[Archived] England's Injury Crisis

[ABBEY]

Bentley's not even on the bench! Not to worry tho - we can always bring on Phil Neville or Luke Young if we are struggling out wide...

GOOD ....at least he wont get injured on the naff pitch!!

[ABBEY]

pick that out!! 1-0 roooooooney

[Sandiway Blue]

pick that out!! 1-0 roooooooney

Absolute peach of a goal! get in !!

[RevidgeBlue]

Great flick on by that beanpole Owen as well.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

2-1 to Russia.

Doooh

[Exiled_Rover]

Oh you've got to love football. When will they bring in video referees, they're behind every other sport in the world. The Russian dived for the penalty, and was outside the box. A momentum changing decision.

[ABBEY]

GONE TO BLOODY PIECES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE BELLS ARE RINGING FOR MACCA

[philipl]

Just got in- see that it is depressingly going as I forecast it with Russia winning.

Don't see England beating Croatia at Wembley so we are as good as out unless something can be turned around in Moscow.

[Flopsy]

no issues with the starting 11 or the formation, however the substitutes on the bench are ludicrous for a must win match. No pace at all, stupid and cowardly.

Nothing wrong with the pitch lots of wrong with the managers conservative instincts.

gah

[bblue]

Bloody hell, what a match! Can't believe England are so close to missing out on a major tournament!

[Tris]

Nothing wrong with the pitch lots of wrong with the managers conservative instincts.

If there's nothing wrong with the pitch, then why have UEFA decided it must be replaced by a grass one in time for their showpiece Champs League final next year??

Furthermore, with no fixture last weekend, Russia have trained on it every single day for the last ten days. England got one training session, yesterday with the pitch unwatered.

Lo and behold, today before the KO and at half time the Russkies have had 4 water canons soaking the plastic surface turning it into a completely different animal.

Now I'm not saying that was the only reason for the defeat, but it was plainly obvious that the home side dealt with its characteristics way better than the English players managed to.

At best it's unsportsmanlike, at worst its blatant cheating.

[MI ROVER]

wright-phillips = useless

[bblue]

Furthermore, with no fixture last weekend, Russia have trained on it every single day for the last ten days. England got one training session, yesterday with the pitch unwatered.

Lo and behold, today before the KO and at half time the Russkies have had 4 water canons soaking the plastic surface turning it into a completely different animal.

Old trick and they've obviously used every bit of unlawful advantage they could get.

[bluebruce]

If there's nothing wrong with the pitch, then why have UEFA decided it must be replaced by a grass one in time for their showpiece Champs League final next year??

Furthermore, with no fixture last weekend, Russia have trained on it every single day for the last ten days. England got one training session, yesterday with the pitch unwatered.

Lo and behold, today before the KO and at half time the Russkies have had 4 water canons soaking the plastic surface turning it into a completely different animal.

Now I'm not saying that was the only reason for the defeat, but it was plainly obvious that the home side dealt with its characteristics way better than the English players managed to.

At best it's unsportsmanlike, at worst its blatant cheating.

I'm sorry but I don't care. Firstly, I'm sick to the back teeth of hearing about the pitch, and knew it was going to be blamed if we lost. We lost because we were cack, end of. I'd expect us to outplay Russia if we played in quicksand. We didn't. Not only did we lose but we were definitely the poorer team.

[Bing]

JJB Soccerdomes are kitted out with similar type of surfaces. It's like playing on a carpet, much better than even the best grass surface you could imagine. The balls runs consistently, you don't have to worry one jot about bobbles or anything.

At the end of the day it was same old England. An inability to keep the ball and a manager whose idea of seeing a game out involves getting everybody behind the ball, sitting on the edge of the box and hoping we can survive. We didn't pass the ball out of defence into midfield all game - that's how you keep leads in international football, it's all about ball retention.

[Roar of the Rover]

We can say all we want about tonight, if we deserved to lose or not, but the main thing that really let us down was the draw againts Macedonia, not only did we drop 2 points we couldn't bloody score!!!

[Hasta]

Thans Stevie Mac. We're doomed.

If we go out it's because we drew with Macedonia and Israel, not a plastic pitch in Moscow.

Also, if we go out from a moderately easy group then McLaren must go. So that's £10 extra on the FA Cup final tickets this year then to pay him off.

[speeeeeeedie]

I'm seriously p!ssed off right now. 1-0 up and we lose. I think we will beat Croatia, but the Ruskies have to slip up against Israel. Hopefully they'll help us. Scotland are getting beat right now. Some bloke called Mc something scored. I thought they were taking the mick on that one, apparently they are not.

[thenodrog]

When will they bring in video referees, they're behind every other sport in the world. The Russian dived for the penalty, and was outside the box. A momentum changing decision.

There is a possibility that vid refs would have given Rooney's goal offside.

Lets face it as with Larissa the Russki's were more up for it than us, and we defended poorly. How long was the guy whose shot Robinson spilled for the second goal stood waiting for the ball and unmarked? All the nearest player had to do was get in between him and the goal! Not difficult.

There is a daft school of thought that the Billy Big-Times in the Prem are the best players in the world. Well Larissa and Russia have informed us that that is not the case! What it has told us is that the players need to stop thinking that they are all individual superstars and learn how to play as a team! That is the key.

[sussexrover]

To be fair, as TND said, the same video ref who saw Rooney's foul was outside the box would also have spotted he was probably offside for England's goal.

We left ourselves too much to do after the Macedonia and Croatia games.

[Tris]

If we go out it's because we drew with Macedonia and Israel, not a plastic pitch in Moscow.

Certainly don't disagree with that, however it doesn't take away from the fact that "treating" a synthetic pitch before and during a game is up there with ball tampering in cricket to gain an advantage.

[Fife Rover]

Can't remember who, but somebody on here was pontificating about England being a very good well balanced team, and second only to Argentina in the World. I won't tell you what my thoughts were at the time, but we certainly looked to want it far less than Russia today, and got what we deserved by not finishing them off when we had chances to do so. Also Campbell, and Ferdinand I think it was, should have got a foot in quicker and the second goal could have been prevented. Both seemed to hesitate for the vital split second and gave the guy his chance, which to be fair he took well.

[thenodrog]

Campbell and Ferdinand I think it was should have got a foot in quicker and the second goal could have been prevented. Both seemed to hesitate for the vital slit second and gave the guy his chance, which to be fair he took well.

Split second Fife? A damn sight longer than that.

btw this is a first! I saw abromovitch look really happy! He looked like a dog with two d1cks at the end.

btw 2 wtf is he always on screen at some time .... even at Russian matches?

[M-K]

Certainly don't disagree with that, however it doesn't take away from the fact that "treating" a synthetic pitch before and during a game is up there with ball tampering in cricket to gain an advantage.

Home advantage, that's all. A bit like ball boys drying the ball for home throw-ins, or putting sand on the pitch / letting it grow clumpy for long ball tactics / having the grass cut to your specification / watering the surface to suit a passing game / having 60,000 screaming headcases vs 1,500 visitors...

It's nothing like ball tampering. Both teams had to use the same pitch.

[bluebruce]

It's nothing like ball tampering. Both teams had to use the same pitch.

Exactly what I was about to say.