Roiling football blather
- Thread starter crackerjack
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crackerjack
Well-known member
Anyone know somewhere in Shoreditch where I can watch England and my Welsh mate can watch Welshland and we can talk to each other at the same time, without using mobiles, tomorrow night?
IdleRich
IdleRich
Maybe the Bird Cage on Columbia Road - just about counts as Shoreditch I think, certainly in walking distance. Like I said they have got two screens (one big one small) on which they showed two different European games last time I was there.
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/74/7491/Birdcage/Bethnal_Green
Can't guarantee that both games will be on, might be worth giving them a ring first - although it's not on that site the number should be available somewhere I would imagine.
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/74/7491/Birdcage/Bethnal_Green
Can't guarantee that both games will be on, might be worth giving them a ring first - although it's not on that site the number should be available somewhere I would imagine.
IdleRich
IdleRich
England Revival?
Played four, won four including tricky to negotiate away ties in Croatia and Belarus - and all by at least two goals with some nice ones amongst them. So has Capello revitalised England? I'm not totally convinced yet but it's definitely an improvement over the last regime, good to see Rooney banging in a few at least. One thing that's notably different about England under Capello, compared to under Eriksson (let's draw a veil over the McClaren era), is that the team seem to get stronger under Capello whereas with the Swede they always seem to go ahead and then lose the second half. For me, the England side and squad virtually picks itself in terms of personnel - give or take a few minor decisions that need to be made - so where the manager earns his money is in the formation he gets them to play and the changes that he makes during the game. Capello seems to be a manager who can make changes that visibly affect the game (for the better) and that's surprisingly rare I think. Of course it could be that in playing teams such as Khazakstan or Andorra it's simply a matter of superior fitness meaning that the minnows have to bust a gut to match England for pace in the first half and hit the wall at about seventy minutes but that's surely not the case with Croatia, or Belarus for that matter who, even without Hleb, looked kind of like a team full of Hlebs, comfortable on the ball, slick with their passing but slightly lightweight and lacking in end product (er, except for the brilliant goal they scored obviously).
Played four, won four including tricky to negotiate away ties in Croatia and Belarus - and all by at least two goals with some nice ones amongst them. So has Capello revitalised England? I'm not totally convinced yet but it's definitely an improvement over the last regime, good to see Rooney banging in a few at least. One thing that's notably different about England under Capello, compared to under Eriksson (let's draw a veil over the McClaren era), is that the team seem to get stronger under Capello whereas with the Swede they always seem to go ahead and then lose the second half. For me, the England side and squad virtually picks itself in terms of personnel - give or take a few minor decisions that need to be made - so where the manager earns his money is in the formation he gets them to play and the changes that he makes during the game. Capello seems to be a manager who can make changes that visibly affect the game (for the better) and that's surprisingly rare I think. Of course it could be that in playing teams such as Khazakstan or Andorra it's simply a matter of superior fitness meaning that the minnows have to bust a gut to match England for pace in the first half and hit the wall at about seventy minutes but that's surely not the case with Croatia, or Belarus for that matter who, even without Hleb, looked kind of like a team full of Hlebs, comfortable on the ball, slick with their passing but slightly lightweight and lacking in end product (er, except for the brilliant goal they scored obviously).
crackerjack
Well-known member
Another impressive win and a much better performance than Saturday, despite the runaround belarus gave the defence in the 1st half - England are still vulnerable to slick passing teams (but then, i guess everyone is if it's done well).
Still, Capello had the good sense to recognise, with half his 1st team defence missing, this side is set up to attack. If anything, they grew more adventurous when they had 2-1 lead to defend. Gerrard and Lampard both had good games (I missed most of Lampard's good stuff in the pub, but watching highlights again when i got home, he played well alongisde Barry as a slightly-less-defensive midfielder). I still think this is a problems that needs sorting before we next play a really good team, but it's probably off the agenda for now, at least until they next have a bad game, or perhaps just when Joe Cole is back.
And Rooney looks like he's in the world's top 10 again, which is nice.
