England

[Dirk Gently]

All away games are put up fo bid by the host broadcaster.

[Ian Royal]

I like Andy Townsend.

I thought McMananananananananaman was fine as well. Sheringham was fairly worthless though.

[Silver Fox]

All done and dusted and now 2 games to use fringe players and experiment in....

Even better as they're irrelvant games, I won't have to watch ITV's coverage of them.

Word. Can anyone confirm/deny that eurosport will have coverage of the tournament itself?

[Hoop Blah]

Still not convinced by the Gerrard/Lampard solution.

Both played well last night but against teams with a better midfield it's still going to lack width, shape and a suitable amount of cover for the two fullbacks. Great as a means of fitting the two of them in against weaker opposition, and whilst we're lacking a bit on genuine wide midfielders (don't forget McLaren had similar success for spells of his regime by playing Gerrard out wide), but it's still not ideal.

I do hope that we give Joe Cole a chance to have a run in Rooney's position in the build up to the tournament. Between him and Gerrard we need to have someone who can cover for Rooney when he's unavailable. We've looked pretty impressive going into tournaments before only for the wheels to come off when we lose a key player or two.

I trust that Capello's pre-tournament planning and lack of pandering to the celebrity players will give us out best shot for sometime though.

[Ian Royal]

Still not convinced by the Gerrard/Lampard solution.

Both played well last night but against teams with a better midfield it's still going to lack width, shape and a suitable amount of cover for the two fullbacks. Great as a means of fitting the two of them in against weaker opposition, and whilst we're lacking a bit on genuine wide midfielders (don't forget McLaren had similar success for spells of his regime by playing Gerrard out wide), but it's still not ideal.

I do hope that we give Joe Cole a chance to have a run in Rooney's position in the build up to the tournament. Between him and Gerrard we need to have someone who can cover for Rooney when he's unavailable. We've looked pretty impressive going into tournaments before only for the wheels to come off when we lose a key player or two.

I trust that Capello's pre-tournament planning and lack of pandering to the celebrity players will give us out best shot for sometime though.

I agree about needing to have a back up to Rooney, I'd like to see Defoe and Heskey given a go together for at least one of the games.

[Ginger Ninjas]

Very impressive display last night, albeit against a disappointing Croatia. As mentioned above, there must still be major concerns about replacing Rooney or Gerrard if they're unavailable, hopefully Joe Cole will come back strongly from injury.

Before i'd put forward England as potential winners (like the media already, inevitably have) there are two other major issues i'd be concerned about:

1. Goalkeeper. With the exception of Brazil (who can usually get away with it), it's very rare that a major tournament winner does not have a world class goalie (Buffon, Casillas, etc.) - even Barthez was at his best, one of the best in the world. Rob Green is nothing more than a solid PL goalie.

2. Games against good sides. Under Capello (IIRC) we've only played twice against 'top' opposition - France and Spain. Whilst both were friendlies, England were thoroughly outplayed in each game, and that will need to be addressed.

[Thaumagurist*]

I'd like to throw in Michael Owen's name, especially if he does well for the Manure this season.

[Silver Fox]

Throw in the Dutchland friendly for evidence that it might be too soon to print up world cup winners t-shirts

[Stranded]

All away games are put up fo bid by the host broadcaster.

Indeed, and the article I read stated that none of the UK broadcasters had bid by the dedline set by the UFA following Setantas demise so they sold it to a live streaming site. - I'll see if I can't dig it out.

[Stranded]

Ah here we go -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... llout.html

Sky not interested.
ITV haven't made a bid
BBC made a cheeky bid then withdrew it.

I would guess that now there's nothing riding on the game there won't be many bids.

[Hoop Blah]

I agree about needing to have a back up to Rooney, I'd like to see Defoe and Heskey given a go together for at least one of the games.

That's not a back up for Rooney though.

That's a different pairing which would presumably be playing in a different way.

