[madcyril]

The man is a master tactician-tell me I'm wrong .

[Steven]

By taking off Owen, meaning no one is next to crouch to pick up the knock downs and headers, meant England's attack was castrated. That meant the team became deeper and deeper, allowing the Paraguayan's to push forward, meaning a less than comfortable second half showing

A masterstroke...lulling the Argentine's, Brazilian's and Dutch into a false sense of optimism if they were to come up against Inger-land

[shay0]

Oh how I want to take only positivity from todays game, after all they won. So, why do I feel we haven't seen the outright winners play yet?

[madcyril]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

A masterstroke...lulling the Argentine's, Brazilian's and Dutch into a false sense of optimism if they were to come up against Inger-land

That must be it,I never thought about that.

I do wonder what input McClaren has on these decision's bearing in mind he is taking the hot seat next.

[RMCF]

Thing that baffles me is that if Italy played like England did today you wouldn't hear the end of 'boring Italian defensive football', yet when England do it then its OK.

I thought England were shocking today. I could not believe what I heard on the BBC at half-time. England played alright in the 1st half but not brilliantly, yet Shearer said that Gerrard was 'awesome'. Awesome!! Oh come on.Less of the superlatives. Maradona in 1986 was awesome. In the 1st half Gerrard won a few tackles, completed a few passes and blazed a shot into row Z. How does that constitute 'awesome'. I actually thought Lampard had a better 1st half.

As for Eriksson and his tactics. I just can't understand the man. When Owen came off I thought he was injured. But if you are settling for a 1-0 nil just after half-time versus a team like Paraguay, and prepared just to sit and soak up pressure then you can forget about winning this tournament.

Surely it might have been worth bringing Walcott on later if he is as fast as they say he is. At least it would have put a little bit of pressure on their defence, who weren't troubled much in the 2nd half.

Eriksson, although Swedish, is like an Italian coach in his mentality. And it will cost England again this year.

The only good thing if you are an England fan, is that they can't play that bad again. And plus they are almost guaranteed top place now after Sweden's dismal performance, thus avoiding Germany and probably playing Ecuador in 1st knockout game.

[Steven]

They weren't that complimentary

And excuse the superlatives, as they are supporting England at the beeb. Not sure whether Hansen is though...

As for Sweden, you're not giving any credit to T+T Sweden wasn't exactly "dismal" - Shaka made two great saves....and Sweden carved out many a chance They were just hampered by a T+T defence that fought like it was their final

[RMCF]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

They weren't that complimentary

And excuse the superlatives, as they are supporting England at the beeb. Not sure whether Hansen is though...

As for Sweden, you're not giving any credit to T+T Sweden wasn't exactly "dismal" - Shaka made two great saves....and Sweden carved out many a chance They were just hampered by a T+T defence that fought like it was their final

They were 'extra' complimentary in the 1st half, and did slag Eriksson in the 2nd. I don't even think they were that 'fantastic' in the 1st, as Hansen says in your link. They played ok, but not fantastically. I just think that superlatives are used too easily in the football world these days. Another example would have been the volleyed pass Beckham played from right side of box out to left wing about 10mins from end. They went crazy about it!! To me it was a fairly standard pass, especially for a player on £100k per week who plays for Real Madrid and who is playing in the WC.

As for T&T - they were excellent. In Beenhakker (spelling?) they have a great coach. He has been in some top jobs over the years and shows that if you can organise a team properly then you can make them very hard to beat. Guus Hiddink and South Korea were another example from WC2002.

Anyway, heading off now to cheer on the Argies.

[Crocodile]

I think the plain truth of the matter was exposed by Alastair McGowan & Ronni Ancona. It's Nancy that's the tactical brains behind the operation!

Obviously this is OK behind closed doors in training but as soon as he has to stand up (sorry, I was forgetting that standing up during matches is McClaren's job) & be counted, it's plain for all see that he hasn't a clue. Once the team is on the pitch, the outcome is in the lap of the gods with no meaningful input from the bench or the joke that is the captain.

This is why the team so often loses it's way after a positive start (as evidenced today) or can't get started in the first place. That must be why his job title is National Team Coach - he's certainly no manager.