Preview Tonight At some point, I can't be bothered to look when, do your own work England play Poland, I guess it is at home, someone was trying to sell £45 ( forty five quid) tickets for it on here. £45 for that crap England with all the old golden generation and some sh it youngsters, face a team we know nothing about but will probably be better than us. There was a thread on reddit earlier about how bad we are at sports in England The blokes by the bar reckon we will win 4-0, they are t ards. I'd bet on a really narrow win because somehow we've got to keep the dead horse of this team alive. Smudger could put something nice up about Poland, all I know is they are slightly less like bar s****s than Russians ;-)
At some point Jack Wilshere will dribble into a wall of Polish players, fall over, kick someone and get booked. At some point England will score a header from a corner. At some point Glenn Johnson will be caught way out of position, inspecting the fancy flashing hoardings or something. At some point Theo Walcott will fail to score a 1 on 1 after the only coherent bit of play the team string together. And of course nothing of any note will occur between the 10th and 80th minutes.
I actually stream all England games from abroad so I don't have to listen to AIDSrian Chiles and Andy Townsend yet still get the crowd noise. Actually hate them so much.
Most on here will have known from the amount I happily enjoy ripping into England performances... I actually went last night, and was a little happier with what I had seen - the first half was pretty average by all accounts - but the second half was far better. I think I was buoyed by the audacity of a Roy Hodgson England team to be playing anything other than 4-4-2... he was actually half-adventurous and opted for a 4-2-3-1, and it worked. (Mind you, if we didn't qualify from this group - it'd be an outrage and testament to just how average we are). As much as I don't really like Sturridge, I can't criticise him at all. Deserves his place in that team. Townsend got MOTM too which was interesting - a great goal, and some good runs - incredibly different player to what we briefly experienced a few seasons ago when he was on loan here. Hopefully more of the same on tuesday, and then plenty of time to improve in the obligatory friendlies before Brazil next summer. (Oh the joy.)
Yes certainly compared to the likes of Johnson and Cleverley Clearly going to QPR helped his game (Redknapp will take the credit) Once we move the ball quicker the play looked better. Same on Tuesday I guess minus Walker.
Zielinski to score hatrick.....Premier League clubs begin bidding war...comes on loan to Watford in January....Media spews with moral outrage.
I didn't watch it, but he did well apparently. I didn't know he was eligible as he's already played for Ireland.
In other international news, Burkina Faso played Algeria in a qualification play-off and Belkalem gave away a penalty late on for handball which the BBC calls "a harsh decision" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24508189
I'm watching Montalbano on BBC4. I'm following some of the Italian; mainly "tutti" "grazi" and " pronto" when he answers the phone - I feel more part of the Pozzo family when doing this.
I also think how they say "imp port tant Tay" sounds more onomatopoeic and important than important sounds in english
It's a little known secret but England can not be knocked out tonight ... 8 from 9 runners up play off and Bulgaria simply can't match our points as all results against sixth placed teams get wiped (they won twice against Malta as we did San Marino) that means currently we have a net 13 and they have a net 7 ..... simples
Really hope you don't make it to the world cup if I'm being honest. A team with that much quality in depth shouldn't have to leave it down to the last match, especially when your rivals for qualification are Ukraine... Will work out beneficial in the long run hopefully if you dont qualify I think too. Also, wouldn't mind watching a world cup where every other word isn't England Even if you dont qualify, atleast you aren't as sh*t as us though!
And I think it's hilarious that you lost to Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. I hope we qualify as it winds up all the nations with a chip on their shoulder about us. :]]
I dont think anyone in NI has any problem with the national team, its just how the British media ruin coverage of World Cups talking about your lot who have no chance at all winning it I found it quite funny myself really, especially as we beat Russia and completely outplayed them (reminded me of another famous 1-0 win at Windsor against your lot in 2006 ) If anything, those loses could be a blessing as hopefully O'Neill gets sacked
Watford have more chance of winning the FA cup this year than England have of winning the World Cup. You might imagine, with a bit of luck, and playing to potential that we might conceivably give the cup a go; I admit it isn't likely. England, at best, would make the quarter finals of the WC
If ever there was an example of players being motivated for certain games only yours would be it. Draw against Portugal and beating Russia but losing away to the Luxemburg side. As for us - well I doubt anyone with a realistic mind will expect us to do much at all. Its all media hype and those fair weather England fans jump on it.
I think the problem is that our manager cant motivate us at all, the reason we were so good under Sanchez is because he got the best out of average players At home the fans can motivate the team (easily some of the best fans in Europe) and against quality teams the players have that little bit more desire aswell
Going well so far - hopefully keep it up. Only worry is Poland on the break. Sounds like an away game BTW...
Congratulations to England. Very happy they qualified. Quality performance tonight. Things looking up. Spain v England final? Bring it on.
I suspect that performance and result has shut up a lot of the people who constantly slag off their own national side and trot out the same old nonsense about the players/coaching staff not caring. You could see how much that meant to them all tonight and I for one am delighted that we'll be at the World Cup next summer even if it is just the quarter finals again.
First half was the best performance i've seen England play for a long long time. Won't make it past the quarters of the WC though.
Absolutely. Got to be in it to win it. Keep the hate it seems to be the best motivator England have had. I was there amongst the couple of thousand poles in the English end. If they think a good atmosphere is just to whistle and boo when England are on the ball then I think we need to scrap the band and hire them for Brazil.
Great stuff tonight, though a ridiculous amount of Polish fans in our end even after they were given all those extra ones. We've all been away fans in opposite ends but don't stand up and sing about it! Stewards as usual couldn't really care less Apart from that nights like tonight make it all worthwhile! For large parts of match was end to end stuff, Poland really came out and had a proper go. Townsend MOTM for me, always running.
From an unbiased point of view: Townsend and Rooney were your best players by a long way Welbeck was shocking (great workrate though as he tracked back a lot), Smalling wasnt great either Your defence looked terrified of Poland's attacks, every attack they had was done with a lot of pace and your defence backed of them, wouldve been punished by a better team. Think you were also lucky that Lewandowski had a bad game Was surprised by Poland, they were crap. Great at counters but that was it. Defence was always a shambles but some great last ditch tackles/blocks On the basis of your qualifying campaign its clear that you are a long way of the top which is where you should be aiming really (you did get an easy group tbf) Atleast most of your fans aren't as deluded anymore. P.S before anyone says it, yes, I know NI are terrible
Got back about half an hour ago. Personally thought Baines and in particular Townsend were fantastic tonight. I have been guilty of criticising England a fair amount in recent years, but for the 25 minute period from 20-45mins tonight, I thought we were absolutely incredible, and playing some quick, forward-thinking football that I don't think I can recall England playing in recent years. Was great to watch, and thoroughly deserved. Having been to the last two games, the improvement has been remarkable, and it has coincided with the inclusion of a lot of fresh faces. I'll quite look forward to Brazil now if we get to the end of the season with most of that squad still intact. Unfortunately I do think Gerrard had a relatively poor game, despite his goal through showing good persistence. I don't think there'll be any room for sentimentality next summer. I'd say his place is probably there for the taking.