This side is being built around someone like Heskey leading the line and someone like Rooney exploiting the space behind him. If the team is being built around that we could really do with having a back up to both players in order to keep the same shape.

We do need to try out other different options as well though, in which case I'd expect to see Defoe given a decent amount of time to bed in and show what he can do as well.

[Hoop Blah]

Very impressive display last night, albeit against a disappointing Croatia. As mentioned above, there must still be major concerns about replacing Rooney or Gerrard if they're unavailable, hopefully Joe Cole will come back strongly from injury.

Before i'd put forward England as potential winners (like the media already, inevitably have) there are two other major issues i'd be concerned about:

1. Goalkeeper. With the exception of Brazil (who can usually get away with it), it's very rare that a major tournament winner does not have a world class goalie (Buffon, Casillas, etc.) - even Barthez was at his best, one of the best in the world. Rob Green is nothing more than a solid PL goalie.

2. Games against good sides. Under Capello (IIRC) we've only played twice against 'top' opposition - France and Spain. Whilst both were friendlies, England were thoroughly outplayed in each game, and that will need to be addressed.

1. According to the commentry last night he knows who his number 1 going into the tournament will be. I'd hazard a guess that it won't be Robert Green. We've got a number of decent keepers coming through at the moment. I agree that what we need is for one of them to kick on and progress to being a bit more than just decent though.

2. Totally agree. Croatia have been a disapointment in this campaign, and the rest are very average at best. We'll need to improve on our displays against the top sides to do anything more than previous WC's, but I've said all along that we have the players, it's just giving them the right balance, confidence and freedom to perform...that and a large slice of luck!

[papereyes]

This side is being built around someone like Heskey leading the line and someone like Rooney exploiting the space behind him. If the team is being built around that we could really do with having a back up to both players in order to keep the same shape.

My bet would be, if he has a good season, Carlton Cole. If Agbonlahor has a full season like the first half of last (10 goals before turn of the year), then possibly him. Someone fairly big, fairly strong but also offering a slightly different threat.

Totally agree. Croatia have been a disapointment in this campaign, and the rest are very average at best. We'll need to improve on our displays against the top sides to do anything more than previous WC's, but I've said all along that we have the players, it's just giving them the right balance, confidence and freedom to perform...that and a large slice of luck!

... or "The moment they play someone decent, they'll get ass-raped".

Croatia have struggled but they seem to be going through a bit of a local injury/suspension crisis (Modric, Corluka key players and absent) and a bit of a transition (Kovacs both retired - they're both mid-30s).

Croatia side that beat England 2 years ago was: Pletikosa; Corluka ,Dario Simic ,Robert Kovac ,Simunic; Srna ,Modric ,Nico Kovac ,Kranjcar (Pranjic ,75 ); Olic (Rakitic ,84 ) ,Eduardo da Silva (Petric ,69)

Last night: Runje; Srna ,Krizanac ,Simunic ,Pranjic; Mandzukic ,Vukojevic ,Pokrivac (Rakitic ,45 ) ,Kranjcar; Eduardo (Klasnic ,74 ) ,Olic (Petric ,45)

There's half the side different plus 3 or 4 players actually in the wrong positions (certainly, he swapped Pranjic and one of the midfielders around after the 2nd goal; Mandzukic is, iirc, a striker whilst Srna might be able to play right back, the loss of Corluka probably dictated things there). I dunno - I was shocked quite how bad Croatia were last night. I think they suffered in much the same way England did when they played a back four that were all not first choice players and lost 3-2.

That's the key to international success, imo - coping with the absences. Its not necessarily that you have a full XI that can compete. Otherwise, England would have won something since 2000. Its what you have to back it up.

In 2002, I recall Sinclair and Mills playing a majority of games (plus an injury to Beckham preceding it?).
In 2004, it was all about the metatarsal and, in the Portugal game, Rooney subbed off injured after 20 odd minutes.
In 2006, there was another metatarsal issue, Owen's injury in the last group game.