Still, Capello had the good sense to recognise, with half his 1st team defence missing, this side is set up to attack. If anything, they grew more adventurous when they had 2-1 lead to defend. Gerrard and Lampard both had good games (I missed most of Lampard's good stuff in the pub, but watching highlights again when i got home, he played well alongisde Barry as a slightly-less-defensive midfielder). I still think this is a problems that needs sorting before we next play a really good team, but it's probably off the agenda for now, at least until they next have a bad game, or perhaps just when Joe Cole is back.
And Rooney looks like he's in the world's top 10 again, which is nice.
hucks
Your Message Here
It was a really good game, esp first half, when Belarus were moving the ball about nicely. They fell off second half when England took control, but it was still very watchable for a qualifying match.
Signs are good, esp when Rooney, Gerrard and Heskey can combine like they did. Thought Walcott could do with working on hs defending a bit...
regarding the team picking itself - what do you do when Joe Cole is fit again? And Owen Hargreaves?
PS The pub I was in near Spitalfields was showing England and Wales, for whomever was asking yesterday. Granted this info is a litlle on the late side.
Signs are good, esp when Rooney, Gerrard and Heskey can combine like they did. Thought Walcott could do with working on hs defending a bit...
regarding the team picking itself - what do you do when Joe Cole is fit again? And Owen Hargreaves?
PS The pub I was in near Spitalfields was showing England and Wales, for whomever was asking yesterday. Granted this info is a litlle on the late side.
crackerjack
Well-known member
He spent most of the mnatch following text reports on his iPhone - should've saved himself the pain.
IdleRich
IdleRich
OK, I don't totally think the team completely picks itself but there are only a few decisions that need to be made and in each case none of them are wrong as such. Personally I think Cole should be back in because over the last few years he has consistenly been England's best player. I was just trying to say that probably if you asked most England supporters to pick the team they could come up with an eleven that looked good on paper so the manager has to do something more than that ie read the game as it's happening and work out what needs to be done to swing it in our favour. Something your average armchair tactician would probably find a lot harder to do - I know I would.
crackerjack
Well-known member
In lieu of anything else to talk about, this is today's footy viral
hucks
Your Message Here
Fenerbahce 2-5 Arsenal
That'll be Arsenal's annual incredible Champions League performance, then. Scroll back far enough in this thread and you get the last one. I think there's another kicking around on a different thread somewhere in the misc section, too. Counts for nothing when you go out in the quarters, tho.
That'll be Arsenal's annual incredible Champions League performance, then. Scroll back far enough in this thread and you get the last one. I think there's another kicking around on a different thread somewhere in the misc section, too. Counts for nothing when you go out in the quarters, tho.
nomos
Administrator
Arsenal 4-0 Porto three weeks ago?
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hucks
Your Message Here
Yeah, that too, obviously...
Quite a crazy game, both defences were utterly terrible. Good fun to watch, in other words.
I was very disappointed with them, although their fans were fantastic (and thankfully well behaved as I was sat only a few seats away from them!).
I expected them to be right in our faces, very competitive and hardworking, but they didn't even manage that for more than 20 mins or so when they had the odd dangerous attack.
Berbatov is starting to settle in now, he has a languid brilliance that is brilliant to watch, and he's also turning into a useful predator for us, which we've not had since Ruud.
Now for Ronaldo to start finding some form, with players like Carrick to come back, I'm starting to feel very optimistic about our season. It's good to see younger players like Jonny Evans and Rafael coming through also (with Fabio, Possebon and Welbeck also waiting in the wings). It's an exciting time to be a Utd fan, we've never had such depth.
vimothy
yurp
Rooney was on-side, though.
The poachers goals are a bonus, but the way he leads the line and links play has been integral to our improvement in form the last few weeks. In every game he has played for us he has either scored or set up a goal.
He may not go hurtling round the pitch like Rooney or Tevez, but he finds space with ease, can hold it up, beat players and has terrific vision and weight of pass and has one of the best first touches I've ever seen.
£30m is of course too much, but he is one of the top 5 strikers in the Premiership along with Drogba, Torres, Adebayor and Rooney and you always have to pay over the odds for a player from an English side.