England v Croatia and other Internationals 9 September 2009

[red g]

Took a ludicrous dive in the penalty area and was, quite rightly, booked.

I've seen him do it with Holland before, but not so much when he's playing for us. Not the brightest move, particularly given the current media ****storm with Eduardo and Rooney.

cheers for that was wondering the same thing!

[Ben_Itez]

Broadly I agree that he is far from as bad defensively as some make out. However he has had a consistent weakness against a player who runs at him and changes direction. He just needs to concentrate on the ball not the player and try to get his body positioned to make a block or make a firm decision about where he wants to show the player rather than being reactive. The thing is that it has consistently been a problem for a while now (going back to his Chelsea days at least) and he hasn't learned which is a worry. He is still young enough to iron it out and defenders do tend to mature older.

I'd pretty much agree with that. It's almost as if he's so scared of committing himself to the tackle and diving in that he gives the attacker a little bit too much room to manouevre in. If he got a little tighter that might be the answer as he's unlikely to get burned for pace. Be interesting to see how his defensive game progresses as the season unfolds.

[Pippo]

The thing that really f*cks me off about any England commentary, is the lack of criticism for any of the London based players.

Both the goals we have conceded were pretty much identical, Johnson failed to cut out the cross and got rightfully criticised, but after the cross has been delivered what were Terry and Upson doing? Eduardo just ghosted off Terry like he wasn't there.

Same with the Johnson Header, Tyldsley was condemning him for getting the 'Wrong' side of Eduardo, and being rash in the challenge, and nearly conceding a penalty. Surely Eduardo was 'Captain' Terry's man, and once again he'd drifted off him - Johnson just covered his arse.

[Marky]

**** England.

[red g]

**** England.

Racist

[BobTheCharmer]

You're a ****ing dick who couldnt recognise sarcasm if it shat on his head.

I've based my whole life on sarcasm.

[cream]

The thing that really f*cks me off about any England commentary, is the lack of criticism for any of the London based players.

Both the goals we have conceded were pretty much identical, Johnson failed to cut out the cross and got rightfully criticised, but after the cross has been delivered what were Terry and Upson doing? Eduardo just ghosted off Terry like he wasn't there.

Same with the Johnson Header, Tyldsley was condemning him for getting the 'Wrong' side of Eduardo, and being rash in the challenge, and nearly conceding a penalty. Surely Eduardo was 'Captain' Terry's man, and once again he'd drifted off him - Johnson just covered his arse.

Agreed, If Terry had made that challenge on Eduardo he would've been lauded as some kind of hero.

Croatia had 3 attempts to get that ball into the back of the net, where the **** was the defence?
The goalie should've held on to the ball when Eduardo headed it towards him at 3 miles per hour, but no, its all Johnsons fault.

[SK]

Agreed, If Terry had made that challenge on Eduardo he would've been lauded as some kind of hero.

Croatia had 3 attempts to get that ball into the back of the net, where the **** was the defence?
The goalie should've held on to the ball when Eduardo headed it towards him at 3 miles per hour, but no, its all Johnsons fault.

am i mistaken in thinking there was an offside leading up to dudu's goal? so the defense was actually positioned well wasn't it?