BoxRec

We know there is always someone in the team that makes a big easy mistake and costs the other team to win, What main player do you think will cost us the match against switzland. probably making us go out.

I thought it was for the whole tourny so I went for james.

Should beat the swiss tonight and the croats too.... i think james will balls up in the later rounds when it'll really matter.

It won't be Heskey because he won't ever play for england again after his shocking

Emile gets his kit on, runs on the pitch, and proceeds to kick makelele right in the chest from behind, in one of the most clumsy attempts at a tackle I've ever seen, concedes a free kick and costs us the lead.

Only 30 seconds later, receives the ball in midfield, tackles himself and gives the ball away, leading to the Gerard backhell and another condeded goal.

Emile Heskey is a fornicating Donkey, I don't ever want to see him in an England shirt again, and I don't want to hear any more bollocks about how much he contributes to the side. He's a fornicating striker, he's there to score goals, and that is something he's only actually done once for England as far as I recall, take the pudendum out and shoot him.

Don't hold back, James.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:It won't be Heskey because he won't ever play for england again after his shocking

Emile gets his kit on, runs on the pitch, and proceeds to kick makelele right in the chest from behind, in one of the most clumsy attempts at a tackle I've ever seen, concedes a free kick and costs us the lead.

Only 30 seconds later, receives the ball in midfield, tackles himself and gives the ball away, leading to the Gerard backhell and another condeded goal.

Emile Heskey is a fornicating Donkey, I don't ever want to see him in an England shirt again, and I don't want to hear any more bollocks about how much he contributes to the side. He's a fornicating striker, he's there to score goals, and that is something he's only actually done once for England as far as I recall, take the pudendum out and shoot him.

Couldn't have said it better myself. fornicating Arse.

No Gary Neville on this list?

I'd pick him as a potential match loser.

Michael who?

We'll never win fornicate all with our defensive attitiude..On paper we have a bloody good team but we have absolutely no confidence in our own abilities, and yes Heskey is shit but if you want to play a target man who else is there? Beattie hasn't gone

you only need a target man if your going to play the percentage ball.
we are doing okay, tonights performance wasnt great but we do have cutting edge upfront unlike a lot of teams in the compo who can string a few passes together but dont look like they`d score if they played till christmas.
the teams who win these tournaments dont tend to set the world alight early on
our first team havent played that much together either mainly because of the club managers putting the arm on erickson to only play their stars for one half in friendlies. near the end of the game there were signs that the teams starting to gel, but even if we dont turn into a freeflowing side we have excellent defenders and real edge upfront.
we`ll give anyone a run for their money.

Owen is a dead man walking at the moment. Vassell hasn't an ounce of Owen's natural talent, but he is playing with confidence, and he wants the ball.

If Sven had any guts he'd drop Mikey boy, but he's too concerned about the potential tabloid backlash.

Other than Rooney, nobody seems to be in particularly good form, and even then, the assassin-faced baby seems locked on for a red card at some point.

I fear Croatia will be like Romania in 2000. We have never been able to play for draws. Or hold a slender one-goal lead.

England screwed up by not bringing along James Beattie.

Beattie scored tons more goals than Heskey last season, and that was with the (average quality) Saints midfield behind him, not all the Liverpool "stars".

Beattie really is a top player.... A superb target man for the direct ball.

Beattie & Rooney up front for England = ideal.

Michael Owen is too small and weak. He's had it at international level...

THIS IS A BOXING WEBSITE

knockout artist wrote:THIS IS A BOXING WEBSITE

Ahhh true, but the odd thread doesn't hurt.

It's more interesting than talking about Ricky Hatton...

Loftgroov wrote:England screwed up by not bringing along James Beattie.

Beattie scored tons more goals than Heskey last season, and that was with the (average quality) Saints midfield behind him, not all the Liverpool "stars".

Beattie really is a top player.... A superb target man for the direct ball.

Beattie & Rooney up front for England = ideal.

Michael Owen is too small and weak. He's had it at international level...

Where are you from again?

I have to say Owen is looking less and less impressive, goes to ground too often, doesn't run past players any more, and doesn't work hard enough, he did make a very good pass to set Rooney up last night, but that isn't really his job, he's meant to terrify the defence and score goals which he doesn't do any more.

I'll have to disagree with some of the Owen comments.

He is in no way finished at international level. He's having problems, (I'm Liverpool through and through, but even i've got to concede that), but the reasons for his loss of form, IMO, are not permanant.

