England v Switzerland

I have to admit I didnt watch the game live. I just cant bring myself to watch England games as I feel they are a rip off of fans money. I settled down this morning with my corn flakes and switched the tape on. Didnt like a few players he picked. Questioned if Richards was injured? Wasnt suprized Owen didnt start, but was dissapointed he chose Rooney up front on his own. If Barry is a top International footballer..... I am King of Norway. Gerrard in the number 10 shirt.... An eyeopener considering what that shirt number means in Italy.

First half... extremely poor. The opposition are a nothing side who's captain and so called star is an Arsenal reserve who is Drogba's "Bitch boy". The standard is dropping as the players look to have all confidence draining from them and boo's start to be heard (Oh my god... Did Frank walk on the pitch?....MORONS)... then out of the blue a lovely bit of skill from the Motm Joe Cole opened up the Swiss and its a goal from Jenus. Overall... id give that first half display a 4 baring in mind the standard of opposition.

2nd half isnt much better and I hear Richards is not injured -shock-. The swiss get back into the game and I nearly have more ammunition to fire at ball watching Rio. I will give him the benefit of the doubt as the run was extremely well timed and took the goal well. Long ball goal for an Italian coach made me smile as Crouch Rooney Gerrard and the deadly open goal specialist from 6 yards SWF (I tell you... any further out that was a 50-50 chance for him) brought the game to its final result.

It was awful game.... terrible standard... lacking real International class players. Rooney Gerrard and the outstanding Joe Cole were the only players on the pitch of note. Bentley lacks pace for a wideman... Barry has no pace what so ever... Jenus could become the player we all hoped he would when he first signed for Newcastle.... Upson solid... but had nothing to do.... Brown I wouldnt have as my right back and find the decision to play him instead of Richards as bordering on the insane... unless the manager is pointing out to the young lad he is in charge which would get my vote..... Happy to see James back.... just one game too late.... Ashley didnt have much to do apart from pick himself off the ground as he fell over from wearing blades instead of studs in his boots... Rio? As I said... he may of got away with one..... All the subs you cant say much about.

So am I feeling proud after our boys beat Switzerland? What do you think?

The second half had started by the time I got home, so I didn't see a lot of the game to make many comments.

I was surprised by the line up, I think Richards was omitted because he had only played one game for City after being out for a couple games with a knee injury and perhaps Capello or City didn't think he could go so soon after City's last game. But there are doubts about Richards defensive abilities and maybe it was Capello's way of sending him a message. I have never thought that Brown was international, and he only gets consideration because he plays for United, where he is covered by the rest of the back four. If Neville was healthy or when United do buy a top right back, hopefully in the summer, Brown will revert to the squad player he is.

I have serious questions about Barry starting as well. They say that him and Gerrard have a good understanding and play well together, that has to be the only reason. Barry is a decent enough player, but he is not International. We had been led to believe that Capello would play a holding midfielder, that's not Barry, he is not a ball winner or a great tackler and certainly doesn't break up the oppositions attacks. I was surprised that Hargreaves didn't start, I am not a great fan of Hargreaves, and the jury is still out for me on his role at United, but he is a holding midfielder.

Reading the reports on the game, the one positive that came out of the game was the play of Bentley, most pundits claim he had a really good game. He may not have the pace of a SWP or a Lennon, but they say his crosses and passes where great and he created a lot of chances for England. Beckham never had any pace and it never bothered his play much.

Beating the Swiss 2-1 at home is nothing to brag about, they are an average team, but confidence is really down with the English team and needs to be built up gradually. Gabriel Agbonlahor getting injured was a real shame because I would have liked to see him and Rooney play together. Terry should return soon from injury and will solidify the defense, Upson is like Barry, a decent player but not an International. It was a good start, it's better than a draw or a loss.

