As requested by Phuket, here is the match thread for the World Cup qualifier between England and Ukraine at Wembley Stadium, 11th September 2012, kick off 20:00 GMT.
Roy Hodgsons side come into their second qualifying match off the back of an assured performance in Moldova on Friday night which saw the Three Lions triumph by five goals to nil.
In a group that features potential banana skins such as Poland and An emerging Montenegro side, England will be looking for continue their impressive form against an unpredictable Ukraine team.
Expect few changes as Hodgson will most likely keep faith in the 4-5-1 system that served us so well at the weekend with a good balance of youth and experience.
I expect the team to be as follows, with the only omission forced by an injury to the talismanic John Terry.
GK Hart
RB Johnson
LB Baines
CB Cahill
CB Lescott
LM Oxlade-Chaimberlain
RM Milner
CM Gerrard (capt)
CM Cleverley
CM Lampard
ST Defoe
Opposition: Ukraine
Coach: Oleg Blokhin
FIFA Ranking: 45th
Population: 45,706,100
Key Player: Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (Bayern Munich) - with the game likely to be won or lost on midfield, Ukraine will be looking to Tymoshchuk to assert his influence in the centre of the park. Capped 120 times, the deep-lying Bayern midfielder is comfortable on the ball and capable of ferocious long-range shooting. Highlights of his 17 year career include captaining Zenit St Petersburg to the 2008 UEFA and European Super Cups, as well as being voted Ukrainian Footballer of the Year on 3 occasions.
Did You Know....The Ukranian Police force solve 90% of all reported crimes, the European average being between 30-40%
Head-to-Head: England 4 wins, Ukraine 1 win, 0 draws.
Previous meeting: Ukraine 0 England 1 (EURO 2012 Group Stages)
In a tense final group game, England secured qualification to the quarter finals thanks to a easy tap-in from Wayne Rooney in the Donbass Arena in Donetsk. The co-hosts were left feeling hard done by after the officials ruled that a Marko Devic shot did not cross the line, despite numerous replays showing that the ball was in before John Terry hooked clear.
Champagne SuperNovak's prediction: England 2 Ukraine 0
I expect England to prevail against a side coming to terms with the retirement of legendary striker Andrei Shevchenko, the former AC Milan and Chelsea man who is now pursuing a career in politics. Home advantage will be a key factor and I see Hodgson's team bossing most areas of the pitch for a routine victory.
England v Ukraine
posted on 11/9/12
^^^ ^^^
posted on 11/9/12
vaughan gets injured???
novak...
then we are back to plan a...alan lee..
squad with 3 recognised strikers???
no ta...
hope they are working hard on it now, dont want anything like the knee jerk(s) signings of last season.. "the beast" and such like.. be honest if we are not careful we might end up with james beattie!!!!!!!!!
vaughan might not last every game up to january..alan lee cant play a full game and that will then put too much on lee novak..
personally cant see scannell, hamill, the rest of the midfield scoring enough goals to make up for being a striker light or worse..
posted on 11/9/12
by the way inter..
im not saying the front 3 you proposed isnt good.. I like it..
just dont want to get caught short.....im not saying that whoever we might bring in has to start.. i dont go for these deals where we promise to "let them play"....
dependant on who it is etc, they might be cover or starters..
We are a championship side and good ones have good players on the bench..
posted on 11/9/12
Is this live?
posted on 11/9/12
the ukraine will score!!!!! please one of my above posts for details..
we might get a goal, should have had one or two already but roy will then take the draw.. 4 points out of six is good enough in the howard wilkinson guide to coaching...
they look to have more players on the pitch than we do, funny that...
posted on 12/9/12
All even in the end ....disappointed but a fair result.
'We' finished stronger, Why didn't we start like that ?
Does anyone else wonder why Hart had his elbows super glued to his sides ? Thought he'd covered his post,!HE HADN"T. =Blunder , cracking shot though.
Why was the game stopped in the 1st minute because Hart kicked the ball against Garmash when clearing the ball ? he went darn like he'd been shot with a Buffalo gun, = Big Jesse.
Ref overall OK, but somehow, something has to be done about players faking 'pain'. Seems to be standard procedure to hold your head in your hands & pull a twisted grotesque face to attract attention to 'a problem' ! = cheats = snake oil salesmen.
Entertaining game on the whole. English players nowhere near the individual skills of another nation of Footballers, Still relying on an awfull lot of huff & puff to get us through games.
70 thou has to be a good turn out mid week, & it wouldn't have been cheap,
Yeah, 3 up front at the end.
It looked a lot better, Again. Why ....
To Mr Grayson, PLEASE....4 up front from the start on Saturday, Lets batter the Rams
posted on 12/9/12
The Defoe disallowed goal was absolutely ludicrous. I loved the commentators line that "if Gazza had been penalised for that he'd never have made a single run for England"!
It would also appear aerial challenges are banned at international level now too. 3 bookings for attempting to gain a bit of leverage in the challenge. Stroll on.
posted on 12/9/12
Can see the lad who scored their goal been on the radar of a few Premiership Clubs come January, but the lad Tymoshuk was superb in marshalling and organising defence.
posted on 12/9/12
Why I picked him as key man inter! Know me onions, me
posted on 12/9/12
keeping the ball is fine..passing the ball is great..
doing it slowly and going nowhere isnt..