International Football thread

[Aidan11]

Missed his equaliser but that second was brilliant.

[Gingerfinch]

Should have been off for that.

[Aidan11]

Referee obviously worried about getting home safely.

[Aidan11]

Thought we'd blown it.


Rooney one behind Sir Bobby now.

[Gingerfinch]

3 points. Wilshere played well, bar his goals. Still need a defense.

[yuppie]

Well its another win for England.

[yuppie]

Watching the highlights of the wales game one thing did strike me. I remember watching the Wale play 10 years ago and they could not get half way to filling the ground. Now with a chance they are filling the stadium.

Is this the death of Welsh rugby

[dan08]

Anyone watching Copa America? Been some brilliant games so far.

[sussexpob]

Anyone watching Copa America? Been some brilliant games so far.

I watched the Argentina v Paraguay game, which was a great comeback, and the Colombia v Venezuela game, which lost me my 15 way mega bet on all the internationals and made me quite mad.

[budgetmeansbudget]

3 points. Wilshere played well, bar his goals. Still need a defense.

Yep, were a bit caught out at times yesterday. I guess the centreback pairing for the foreseeable future is Cahill and Smalling, but that is only half a defense, and with the full back positions changing nearly every game, you aren't getting the cohesion and understanding required to make a solid unit.

[Gingerfinch]

3 points. Wilshere played well, bar his goals. Still need a defense.

Yep, were a bit caught out at times yesterday. I guess the centreback pairing for the foreseeable future is Cahill and Smalling, but that is only half a defense, and with the full back positions changing nearly every game, you aren't getting the cohesion and understanding required to make a solid unit.

Playing CB's at RB doesn't help either. We do have a few decent attacking options at least.

[sussexpob]

Roy is getting caught up in playing the Man United boys and forgetting both are utterly useless. Play Jags, play Clyne, instant improvement.

Phil Jones is consistently terrible.... he threw the ball straight to the Slovenian player from a no pressure situation yesterday.... goal number one.

Gibbs was out jumped for the second, but in fairness to him, when there is one man in the box in the middle of the goal, why is your left back tucking in and marking him?

[budgetmeansbudget]

Is Smalling that bad?

He seems relatively competent most of the time, and looks pretty good on the ball when he's bring the ball out of defense. I guess everyone wants him to be be the new Rio Ferdinand.

Jones is pretty awful, and I'm yet to be convinced by Henderson, although he normally does ok, but no more.

Couldn't believe Wilshere hadn't scored before yesterday, but it seems as illustarted by his winning the last two goals of the season he only scores crackers. Nice to see him and a few other players take the ball and move forward seamlessly, instead of taking a touch and then turning, and slowing the move down.

[sussexpob]

Is Smalling that bad?

He could be very good, but he has a long way to go. Alex Ferguson loved his defenders to be versatile, but I think Ferguson's way is slightly outdated because full back has become in recent years a very specialist and important role for teams, so you cant expect a guy to play right back one day, cb the next. Jones and Smalling have not developed because they have been asked to chop and change so much. If Van Gaal wants to make Smaliing a CB full time then fine, give him a full season there and he could excel. Don't put either in fake positions though.

Jones particularly looks like he needs to leave United and lock down a favoured position if he ever wants to be a really good player. Sign for a Tottenham or someone like that where they are going to define a role for you.

[dan08]

Is Smalling that bad?

He could be very good, but he has a long way to go. Alex Ferguson loved his defenders to be versatile, but I think Ferguson's way is slightly outdated because full back has become in recent years a very specialist and important role for teams, so you cant expect a guy to play right back one day, cb the next. Jones and Smalling have not developed because they have been asked to chop and change so much. If Van Gaal wants to make Smaliing a CB full time then fine, give him a full season there and he could excel. Don't put either in fake positions though.

Pretty sure Smalling has only played CB this season.