England v Poland

[Steven]

I'll start. 1-0 to Eng

or

0-0, 1-1

Be interesting to see how it turns out tonight. In other news: Sven "I will never quit blah blah I'm too stubborn blah blah I'll only leave on the results blah blah I'll see out my contract till 2008 etc"

Presumably getting into the World Cup is what he means

N.B If I was England manager, the result tonight would most likely be 4-0 to us

 

[Miyazaki]

2-0 poland.

 

[mrtbag]

3-1 England. A solid display without Mr Beckham.

 

[lee789]

In other news: Sven "I will never quit blah blah I'm too stubborn blah blah I'll only leave on the results blah blah I'll see out my contract till 2008 etc"

Would you quit a 3/4 year contract at 4million pounds a year ?

Neither will Sven.

The FA would have to push him, which I don't think they can afford to do.

The FA is to blame for giving him this contract, should have let him go to Chelsea - then the premiership might be a bit more exciting.

 

[lee789]

1-0 to England also. I'm being optimistic but I don't think we're capable of scoring too many at the moment.

 

[The Dude]

2-0 England, Rooney scores both..

 

[SanPedro]

0-0

Another dreary boring match.


Or...

4-0 as England finally find their feet and play their hearts out to show that they can really do it.

Think the former is more likely though...

 

[the_sanguine]

Bring on the U21s!!

 

[HMHB]

I think Poland will beat us as they are in very good form at the moment. They will have 7,000 fans there tonight (probably mostly from this country) and will perform at their best as beating England is what it's all about.
2-1 to Poland is my prediction.
I can't believe how fed up I am of the FA and the England management who are responsible for wasting one of the best squads of players we've ever had

 

[Steven]

If only Chelski got Sven....

SWP would be playing week in week out for bottom half of table City. Crespo would have stayed in Italy, so Wigan get shock opening day draw

Hell, Chelsea probably would have finished 5th

 

[themoid]

i'll be watching the Ireland game, at least they have to go for it and the result matters

 

[Steve N]

3-1 England. A solid display without Mr Beckham.

I reckon about 3-1
The pressure to qualify is off.
The pressure to show how commited they are is on.
This combination "could" give us a good match.

 

[NWhiteley]

i will go for 2-0 to the poles

 

[Bernard Barnett]

I can't believe how fed up I am of the FA and the England management who are responsible for wasting one of the best squads of players we've ever had

Couldn't agree more. I've been watching football for more than 50 years (yes I am that old) and we have never had such talented players as we do today.

 

[Steven]

Ireland, Switzerland, France or Israel

Who do you reckon ppl?

I'm suspicious that France conveniently have Cyprus for last match, whereas its Irl v Swiss and Israel have played all matches

So I'm going France and Swiss

But

Did you know France have NEVER qualified for World finals? Only getting in '98 as hosts, then '02 as holders

 

[FruitBat]

0-0 seems quite believable.

 

[Steven]

Great flicked goal from Owen, from Joe Cole's shot (that wasn't going in)

But the Pole's equaliser was equally impressive

Owen will surely get the all time record?

Eng performance has great energy and pressing lacking before

King has been good - keep him then have either Lampard or Gerrard as other mid, playing more attacking

 

[Greg Hook]

Not bad first half performance. Dodgy defending for the equalizer though, don't you think?

 

[Steven]

Well, got drawn to the left, but not really glaring mistake, but should have stayed alert. Still good performance

Zidane scores, after 200 odd pass move, starting from keeper. Watch out Ingerland!

SWP obviously should start ahead of Becks now. Pace + skill trumps crosses and giving cheap fouls in my book

Bye, 2nd half is on

 

[Kopite4Ever]

basically keep that starting line up with cole in for carra and there is your world cup starting XI, no beckham & no liverpool players and thats my perfect england team

 

[Steven]

Fantastic volley from Lampard

King was fantastic

Think SWP was injured, tired or precaution for 1dt half knock

Don't need Beckham to inspire them - hope he is worried. This England team don't need beckham

 

[Batch]

We Win, Yay!!

 

[Steven]

Robinson
G.Neville - Terry - Campbell/Ferdinand - A.Cole
SWP - King - Lampard/Gerrard - Joe Cole
Rooney - Owen

Either choice = world class

Eng need to play high tempo, pressing game. Pace, skill and creativity of SWP and Cole allows this. With Becks? No chance

Lampard is better than Gerrard as AMC, but if Lampards out, Steven isn't too bad of a replacement

 

[scrapbook]

Robinson
G.Neville - Terry - Campbell/Ferdinand - A.Cole

What, no 3 centre backs??

King and Rooney was the difference today. Rooney picking the ball up from deep and running with it and King soaking up the pressure allowing the midfielders to break forward and join him.

Personally I still think I would go for a midfield of Lampard, Gerrard and Becks in front of King. I think Gerrard is too good to leave on the bench and would play much better knowing his defensive duties were more limited with King behind him.

 

[Steven]

Holland 12 games, 32 points, unbeaten - have they finally got it right since early 90s?