Israel v England
aka Steve McClaren: The Man Who Makes Scotland Look Good
You do have to wonder don't you? After England's miserable match against Spain, I swore I wouldn't watch another England friendly for a year. After last night's performance I'm thinking of extending that to their competitive games too.
Admittedly, Israel did sit behind the ball pretty much throughout the 90 minutes, a tactic that would've stifled the most creative team. And there seemed to be a few positives too. Hargreaves played a solid game, albeit with a few bad passes and Carragher seemed happier filling in out of position for the first time.
For my thoughts on the Lampard and Gerrard situation, you can read the post on the Spain friendly. Same players, same performances, same action required...
Even though I'm probably biased as a Spurs fan, I still can't see the point of playing Andy Johnson up front over Jermaine Defoe. If the Spurs man had started, you'd firstly have the benefit of having Lennon and Defoe, two offensive players from the same club playing together. Secondly, Defoe, a player who has gained a little European experience this season, is the closest England have to Owen, who's always brought out the best of a striking partnership with Rooney.
The latter seems particularly lost at the moment; as a friend of mine pointed out, he seems to be forced to get into the box at every opportunity, whereas he's also at his most dangerous when he's allowed to mix up his game, i.e. having the odd pop from outside the box (like that one against Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Scotland go top of their group. Ok, so it was a disjointed show against Georgia and they are yet to play Italy, but at least they showed passion and, as Alan Hansen pointed out, the midfielders showed the awareness to get in the box to support the forwards.
Roll on a 6-0 spanking of Andorra...because England really need it.
You do have to wonder don't you? After England's miserable match against Spain, I swore I wouldn't watch another England friendly for a year. After last night's performance I'm thinking of extending that to their competitive games too.
Admittedly, Israel did sit behind the ball pretty much throughout the 90 minutes, a tactic that would've stifled the most creative team. And there seemed to be a few positives too. Hargreaves played a solid game, albeit with a few bad passes and Carragher seemed happier filling in out of position for the first time.
For my thoughts on the Lampard and Gerrard situation, you can read the post on the Spain friendly. Same players, same performances, same action required...
Even though I'm probably biased as a Spurs fan, I still can't see the point of playing Andy Johnson up front over Jermaine Defoe. If the Spurs man had started, you'd firstly have the benefit of having Lennon and Defoe, two offensive players from the same club playing together. Secondly, Defoe, a player who has gained a little European experience this season, is the closest England have to Owen, who's always brought out the best of a striking partnership with Rooney.
The latter seems particularly lost at the moment; as a friend of mine pointed out, he seems to be forced to get into the box at every opportunity, whereas he's also at his most dangerous when he's allowed to mix up his game, i.e. having the odd pop from outside the box (like that one against Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Scotland go top of their group. Ok, so it was a disjointed show against Georgia and they are yet to play Italy, but at least they showed passion and, as Alan Hansen pointed out, the midfielders showed the awareness to get in the box to support the forwards.
Roll on a 6-0 spanking of Andorra...because England really need it.
Labels: "national team", England, Israel, Scotland
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