Quote:
Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier
The newspapers were full of what you would expect this morning. My own WC post mortem on England is nowhere near as bad. I`m still convinced had Lampard`s goal stood with the game at 2:2, and with England in the asendency the Germans would have been rocked especially their goalkeeper who was terrible for much of the match. Not saying England would have won, but the last two goals conceded were from those of a dejected team who had seen a goal disallowed and a second Lampard effort denied by the woodwork as well.
England really missed Ferdinand which would have allowed Terry to play his more natural position, neither of his replacements could do it. King was a walking hospital and Carragher oh dear!!! Upson played like a lion at times but just not good enough at this level.
But Capello should have known all this, an ITALIAN COACH who should know how to build a solid defence as this is what Italians do best but I suppose given his terrible command of English this wasn`t easy for him to do.
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Personally, I think for the first half hour we were absolutely rubbish. Up until Defoe hit the bar (from a position that was, by he way, nowhere near offside) just before Upson's goal, and after they broke away for their third we just weren't in the game at all. Too negative and just not doing enough to break up Germany's patient possession play, which is of course pretty much how they win all their games. When I started seeing those signature, aimless long balls going 70-odd yards into nothingness by only the 25th minute, I knew we'd blown it. That said, had that Lampard goal stood, things could've been so different, but Germany did still pose a threat even when we were in the ascendency - Terry and Upson were simply too slow and not alive to the situation enough to deal with their attacks.
What concerns me is that the James-Gerrard-Lampard-Terry-Joe Cole generation of England players has basically played at its last world cup, and I really don't know where the fresh, young talent to replace them is gonna come from. I really hope I'm wrong, but I can see a very miserable few years for the team in our very near future.
Basically, I'm with Chris Waddle on this one;
BBC Sport - Football - World Cup 2010: Waddle blames FA for England exit