I reckon this is the worse England team for years.

Salmon Dupiaza with lemon rice. The curry equivalent of picking players out of position. Only just ordered so can't comment on the performance as yet.

 

They already make a living beyond the wildest dreams of the vast majority - they earn more in a few months than many fans will earn in their life. They don't need the money so perhaps their entire focus should be on the job that has made them millionaires.

 

Completely disagree. We are technically inept. I reckon Slovenia have technically better players. There was very little technical ability shown in the final third today, you know, the most important bit. We were happily passing the ball around in front of the Maltese from defence to midfield, which they were happy for us to do (side to side David Batty style), without pressing. And when we come up against a stronger team it's even more painful viewing, watching them bluster and panic, looking so uncomfortable on the ball. Think England should face up, get Harry Basset in and revert to Wimbledon circa 1988: it would suit this lot better

 

My love for anything of 'proper' football disappeared a while back.

I don't have a clue how our over paid noones have performed! I'm really not bothered!!!!!

It's either me that's sad or the situation ?!?

 

hows the "sturridge playing in goal" curry going?? have to admit it sounds strange... but i'd probably order it!!

 

#Teams like Malta...

 

#teamslikenotbothered

 

Just said something very similar. Is embarrassing

Barnsley would have beaten Malta tonight. And been a hell of a lot more entertaining to watch.

And I don't actually mean that tongue in cheek. It is what I genuinely believe.

It used to be that you would think top premiership clubs would beat England. Now I think nearly every prem or championship team would beat them.

International football in this country is dying. Because of sky, Greed and incompetence at the very top.

 

I was watching Spain the other night & I don't think we've got a single player who'd get in there side

 

In a few months? In 2 and a half weeks Rooney will have been paid more basic wages from Manchester united than I expect to earn between the day I started work and my 65th birthday.

 

Qualifiers for last Euros.

Malta 0 Italy 1

Italy 1 Malta 0

#gerragrip

 

It was a solid all round performance although I thought the spine was a bit feeble. Lots of nice runs on both flanks in the latter stages. Not as potent as expected but maybe I should have expected that having tinkered with the formation. I eventually abandoned the encounter at half time, and we'll probably kick off again tomorrow afternoon to finish the job.

 

And some will try to convince you that he's worth every penny of it.

 

didnt watch the game live (i've just watched the half hour highlights) instead i watched the superleague grand final from old trafford,which,in stark contrast to football,was a game you couldnt take you eyes off in case you missed summat,total commitment from start to finish,no lack of passion and certainly no overpaid tossers.If it wasnt for barnsley fc i'd have ****** football off years ago,but watchin barnsley has been a habit of a lifetime ;-)

 

Are you sure about that? Obviously I don't know how much you earn, but Rooney is reported to be on £250,000 a week, meaning in 2.5 weeks he earns £625,000. Over the average working lifetime, that would work out at just £13,000 a year, which is under minimum wage is it not?

 

You're right. It would take him 2 weeks and 4 days assuming a five day working week

 

I watched Malta vs Scotland and they must have thought they could get something as they put people forward and played with a higher midfield. Against Englamd they sat 11 players back for 90 mins with the odd venture into our half. That said we missed some unbelievable easy chances and could have come away With 5-6.

Our left and right back positions are poor. Neither Walker or Rose can cross a ball and when they check back each time they cross the half way line you know there's a problem especially when we play wide players like Lingard and Walcot who actually didn't look like wingers.

The midfield,is unbelievably slow at moving the ball and I thought the tempo dropped a notch each time Rooney was on the ball.

Finally I wouldn't start Sturidge who I see as greedy and lazy and I would be getting players in the box. Throughout the game we rarely had two or more in the box and playing out possession instead of attacking the last 15!'ins was laughable.

We have a lot of young players in this squad whom we should,support, but the team play and management style doesn't inspire or excite me.

 

It's interesting that you've put in into that sort of perspective. The obscene amounts that footballers earn nowadays mean that whatever figures are quoted just sound like telephone numbers, they're so far removed from real life.

 

I thought we did fairly well v Malta. It is never easy to play a team who have nine outfield players behind the ball and the plan seemed the right one, namely to pen them in their half (quite easy) and then to pen them in their penalty area, which we did do up to a point. The midfield play was always sharp, quick and the possession statistics show the way we dominated an admittedly poor side. Where we were lacking was imagination in the final third and especially in the penalty area. To unlock the numbers in a defence like that, you need players tuned into each others' moves and runs and you need to have practised ways of getting through. That is where we looked inferior to, say, Germany, or Spain last night. We were also rather lightweight up front, but the likes of Sturridge, Walcott (a bit disappointed with him really) did their tricky best. You can't easily unlock defences like that with individual skill. it needs some coordinated passing and movement. it was the only aspect which disappointed me last night. I thought that the team kept the ball well and won it back quickly and that we looked solid at the back with no real fear of another Poland performance (remember Norman Hunter's and Bobby Moore's blunders which cost the points?) We will play worse than that and win. Funny that, against a team which sets up to give us more of a game, we would have done better. Unusually with an England game for me, I actually did watch the game live and watched it right through. Well done, John Stones!!

 

There were some tiles to grout in the bathroom so I didn't bother. I'm sure it was the same spineless ***** from the greed is good generation.