As Roy and ITV desparately tried to gloss over another terrible display a win is indeed a win. Estonia set out to frustrate England and play for a draw. But despite all this that display was embarassing. There was very little attacking intent from the outset and bar the free kick I cannot recall the Estonian keeper having to make a meaningful save.
I know there are those that defend him and United fans that watch him every week that will tell me time and again Rooney is a top class player, his career medal haul would also suggest as much. But for me, yet again, he was absolutely terrible yesterday and one of the worst performers on the pitch for England. If he wasnt missing clearcut chances he was giving the ball away, blazing free kicks over the bar or running into opposition defenders. Not that many others can come out of that game with much credit. Only Wilshire seemed to look like a clear cut above the Estonians.
The system completely nullified the better aspects of the players on the field and for that I lay the blame at the managers door. Hendersons key asset is his energy, but playing at such a low tempo is not going to suit him, so either up it or play someone better suited to that laboured style. Lallana showed flashed of his quality but again in such a one dimensional the movement from surrounding players was rarely there to link up with him.
I know we arent Brazil, or Germany or any of the good teams on the international scene but the way England played when Estonia went down to 10 was nothing short of pathetic. And then again at 1-0, playing the game out to see out a 1-0 again a ten man team one step up from last weeks opposition of farmers and postal workers was as bad as anything I've seen in recent years from England. THere are good players there. Wilshire, Chambers, Ox, and Sterling all showed that, but they are being stifled by the system and the manager.
But on the plus side Roy managed to not injure any of our players with his prehistoric training methods so we should be able to hit the ground running come the weekend.
Awful England
posted on 13/10/14
comment by righteous1 (U7048)
posted 24 minutes ago
We played ok, just missed chances.
The usual overreaction when we don't beat a minnow 6-0.
Estonia are far from the worse team in Europe.
Germany lost 2-0 to Poland the day before. Spain lost to Slovakia. Russia drew with Moldova. Bosnia couldn't beat Wales etc etc
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dunno what game you were watching, we played absolute dog5.h1t yesterday. barely registering a shot against 10 man Estonia
grates me how little criticism there was of Woy or that dismal showing
posted on 13/10/14
We had 25 shots.
It seems it was you who wasn't watching.
posted on 13/10/14
must have missed that second half performance then!
posted on 13/10/14
TalksRubbish you it put politely when you said awful I would put another way they where c##p, the only two who tried to make something happen was Wilshire and Lallana, and as for Rooney (father figure) less said the better
posted on 13/10/14
England are Wack Daniels...roll on the real footie next week.
posted on 13/10/14
Yes.
posted on 13/10/14
We have a poor side I don't know what you expect.
And it's not helped when of our better players refuses to play.
posted on 13/10/14
yeah sterling not playing destroys england game plans
relying on a 19 year old
posted on 13/10/14
I know there are those that defend him and United fans that watch him every week that will tell me time and again Rooney is a top class player, his career medal haul would also suggest as much. But for me, yet again, he was absolutely terrible yesterday and one of the worst performers on the pitch for England.
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No, he wasn't one of the worst performers, his finishing was poor though.
Overall, the performance of the team was reasonable, better finishing from Rooney, or indeed if any other of the attackers had shown a bit of impetus and tried to attempt and attack the opposition goal, we might have finished comfortable 3/4/5-0 winners.
Rooney seemed the only player interested in scoring yesterday.
Welbeck ran around a lot, but never seemed to want to get close enough to the opposition goal. Similarly Lallana.
Plus the other 3 midfielders have hardly got goals galore in them. Indeed, of the midfielders to play last night, only Oxtail has found the net (just 3 in 17, hardly prolific). Between the rest of the midfielders 0 goals in 62 games! And none have shown any inclination to change that.
There's only Rooney (perhaps you could maybe slightly argue Welbeck) that has any sort of scoring pedigree for England. Criticise him all you want, but he's the best we have.
posted on 13/10/14
Fair post Barf.
I would argue Sturridge is now at that level, but he is yet to prove it across a qualifying campaign.
The lack of goals through the team always makes me amazed that Crouch doesn't ever get a look in. 1 in 2 scoring rate at International level in 40 odd caps.
You can almost ignore his club performance, the fact is he performs for England.