Baines was good going forward but poor defensively, seemed a little nervous and backed off players to easily
But you weren't neutral as you wanted us to lose! This intrigues me, always has. As a (very general rule) most Scots, Welsh and Irish want English teams (club or Country) to lose whoever they are playing. Yet most English want the other teams to do well (unless we are in direct competition). I know this is a generalisation, but I saw a Poll that "proved it to be the case" and that backs up my personal experience. If they hate us as much, why don't they stay in their own country instead of coming over here taking all our jobs?
I thought Baines was excellent going forward and against the lesser opposition he should play but against the better sides I would rather have Ashley Cole as he is by far the better defender. There is no way Gerrard won't go to Brazil. Captain and very consistent. Lampard will probably still go but I suspect will have to make do with being a sub. Milner, like Lampard would go as useful to come on if we are trying to see out a game. Lennon probably won't go now as will have Townsend and Walcott to play on the right. Despite being the best natural finisher I can't see Defoe going especially as he is not a regular for Spurs. Not sure what Carrick gives us and wouldn't be in my squad especially as he's the wrong side of 30. The likes of Wilshire and Barkley should be ahead of him. I would think after the world cup it will be the end for Cole, Lampard, Milner, Carrick. Absolutely delighted we're there
So true: they showed a level of skill, flair and inventiveness that I never dreamed an Ingerlund squad would produce. It was only a 25 minute period mind, so hopefully the FA will nip this in the bud. I do hope so. It may be crass to say it, but I was a little miffed that he scored as I hoped that he would be the next one of the Golden Generation to get his marching orders and then he goes and ruins it all with a, pretty good, goal. I also hope that last night went some way to adding to Frankie Lamps' swansong. Townsend showed, again, what a class act he is as did Sturridge. The better Townsend gets, the more Redknapp is shown to be an oaf, which is jusr wonderful.
Well, yea, I would've liked you to lose but I wasn't really supporting Poland, so I was more of a neutral than most is what I mean. You're talking rubbish about Northern Irish people wanting english clubs to lose? Personally, I dont like United or Liverpool so would like to see them lose, but I would always 'support' Chelsea, City and Arsenal in a European match. Thats pretty much the same for every football fan over here, albeit with different teams they dislike (i.e united fans would want liverpool and city to lose, wouldnt mind chelsea or arsenal though). As for internationals, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, NI and England have always been traditionally rivals. I dislike all the other home nations and would support a team like Brazil/Germany against any of them. And what are you on about taking your jobs? Protestant people from Northern Ireland, if they wanted to leave, usually go to Scotland. Catholics who want to leave usually go down south. No idea what you are talking about us coming to england and taking your jobs?
Whilst I don't think what I've said on this issue is nonsense. they played well and with heart in the last two games. Let's hope they keep it up.
Well, my last England game was the fiasco at home to Croatia with Wally in charge and I vowed that supporting the national team was over for me. But after the last two good, gutsy performances and a manager who seems to know what he's doing i'm seriously considering a return to support the country. Mr Hodgson deserves a hell of a lot of credit for these two wins.:sign15:
No. I had spent thousands of pounds going to a World cup(France 98) and away qualifiers as well as meaningless friendlies and that Croatia game was the last straw. Rising ticket prices and transport costs was also a major factor in ceasing my support so in my eyes that was a good time to stop supporting. Don't get me wrong I still watch virtually every game on tv but that's not supporting is it? If you look at how many fans follow England abroad nowadays you'll see that i'm not in a minority. I think it was 2000 that made the trip to Ukraine, ten years ago it would have been nearer 10000.
My last paragraph was tongue in cheek. I didn't really mean it, although I can assure you that in my relatively small world, I come across many Irish, Scottish and Welsh working here. At least 40% of my workforce are not English. Not that it is any way a big deal as they are treated just like any other foreigners such as Geordies. I always want a British team to win whenever they are playing a non British team.
Me too. Your last paragraph earlier stopped me from replying but other than that I don't understand the other Home International teams willing England to lose when I absolutely am doing the opposite with their games. Never have I understood that.
