We're the worst team in the group I think.

Honestly Fabio may have got us here but this is pathetic.

Sven got ridiculed, Fabio deserves worse. Gerrard on the left, just don't play Lampard he doesn't do it for England we are all aware yet he still gets in the XI. And Heskey, well...

Against USA we were fairly unlucky, this we were just terrible.

i keep watching the replay of the usa goal...i honestly don't see where the call was. i think the ref knew he was going to blow the whistle before he even took the penalty kick.

oh dear poor England

I'm Happy for Alegria but I'd be even more happy if they would win.

So If England plays like this agains Slovenia I'm sure we'll se USA and Slovenia going up.

That was painful to watch...

All your players looked like they were being held back, no-one knew why the goal was disallowed on our broadcast!

Great game though, probably the best of the bitterly dissapointing World Cup so far.

Agreed.

I will defend his decisions on Heskey and Gerrard on the left. Heskey is the only player to show up so far and in qualifying Gerrard was a beast on the left. However, his goalkeeping decisions are a laughing stock, King and Carragher being in the squad is embarassing, both getting starts is beyond laughable.

Wright-Phillips and Defoe in the squad, really? Not playing Joe Cole at all so far? No Ashley Young?

Like you say, we were fine in the first game, but Don Fabio knows best and changes things for absoloutely no reason at all and we fail to beat Algeria. Well done, Fabio, you're actually worse than Steve McClaren (someone who did beat the US, incidently).

Don't blame it on capello, your players played like garbage. If I was capello I would put gerrard, lampard and barry on the bench. Their display was unacceptable.

Hmm, but in reality the teams we played in our group weren't that great.

I don't know how we sailed through qualifying, the friendlies againt Mexico & Japan highlighted so many vulnerabilities, yet teams like Croatia didn't get near us in qualifying - it's wierd.

I think Crouch can do Heskey's job and actually can control the ball, run with it, pass etc. Heskey was good for about 20 minutes of the 1st game today he was dire, the amount of times he lost the ball through it hitting his shin, hand, backside was ridiculous. Still everyone on the pitch was useless (bar Barry) so I'm not blaming Heskey for this at all - I just think Crouch should be given his chance.

Joe Hart should be playing, he's too inexperienced in our country in anyone else's he would get played after the season he's had if there alternatives were to the standard of ours - How did Gigi, Casillas ever get good - they got given the chance. Still, James didn't do anything wrong, which after USA is the main thing.

I thought SWP was decent against the USA but why he came on instead of Lennon I don't know then every meaningful attack was down our right instead of having the chance of the left wing as well. Capello doesn't really seem to like J.Cole I don't think we will see him in this tournament.

I've been saying for weeks our team has no chance but Fabio maybe, just maybe could guide us to somewhere in this World Cup, I guess I got that all wrong.

• Play a Central Midfielder on the left-wing.
• Keep a formation going that hasn't worked, all game.
• Don't give the players any confidence by naming the team only an hour or so to kick-off.
• Play an attacker who has next to no chance of scoring.

your point of view is blinkered by which club Heskey plays for..he and everyone else were awfull...no excuses they were simply not good enough

Then we'd have lost and be on our way home.

After qualifying a few on here were very, very quick to shoot down the praise heaped on our players and put on on Fabio. Ultimately it's down to him to pick the team, the system and the shape. Frankly, he's got very little right.

how can you not see the obvious penalty on the US??



*facepalm*

I don't like Heskey, which club they play for doesn't mean anything to me in the World Cup.

I also said, so far. I agree that today he was ****, but he was the only England player to really play well against the states.

USA - 5
Slovenia - 5
England - 3
Algeria - 1

Thats how I see it finishing to be honest. Rooney is our only real goal threat and he looks ill.

Huh?! I was saying you scored from it no one could understand why it was disallowed, I would rather have a goal than a penalty...!

So a teams players just shows their affection towards the US by hugging them and you think that's bad?

I agree though, goal should have stood, awful decision.

I really don't think he could have played a better system.


He was able to incorporate gerrard, lampard, rooney and barry in one system and those are your main players. If he were to change the system, some of those guys would have to sit on the bench, which is fine imo but the england team would not be fine with it.


I think though, that the next game we'll see a completely different england. Capello doesn't play favorites and we might see some of the stars benched.

We don't have to bench all of them we know who we have to - Lampard. He doesn't do it for England, at least in the major competitions.

Well, 4-4-2 is something that none of these players are used to. Why not use 4-5-1/4-3-3? A system that all our top players play at club level, which also so happens to be a system to fit all of them in. He was poor, his subs were predictable and offered nothing. He seems insistant on long balls to Heskey too.

Still, we are unbeatable!

I thought barry and gerrard were pretty shocking too.


I'd go with this next game:


johnson-defender-terry-cole

-----------barry----------

SWP----------------Lennon

---------gerrard---------

rooney-------crouch

Haven't seen today's England game yet so can't comment directly but I dont' think you can heap all the blame on the coach. Surely the players bear some level of responsibility for a poor on-pitch performance.

