Heeheeheehee 

It looks like Northern Ireland still have an outside chance of qualifying. I hope they do, they never qualify for anything, ever.

 

Edit: I must have jinxed them. They were winning 1-0, losing 2-1 now.

Its official, 4 of us in block 135

For the semi final? have a good time whatever the result.

 

Hope England win later! don't think Carroll is 100% match fit yet, still he'll probably start..

Indeedy

We just got a right kick in on soccer saturday... all think we will miss out on top four and that its all Mancini's fault that some players are not finding their form. Too negative and don't create much.

 

Its hard to argue with it tbh.

There is still a bit of hard work to do with the team for you guys so you can be more close next season but i'm certain you have enough in the tank to finish 3rd or 4th.

 

Going OT hows your studies going Meaty?

 

 

Going well at the moment, nearly finished for the easter break. Not long left now and will be continuing with HE next year.

Good Luck!. Me too on both counts, just finished my UCAS application (deadline extended LOL and I had a bit of trouble thinking what to do once my course finishes) so hope all goes well with it..

England v sheep-botherers on Sky now. Come on England!

Bellamy will have to think of a better game plan than winding up Rooney! I notice he didn't try that when he played against us mind!

Bellamy's a great player but a complete idiot. He's the Welsh Balotelli. LOL at Wales packing their defence when they're 2 goals down 

Taff numpties still booing the English national anthem. Come on England 5 nil, 5 fekkin nil!

Never worried me. They can boo the anthem, burn our flag, make derogatory remarks about Barbara Windsors tops as much as they like! As long as we hammer them by several goals I'll be fine.

In fact I can't decide who is dafter. The WUMs singing the anthem, or the ones allowing themselves to be offended!

I don't really get all this singing of the anthem during the game if anything it only proves we don't have any songs for our national team. Those tosspots banging drums and blowing trumpets can do one and all. It's a football match not a bloody carnival.

What is actually the Welsh national anthem?

It is annoying ! As a team we seem to have lost any spark. Like you I was hoping for at least 5!

Depending on who you are. The welsh national anthem is either "Land of my fathers!" or "if you tolerate this." by the Manic StreetPreachers.

I don't know what's happened to us in the second half Joe. If Wales score any time soon we're in for a dodgy final 15 minutes.

It's rather dodgy now. IMO

Sorry we're in the last 15 mins! It's making me rather sleepy.

Ah! Lerkal boy on!

Looked good for first 15 mins... then after that didnt create much. Wales were dreadful, couldn't get out their own half and Bellamy looked the only threat.

 

England look much better without Barry, he slows the play down... and its the same at City. Milner didnt offer much when he came on either.

No idea what the booing the national anthems was all about... went both ways. Welsh boo'd the England, then the English boo'd the Welsh.

 

Those bloody laser pens are there again aswell. The 3rd time I seen it now, first happened at Marseille, then at Stamford Bridge in the Chelsea v City game and now on Wales v England.

Gary Neville has it spot on, at international level we cannot play 4-4-2. We look a much better side playing 4-3-3, maybe not as high tempo, fast paced and wide like you see in the Premier League, but that's not a bad thing.

 

Still, no point in getting carried away because Wales are shite.

I'm in block 122 next week.

Wish I'd took charge of getting the tickets though because I don't like the lower tier at Wembley. Prefer the block 501 onwards top tier.

 

Our midfield looked really crowded today with that formation, midfielders tippy tappying the ball to each other from all of 2 yards. It gives the opposition tons of time to get back as well. Lampard, Barry and Milner are all far too slow to play in that formation. We were lucky it was only Wales. I think he'll switch back to 4-4-2 as soon as we play anyone half decent.

We'll get murdered if we do. If we'd played a similar formation to today against Germany in the WC, we wouldn't have got done 4-1 that's for sure.

 

We probably wouldn't have scored either. You can't walk the ball into the net against a team like Germany. 4-3-3 relies heavily on a fast, creative midfield i.e. the exact opposite to the one we have. We would have been okay against Germany if our defence had bloody stayed put instead of marauding all over the pitch like complete idiots.

I don't think it relies on lightning quick midfielders. Wilshere is reasonably rapid tho I'd say. As long as there is pace in the front 3 I think it can work.

 

I thought at the time of the WC that we should have played that system with Rooney the central striker, with quick attacking players either side of him and Gerrard the most advanced of the 3 midfielders, but instead Gerrard ended up stuck on the left of a shitty 442.

Our formation and tactics (assuming we had any) were awful for the world cup. You know you're in trouble when you're losing and the manager brings on Sean Wright-Phillips (one of the worst players ever to wear an England shirt) to save the day.

 

You should watch how Arsenal use a 4-3-3. They're so fast oppo teams just don't know what hit them so they never get congested in midfield. Today we had Milner, Barry and Lampard looking like they had no clue what they were supposed to be doing and just kept passing to each other across the pitch. No urgency, no attacking threat at all. With 4-4-2 it matters less if your midfield is utterly crap.

 

I don't think we'll ever win anything under Capello he really hasn't got a clue. Wilshere looks a great hope for the future though.

They're not the only ones who don't have a clue prom, Barry wasnt playing

Agree in parts, I think 4-4-2 against poor teams is okay as 2 in midfield can cope and you effectively have 4 attackers when going forward, but i totally disagree that it matters less if your midfielders are crap. The reason Manchester United don't play 4-4-2 against better opposition is because their midfielders are so crap that Fergie knows they'll get totally overran if there are only 2 of them in there.

Dzeko managed to score the winner for Bosnia today, he only had to knock it over the line. But he looked a threat the whole game and got good service, totally different player to what we are getting. Its down to Mancini's tactics, he's never gonna get going if we play with very little width and never commit players forward.

 

I just realised that  I keep forgetting Parker played today. He did well too.

The highlight of the day was Joe Hart pissing himself laughing when the welsh fans started booing the national anthem...

 

I still think England's problems against better teams lie more with the players than the formations. Lampard, Gerrard, Milner, Barry, none of them are world class players the problem is who do you replace them with? Parker might be in with a shout at least he plays like he gives a fekk. Wilshere should stay in the team too and Josh McEachran when he's ready (fantastic player and he'll link up well with Wilshere). 

 

The 'old' England team is well past its sell by date.

If only Owen Hargreaves wasn't injured all the time, for England and Manchester United's sake.

Hargreaves is definitely missed, at least he can pass and move at the same time.