England vs Slovakia (r)

[Fanaddict]

Final England wins 2 -1 on two second half goals by Michael Owen although first goal may be credited to Beckham as it looks david's cross did not touch owens head but it might have grazed it before going in.

Second goal was on a cross by scoles that was tipped by a defender and then owen pounced on it heading it in.

[rymannryan]

Yup. Good result. I followed it on match tracker at soccernet.

[BuffloSoldier]

Watched it; Slovakia dominated the first half, but you had to think without a second goal, the hosts left themselves open to that kind of fulltime scoreline.

The field was a superb equalizer in its own right.

[sinner78]

Dodgy performance from England .
But those conditions weren't exactly helpful either.
The pitch was like a ploughed field .

[Justin O]

Give Slovakia credit, they're a decent team. They kept up with Turkey and Sweden during much of WC 2002 qualifying. You don't do that unless you're a capable team. England had better be careful on the return leg. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Slovakia got a point in Istanbul during WC qualifying. It is defintely not more difficult to get a point in England than to get one in Turkey.

[Motterman]

WHAT A CRAP PITCH!!!

Even before England went down 1-0 you could see the problems England were having. There were no easy passes on the day, and they were lucky to get the win, much less the deserved draw. Credit to the Manchester United players for sparking the goals, and the Liverpool player for not blowing the easy chance.....

Our first choice central defenders would have probably had the Slovakian goal covered also....

[lanman]

Ferdinand and Campbell would not have found it any easier on that pitch than Woodgate and Southgatte. I thought they defended well, given that it was nigh on impossible to keep your feet whilst on the back foot. It was the midfield that let England down, as they were giving possession away far to easily.
Slovakia will certainly feel a bit hard done by, but ultimately England took what chances they had, Slovakia didn't.

[cachundo]

BBC: Slovakia 1-2 England (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/england/2320679.stm) Michael Owen struck a priceless winner to inspire England to victory as Slovakia threatened a European Championship upset.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's side were in danger of being on the wrong end of a shock when Middlesbrough's Szilard Nemeth gave Slovakia a deserved first-half lead.

But England - as wretched as the weather in rain-swept Bratislava in the opening 45 minutes - staged a second-half recovery inspired by master marksman Owen.

[sinner78]

Originally posted by Justin O
. It is defintely not more difficult to get a point in England than to get one in Turkey.


Says who?? you???
Why dont you check our home record compared to turdkeys...
When slovakia come to england there wont be torrential rain and a ploughed up pitch.
keep it real..

[Matt Clark]

That was a ********ing hilarious game.

Slovakia made the most of the conditions, but SGE's tactical adjustment at half time was spot on and we were worthy winners by the end. Gamer two 'alves, as they say.

[burning247]

What a nail biter, I'm glad we came through in the end though. I have to give credit to the Slovakian fans for never letting a minute of silence go by (well until Owen scored the second). Nice free kick from Becks, as usual. Nice finish on a terrible error for Owen. And one more thing...

Why is Hesky on England, let alone Liverpool?

[kygunner]

Does England seem to revert back to their old ways? It seems to me that when Sven started out the lads responded, but the last few outings have been lackluster.

[Matt Clark]

I wish people would get over the Heskey thing. He does a job, he just gets on with it and he does so despite the fact that because it is a thankless support role he is continually accused of being England’s weakest link. Which is bollocks, when you consider some of the other garbage we so regularly serve up. Where was Woodgate for Nemeth’s opener? Where was Butt the entire game?

As someone who would cheerfully throttle the big lug more often than not and as someone who regularly pays to watch a side containing Emile Heskey, I feel I am more qualified than most to properly assess his qualities (or otherwise). And no one is claiming that he is - or ever will be - a world beater. But top coaches keep picking him and they do so because they have a far better understanding of these matters than anyone around here. The answer to the question “Why is he ‘on’ England and/or Liverpool?” is because Sven Goran Erikkson and Gerard Houllier say so.

[michaec]

Well I'm in the "drop Heskey" camp. At the top level of football, someone with such an appalling touch and lack of goals surely can't be playing for England. And watching on Saturday, I thought he was just plain lazy in not closing down the Slovakian defenders when they had the ball. While Alan Smith hasn't done it at the top level either, at least there is no way that his work rate could ever be faulted. And he would only be in until Robbie Fowler gets fit and can be drafted in, the best finisher England have in my opinion.

I have to agree with the comments on Woodgate and Butt. Woodgate will probably be dropped on Wednesday now that Cmapbell is fit and needs a season or two of Champions League football before he can be relied upon to play for England. Butt is just awful, I get the feeling he's believing his own hype after the world cup and trying the flashier things when we all know his strengths are tough tackles and five yard passes.

[Matt Clark]

Well, I’m actually not opposed to dropping Heskey in favour of Smith. I’m also someone who believes that Liverpool have many reasons to drop Heskey for Baros. But that’s not the point - the key to the question is the role assigned each player. Heskey’s role is clear and he performs it diligently whenever asked to. The fact that he has a poor touch (not something anyone should be judged on in this instance, by the way, not with that pitch) and fails to impose his strength and size as often as we would like is peripheral to the main issue - which is that he is picked to perform a certain task and always does so to the best of his ability. To question the level of that ability is one thing, but to hammer the lad for doing the thankless task he is always handed as best he can is as unfair as it is pointless. Until England play in accordance to other tactics, and other strengths, Heskey will continue to feature.

EDIT: Although it certainly is up to Alan Smith to prove that he can feature in his place in the current system. Crucially, Smith is adept at holding on to the ball in advanced positions, something Heskey is, at best, inconsistently doing.

And on a final note, let's not forget that it was Heskey that forged the initial opportunity which led to our late winning goal. On a night when none of the England players performed with any particular measure of distinction, the default "That Heskey, he's crap" line is even harder to view as a worthwhile observation. Where is the criticism of Beckham's immature and reckless petulance late on? The thing he was supposed to have grown out of? Where is the criticism of Gerrards continual surrender of the ball? Where does Paul Scholes get taken to task for one of his most anonymous performances in an England shirt in ages?

Tally up the positive contributions of the players out there and Heskey is one of the few who is up on the night.

[crummy]

Scholes has been poor in an England shirt for a good while now.

But sticking him wide left was a ridiculous decision.

Sven's gotta decide who he wants to play central midfield out of Scholes/Butt/Gerrard and leave the other one on the bench.

Stop trying to put square pegs in round holes

[burning247]

I think Scholes had a good game. He's kinda got the Jackel and Hide thing going, he sometimes plays amazing, and other times you wonder why he's even playing.