ENGLAND 1 FRANCE 2

Infamous · Post by **Infamous** » 14/06/2004 - 0:34

NEED I SAY ANYTHING F'ING MORE?

Rafael Dyll · Post by **Rafael Dyll** » 14/06/2004 - 8:45

It was one of the best games for a long time honestly. Sorry for England, the spirit and attitude of the english side was remarkable and really, I thought that France looked a bit frustrated - right until the end. It's a little sad that the game was then put on its head by one man, a free kick and a penalty. On the other hand, it's not a shame to lose against France. Cheer up, you can always still wipe the floor with Croatia and Switzerland!

I just hope that our side can make as good a game against the Netherlands tomorrow...

merman · Post by **merman** » 14/06/2004 - 8:52

The phrase "gutted" springs to mind. That's what I'd like to do to Emile Heskey and David James. With a blunt spoon. Slowly.

Chappers · Post by **Chappers** » 14/06/2004 - 9:27

merman wrote:The phrase "gutted" springs to mind. That's what I'd like to do to Emile Heskey and David James. With a blunt spoon. Slowly.

It's Heskey, Gerrard & Beckham that are the main culprits.

Heskey's idiotic clumsy challenge for the free-kick, Gerrard trying to be clever instead of hoofing it into row Z and Beckham for being predictable when taking penalties. David James was put right in it by Gerrard but it could be argued that James should have stayed standing and tried to block a shot. James could have chosen better but shouldn't have had to make that choice anyway if Gerrard had just cleared it into the stands.

Beckham should have considered that Barthez (and the rest of the French team) would have looked at videos of Beckham taking penalties and seen he favours kicking to the goalie's right. Beckham was looking for a curling net-buster where a side foot into the opposite corner might just have worked.

Thankfully, all this is happening in the first game rather than a semi-final. England now have to remember how they threw this game away, learn from it and use it to fire them up against Switzerland and Croatia.

Paul

Waz · Post by **Waz** » 14/06/2004 - 9:37

Gutted would be an understatement, but to be honest I'm also proud at the way some of the team performed, not least Ledley King and Roonaldo, who both excelled themselves. There was a lot of doubt about Ledley beforehand, but he put in a commanding performance alongside Sol Campbell, and the two worked well together. I lost count of the number of times they cleared the danger in the second half.

Unfortunately though, Eriksson made a two main tactical blunders as I saw it:

1 - Taking off Wayne Rooney and replacing him with Emile Heskey. What a bobbins move. Not only did he get rid of our best chance of scoring (understatement) but also the drive and fire that he carried for us. And as Heskey gave away the free kick that Zidane scored. Why the hell does Heskey still play for England

2 - Beckham's missed penalty. Knowing that Beckham hasn't been in the right frame of mind for some time (his form at Real Madrid has gone downhill the last few months) maybe it should have been for Eriksson to say "let someone else take the penalty". I'm sure there'd have been a few who'd have shown no fear and taken it. The pundits said "well, it was a well taken penalty". No it wasn't. A well taken penalty is one that is SCORED, you ITV dimwits, and low and hard. It was just the right height for Barthez to save it. Give credit to Beckham though, he has at least admitted it's his fault we lost the game by not scoring the pen and knows he has to carry that responsibility.

Having said all that, we should beat Switzerland and Croatia if we play with the same amount of determination - my only worry might be a lack of goals if Roonaldo is getting the service he needs. I kept thinking "imagine if Shaunie Wright would have been on the wing, scaring the French defence, feeding Rooney and Owen..." (I know I'm biased, but you can see what I mean....)

One last thing: would someone remind Eriksson what "Row Z" actually means? The England players seemed incapable of that near the end...

Waz · Post by **Waz** » 14/06/2004 - 9:41

Rafael Dyll wrote:I just hope that our side can make as good a game against the Netherlands tomorrow... :roll:

Provided no one gets sent off, Rafael. You know how volatile those games are at the best of times!

Seriously, that game is a close one to call. I have a feeling it depends on the service to van Nistelcheat for them, and for yourselves, how resolute the defence is and if Michael Ballack turns up or not..

hoomish · Post by **hoomish** » 14/06/2004 - 10:26

I'm with Waz and Paul on this one - England played well and I think it bodes well for the rest of the tournament. I agree, James could have made a better call, but if you're looking at individuals, Beckham is no pen taker (witness his straight-down-the-middle against Argentina), Gerrard had a brain fade and Heskey, although he tries, is no more an international player than Michael Ricketts. Also, is it against the rules to sub Beckham? He had a shocking 2nd half and YES YES YES, we're crying out for someone like SWP. How he gets left behind and We take people like Phil Neville is beyond me...

