France v England [R] - United and fmr United players

[Achtung]

Beckham's free kick is headed in by Lampard in the first half

In the second half, Silvestre takes down Rooney in the box, Beckham takes the kick, but Barthez makes a huge save

France scores twice in second half injury time and beats England 2-1 in one of the most incredible international matches I've ever seen.

[Unorthodox Yank]

Beckham's free kick is headed in by Lampard in the first half

In the second half, Silvestre takes down Rooney in the box, Beckham takes the kick, but Barthez makes a huge save

France scores twice in second half injury time and beats England 2-1 in one of the most incredible international matches I've ever seen.

I call the cable company.
They put me on hold for 30 minutes.
I ask why it's not letting me order.
they say taht they dont know, but it should work now.
I say OK.
15 minutes to kickoff.
No game.
I call cable company.
I get puton hold for 30 minutes.
I say it's still not working.
They say it should work now, sending a ping to my cable box that shuts it off momentarily.
I try to keep them on the line to make sure it works, but they hang up before i can say anything.
No game.
30 minutes in.

After that, i didn't even bother. I didn't figure playing 20 bucks to watch only the second half of a mtach was at all worth it.


********.

[johno]

Erickson lost the game.. of course Becks not scoring the PK did not help, but Owen must never be subbed, Rooney did well i thought, well enough in defence to - warrant him staying on... u just pumped the ball long and allowed France to come back into the game with all their possesion, poor tactics imo... I was deeply saddened... England now, must hope that Croatia can beat France, or that they themselves win their other 2 games...

[triplelake]

Unlucky but probably deserved loss for England. England played nothing like the top 3 teams in the premier league. They are playing like Liverpool, sit back, defense deeply, pump long balls forward hoping that one of the forwards can catch the ball. Ashly Cole was poor at left back today. France (or should I say Zidane?) basically dominated the match.

[loublaze]

Erickson lost the game.. of course Becks not scoring the PK did not help, but Owen must never be subbed, Rooney did well i thought, well enough in defence to - warrant him staying on... u just pumped the ball long and allowed France to come back into the game with all their possesion, poor tactics imo... I was deeply saddened... England now, must hope that Croatia can beat France, or that they themselves win their other 2 games...

Owen was rubbish and just a mere spectator. Even Heskey did more in 5 mins [ including the unfortunate foul ] than Owen did all game!

[DutchFootballRulez]

Nobody lost the game..Beckham's saved penalty hurt. But Beckham probably should've killed more time been more patient, Gerrard's horrible backpass and James' poor wall hurt more than anything. I didn't agree w/ taking Rooney off for Heskey but

People forget Zidane is just that damn good.

[Father Ted]

Really it was Erikson's fault. England's tactic was to defend for the last 30 minutes with Rooney's forays the exception. France were coming at them and the whole England midfield were just sitting about 5 yards in front of the back 4 with no pressure being pressed on France. Then he takes off their only attacking force in Rooney and brings in the donkey Heskey. At the point I told my wife that it was all over, England would lose (much like the desperate Mexican substition with Hernandez in WC02). As I was saying here tons of times before, Gerrard is overated.
BTW who else thought Beckham taking the penalty was a bad choice given that he and Barthez would have practiced a thousand times at United?

[Achtung]

Bad idea for England to sit for so long and do nothing. They were the better team in the first half, but in the second, all they did was let France take the game to them. France didn't even do that good a job of that, but they got some late help from Liverpool's wonder boys. England could have won if they held possession, but they decided to let their defense do the dirty work. They did a good job--it was Emile Heskey who crapped it up. Granted, England hardly played like a team that could win it all.

For those keeping track of dubious stuff, that's two penalties in two days conceded by one of our own. Ronaldo yesterday, Silvestre today.

[Mac_Howard]

1) Blo...dy Liverpool players. Heskey makes a totally unnecessary foul, Gerrard makes the best through ball France had all night and Owen was non-existent up front (BBC's ratings, Gerrard 5, Owen 5 and Heskey not worth rating). No wonder they struggle to make the CL qualifiers ;)

2) Use too many midfield players to protect defence and you spend all your time in your own half defending and any mistake you make can be crucial.

3) Replacing Rooney with Heskey was idiotic particularly if you are going to defend.

4) Never try to defend a one goal lead. One piece of skill, one bad refereeing decision, one mistake and it's gone.

Gutted! Now I know how the Bayern fans felt. :(

[Luther_Gabriel]

Gutted! Now I know how the Bayern fans felt. :(

Exactly.

[bigtoga]

Unlucky but probably deserved loss for England. England played nothing like the top 3 teams in the premier league. They are playing like Liverpool, sit back, defense deeply, pump long balls forward hoping that one of the forwards can catch the ball. Ashly Cole was poor at left back today. France (or should I say Zidane?) basically dominated the match.What???? France dominated for three minutes; England dominated the 40th-80th minutes... And England played, for long stretches, just like United - it was beautiful to watch for quite a long spell.Owen was rubbish and just a mere spectator. Even Heskey did more in 5 mins [ including the unfortunate foul ] than Owen did all game!You're right - great foul, Emile! Way to set up Zidane. I suppose that's the only way Heskey will get an assist this tourney...BTW who else thought Beckham taking the penalty was a bad choice given that he and Barthez would have practiced a thousand times at United?Not I... I always feel it's best to have your best player at the moment doing what they're best at. Besides, who else was going to take it? Gary? David James? No one else on the pitch is a dedicated PK taker - the order is Beckham, then Owen.

[johno]

For those keeping track of dubious stuff, that's two penalties in two days conceded by one of our own. Ronaldo yesterday, Silvestre today.


I cannot help but take some possitives from the game...

Paul Scholes played like many expected Zidane, Rui Costa/Deco and other star central midfielders to play... his every touch was magical - he made excellent passes, held the ball, avoided tackles held the team together... he was really top class in the game.. imo I would give him the highest rating for a midfield player who started barring any of Spain's players (I missed much of that game so I cannot judge).

Beckham - proved that if you giv up corners and freekicks to England you really put yourself in a position to concede goals... it was not a great game, but it was good...

Gerrard will only get better, his determination and steel will, will force him to up his standard of play...

The defence looked good... the defenders played very solidly.

The negatives...

Sven does not think England can beat France, other wise, he would have let King and Campbell play defence properly rather than with Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham a few paces in front of them... the English midfield was pushed too far back and they gave way too much room to Viera and company.

Owen had a poor game... but I still stand by my statement that you never sub Michael Owen unless he is injured... he is just too good, always capable of producing a bit of magic... and if you do take him off why not bring on either a left sided midfield player or a central mid like Butt instead of another striker, especially since you want to defend... and allow that CM and Gerrard to play very defensively and let your other mids just try to pressure the ball... oh well...

interesting note...

2 terrible fouls committed by attacking substitutes...(strikers/attacking mids) who came on as subs... Ronaldo, Heskey...

[50 Euro]

My money was on France so I was obviously happy with the result, but also happy for Barthez, though how typical was it that his next save after the penalty was made with his nose. :)