[Mafro]

Ha, Louis Saha is targeting a return to action by the end of October, wonder how long he will last?

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

Ferdinand did nowt special either really.

Luke Young was terrible which was proved further by Motson saying he was good.

[Mafro]

He got a 7/10 on Teletext. Campbell is going to be out for several weeks with a hamstring injury.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

By the way as we have now qualified can we please put some new names in on Weds? Drop Owen, Lampard, Carragher, Young and Joe Cole.

[Sidders]

Crouch did alright I thought.

[DC]

Crouch did alright I thought.

Yes i was impressed i have to admit. The striking partnership worked well, i think i would now put Crouch above Defoe. The thing is I dont know if it would work well with Rooney.
Gerrard played forcefull in that match, pushing people off the ball. And Lampard did very well especially when Becks was sent off, helping with the defence and he was involved when we were striking. As i said we could do better, but i was proud of how they held together after Becks was sent off. To be honest they didn't really get near the goal at all when Becks was sent off. They hit the post but i think thats when he was on, and Robinson had that covered.
Must play better on Wednesday though, for some respect back.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

Crouch doesn't have the power for it to work. Hes actually a terrible header of a ball.

[DC]

Crouch doesn't have the power for it to work. Hes actually a terrible header of a ball.

I do see what you mean there. But he can hold the ball really good, and mabie he can direct the ball to Owen in the box with his head. Being as he is taller it is an advantage.
That descision towards Becks is still pissing me off. I mean they were doing this type of stuff to our lads all match:-

And Becks didn't even do nothing. If i were him though i wouldn't bother appealing now because there no need for him in the Poland match. And we will be in more trouble if he loses it.

[Quincy]

crouch wont start for england again

[Adam]

Oh well.

[Dickie]

Crouch played terribly, everytime the ball was at his feet he looked lost. He's basically a forward who's not going to get you goals at all, he wont ever start for ngalnd again.

On the Beckham thing, the cards were not deserved but he went looking for the Austrian No. 5 as soon as he got the 1st booking; after the first booking he fouled him soon after in the middle third, then again chasing back conceding the foul for the 2nd booking. While the Austrian gave a great performance diving i dont think Beckham was 100% just going for the ball in that challenge and i feel that the second booking was justified for that reason. In short, Beckham didn't help himself by committing 3 fouls in the space of a minute or two.

There can be no appeal for the cards as it was 2 separate yellows.

I thought that we looked extremely shaky for the most part of the game and just allowed Austria to play at their own pace and come at us rather than trying to boss it ourselves.

SORT IT SVEN!

P.s. - I'm not sure if we were watching the same gam yesterday downcount.

[DC]

crouch wont start for england again

Shame really. I do think he has room to improve. I underestimated Crouch becuase when he played for England before against Columbia he didn't make too much of an impact. And Owen had to get a hat-trick to make sure we won. So i was unimpressed but i think he has improved and i would never rule him out.
What made me laugh yesterday was when they went along the players and Crouch & Owen were standing next to each other. The camera had to move down from Crouch to Owen. Wish i could find a picture of it

[DC]

P.s. - I'm not sure if we were watching the same gam yesterday downcount.

So what do you think the best performance was then? Against Northern Ireland or yesterday? I didn't say they played great, but it was better than last time.

[Dickie]

P.s. - I'm not sure if we were watching the same gam yesterday downcount.

So what do you think the best performance was then? Against Northern Ireland or yesterday? I didn't say they played great, but it was better than last time.

It was the difference in views on Crouch and Beckham, you seemed to not be too worried by the performance. Yes, it was better than Northern Island but that was dreadful, overall 5/10 yesterday.

[Quincy]

wasnt hard for it to be better than northern ireland game though was it?

on ssn they showed the odd for the world cup we are joint 3rd favourites with germany on 8/1, brazil are favourites on 7/2 and argentina 2nd favourites, cant remember the odds.

its gonna be a well embarrasing world cup unless we improve a lot. bottom of the group probably.

then i saw beckham on tv saying that we got a great chance! ha hahahahahahahah.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

my team for next week (which won't happen):

Robinson
carragher King terry Neville
wrigh-phillips Lampard Richardson
Rooney
Bent Owen

[Uglybob]

you would think that with nothing to play for he could actually play defoe and bent up front to see how they do

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

yeah but Owen is always going to play so why not see how that partnership works? Owen and Defoe has been tried a bit.

[Lew]

10 points if you can name the second-best in-form team in the country.

behind Chelsea obviously, but with 8 games won in a row setting a new club record which has stood for 81 years.

[Quincy]

brentford?

[Quincy]

no i mean southend

[Mafro]

At least normal service is resumed next week.

[Lew]

yes, we really are that good these days.

promoted from league 2 last season, top of league 1 now.

c'mon you shrimpers

[Mafro]

http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=313685&CPID=8&clid=&lid=1490&title=Opta+Jury:+James+Beattie

[Quincy]

-------------Robinson
---carragher--terry--campbell
---------------king
--w-phillips---Lampard---gerrard
--------------Rooney
---------Bent--------Defoe