The first is the fact that he's struggling to play alongside Rooney. For the majority of his football life he's played alongside strikers that are vastly different in terms of what they bring to the team, the runs they make and the way they play. When he was at his best for England it was Shearer, and for the main part of his Liverpool career it's been Heskey. Rooney makes the runs Owen was making before the fat lad came along, it's forced Owen to play as more of a target man, which is something that he can't do.

Secondly the way Liverpool have been playing, both style and form, has had a huge effect on his confidence. He has not looked happy with the way things have been going for a long while now. Just watching him play towards the end of the season was awful, his head was down from an early stage in the game, when he got the occasional chance that our inept team created for him he looked like he didn't believe he'd put it away, and even when he did score there was no sign of the boyish grin we used to see. Hopefully things will begin to turn around at Liverpool and it'll will benifit England if they do. Although it's a bit too late to help us in this tournament. :(

Lastly, England have got to stop throwing the long ball up to him. What good is a fifty yard pass to Owen's head, he's not going to do anything with that type of ball. Sven should watch the way Liverpool have played this season and learn the lessons. Nice little passing movements on or around the halfway line followed by a long ball by one of the fullbacks didn't work for us and it's not going to work for England either.

Too small and weak? There are plenty of players now and throughout history that have been smaller than Owen and done fine. Defoe (who i'd have had in the squad) is smaller. Romario was smaller. There is still a place for little strikers.

I've got to agree with Loftgroove on one point, if you have to take a target man it's difficult to make a case for picking Heskey over Beattie. I'd have taken Alan Smith in place of Heskey to fill that role, but Beattie probably deserves to be there more than either.

Forgot to mention, i went for James in the poll. He doesn't fill me with any sort of confidence. I think Scholes will cost us at some point aswell. It says something about the level of his other abilities when he gets into an international midfield without being able to tackle. He's a sending off waiting to happen.

Beattie is not international class - he simply does not have enough talent to justify a place in the England squad.

I disagree that a striker's main purpose is to only score goals. Without Heskey there would not be a target man in the squad. Heskey's finishing can be wayward but he's strong, very quick and makes selfless runs.

Smith's role is not that of a target man. Heskey has a valid role in the squad.

Matchfixer wrote:Beattie is not international class - he simply does not have enough talent to justify a place in the England squad.

Eh? His goal-scoring record says otherwise.

I may be wrong, but I think he scored more goals than Rooney, Heskey, & Vassell combined last season.

And don't forget, he doesn't exactly have Zidane, Beckham, Baradja & Giggs behind him in midfield does he, to thread him through with easy goals? No... the sad fact is people say he isn't that good because he plays for Saints. If he played for one of the glamour clubs in the premiership I dare say people would think he was great....

Bobby Robson is going all out to get him to Newcastle as a longterm replacement for Alan Shearer. Thats "little class" he has...

Loftgroov wrote:

Matchfixer wrote:Beattie is not international class - he simply does not have enough talent to justify a place in the England squad.

Eh? His goal-scoring record says otherwise.

I may be wrong, but I think he scored more goals than Rooney, Heskey, & Vassell combined last season.

But at international level, he's failed to make an impact. Think of players like Andy Cole, or Kevin Phillips (who were banging them in, in the premiership), even on there best nights for England they didn't come close to scoring.

Kevo wrote:

Loftgroov wrote:

Matchfixer wrote:Beattie is not international class - he simply does not have enough talent to justify a place in the England squad.

Eh? His goal-scoring record says otherwise.

I may be wrong, but I think he scored more goals than Rooney, Heskey, & Vassell combined last season.

But at international level, he's failed to make an impact. Think of players like Andy Cole, or Kevin Phillips (who were banging them in, in the premiership), even on there best nights for England they didn't come close to scoring.

It's a case of big fish in a medium sized pond. Confidence of being the best player at your club? I'm not sure exactly but certainly the case for Phillips when he was at Sunderland.

Scoring goals is not everything and premiership defences are not the same as international defences in the majority of cases.

Robson is interested because Owen or Rooney would not leave for Newcastle. Heskey's gone to Birmingham (probably wouldn't want him anyway), Smith to Man United. There is not really another similar style striker to Shearer available and Beattie represents the best option for Robson.

5 minutes gone and we are one nil down.

James should of caught it.

Gerrard doing his best owen impression, going down for no reason.

now scholes as well

Goallllllllllllllllllllllllll Lazio

Scholes