I think your being way too harsh ticktock, (I dont mean this next bit as an insult) and a tad old fashioned.
Your views on the game seem to be a damning report on the lack of international quality on display and the inability of some players to play football.
Personally, I think we should all take a step back from the typically English (dare I say 'media led mentalilty') and view this as a great a positive and hopefully a sign of things to come.
Last night, England did something they have not done since...well, to be honest I cant remember - they "passed" the ball, and not only that, on the floor as well.
Everything they did was about as non-English as you can get, and I know that might get a lot of criticism as people will want to see the Premier League pace and mentality, but what were you honestly expecting from an Italian?
The most glaring thing to be seen in the first half was everyone playing like they were trying out a completely new game alltogether (almost lost) - and in a way, they were.
No going down the wings and hitting the target man, no long ball (untill Crouch came on and they fell into their Premier League mentality of "boot-the-ball") - it was patient passing, probing, and probing the oppositions weaknesses - everything went down the middle, and give it time, things will come together, and we wont be relying on individual brilliance from Joe Cole or Rooney to make something happen.
What made me very happy was the first real sign by any of the last 3 managers to show how they might be intending to play both Gerrard and Lampard - in a 5 man midfield - hmm...where have we heard that before? (Checks previous posts - ahh, thought I remembered something about that)
I do agree that Barry needs to show a lot moe quality before he convinces many that he can claim full control of that "holding midfielder role" - wanted to see Hargreaves there.
This is a completely new system to the England set up, and the fans are going to have to learn and deal with the change too.
Upson made a name for himself by not doing anything clumsy, might get a regular squad place now, Bentley showed promise, but seems over confident for me - kind of thinks he can do things he really cant...still got a lot to learn, but there were good signs.
Other than the goal, did Jenas touch the ball?, cant remember.
Gerrard was ok, not outstanding and not a nightmare - tried one too many hollywood passes for me - played important roles in both goals - seemed to play 3 different positions over the 90 - defensive mid, attacking mid and wide left (that was strange seeing as everything went down the middle).
Biggest statement was no striker, and Owen not even coming of the bench
All in all, once Capello realises his full squad, and picks the XI he wants to use for the qualifiers, and has some time to make the players settle into this new style of "pass-the-ball-football" I really do believe (actually its most probably over optimistic hope tbh) that we will see a new England, and maybe who knows - a successful one too.
now - am I feeling proud of our boys beating the Swiss 2-1 at wemberley last night?

I have to say after reading your posting in this thread Huzup I admire your optimistic tones on this performance by the national team. However I get the feeling its more of a English heart wanting to have a successful team speaking, than a football brain analyzing the truth of a poor display. I accept your point that I sound old fashioned in my continuation of criticizing there performances and pointing out the lack of true international players. What I fail to see is the difference between this performance than the past few. The last time I can honestly say England played well was against an excellent German side at Wembley. The game on weds was poor and I think you need to step back a bit and accept the opposition wasn't the strongest. Did you think they looked confident in the first half? I pose you this question... if the Swiss had scored first... would England have won? I very much doubt they would have. Before Joes wonderful bit of skill the crowd were already starting to get at them. This so called passing u speak of had me reaching for the tape again to check it out and I have to say again your heart has overtaken your eyes as passing was something that was pointed out to be poor.

I watched Croatia v Holland on Eurosport this morning. I cant believe how bad Holland made Croatia look. The same Croatia who belittled us at home just a few weeks ago. Are we really that far behind the likes of Holland? I asure you.... we are in trouble and Capello will need to be a miracle worker to get us to the world cup.

I only watched about 40 mins of the first half. Capello has a certain way he wants England to play, and I agree with Huzup that the players looked lost. We could have played against Havant and Waterlooville and still played below the level we want to see from England. I don't think it mattered about the opposition at this stage, and a weaker team was probably the best way to start the new regime, a method of trying to build confidence, however missguided that may be. I also agree that they looked to be playing the ball on the ground and tried the passing game. The key being 'tried'.
Capello stated that everyone starts on a clean slate, so I don't think we can read too much into team selection for what will happen in the future. They'll probably have all sorts of weird combinations and formations during friendlies, similar to how Sven started off.
I didn't expect to see any mass improvement from England in the first game, as it's not like swaping managers at club level.
I used to go to England games back in the early 90's and have struggled since Euro '96 to get any excitment from an England team. There are the rare performances but sadly over the years they have been decreasing in numbers.
My main interest is to see how Capello can unlock the English mentality that is stopping England becoming a great team (his words!).

Ticktock - what if the case is that England are not actually as good we (want)/think/hope (them to be?)/they are?
Cappello has brought a system to England - he will find players to fit that system - a different approach to the previous two managers.
With this in mind, there is no way you could have expected England to take the Swiss to the cleaners - yes they are a poor side, but what have we got to show that we are better?
We have better individual players but we havent seen a team performance for England in years - let Capello settle, let the players get use to it, as they showed they did to an extent in the second half.
The problem may be much bigger than we want to admit them to be, Cappello has his ideas, give him time.
And in answer to your hypothetical question, I reckon as long as Cappello gave them the assurance to carry on in the original style, and let it work - we would have got back in...