestor somewhere along the line for Samba?

[pick32]

I think richards may have done enough to keep out old gary, we jus need quality wingers now since joe cole has probly been worse player on pitch last 2 games and i dont realy rate SWP. got to admit as much as i hate him and villa bogstandard barry did ok. just need to drop phil neville, andy johnson and downing from the squad now.

[Silencio]

I'd go with the young lad at Newcastle personally Steven Taylor.

If you're good enough you're old enough as Richards has shown.

I think were well off for centre halves. Woodgate (if fit) and Taylor are good shouts. Ferdinand is an absolute stroker, Carragher should have been ahead of him...

[speeeeeeedie]

I'll jump in the majority camp. McClaren is no tactical genius, he had to pick a team rather than a collection of individuals and it clearly showed over both games. England were balanced, direct, and scored a few. I am very afraid, like most of us, that McClaren will revert to previous encounters; Lumpard strutting his stuff in midfield taking all Gerrard's space and shooting over the bar at every opportunity, Rooney and Owen alone on 2 islands, and more useless media darling players. Gary Neville has always done OK for England, but Richards should have done enough to keep his place. Barry will feel hard done by but I think Hargreaves will be back. Hopefully the door has again shut on Beckham, good player, but I said after the WC that McClaren did the right thing. Right now he's injured and will miss the rest of the MLS season. When the rest of the team are playing good football every week he will be sashaying across the USA on his magical mystery tour. We have 3 better options; SWP, Lennon, and Bentley.

Terry and Ferdinand don't impress me, I certainly don't think Terry should be England captain, but Ferdinand tends to play well in major competitions. We do have a plethora of central defenders able to perform on the world stage; Woodgate, Carragher, Ledley King, Richards, Taylor, plus a few more nearly there like Lescott and Curtis Davis.

If the big man small man is working I'd keep Heskey and Owen, I get too embarrassed watching Crouch with an England shirt on. Rooney should be a supersub if the team dynamic is upset with him in it.

It looks like we'll now qualify barring idiocy. Which will make for a good summer 2008.

[tcj_jones]

I thought we were very good in the first half and should have been 2-0 after 10 minutes. The Russians came back into it towards the end of the half and stormed out of the blocks in the second. In the first half I didn't feel as though the Russians were particularly dangerous, more that our defence looked pretty nervy and kept making silly mistakes. The Russians were quite adept at hitting us on the break and, although we maintained long spells of sustained pressure, we were lucky in the second half not to concede - by all accounts the disallowed goal was not a handball.

I thought that the whole back four, except Richards, didn't perform particularly well last night, along with Wright-Phillips on the wing, the rest of the side was good. SWP doesn't seem to be able to cross for love nor money, although he did feed a couple of nice passes through into the box during the 90 minutes.

I would have liked Gerrard to have driven forward with the ball more in the first 60 / 70 minutes and run at the defenders. This is what we get with Rooney and it is why we play so much better with him in the team. That said, I can't really fault Gerrard who had a pretty solid performance. I thought Barry was superb against Israel, but didn't show as much tonight. From my seat, Joe Cole looked very unlucky to get booked, but I reckon it was more for petulence then a bad foul.

Owen and Heskey deserve special mention. Heskey is a very one dimensional player, but when his strengths are played to, he offer so much. I counted three headers that he lost all game and he made the second goal for Owen. His knock ons were a constant threat to the Russians and enabled us to bring maintain pressure on their defence. Owen, was class last night, it's so good to see him back to his old self. Both goals were superb finishes and his all round play was excellent.

McClaren has one again got lucky with injuries to his big name players. I wonder if he will realise and keep this team going into the later qualifiers? Somehow I doubt it. I would bet on Rooney, Neville, Lampard and Beckham start in the next game.

For me to things are very important: firstly do not disrupt what has been a very good partnership between Heskey and Owen, who like playing together and have a lot of experience doing so and secondly, don't drop Barry, especially not for Lampard. At the very least, Barry should be on the bench for his versatility.

