TEAM NEWS: As expected, England coach Steve McClaren has paired Peter Crouch with Michael Owen up front.

David Beckham retains his place on the right, with Joe Cole on the left and Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the middle.

McClaren has made three alterations from the 1-1 friendly draw against Brazil, with Jamie Carragher, Nicky Shorey and Alan Smith making way for Wes Brown, Wayne Bridge and Crouch.

Crouch, Brown and Carragher are all one yellow card away from being suspended for the home clash with Israel in September.

England: Paul Robinson, Wes Brown, Ledley King, John Terry, Wayne Bridge, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Peter Crouch, Michael Owen.

can't believe Carragher is dropped for King and Brown

fairly crisp performance from England. Nice to get 3 and the clean sheet. Also must be massive for Becks to make 2 more tonight. Brilliant balls in, really top drawer. Funny Becks has not had this form for England since he was breaking into the England team or maybe ever.

I think MOM is Becks followed by Crouch, and maybe Joe Cole or Terry.

King played fairly tight for most of the game, let one slip by at the end of the first half, but Robinson did well to clear. King won the ariel battles all night though.

Lampard got in some good spaces in the first half. seemed to go missing in the second half but to be fair he played good defensively it was likely his best England performance since the WC qualifiers.

Joe Cole was refreshing on the left getting into the box when ever he could defending well and what a finnish. Crouch did well to flick it on but Cole did all the work ...........brilliant. Also like to point out he stayed on his feet tonight.

Crouch's Link up play was excellent he really brought the team togeather, link up and posession what Crouch brings every game. Too bad he will miss the next game with the yellow tonight. He made himself a nusence enough to allow the midfielders space to get into the box, and worked hard on the other side of the ball as well. He made a nice flick for the first goal and his finnish was superb although still Becks did the job getting it in.

Becks covered a lot of ground and delivered brilliant balls in. His delivery was never the problem just his lack of inteligent play and movement. He covered more ground with a cocked up ankle than he has in 6 years.

Owen was working hard the last few games and it is nice for him to have a goal. Wish he could have turned another out. He did well on his finnish and Gerrard to Beckham to Owen was like it was supposed to be right?

Brown was a non factor. Defended ok in spells and made his share of mistakes. He did better in the second half.

Bridge was good. Made a few bad decissions once he got forward. But defensively he was good.

Terry was solid as ever in the middle.

Robinson was good for the most part. Made 2 crucial saves.

Gerrard covered a lot of ground linked up well with Beckham and got forward on a few occassions. Defended well again.

didn't see the game, but saw the goals this morning - a couple of good crosses from Becks, showing everyone what we've missed over the last year. nice... he's certainly made his point.

I was surprised to see Wes Brown start - but it was good to see Ledley King get the nod, I think he deserves his chance and he offers something that Carragher doesn't, pace - which is pretty important in the modern game.

redyankee - Wayne Rooney was suspended for this game.

Well, McLaren lives to fight another day ...

Job done IMO, nothing more.

A decent performance, nothing to get too excited about.

... but certainly far better than what we have come to expect from McLaren's team away from home, so I guess we're heading in the right direction at least.

We saw bothe the positive and the negatives of having Beckham back in the team last night.

The ball for Crouch's goal was one of the best passes you will ever see in your life ....... and the one for Owen's wasn;t too far behind. There is little doubt that he's the only English player to be able to conjure up balls like that as regularly as he did.

.. On the negative side though, we saw him dropping deep and coming for the ball in central positions. This always used to be mmy main criticism of his. Doing this simply unbalances us down the right hand side whilst making the middle of the pitch far too congested and gmakes Gerrard and Lampard redundant as too often Beckham will pick the ball up off the CB's and then look long.

If McLaren has got the balls to tell Beckham to stick to the touchline then he should remain in the team for a good while ......... but if he allows him to keep coming into the centre then it's back to the problem of old.

was busy doing my hair so didn't see..who scored the goal? owen, crouch and?

Ledley king has the turning ability of an old battleship....

it's scandalous for Mclaren to drop carra and IMHO carra should immediately retire from international football..

the best defender in Europe bar none is treated so shabbily....its a disgrace


KD

KD I know you are slightly biased but Carragher the best defender in Europe is taking a bit far. I do think he should have played instead of king but he is no way the best defender in europe.