(Note that I'm equally mystified by some of Capello's call ups and his team selection. The guy is very good coaching clubs, not so much with national teams it would appear. He's far from blameless.)

Not that simple. Those formations require a holding mid and quality wingers. You have none of those.

Carrick, Barry?

If you think those qualify as quality holding mids i got nothing more to say

Barry and Carrick are holding mids....Lennon and SWP are wingers their quality is debatable id've taken Johnson along as a left sided winger but apart from johnson you're arguement holds no water

quality is a opinion either way they are holding mids

Barry is probably the best holding midfielder in the league behind Essien, so not quite sure what you're getting at there. (You could even argue Essien isn't a holding player anyway..)

sorry i needed the [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] around that statement.




my bad...slovenia just really loves the US national team

Yes, one plays for one of the best teams in the world and the other one plays for the one that's going to buy there way to the world. Really, really rubbish...


*facepalm*

Oh I agree, but some players can't really get in the game. Lampard was just being by-passed with the long balls and was essentially pointless tonight.

It really is a shame. It's almost like Capello has tried to be clever in making a few changes that no one would predict and its really hurt the team.

Oh well, still in our hands England!

In a strange twist, finishing 2nd in the group may mean you avoid Germany in the next round.

Certainly. I'd like to see the stats for each individual, but Gerrard for example failed to complete simple passes or take decent corner kicks more than he's normally expected to. Rooney's shots were all painfully off target etc etc. these are not Capello's fault.

Thanks!

Algeria is happy it was draw agianst England one of the greatast team at WC
but England should be dissapointed.

Don't know what the matter with Rooney was but that was sunday league standard...pure and simple. Completley off the pace no 1st touch static movement, is he injured and its not public knowledge?

I wonder how they will play agianst Slovania.
Seriously what have happend with the great teams like England France or Spain?
I know it was probably bad luck but not just bad luck? Is it to much confidence?

I don't know what to think anymore. All the scenarios I ran today for the US had England beating Algeria. Now I guess we're ok as long as we can beat Algeria....which looks like a daunting task.

So what now for England and Capello?

Spain WILL bounce back - you can mark my words not so sure about England and France though.

England and France seem to have an EASY exit after 3 games, while Spain still can shine and go through...

Also Germany still can shine... though I have no faith in Podolski and Klose scoring abilities

Just watched Slovenia's second goal. If anyone still thinks Onyewu can play for Milan should get himself a holiday in the sun.

I'm thinking the same. The man single-handedly beats some of the best clubs in World football, now suddenly can't control a ball?

James was good, our best player I thought, which says alot.

really...you go off one game? he hasn't played more than 5 full games in 8 months.

and if we're going off one bad performance then we need to get rid of the entire milan team and just start over from the ground up.

he just mentions the most recent example...

I would be sad if someone like Onweyu is a reason to hold back our youth players like Albertazzi (and Romagnoli), sure Albertazzi might make mistakes, but same can be told about Onweyu... at least Albertazzi got potential.

Just stop. No need to start this again.

Next time it'll be "But he hasn't played more than 6 full games in 8 months..." and so on and so on. Get real, he's a mediocre defender at best.

Hey X-Off, your opinion isn't law. Quit stating it as such.

From what I saw, US and Slovenia seem like favourites to make it through, which makes me pretty happy. Specially since the Brits have been so sloppy.

I wasn't aware Scotland and Wales were also in the group.

+1

law has spoken

Okay, England, my bad .

Another tie for England; how embarrassing considering that it was Algeria, with whom they were expected to wipe the floor.

Even more pathetic was the ref who screwed the U.S. out of a win earlier. Donovan said during a press conference that the ref ignored him when he was asked who exactly committed the foul that annulled the goal. That's not good.

Why the hell is everything about Capello? To be honest, I don't think England has a team good enough to play in the semis or quater finals. I think England has a line of poor keepers filling the line from Seaman to present day, some average defenders, a few great midfielders and one great striker. The rest is mediocre, or maybe good, depending on their form. And I honestly don't think it's Capello's fault. I don't think McLaren, Eriksson, Houdini or even Mourinho would do much better. Maybe Moe would win against Algeria, but I don't think he would have gone further.

As for Capello - he always had Pannuci who actually never ever was Milan or Real Madrid quality but he always carried him around - he's strange in some decisions. But if you ask me, he's Englands only chance. He can bring the title to England in an old fashioned Italian manner. Two draws, maybe one victory and then...Rooney like Paolo Rossi.

You can't really question England's quality now can you? They've got a great defensive line. Johnson is decent, Ashly Cole, Terry and Ferdinand are great. It's too bad they lost the latter, although Carragher could fit his shoes, somehow. They have in midfield the likes of Lampard and Gerrard, and in attack the monster of Rooney. That's pure quality man. I think the problem is more psychological. They've got a lot of pressure on themselves and they've also showed a lack of team work and sacrifice in these two games. Plus, I think Capello has been picking up the wrong players. This is how I'd play England.



A neat 4-2-1-3.