The only team selection decision I would really struggle with is whether to start Rooney. I don't see where he fis in right now. Owen is on fire and the two just don't fit alongside each other.

[Presty On Tour]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_2726143,00.html

didn't really know where to put this so i thought here was most suitable.

my guess is our old boy keith was one of the guilty parties involved.

[Dunnfc]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_2726143,00.html

didn't really know where to put this so i thought here was most suitable.

my guess is our old boy keith was one of the guilty parties involved.

Apparently Gillespie Wacked Mccartney because he has Jonny Evans passport.

Keiths a legend!

[philipl]

A Sheff U player biffed a West Ham cheat.

Wonder what that was about then?

[LeChuck]

A Sheff U player biffed a West Ham cheat.

Wonder what that was about then?

Shame you're not a tabloid journalist Philip, that would make a nice sensationalist headline, regardless of whether it's true or not.

[MI ROVER]

Didn't know where to post this but this beggars belief

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/i...als/6995114.stm

[Fife Rover]

Well at least the boy has had the courage to make a clean breast of it all, and that must have cost him a lot in embarrassment. I just hope he has also offered to re-imburse the FAI for their costs in hiring a private jet.

[brfcshabba]

Well at least the boy has had the courage to make a clean breast of it all

Only because he got found out.

[ultrablue]

its a very sad eoisode that i take no joy in knowing about, these guys DO need privacy. my profound sympathy to the young man

[gumboots]

Imagine being one of his grannies though and reading in the paper or hearing on the tv that you're supposed to be dead! Or his other relatives hearing that gran's dead. Whatever his motives for doing it ( and I do know about miscarriages and how awful that feels ) how could you put your family through that?

[Flopsy]

guys this is something thats more important than football

[sussexrover]

Absolutely - give the guy a break. Hes made panicked decisions in a desperate personal situation.

[tcj_jones]

I don't think he's done an awful lot wrong. A miscarriage is one of the worst things that could ever happen to anybody and he was only going along with what his girlfriend had already told his manager. People do silly things in these situations, but we all know he wouldn't want his grandmother dead and it's one of the oldest lines going.

I sincerely hope he and his partner can get through this.

[USABlue]

It looks like we'll now qualify barring idiocy. Which will make for a good summer 2008.

I know you have not forgotten who is at the helm here. DoDo for brains will bring back the big names, you wait and see. I'd stick with the same group and if like the other night SWP's crosses don't get to the box bring Bentley on. Heskey and Owen will have a field day with young Davids crosses.

[USABlue]

I think he's done a lot wrong. Why not just say what the deal was, jeez a miscarriage is serious and your partner would want you there. Why the lies. I don't think they were warranted.

[Alan75]

Absolutely - give the guy a break. Hes made panicked decisions in a desperate personal situation.

Schoolboy error.

written in crayon with left hand to cover up truancy.

Deer Sur.

John misead skool yesturday becose his gran dyed.

Love

Johns mum.

[tcj_jones]

You're in a situation where you have just learnt that your partner has had a miscarriage. She has told your manager over the phone that your nan has died. It is obviously a terrible time for your partner, who seemingly didn't want to say at the time what had happened. You want to get out of there as quick as you possibly can and you want to be with your partner, so you simply agree with what's been said, and you get to go home without having to open up and say everything to your manager and team mates when you might not be prepared to do so.

Family members dying is a horrible thing, and those who have lost might not appreciate other lying about it, but I think we can cut them both some slack. I don't think anybody would react rationally when hearing such news. For God's sake, leave the guy alone.

[American]

I think he's done a lot wrong. Why not just say what the deal was, jeez a miscarriage is serious and your partner would want you there. Why the lies. I don't think they were warranted.

Maybe it was too personal of a problem for him to publicly share. I would think that people who have had one wouldn't want good friends to know, much less an entire country.