That was more or less Germany's B team. I know England had missing players, but still...no Frings, Ballack, Jansen, Podolski, Gomez, Schweinsteiger, Klose, Borowski. Lahm, a converted right back played holding midfielder and was outstanding. Pander was playing his first start and even after woefully being turned by Richards he ended stronger and stronger besides the goal. Made_In_England has every right as an England fan to be utterly livid. Missed chances aside I thought England were woeful and Beckham average. Fair enough he got the ball in the box but it was usually blindly flung in and nowhere near an attacker. SWP is better, hell if not him why not Pennant who has improved recently at Liverpool?!? McClaren is by far the worst managerial appointment the FA have ever made and possibly the worst managerial appointment ever. I was with one England fan who sincerely hoped Germany would put a few more in, even match the 5-1 scoreline and force McClaren to quit on the bog like Keegan. Seperate issue, kudos to the Englnd fans for the thank you message before the game. Yeah, we had a great time too, glad you had fun despite the results. Great support there from the Deutschies.
Beckham is needed for service. In the games without him the chances were much fewer. Personally I think either SWP or Joe Cole could fill the drop in / slot striker role that England are missing to due to Rooney's injury. They both play it occassionally for Chelsea and Taylor is a great, unused, option on the left who plays there naturally.
Good post. We in England respect the German fans too, they are amongst the best in the world. Infact theres 1 guy who travels from Dresden just to watch a distinctly average English team play in the English 3rd division EVERY SINGLE GAME! That shows you how hardcore you guys really are. Its good to see that the Germans thought England had a bad game too. I think most people now are saying McLaren should go, the fact that Becks gets in when SWP and JP are obviously better players show the guy has no interest in experimenting, which you should do when playing friendlies. He's unproven and it will cost England, theres plenty of other proven managers that could take the role, I hope either he resigns soon or the FA wake up and smell the coffee. Maybe you MLS guys have a team for him to F**K up over there cuz after he's done with England I doubt many English teams will even touch him. He's never been a manager really, more like a good number 2.