tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27676150.post116040817521740087..comments2023-09-12T14:49:27.414+01:00Comments on Some People Are On The Pitch: Euro 2008 Round-UpChris Ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14451130702323813966noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27676150.post-1160481684195595452006-10-10T13:01:00.000+01:002006-10-10T13:01:00.000+01:00Downing is poor, and how my club, Spurs, saw fit t...Downing is poor, and how my club, Spurs, saw fit to offer £7 million for him is beyond me.<BR/><BR/>Then again, that was according to the tabloids, so hopefully it wasnt true.<BR/><BR/>As for Etherington, well I'd rather Downing. Or Joe Cole. Or Lennon and Wright-Phillips on each wing.Smarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11808569130484035978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27676150.post-1160476523512665142006-10-10T11:35:00.000+01:002006-10-10T11:35:00.000+01:00I think there's every chance of a Croatia win tomo...I think there's every chance of a Croatia win tomorrow night. 2-0 would be suitably humbling, I think.<BR/><BR/>As for Saturday's game, I thought Crouch did about as well as could be expected, Lampard managed to get in a few more shots than he has in previous matches, and as Kedge said, Rooney's still not quite back to top form yet.<BR/><BR/>Downing to me looked pretty poor and should be replaced by someone else. As a West Ham fan, I know that Etherington's a competent option on the left wing, but whether he'd ever be considered seriously by McLaren or not is anybody's guess.<BR/><BR/>The defence was more than capable of dealing with Macedonia's long range efforts, but the Croatians will be a whole lot better at getting through them, without a shadow of a doubt.<BR/><BR/>Bilic is more or less right in what he says about the England team. He said we have lots of good quality players, but they're not playing together as a team. Actually they're not playing together as a <I>positive, attacking</I> team.<BR/><BR/>If McLaren could sort that out, along with the accuracy of the passing, they could be back to some semblance of a useful outfit again.Chris Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14451130702323813966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27676150.post-1160472517612449732006-10-10T10:28:00.000+01:002006-10-10T10:28:00.000+01:00England dont interest me at the moment.Yes, they a...England dont interest me at the moment.<BR/><BR/>Yes, they are my national team, but I think I have been totally Sven'd out. The primadonnas such as Beckham, Cashley, Rio etc didnt exactly help either. <BR/><BR/>I dont hold out too much hope for us in Croatia. Croatia havent lost in a tournament match at home for 5 years.<BR/><BR/>I predict a 2-0 win for Croatia.<BR/><BR/>I'm more interested in Scotland at the moment!<BR/><BR/><B>Vive la difference!</B>Smarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11808569130484035978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27676150.post-1160412432347736762006-10-09T17:47:00.000+01:002006-10-09T17:47:00.000+01:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Kedgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02634799246495796347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27676150.post-1160412391587691422006-10-09T17:46:00.000+01:002006-10-09T17:46:00.000+01:00First things first. Well done Scotland. Keep it up...First things first. Well done Scotland. Keep it up.<BR/><BR/>I heard on the radio this afternoon that the coach of Croatia, a former West Ham player, said of Englands performance that it demonstrates how you can have a side full of the top players, but unless they can gel together, they ammount to nothing.<BR/><BR/>Watching the match I was really impressed by the way we started. Plenty of width, balls being crossed in from the bye line. We were all over them. Then suddenly the formation changed. Gerrard and Downing, instead of staying wide and running at defenders moved infield more. This meant that Carrick and Lampard were becomming compressed, with no room to turn, no time to pick passes, in fact their targets were often only inches away. This allowed Macedonia to re-group and to stop our fast fluid attacks. Add Rooney into the mix in midfield and once again we were bogged down. Crouch, while not the best holder of the ball, he seems to do better when it lands on his chest rather than at his feet, struggled manfully. Rooney is still not back to what he was pre-injury. Lampard still looks out of touch. The bright note was the back four who seemed to cope with most of what was thrown at them.<BR/><BR/>The thing that suprised me was Maclaren's lack of vision with his substitutions. With Gerrard unavailable for Wednesday, does he go for his most likely formation for the latter stages of the game? No! That would be too sensible. Instead, he retains Gerrard, still in the packed middle, takes Downing off and puts Wright-Philips on as a left winger. Okay, so it nearly paid off, but who is he going to play instead of Gerrard? Choice seems to be either Wright-Philips or Lennon wide on the right with Downing back on the left. If so why not try that out on saturday when he had the perfect chance?<BR/><BR/>Maybe the Croatian coach is right and we need to drop one or two of the "stars" in favour of a more journeyman type of player. Trouble is who?Kedgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02634799246495796347noreply@blogger.com