Euro 08 Qualifiers: Other Teams [R]

Nicky Shorey is awesome, I can't imagine why he wasn't given the start over Lescott. Were I England manager, I'd even go so far as to give him a regular first-team place, given Ashley Cole's unremarkable form for Chelsea as of late.

 

Black Wednesday for England and Scotland! At least the Scots can still qualify on their own...

Congrats to Greece, Romania & the Czech Republic on joining Germany and qualifying for the EURO 2008!


Here's all results of tonight:

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/em/qualifikation/runde/liga/106/

 

I still think there's a chance that Portugal and England won't qualify. I'd even put my money on England not qualifying at this point, as sad as that makes me. They're not a team that I dislike, and I'd like to see Joe Cole, John Terry and my other favorites at Euro.

The other big teams are pretty much through, I think. I'm still holding out hope that Scotland will somehow qualify, at Italy's expense.

 

I would rather see England in Euro 2008 than Russia..to be honest..

with England is much more fun..and we are more familiar with them...you never know about "russian secrets"

 

Me too.

 

it is funny but I root for England now until they qualify....in EURO 2008 I don´t care of them..but they need to qualify!!!!....

What would be Euro 2008 without England, France or Italy?

 

Would be just fine, if they don’t qulify that means they did not deserve to qualify over 12 games not only 1 when a small team can do a big upset. England lost to both Croatia and Russia on the road plus they failed to beat Macedonia at home ! and they couldn’t beat Israel on the road.. so if Russia beats Israel in Tel-Aviv then they deserve to go through
France lost twice to Scotland, Italy drew at home to Lithuania,
I still think both France and Italy will qualify, as for England I am not sure, and wouldn’t be to upset if they stay home

 

Yea I can see both France and Italy go through but no way in hell is England going through, unless Croatia pulls a Germany and just choses to take it easy.

There is no point anyways, if England goes to Euros it'll be the same old story. Hype + potential + Managerial brainfarts/McClaren = disaster.

 

England can beat Croatia 15-0 and is still not enough IF Russia beats Israel

 

England & Croatia didn't manage to get a win in Tel Aviv, so why shouldn't the Israelis be able to upset the Russians? Look at what happened to Scotland in Georgia.

Sometimes it's not easy to play away against a team which hasn't any pressure in contrast to yourself...

 

so Russia needs to lose in Israel...

and England needs to win against Croatia

hope this scenario works!

 

No, if Russia lose then england only need tie in Croatia match and if rusia tie then they must win!

 

you`re right " Ohne Holland..." was only funny till we played against the US,
and Korea in the quarter and the semi finals of 2002.

Not that there is anything wrong with those teams. But it just doesn`t compare to the classic that i.e. Germany-Netherlands is.

 

Couldn't agree more. That's the same reason I'll be rooting for Israel and England in the last few matches!

 

A couple of months ago I said that Gerrard was not a top international class midfielder. Too many bad touches, loose ball control, bad movement, bad short passing etc

Here's a good video to explain exactly what I mean. Even though he's in bad form, even in normal or good form he has a lot of these per game and at international and even sometimes at CL level, it's not good enough to be called a top player, or even good player sometimes.

Finally Benitez is beginning to feel safe enough at Liverpool to drop him without being lynched and/or sacked. Even in the past he never played Gerrard in the middle without a permanent minder eg. Hammann, and most of the time he's played he has been on a roaming role from the right.

From the video info :

The Observer newspaper voted Gerrard their man ...
The Observer newspaper voted Gerrard their man of the match for yesterday's England v Estonia game. I heard somebody call them blind and thought I'd rewatch the game and prove the newspaper right with Gerrard's highlights from the game.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pYHggzKlAi4#

 

yay, more anti-Gerrard rhetoric.

 

It's funny how no one can argue the point in my last post?

I'd love it if just once, someone could argue the point in the same terms as me, instead of coming out with the "Gerrard is awesome cos the media/everyone says so all the time" or acting like it's a no-no to criticise him.

The sooner he goes and Hargreaves, Rooney, Bentley or someone plays alongside Barry, the better for England.

 

I still disagree with your anti-Gerrard rhetoric. He has been terrbily out of form as of late but is slowly beginning to regain his form.

 

Steven Gerrard is an immensely talented player. He's not the best at any one thing (well, maybe sniping), but he's a player any side would benefit from.

 

See, that's what I mean. Perfect defense there.

I didn't make that video. Look at how much abuse that guy gets in his profile for it.

Even when Gerrard is in good form, he has way too many bad touches, bad passes and lack of movement to be a top international or CL player. Top international players have all that in top shape as well as the ability to lead and score goals.

Can anyone argue that?

Can anyone actually argue my points, or should I assume that you all agree with it?

The fact is Liverpool play better quality football without him, with better results of late.

Let's look at the 05 CL final - invisible for a half and half Kaka running rings around him until Hammann came on and started to get the ball and distribute the ball and make passing moves happen to keep the ball away from Milan.

Gerrard surged forward, scored a goal, dived for a penalty and did make positive moves forward, but in his own schoolyard style.

Olympiakos - a team that hadn't won away in the CL for how many games? Poor game until he scored. So he can do that sometimes but his overall game is average even when on form. Of course in the EPL, his style is perfect and the bad touches and passes don't matter anywhere near as much when the other team complies with the same.

West Ham - poor performance till the goals late on.

He gets goals and surges in bursts and does this often enough in the EPL along with his good long passing and tackling at times, but internationally and in CL, it's not enough to be called a top player or even a good player. He can't produce that consistently enough and also lacks the touch, short passing vision and movement invariably every game.

What the hell's he ever done internationally?

Schweinsteiger has done more! Quality of play and better goal ratio.

Liverpool are to an extent a one-man team, but that player is ALONSO, not Gerrard.

Liverpool play better football without Gerrard, and Gerrard has never been played in the middle in the style of play that Benitez wants. They will also get better results without Gerrard. Liverpool have done what they've done over the past few years despite Gerrard.

He's got a free role from the right. Even then, while more effective in the EPL with goals and tackles, what he does mostly is disrupt the rythmn and control the team has, especially in CL and without a doubt in international football.

He has what you'd call a "schoolyard" style. Good long shooting, long passing and running and tackling. Everything in the 25+ metre range he's good at.
"From our end to their's". Everything in the less than 20 metre range, he's very average or bad at. His vision in that range is lacking badly. The thing is the top international players are very good at both.

Now that Benitez feels safe enough with the fans to drop him, you'll see Liverpool play better quality football and get better results, with Alonso and Mascherano controlling the field from the middle.

Don't come back to me with the standard media replies or out-of-form comments.

If anyone can argue the points they're welcome.

Of course he's out of form, but even in form he has way too many bad touches and inabilities to keep the ball to be a good international player, let alone a top one.

 

No, he isn't immensely talented, and he's not a player that any team who doesn't play in the EPL would benefit from.

The sooner he goes, the better for England. They nearly qualified after dropping Lampard, and the only other step was to drop Gerrard to complete the qualification process.

How convenient that he's "out of form" in the most crucial phase for England?

Barry outshone him by far in all those games.

England have talent, but it's not Gerrard.

 

You're right, it's Joe Cole.

 

I've watched nearly all of Liverpool's games since Gerrard came into the senior team and has seen his development as a player. And speaking only on his behalf regarding his Liverpool days, its rather simplistic and ridiculous to say that Liverpool play better without him.

All the problems that Liverpool are having, with or without Benitez, are not all Gerrard's faults. He has his bad days just like every high profile player. Just as he has off days, so do the players around him and so does the coach.