I had the misfortune of watching an England qualifying game for 1978 in an Edinburgh pub. I was expecting banter of the highest intensity from my fellow drinkers when England failed. But instead I witnessed expressions of initial hatred, then pure joy, tears of happiness and dancing in the streets similar to what I saw in a Manchester pub when Utd beat Bayern Munich in the last minute in 1999.
Always have and always will support England no matter how bad it gets. Was a gutsy performance lastnight in what sounded like an away game, would love to know how those poles got their tickets, utter shambles.
By signing up for a England fan ID and buying a ticket through Ticketmaster. Once the member sale has finished tickets are open to anyone with an ID.
It's short man complex at its finest. We couldn't care less about them, lets be honest, they are nothing more than a minor irritation whenever we play them. In their eyes, we're always the big brother they are desperate to beat.
The big underachieving brother* I think thats why we enjoy you losing so much, you have such great players but never do anything with them. Don't get me wrong, all the home nations are jealous of the squad you have, its only natural. But to see you just about scrape through an easy group makes it a little better for us. Kind of like 'Hey, they're a lot better than us, but still pretty crap'
A very easy group and you went through by one point... Yea, I'd say that wasn't a great qualifying campaign
What group was truly difficult? Only the Dutch, Belgians and Germans truly excelled. Replace them with England and we still would have qualified. The Swiss were luckiest of them all, a **** easy group. Anyway I never said it was great. It wasn't terrible though and we were unbeaten. Another summer of England in a major tournament being rammed down your throat
I'm not too bothered anymore really, just remembered how funny it is to see all the england fans' hopes slightly raise throughout the year in the build up. Always starts of the same, not really expecting much then by the time the WC starts the expectations will have risen. Then you get taught a footballing lesson
Almost 1/4 of the posts on this thread are by you. I'd say you're pretty d*mn bothered. Talking of lessons, tell us again about the Luxembourg game...
I'm a big England fan as I love the passion the English have for football. You guys deserve the World Cup on that alone. When I'm in the UK I always watch the England games at Wembley. The Polish match was great and one of the best I've seen England play. Fantastic going forward and I think Hodgson is doing a very good job. He started slowly but momentum is growing for sure. There are lots of good young players coming through, and dare I say it, from what I've seen I think England could be the dark horses in 2014.
Certainly some good players coming through, especially in midfield , barkley, morrison, chabs, will hughes. Luke shaw looks bloody good too. All have great technique so a new breed to what we have now, but we may struggle for any sort of world class centre backs and strikers from what I can see.
I have admitted every Northern Ireland fan is jealous of your squad? Just like every Scottish and Welsh fan are too. Just like you are all jealous of Spain's squad, only natural to be jealous. Would rather support NI though, yea, we are terrible, but we support the team through thick and thin, unlike you. We also have amazing atmosphere, unlike you. And for those referring to the Luxembourg game, we didnt really expect anything from it tbh.. Under O'Neill our level is down with teams like that, noone can argue. Just like it was before Sanchez came along and transformed us in to a decent team, outplaying you, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, etc... Dont get me wrong, I envy you as you have the opportunity to support your team at the world cup. However, our own pain atm is helped by seeing you fail at major competitions
This really sums up how sad being a Northern Ireland fan must be then. Why do you hate England so much can I ask?
Hate a good lot of the players, and the media's attitude to the team. And usually the fan's views on their own team. Sad to be an NI fan? When we beat Russia we celebrated more than you did when you qualified... When you beat us 4-0 you barely batted an eye-lid... a few months later we beat you 1-0, and went absolutely mental. One yea later we beat Spain 3-2 and went mental again. Tbh I'd be more bored watching my team win against poor teams and lose against good teams. With england you always know whats going to happen, no excitement there. With us, you never know what could happen, we went from outplaying Portugal (until we had 2 men sent off) and Russia, to losing against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan in the space of a month. Then rounded it off with a decent draw away in Israel. Nothing sad about that at all, pretty entertaining tbh
Because qualifying is the minimum expectation for a team when you're GOOD, when you're rather shyte beating Russia is a big big day. To be fair if you find losing regularly but not knowing you might lose fun then fair play, I'd rather watch England win against the Montenegro's and then get to the Quarter's and lose to an Italy or Germany without shame rather than watch my team get beaten by the Luxembourg's in this world to outplay Portugal once every two years and still lose. But hey each to their own.
