England vs Croatia on Thurs

 

For the first 15 minutes, Croatia looked the better team and we (England) were looking to counter attack. When we took the lead, the balance changed a little but Croatia continued to look dangerous up until half-time. Walcott's pace was effective in the counter attacks, which was why Simunic took him out at full pace. Walcott laid the ball off and went to continue for a possible return. Simunic body-checked into him and laid him out. It was an awful challenge and Walcott took a while to recover - for a while, I feared he was unconscious (and the commentary on my coverage was not in English, so I couldn't get any info from that).

 

After half-time, England definitely looked sharper and were getting the attacking play. Simunic body-checked Rooney on the edge of the area as Rooney went past with the ball. Had Simunic not already been booked, it would surely have been a yellow. I couldn't believe he wasn't given a second yellow - blatant foul on edge of area on a player otherwise through on goal - though it wasn't in the same league as the earlier check.

 

Once Croatia had their man sent off - leading with the elbow on a header, Cole got up staggered a few yards and then collapsed with blood pissing out of his head - England were in control.

 

Giving up the goal was silly. It was an unnecessary giveaway in midfield that saw Croatia hit England on the break. However, it should have been disallowed. Terry came to head the ball away, a Croatian came in with his foot at head height to win the ball (and take out Terry). Terry was not stooping to make the header, it was clearly a dangerous tackle. Fortunately, Terry's head is tougher than Cole's though.

 

England had a goal disallowed. Some reports seem to be saying offside, but it didn't look offside. It seemed that Heskey fouled a defender off the ball who would have otherwise made an effort to block Lampard's shot. They only showed that replay once, so I couldn't be certain - but Heskey definitely made some contact with the defender so it was a good decision to chalk the goal off.

 

Nah. It's just that whoever scores the goals gets the headlines. But we all know that, individual goals aside, being the best player in a side is about a lot more than just finishing.

 

There are those that would argue that would significantly improve the England team!

 

 

Why don't we just turn this whole thing into yet another Arsenal thread.  Jeez, you Arsenal boys need to get out more. 

 

By the way, I'm not on this thread to talk about Arsenal - despite the best efforts of self-confessed WUM "Arsenal" being here - as it has nothing to do with the match.

 

Still, I can't think of anyone in particular who stood out more than anyone else, so would expect Walcott to get MoM for scoring the hattrick - hard to argue against as you say. Whilst the goals were created by others, he still had to finish and at least two of them needed good finishes. I certainly look forward to his continued selection.

 

 

Lampard may not do it for England, but he regularly does it for his club and, on his day, can win a game on his own.  Comparing him with El**ch is a bit harsh to say the least - like comparing your good self with Tom Cruise for example.  Or was that just another lame fat joke?  Shame on you LGM - you're better than that. 

first time they have lost a competitive game at the Maksimir Stadium(Zagreb) not the first at home.

Congrats to England,but it is kinda funy that when you lost one game you say "oh were f**kin shyte" and when you win one game "we're the best, we showed them"

 

I thought you are a pom?

 

Full credit to the Croatia fans. With the exception of those that left at 3-0 (there were quite a few shown) that is. The television coverage showed their main stand jumping up and down, singing passionately etc at 4-1 down. Just got an email from a mate of mine who was there and he also mentioned how good the Croatia fans were at supporting their team despite the scoreline.

 

It's funny how the coaches play their party lines isn't it. Bilic is playing us up, Capello is playing us down. Outside of the tabloid BS, we all know we had a good result and have reason for optimism, but there's a lot of games left and all we have achieved is three points - we're only two matches in.

and Bilic says sarcasticaly "England is the best team in europe"

its disapointing but makes the return leg even better when kranjcar and dudu return

 

Upson did his best to gift the visitors with an underhit back-pass around the six yard area that force James to be alert and save with feet. Ashley Cole was also hesitant in cleaning up a long-ish ball that presented the Ks with a shooting chance. However, England had the majority of possession and to be down would have been unjustified. The same could be said of having a lead, as they just couldn't get through the massed defence. Barry was giving away possession with inaccurate passes, which didn't help. Walcott looked lively and was able to get some penetration down the right, but the final ball was never quite there - he did have one very nice cut inside with a curling shot just wide.

 

For the second half, we went more 4-4-2 as Barry came off for Wright-Philips and Walcott dropped a bit deeper. It meant that we were far more positive, but it also meant we left ourselves open a lot. It helped both teams, as Kazakhstan decided to attack the space they were being given and that meant we had more room in which to attack. For the neutral, it would have made a huge difference.

 

Kazakhstan should have taken the lead, or at least forced a save. I think it was another Upson mistake that presented a chance. The K forward who had been looking very good was unable to finish from the edge of the six yard box.

 

At 2-0, we looked comfortable. Then Ashley Cole played a ball across from out wide to the edge of the area for one of the Ks to be through on goal. An incredible error. Ferdinand wasn't too far away, so perhaps Cole had not seen the blue shirt or perhaps he miss hit it. It made for a nervey few minutes.

 

I didn't see the final 18 minutes though. My Actrix connection hit its limit and their extend function has been suspended (had I known I would not have done the Brighton match to save the megabytes for England). Bugger. I saw the goals on sportscentre - all good finishes - but can't really comment on that part of the match.

 

Belarus away... no idea what to expect. We've never played Belarus in a competitive match.

 

Did you see any of Ukraine v Croatia?