England 1-2 France – I Did Not See The Incident (Photos & Video)

Ollie Irish

18th, November 2010

7 Comments

By Ollie Irish

Happy to admit I didn’t see England lose to France, as I was in a pub, and not one of those football-friendly pubs with a big screen. I caught some post-match punditry in my living room, which seemed horribly familiar – along the lines of “We have to rip it up and start again… blah… grass roots… blah… poor technique… etc.” So yeah, happy I missed it. All I did see was Peter Crouch’s goal, which was a very good, un-Crouchlike finish.

The Sun called Capello ‘The prat in the hat’, which is a depressing return to the days of Turnip Taylor and The Wally With The Brolly. As I’ve said before, Capello is a dead man walking; once the tabloid tide has turned against you, history has shown it’s almost impossible for England managers to turn it around. But I do wish the tabs would admit that this England team is mediocre – at best – when compared with teams like Spain and Germany. In the light of such an admission, perhaps some England fans wouldn’t rant and foam at the mouth, as if this result is a massive outrage. It’s not outrageous, it’s predictable.

If you did watch the match, what did you make of it? I heard Andy Carroll put himself about in a mildly effective fashion, and that Jordan Henderson was played out of position. I also heard Nasri was rather good. Fill me in…

Video highlights:


Match photos (click thumbs to see the large images):

Photos: PA

Posted in Featured, International football, Photos

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7 Comments

  1. derekdigby says:

    we were shit. consider yourself filled in

  2. Chris says:

    Carroll got his head on a lot of ‘lofted passes’ (as there were no actual crosses to speak of) that he had absolutely no right to, but needed a strike partner or an attacking midfielder within 20-yards of him to render his flicks worthwhile.

    For me, he should instantly be elevated above Crouch (regardless of his well-taken goal) in the England pecking order as a result of his performance last night. As for the rest – same old, same old.

    France looked impeccable at times before their first-half lustre began to fade.

  3. oc says:

    I’ll watch again as soon as Terry retires, not before.

  4. Adam Johnson says:

    In the times like this I’m glad I’m not from England! My God, Crouch is playing for the national team, and what is worst thing – he is only one scorer for the England! English football is going so low…

  5. dc says:

    i love how capello openly states that he will be experimenting with new players in a friendly and every english person is still upset at losing by 1 goal in a joke game.

    england got passed around in circles by the french team, who despite what the press might tell you about their recent failings, have been playing with the same players in the same formation for the last few months. carroll and gibbs were great, henderson was “out of position” in a position that he has played quite a bit for sundlerland (not recently) but could be excellent backup judging by his sunderland performances over the last 2 years. foster can be a great 2nd choice keeper now that hes starting at bham. unfortunately there wasnt a chance for wilshere, hart, rodwell, cahill and all the other younger players who should have been playing.

    in a few months time when lampard terry and rooney are back people will be demanding experience over youth again. absolutely pathetic trend-following country.

  6. Nick says:

    We lacked the tactical awareness to be able to find space, understand which side to pass to a player in order to not immediately be under pressure, and the control needed to shield the ball from defenders. Benzema, Malouda and particularly Nasri were impeccable in this respect.

    Through being unable to perform these skills we found ourselves unable to string any passes together, and with the much publicised aerial threat of Carroll it was far too tempting for the centre backs to play pitching wedges up to him and hope against hope that someone might run onto a pin-point flick on.

    Notable contributions came from Gerrard, who is wasted behind a main striker and absolutely has to be given free license to roam and affcet the play from the centre of the park. Carroll tried hard in a position that to be honest any of Zamora, Crouch, Cole or even Heskey would have got similar results from

    Barry has not got the pace and speed of thought to effectively shield a back four, and his passing is woeful. When fit, Huddlestone has to be the main option in the position. Foster flapped at most of what he saw, kicked atrociously and strengthened Hart’s claim between the sticks. Milner and Walcott had nothing to do! They hugged the touchline and watched as the centrebacks blasted balls down the middle. Walcott in particular had to spend most of his time defending as Jagielka was never going to pass his own half way line as an attacking threat.

    You’d think it would be totally depressing, but I’m not overly miserable with the showing. We genuinely don’t have the talent to be a top 10 nation at the moment. Fulham fans may as well boo their team if they lose to Man City at the weekend. We were outplayed by a better team, who have been ruined in recent years by a buffoon in charge and a damaging clique of mindless, arrogant players. France can play. Really well. And they beat us.

  7. Mountain Wag says:

    England attempted to play a long-ball game to utilize Walcott’s speed, but he was rendered useless most of the match because England gave away possession with the majority of their passes. Once the French had the ball, I’d watch them move up the pitch with a string of 5 one-touch passes and it was refreshing to watch. The French wanted (and needed) the win more and it showed.

    England’s youthful players were by far the more talented in the Three Lions squad that evening (Gibbs, Carroll, etc.) and the captain (Rio) was so bad (and slow) he had to be subbed. What kind of leadership is that? Experience may count for a lot on the National Team stage, but pace and accuracy count for more – and England’s ‘old guard’ are missing those two qualities at the moment.

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