Thoughts on England v Sweden?

shotamoose

So, what did everyone think of this match? I thought England were awful in the second half, Sweden much better. England relied on long balls over the top to Owen and Vassell, which Sweden were able to deal with, so England constantly gave the ball away.

Hargreaves was disappointing, he hardly passed the ball forwards once. Neither Beckham or Dyer were fit, so the midfield was over-run too often.

So what to do? Play Heskey up front, I'd say, with Vassell on the left maybe, as he was quite good. And stop hitting just long balls forward.

BTW, since I'm in England and was restricted to ITV, what did the RTE boys think of it? ITV wasn't too bad, as it happened - good analysis from Terry Venables, Gazza and Bobby Robson.

Lex_Diamonds

England are going to have a tough time getting out of their group now. Sloppy second half chocca with defensive errors characterised their game really.

Im just sad Sweden didnt get a second, England deserved to be punished for shoving their hype down our throats and then putting on a show like this.

smuckers

An inept performance from England, the midfield was static no movement of all Owens's first touch was appaling Vasell and Cole were by far Eng's best players and what does sven do? he takes Vasell off. Basically they hoffed the ball long if that was the case they should have had Peter Crouch in there. Owen Hargraves was very good in the first half but in the second half he really did fade, Beckham though was good and they'll need him badly against the argies espcially with Ortega Lopez Battigoal about.

TwoShedsJackson

Danny Mills is absolutely crap - how he gets a game I do not know.

deco

Almost all the best chances Sweden had were due to defensive errors by the England defence....not very impressive at all

It'll take a lot more than this performance to convince me that they can win the world cup *giggles*

If they play like this against Agentina they are going to be crucified...

Day is getting better and better

KdjaCL

Typical WC game but.
1st half England looked very good but couldnt sustain it.
Now Sweden were not good in anyway they were let back into the game but i have seen all the games so far(month of work :):)).
And they are all like that only germany dominated from start to finish.
Spain looked good hope they do well at least the semis for them unless we come 2nd in our group:)
But have to say so far i have been happy with all the teams (cept Saudi).
think we have the best WC yet.
And ctrangley enough i havent seen one bad tackle ,nothing cynical anyway a few rash ones but all in all the refs are amazing even the smiley guy yesterday was good.
Football is great
Kdja

Bateman

I don't know how Mills gets his game with a club, never mind the World Cup. I think England were the stronger team. There is nothing wrong with having a static midfield against a team as good as Sweden. Although Sweden have been hyped up by the Larsson Shelltic brigade, they are not nearly as good a side as some people have been making out, even though Ljungberg didn't look fit.

Pigman

Crap as they were today I still predict England to somehow beat the Argie's in their next match. Call me a masochist but what are the current odds on an England win?

Kim Tae-Woo

with players like Batistuta , Ortega, Crespo Argentina will be the favourites.

England are over hyped, just like the Japanese league is over hyped in Korea because of money. England are an avergae side with some good players.

Argentina is a great team with Batistuta one of the top 10 World Cup players of all time, and his scores may come close to Maradona this year.

Argentina deserved a 3-0 or 4-0 win. And Nigeria are a good side.

mike65

What can one say, until they scored England were doing okay
but from that point on they reminded me of the last few games under Keegan, with Hargreves and Beckham faltering, Scholls
needed to have a big second half but did'nt. Heskey on the left makes no sense as he works as a foil for Owen, nothing else.

Less said about Danny Mills the better.

For the Argentina game I suspect Teddy Sheringham will play a significant role, working behind Owen with Dyer starting on the left but not finishing. Still won't win mind...but then again neither would Ireland.

Mike.

Bateman

Hey Mike, if youare judging England purely in comparison to Ireland, thats not being very ambitious!
Either way, I think England can get out of the group, same as us, two draws and a win.

Pigman

Originally posted by Pigman
Crap as they were today I still predict England to somehow beat the Argie's in their next match. Call me a masochist but what are the current odds on an England win?

Damn my accuracy!

Jake

Originally posted by Bateman
Although Sweden have been hyped up by the Larsson Shelltic brigade, they are not nearly as good a side as some people have been making out, even though Ljungberg didn't look fit.

I think youll find the "Shelltic brigade" as you call us, tend to hype only Larsson.....................