[Ian Royal]

I agree about needing to have a back up to Rooney, I'd like to see Defoe and Heskey given a go together for at least one of the games.

That's not a back up for Rooney though.

That's a different pairing which would presumably be playing in a different way.

This side is being built around someone like Heskey leading the line and someone like Rooney exploiting the space behind him. If the team is being built around that we could really do with having a back up to both players in order to keep the same shape.

We do need to try out other different options as well though, in which case I'd expect to see Defoe given a decent amount of time to bed in and show what he can do as well.

I can't think of anyone worth mentioning that would play in a similar fashion to Rooney though. I think we'd just have to accept that the front two will play differently and need to be fed differently if Rooney is out.

I'd also like to see Owen back in the set up, assuming he has a good season at United. But then I can't see Defoe still being inform in 9 month's (or however long it is) time.

Paps: I thought Mills was surprisingly good in 2002, didn't do much wrong.

[Quagmire]

I can't think of anyone worth mentioning that would play in a similar fashion to Rooney though. I think we'd just have to accept that the front two will play differently and need to be fed differently if Rooney is out.

I'd also like to see Owen back in the set up, assuming he has a good season at United. But then I can't see Defoe still being inform in 9 month's (or however long it is) time.

Paps: I thought Mills was surprisingly good in 2002, didn't do much wrong.

Gerrard plays the Rooney role for Liverpool - I also think that, when fit, Joe Cole could do a job there.

[Ian Royal]

Was only really thinking strikers.

[Hoop Blah]

I can't think of anyone worth mentioning that would play in a similar fashion to Rooney though. I think we'd just have to accept that the front two will play differently and need to be fed differently if Rooney is out.

I'd also like to see Owen back in the set up, assuming he has a good season at United. But then I can't see Defoe still being inform in 9 month's (or however long it is) time.

Paps: I thought Mills was surprisingly good in 2002, didn't do much wrong.

In a similar fashion to Rooney?

Well I've already suggested Gerrard and Cole (Joe).

Admittedly they're not carbon copies no, but I believe they both possess the ability to play within the same spaces as Rooney and offer similar threats. It's totally different having a forward playing along side a Heskey or Cole (Carlton) who likes to drop deeper and exploit that space than throwing in a player like Owen or Defoe who likes to play off the last defender and sniff out chances around the box more than link up play and pull defenders out of position.

Other potential candidates for the Rooney position would be Crouch or Ashton (if he can ever get anywhere near back to his previous form).

[Hoop Blah]

That's the key to international success, imo - coping with the absences. Its not necessarily that you have a full XI that can compete. Otherwise, England would have won something since 2000. Its what you have to back it up.

In 2002, I recall Sinclair and Mills playing a majority of games (plus an injury to Beckham preceding it?).
In 2004, it was all about the metatarsal and, in the Portugal game, Rooney subbed off injured after 20 odd minutes.
In 2006, there was another metatarsal issue, Owen's injury in the last group game.

Agreed.

Mills was possibly our best player in 02, him and, I think, Nicky Butt who was also a bit of a filling in figure at the time.

It's all about getting a team which functions, not just a team with the best individuals in it. That was Sven's biggest problem after he'd been in the job for a while, he went from being a breath of fresh air and introducing a new squad of players and some competition for places to a closed shop of celebrity 'performers' who were selected irrespective of team shape or performances.

Thankfully Cappello doesn't seem to be one for going down that route.

[soggy biscuit]

Ahh I knew it wouldn't take long.

I've said for a long time that we can win the World Cup.

...We have fantastic players in the country at the moment. So many players with so much experience; we have Champions League winners and everything else...

...They've been there and done it. The manager is top-class. We'll never get another opportunity like this, that's for sure

[PEARCEY]

As a man who is half English, half Welsh, that is exactly the reason I root for Wales and not England. They may lose a lot more, they may not be anywhere near as good, but at least the fans have an affinity with a lot of the players.

1900 up

Ditto.