I thought it was dreadful to watch ... again
but we won
it's always said the mark of champions is the ability to win when you are playing poorly and we have so far. I think England are playing so poorly because nobody is really attacking against them though, they are doing what is needed and no more.
I think Lampard is missing waaaaaaaay to many chances and having him in the team means that Gerrard is not allowed to get forward so much.
I'm of the opinion that in a 4 man midfield, you can't effectively play Lampard & Gerrard together, they are too similar and the best players do not make the best TEAM. We should just pick one and play him with a holding midfieder along side like they both have at their clubs it was the same with Gazza, he needed Ince along side
to allow a talented attacking midfielder to go forward, you need a spoiler to cover for him and I'm not convinced either Lampard or Gerrard are suitable to do it as they both want to bomb forward.
On the basis of current form I'd drop Lampard for the Sweden game and play Carrick holding along side Gerrard. I'd also start with Owen despite him being poor so far, he usually takes 5 or 6 games to get sharp, so he needs as much time on the pitch as possible, I'd be tempted to start with Rooney for the same reason. I don't think Sven will do it, but I'd drop Beckham and play Lennon from the start, against Sweden to give him more experience. Unless he goes for the 4 - 5 - 1 formation, when Lampard & Gerrard could both get forward (but not with Carragher in the holding role), but which loan striker would he use? Rooney could do it if he's fit :yes:
The thing is we don't need to win the game, so we can give players a run out
Sweden can't afford to lose the game because if Paraguay win against T&T they could be knocked out, so I think they'll be happy with another 0:0 which would see them through, if they decide they need to win, they will leave themselves open and we could batter them.
Whilst Rooney didn't particulary do anything, his prescence alone scares opposition defenders and it raises the spirits of his own team mates, you could see they rest of the team were lifted by his prescence.
Crouch is playing poorly, but I think Walcott is still injured, so we don't have a choice at the moment.
I'm not sure whether I'd prefer Germany or Equador in the next round though, Equador are playing better football and Germany look as poor as we have, but that worries me, when they need to step it up they could do and they have home advantage AND they will want to ram the 5:1 back down our throats
but perhaps better to meet them early on before they really get going
Arfie