As for last nights game. I thought Gerrard and Lampard were a dissapointment again. Neither of the recieved enough of the ball to influence the game and when Lampard went for a pie or five in the second half Gerrard suddenly seemed to thing he was playing in blue he gave the ball away so much (Maybe harking back to his days as a Toffee supporting youth ). Joe Cole scored a cracking goal but never really -*test*-('")ed their right back. Beckham was good and delivered some great crosses but all round his play was not exceptional.

THe defence was alright. Terry was as usual the pick of the players at the back. However he seems to be playing within himself for England these days. Whilst that is more than enough to counter Estonia it will not be enough for Croatia or Russia away. Fantastic clearance off the line does Ashley Coles job as well last night. Brown was ordinary and King was acceptable but as has been mentioned is immobile and that might see him embarrased against a beeter attack than estonia. Neither full back got forward enough for my liking. Brown and Bridge should both have been bombing forward every chance they got but they never really got past their wingers.

Both strikers scored but seemed to have very little in the way of understanding with each other. What with FFL getting in their way a lot in the first half they didn't get that many chances. Beckham laid both their goals on a plate and credit to them for getting in the right positions but no more than a 7 for either of them.

Robinson was his normal flappy self. Not much to do but still can't catch a ball. Came off his line well to save King and Terrys blushes but you can't really rate him on a game like this.

The substitutes were complete madness as usual. Didn't see lamaprd for the second half yet aparently he played 45 minutes. Would have swapped him for carrick (I know he wasn't on the bench but i couldn't bring myself to type Jenas. Whoops) after 60. Beckham needed to come off so on Maclaren really couldn't get that one wrong. However Downing obviously still bumming his former manager comes on for Cole sheer madness. Probably would have taken gerrard off myself but couldn't think of anyone to replace him with so just the two subs imnho.

the commentators on SKY kept on going on about englands high tempo. Personally i didn't see it. Same old plod from England last night. Enough to breeze past estonia and to save Mclarens bacon but still and overall C - from me.

The same old problems are still there. Drop Lampard please. Let him ahve a rest and let him know he is not guaranteed a start. Even if it just to the bench better from the squad entirelt for two games. He needs to get his form back from the WC qualifiers and it is obvious playing every game will not do that. If those compromising photos he has of Mclaren are to embarrasing then the only answer is to drop Gerrard. Unthinkable for the scousers I know but this state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue. Teach the defenders to pass it to the midfielders and not to just hoof it to beanpole. Get rid of Brown and Jenas. Give carragher a go if only to shut up the liverpool fans. Get the players to work on crisp passes and their first touch. The amount of time last night players were put under pressure because all the passes were under hit was shocking. Above all play football that the players play week in week out. High pressure high tempo. Don't let them dwell on the ball direct accurate forward passing.

Great post Droy

the best defender in Europe, and the second best player in the world, behind his Holiness Steven Gerrard Esquire? no doubting the facts...

been waiting for that since reading kd's post

well, it asked for it! best defender in Europe?! talk about overkill...

not that I doubt Carragher's ability, I don't - I rate him highly, but he's not the best defender in Europe.

and also Carragher's hardly the quickest on the turn either, much like Ledley King in that respect.

for example: Carragher (and the entire Liverpool defence) were caught flat footed with Kaka's through ball for Inzaghi's second goal in the CL final.

McClaren lives to see another game, but against better opposition namely Russia and Croatia, McClaren's England team will be found out.

Estonia simply papered over the cracks.

I don't think Russia will pose that much of a problem for England, Croatia might be interesting though... against a really decent team, the likes of Italy, France, Brazil and the like, that's when McClaren's static tactics will come undone.

[QUOTE=MartyrToTheCause,June 07, 2007 01:00 pm] [QUOTE=sajlfc,June 07, 2007 12:58 pm] the best defender in Europe, and the second best player in the world, behind his Holiness Steven Gerrard Esquire? no doubting the facts... [/QUOTE]
been waiting for that since reading kd's post [/QUOTE]
well, it asked for it! best defender in Europe?! talk about overkill...

not that I doubt Carragher's ability, I don't - I rate him highly, but he's not the best defender in Europe.

and also Carragher's hardly the quickest on the turn either, much like Ledley King in that respect.

for example: Carragher (and the entire Liverpool defence) were caught flat footed with Kaka's through ball for Inzaghi's second goal in the CL final. [/QUOTE]
in all fairness tho kd is only showing his loyalty like we all do (except me) i think carra is an emence player but dont go shouting about it.

no differant to you when it comes to berbatov tho really is he?

just an observation