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Goal!!

Splendid strike

Well put together Champers...


I like chocolate
It's one of those, 'We should win this one' but as you say, Has a draw written all over it if past encounters are anything to go by.

Just for starters, & maybe a comparison with us..Town fans,
It will be interesting to see what the crowd size is, and the associated 'participation' levels compared to the match day experience at the JSS !

Darn's 'guesstimate'...
Black Mountain 1-3 Green & Pleasant Land.

Those Montenegrin fans will make some noise darn, regardless of where they're sat.

Just so long as its savoury....they ain't too down with the "bruthas" in that part of Europe....

moving onto,
They are a tiny population of a whisker under 7 hundred thousand, So there for we should easily beat them,
Well.
We all know it doesn't work like that,
Outlook & attitude will have them wanting to beat us no matter what..
& sometimes that is what I would say England teams of the past have been lacking.

W.A. has a small population compared to the rest of 'OZ'. but the state competes very well in Cricket & 'Rules' football. You don't need millions to provide eleven blokes who can compete at the highest levels.

Lets see if Hodgson is instilling more resolve & a positive outlook into the squad .
That's what I'm looking for.

DARN..
I believe parker is back..(first name on all English coaches teamsheet)..
I therefore predict losing at least one, possibly two, flair players from the starting line up..
A draw is what roy will be looking for..
For the same reasons, even if we qualify we will never win anything..
A dull game with good amounts of rascist chanting and abuse is the order of the day, im afraid..

OK.
Big game tonight, & a thread all up & ready.

Expectations.
compared to probability !

I hope the 'atmosphere ' generated by the locals is fierce & quite hostile, I'm thinking it will fire up 'our' players.. they are supposedly professional, so I'd like to think it will have them on the level of,
'Don't get mad..get One over 'em'.
We'll see.

We'll see what level of resilience the ENGLAND 1st team is capable of.
Branco Bronovic reckons we are scared..
I love this stuff, controversy before the kick off,
Hodgson says he ain't getting into 'mind games'..that's too polite Roy !
Who would have preferred a reply on the lines of..
"Scared. Of you Lot, We'll see who's scared of who 10 minutes in"

Hodgson's & Gerrard's replies are too media compliant, non confrontational.
Bug Argh that.
England should get stuck into these upstarts, And not only beat 'em. ..throw in some humiliation with it

Are our lot up to it ?

Let us hope so Darn. Defeat all but ends our chances of topping the group I reckon, and we don't need the rigmarole of a double-headed November play-off. Knowing our luck we'd get someone like Belgium and get walloped.

Getting stuck in is definitely required. Hit their mouthy striker early on and stay in the front foot. If these emerging nations get a sniff they often make it pay.

C'mon England.

It says something about the quality of the England team when we have a "tricky" match against Montenegro! Given the PL is the richest league in the world you would expect us to be able to beat teams of this standing. I do suspect that if any English lads had the balls the go abroad and play in different leagues where they have to work harder to earn their corn, speak another language and not have huge salaries dropped on their laps they would be better footballers.

Sadly they care more about the money they earn than being the best player they can be. You could argue the PL should be the best league so they are in the best place but from the England teams standard it shows its not working.

Despite the 'darn falls' though..
We still want 'em to win right !

right.

the reams of paper talk about "patience" winds me up..
that screams of passing across the back 4 and then back to the keeper, just to keep "possession"..
Montenegro don't need to win the game.. if we keep hold of the ball without going anywhere they will let us.. we will waste too much of the game simply being in non threatening possession of the ball..
they would hate us getting it wide quickly and swinging it into the box, they hate stuff into the channels and into space, they want us to play slowly and keep passing it sideways and backwards..
the two centre halves would hate andy carroll or the like constantly charging in for crosses...
suffice to say we will play mostly in the middle of the pitch, so will they and someone may get a goal at some point, probably from an error..
long ball game???
nothing wrong with sharp attacks down the wide areas and balls whipped in, do Barcelona or the Spaniards get an extra "goal" for taking 25 passes to make the opportunity???
patience, play the game as it comes... don't start with the premise of keeping the ball in small triangles and looking to go backwards before the ball even gets to you.. if a longer ball is on, play the f-cking thing..
most centre halves in the top leagues now think they can play a bit due to the amount of time they usually have on the ball, maybe England should try and change that tonight?

You don't have to worry 38, the way the match will be televised, you will only see the goalmouth action, replayed again, and again...and again...then we'll go live when the ball is at the other end of the field.

If (when) a goal is scored (if we see it), it will be replayed well after the other team has kicked off again and we'll only go back to 'live' action when the ball is near the box again.

Once it was sacrosanct when showing 'live' footy on TV, that you never missed the live action, replays were shown at half time, or the end of the game...then it was decided replays could be shown for injuries...then substitutions...and now they are shown whenever the ball is between the 'boxes'.

You'll get to see about 20 minutes of live action, replayed 4 or 5 times....

Oh, and don't forget those 'vital' close up 10 second slots of a players, the manager, a coach, some fans......the moon, a puddle...whatever.....

With 825 cameras at every match, you can guarantee each cameraman will get his 'moment' to show off his zoom in and zoom out talents,,..


Capping it all off, if you are really lucky, you'll get something like the 'Brazil on Tour' logo that precedes and follows each replay.......

Suspect Cleverley will play, Hodgson's a big fan and he was subbed after less than an hour against San Marino. Possibly similar with Lampard. Milner didn't even play, I'd be very surprised if he doesn't line up against Montenegro, whereas Oxlade played the full 90 and will likely be benched.

I'd guess at something like:

GK: Hart

RB: Johnson
CB: Smalling
CB: Lescott
LB: Cole/Baines

CM: Gerrard
CM: Cleverley
CM: Carrick/Lampard

RW: Milner
CF: Rooney
LW: Welbeck

Rooney and Welbeck will drift and switch, Milner will drop back into a 4-man midfield if necessary, Cleverley may drift to the left when Milner drops.

drifting and switching???

is that a modern term for moving about???

"coming deep" is another one for "moving"...

problem is, when English teams switch players it just means two people change positions, when the Spaniards do it, everyone changes and anyone can end up anywhere.. we just tend to swap over and mark the "other fullback"...
id like to see wellbeck, rooney and another England player all end up on the same side of the field and outnumber the defence on that side... surprise em a bit???

That's pretty much it 38YEARS be nice to see an England team with a bit of tactical nous and fluidity. Probably never happen. At least Hodgson is trying though.

so...is it me...or are we giving Montenegro WAY to much respect...

just wondering..

I agree with you there Pepper

Whilst you don't see the sort of spankings you used to in international football, I notice that we always tend to make things difficult for ourselves in qualification against the sort of teams that Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Germany brush aside.

There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't consider ourselves blessed with as much talent as any of those sides, well, maybe aside from the current crop of Germans and Spaniards who are just plain class.

Maybe we just need to focus on our own strategy and be confident in the fact we are better than the likes of Montenegro. Be a bit more gung ho and play at Premier League pace. It is after all what those in the 3 lions are familiar with!

Big night for Carrick tonight.

Hodgson has put faith in him when Parker and Lampard were both 'safe' options in a way.

Man Utd fans say he has been their key player for a while, so lets see him show it at International level.

He won't get another chance if he flops tonight.

Montenegro fans in the mood

Might be a long night for our fans if we win tonight.

Looks like I was was spot on with the lineup.

So unlucky Rooney.