Post by **LMan** » 14/06/2004 - 11:09

Football is boring!

(runs for cover...)

merman · Post by **merman** » 14/06/2004 - 11:11

A little unfair to blame Beckham for Barthez's good save... but wasn't it a laugh to see the French git get hit in the face by that shot from Vassell?

Oh, and Gerrard's backpass - sympomatic of the side. Much better at holding possession than in the past, but they've lost the "English" side of the game in the process...

Chappers · Post by **Chappers** » 14/06/2004 - 12:54

hoomish wrote:I'm with Waz and Paul on this one - England played well and I think it bodes well for the rest of the tournament. I agree, James could have made a better call, but if you're looking at individuals, Beckham is no pen taker (witness his straight-down-the-middle against Argentina), Gerrard had a brain fade and Heskey, although he tries, is no more an international player than Michael Ricketts. Also, is it against the rules to sub Beckham? He had a shocking 2nd half and YES YES YES, we're crying out for someone like SWP. How he gets left behind and We take people like Phil Neville is beyond me...

On the subject of Phil Neville, can anyone explain what he brings to an England team? For a while, Gary Neville was another one I couldn't explain why he was there but he seems more involved in good passing & crosses in the last few internationals so I guess he is justifying his place now.

The inclusion of Emile Heskey is a source of bemused rage for me as the only reason I can see that's he in the squad is for his height and that he's quite stocky too. What a shame it is when he goes down like a house of cards when any vaguely competitive challenge is made on him!

merman wrote:A little unfair to blame Beckham for Barthez's good save...

Being an ex-club mate of Beckham, Barthez would know how Beckham favours taking his penalties. In fact, Barthez has gone on record saying that Beckham used to practise against him in training so, with that in mind, Beckham would have needed to do something different to have the edge on the goalie on this occasion. The element of surprise was lost unless Beckham tried something new, he didn't, Barthez saved it, France get the chance to come back...

Despite the defeat, Ledley King's appearance was fantastic with him looking very solid in the defence. Everyone played well until a few notables undid the hard work at the end. Same effort & performance in the next two games (right to the end) will see us through with ease. Both Gerrard and Beckham will have a point to prove in the next game so I think it will be good to watch.

Paul

Post by **tas** » 14/06/2004 - 14:21

I was in the walkabout pub for the match, and i can honestly say i've never heard a pub suddenly fall so quiet. Totally gutted!!!!!!

Don't feel any better today either, sempt to really have taken the wind out of my sails.

Lets hope the lads can bounce back with switzerland and croatia.

No ones to blame tho, it's just how football works out sometimes.

Infamous · Post by **Infamous** » 14/06/2004 - 15:04

it to me just goes to show the lack of confidence this team has.
to give away so many stupid things is just unaceptable.. heskey and gerrard play with each other day in and day out as does owen and so forth so you should expect some kind of rapor between them all.

beckham came there armed with enough info about his fellow team mates.. .what he was commanding on the pitch was working, what sven had said on the changing rooms was working... hell i bet even the heskey idea was a good one when it was concieved... even taking rooney off...

just didnt play out as planned.. and once again our lack of any real confidence in ourselves got us put in the crap again... now if we qualify its likely we'll be seeing a holland or a germany instead of a romania or a greece... not good.

we'll get out of the group stages... dont expect us to go any further cos i seriously dont.

Post by **tas** » 14/06/2004 - 15:08

What are you talking about???

For 90 mins we played extremely well, france never troubled James until those two incidents!!!

We made two mistakes in the entire games, unfortunately we was penalised for them.

We played well, and deserved to win the game infy, or did you watch the croatia game by accident

And judging what i saw, i'd rather play holland or germany than greece, they was DAMN impressive against portugal!

DHS · Post by **DHS** » 14/06/2004 - 15:37

LMan / Remix64 wrote:Football is boring!

Football is for gay people

Infamous · Post by **Infamous** » 14/06/2004 - 16:11

no your getting mixed up with la cross and syncronised swimming again dhs m8 lol... football is for men that want to do very little work and get paid too much bloody money for it.

ENGLAND 1 FRANCE 2

Are england a bucket of donkey plop at football?

ENGLAND 1 FRANCE 2