England vs. Holland, Friendly: Wednesday 29/02/12, 20:00 Wembley, London [R]

The FA will think 3-2 is a good result.. Pearce for manager full-time now.

 

expect an influx of cards

 

FT: 2-3

Meh...some good things, some bad things. The youngsters showed potential, but also inexperience at key times. What you'd expect really.

Though on the full 90 mins I thought a draw would have been fair, I still feel the Dutch had more gears to go up. That showed a bit when we equalised and it livened them up a bit. They are a better side than us, so there shouldn't be any shame in losing....but they weren't trying as hard as our players, and still won..that sucks.

 

haha .wouldnt put it past them to think like that.
Its clear they have been holding out on talking to people to see how he would do.

 

We were missing some key players. Not making any excuses, but I like our chances with Rooney, Wilshere, etc.

 

I thought cahill was poor on their first 2 goals first goal how is he lettin robin cut onto his left everyone in the stadium knew what robin wanted to do and the second goal he is telling smelling to mark the man and passing the responsibility he positioning could of been better. Thought we played well and didn't deserve to be 2 down. Welbeck played really well Parker was really good then poor moments strange one.

 

The FA don't look at his tactical abilities. They just look at results.. They fail to see how his players in the past have bailed out his shit tactics..

 

If the score had been 2-2 it would have sealed the job for him. But losing keeps it up in the air and means the media wont jump on his bandwagon. We cant have a throwback to the Steve McClaren of Kev keegan era's ,where we had games like this all the time.

 

Yeah Cahill really bungled it on the first goal, he basically left Robben free reign into the area.

 

I agree with you, problem is, I don't think the FA cares.. They want a manager who is basically a puppet, yes-man, et, and won't give them any flack. I hope I'm wrong though..

 

I thought Johnson and Richards linked up well together on the right. Baines was dreadful..

 

Not one bbc comm is saying anything negative about Pearce. Guess they want him to get the job, FFS.

 

haha, did you really expect anything different??

 

I doubt Wilshere will get back to full fitness in time, and Rooney misses the first 2 matches. Cleverly also seems to be having an injury prone season, and Terry and Ferdinand have their own issues that come with them. Gerrard and Lampard are worse than they have ever been. These are pretty much the players we have to, and should be using.

Don't get me wrong 3L, I think on the whole there were more positives than negatives (Pearce not getting the job hopefully being one of them), and I think in the really long term these kind of games will help us. There are just better teams than us out there at the moment (Holland being one of them), and it sucked that they won in second gear, because it's reminded me how tough the Euros are going to be.

 

I respect your opinion.. I'm just ever the optimist..

 

Jones energy in midfield made a difference versus Spain and Sweden. But Pearce has shifted him back to defence .

 

I thought it was pretty poor to be honest and not just from the management. We have a relatively poor crop of players coming through. The Dutch deserved 3-0, nevermind 3-2.

 

I've seen plenty of worse performances by more experienced England teams, against worse opposition over the last few years. The Dutch are capable of a lot more than they showed though, so yes, we're a fair way behind the better nations. The only chance we have is to give the youngsters time to grow with their clubs and the national team.

 

This is absolutely right. England are too reactionary. Too often a player makes a mistake early in his England career, the media and fans have a spasm and that player is dropped as a result.

Mistakes happen - it's how the player handles it. How many times have we chopped and changed after one bad (or even merely mediocre) display, resigning that player to the sidelines for the longterm? That's the kind of thing that develops the "mental tougness" we seem to (incorrectly) think England has. IMO, expending a lot of energy, throwing yourself in front of an occasional shot and frequently "tracking back" regardless of tactical benefit are NOT indicators of that.

The national team needs to play it's part in creating cohesive squads and equipping players to handle the international level, instead of expecting them all to come ready-made from club level.

 

Im part pleased that Pearce didnt come out of this smelling of roses ,but afew posters need to calm down with their sucking off of the Dutch team. They lost 3-0 to Germany in the last round of games and we had the infamous win over spain. I know that some people would like to bend over the table and take one bareback from Robben ,but lets not get too carried away.

If Pearce takes us to the finals I wont expect much. If we can get a competent manager we can be more positive .Pearce is just a redux of previous idiots like mcClaren or keegan.

 

The Dutch won without playing at their peak. Let's be honest, we only really got close to avoiding a defeat because we scored an offside goal. Cannot really be relying on the Official's making major mistakes to scrape a draw at home.

Robben should not have been allowed to run so far without a challenge coming in. We were supposed to be playing with 2 DMs to support the defence. It looked too easy for Robben to run with the ball and then shoot through Smalling's legs.

It was very naive of the team to concede twice immediately after a restart - once immediately after conceding the opening goal, and then again almost immediately after scoring the equaliser. We might meet Holland in the semis of the Euros. I doubt they are worried after this match.

Sturridge impressed me and looked like a goal threat. He needs to be more clinical though because at International Level you tend not to have many good chances to score.

After this match, I am still worried about the forward line. I am now worried about the defence though too!

 

Yep Sturridge lost the ball. In the opposition half. Still did not expect Robben to be able to run from his own half and get a shot on target without any tackles coming in. Even Maradonna had to dodge tackles!

I am not saying Sturridge was perfect. Of course not. He still has to break his duck for England and is running short of games before the Euros. I thought he looked lively though. I thought Hart looks the part too.

A bad night for England. A defeat and 3 injuries. Hopefully we can field this linesman against France.

 

I think 2-2 would have been a fairer result.. Baines handed Robben a gift-wrapped present with bows and tinsel right in front of goal.. I believe Cole would have made a huge difference in defence..

 

Robben in my mind, is the most dangerous forward in International football when fit. Amazing really that his pace hasn't diminished despite all his injury problems.

Holland are a very compact side with some very experienced players. If Robben stays fit for the Euros then I believe them to be favorites.

Some plus points for England for sure, but opponents like Holland that keep their shape and look to break with a player like Robben would be difficult to beat for any team.