I want 90 mins of my life back.

As a Palace fan I used to pay to watch the same rubbish as i saw last night, No off the ball movement, barely any effort , no decent runs , and the runs that were made were down blind alleys. Palace used to play ' hoof it and hope' that one of the forwards could outrun the center backs. Pretty much the same. Rooney ran around alot but all 30 yards from the goal. Yeah , the goal was a good bit of build up work, but zero follow up.

What happened to making yourself available, why stand directly behind an opposition player when one of your team has the ball and is being harried 2 on 1? Is it the 'he can deal with it ' attitude.

There was no imagination at all ,just a poor lacklustre performance .

What mammal cant jump? Emille Hesky

Out in knock out Round 1 , unless they massively improve in every department

I agree that we need Gareth Barry – and I'd start with Gerrard and put Lampard on the bench, when Gerrard tires (and they will because of the heat, altitude and the fact it's right at the end of the season that includes Prem and Champions League) then bring Lampard on. The other reason we struggled was that Rooney was dropping too deep again due to the midfield not having a stranglehold on the game. Lets hope King is fit for friday again, Joe Cole on the left

edhornby – some reasonable thoughts there but one thing – there is no problem with heat in SA – it is winter there right now and temperatures are around 18degC. And I have yet to see Gerrard tiring – one of his key strengths (certainly at club level) is his 90 minute ability.

I'm going to unapologetically rehash 2 of my other posts from another thread comparing our performance to Germany's.

US are a far superior team to Australia. Australia are the same group who performed adequately last WC but it's 4 years on now. The US are ranked 14 in the World. We're 8th.

Said it before, say it again. The performance was not bad. Not brilliant but the US is a decent enough side to play against, and were very well organised. They fielded 9(?) players from our Premier league, they know our game and players inside out, and they came with the intention of getting a draw. They beat Spain a few months ago, and were 2-0 up against Brazil before folding. Several times we were inches away (Heskey should have scored, SWP should have done better, there was a last ditch interception from a Lennon cross with Gerrard unmarked awaiting a tap in, another pull back just went behind Rooney…. to name but a few). We could have easily have scored 4 just like the Germans.

Instead, one very poor goalkeeping error and we might as well come home now and save any more embarrassment. Get real folks.

For better or worse, these are the 23 that Mr Capello has selected to represent us, and from these 23 will come the 14 each game that will play. For now at least what they need is our unconditional support. No one plays bad for fun; and whether at home in the pubs or abroad in the stadiums, our praise and support for all the good things we do is what's needed now.

The time for post-mortems is after the patient is dead, not before. For now, let's get behind them. You don't win the World Cup in your first game. Get through the group, then we'll see what's what.

🙄 Ledley King out for rest of tournament. Can he be replaced or are you stuck with the 23 you brought out once the tournament starts?

Just to echo what m_f said…

when Gerrard tires

Never seen it happen myself…whatever you say about the guy, you can't question his fitness. I have yet to see him dead on his feet.

I always thought the decision to take Ledley was risky. I know his injury is not his knee but it's hardly a huge surprise that he's knacked for the rest of the tournament.
I guess you'll have to play OG Carragher now!

Can he be replaced or are you stuck with the 23 you brought out once the tournament starts?

No – players can only be replaced up to 48 hours before the tournament starts IIRC.

It will be our weakness – no pace at the back with some inexperienced players in front of a keeper they don't entirely trust for one reason or another.

It will be passed off as Irish bitterness 🙂 but Saturday's performance showed why England just about justify their world ranking of eight i.e. A quarter finalist, at best.

Saturday's performance showed why England just about justify their world ranking of eight i.e. A quarter finalist, at best.

Have to agree. Looking forward to seeing the first group matches for the other big teams though – only Germany have impressed so far so let's see how Spain, Holland, Italy and Brazil play in their first games – often close games.

I was saying all last week to my wife that the US could have been a banana skin for us – lose that and we would only qualify as runners-up which would mean meeting the winners of Group D in the next round – almost certainly that will be Germany. Go through as winners and it would be Ghana or (less likely after last nights (non)showing) – the Convicts.

Have to agree. Looking forward to seeing the first group matches for the other big teams though – only Germany have impressed so far

Argentina have showed some glimpses of really nice play too.

`bit unfortunate but not like England fans to swing hystericaly from we are world beaters to we are rubbish and should come home now is it 🙄
Perhaps we can start early and say England would have won the world cup but for the ball?

Argentina have showed some glimpses of really nice play too.

Argentina Messi have showed some glimpses of really nice play too.

😉

Junkyard- I think you'll find the vast majority of England fans are totally realistic of our chances and its the media that hypes expectations up. My own opinion is that we're a quarter final team and could possibly make the semis with a bit of luck but definitely no hysterical 'we're going to sweep all before us' sentiments from the fans I know.

bye bye ledley, i never rated you anyway

did fabio get his left and his right mixed up, if not what was going on with milner/SWP – be it 442 or 433/451 the middle of the park needs straightening out

i pick green before calamity james anyday.

[massive cliché alert]England do insist on playing notoriously poorly against sides they should beat.[/massive cliché alert]

This gets rolled out all the time. Slovenia's win over Algeria has put the proverbial cat among the pigeons. A draw would have been the best result. I'm thinking Slovenia aren't there to make up the numbers.

dull dull dull

roll on august

Roll on the 23rd, England will be out of it then.

bloodynora – exactly

I'm thinking Slovenia aren't there to make up the numbers.

They looked pretty awful to me – even worse than England 😉

Slovenia's win over Algeria has put the proverbial cat among the pigeons

I don't think it has – neither Algeria or Slovenia have a realistic chance of beating the US or England so I don't think that result matters.

It will probably finish
England or US top on 7 points
US or England runners-up on 7 points (inferior goal difference)
Slovenia 3 points
Algeria 0 points

And I believe the England team has more ability to open up an inferior team with their pace going forward and use of the wide players. Crouch has the ability to get 2 or 3 in a match against either of those defences.

Everyone knows the major problem was that the game was screened on ITV. 😀

They should be banned from covering England, we always play terribly, and I have to turn down the commentary and try and get 5Live on AM or digital to sync with the action.

Nice of the Americorns to do the math

If they tied with the British…then that must mean the Celts are backing the English?

I believe they won by a home run and a touchdown.

Reminds me of the boxer who thought he won the fight with 3 falls to 1…