England last night

We cannot complain about the result, simple fact is if you don't take you're chances when you're on top, you may well get punished....and that's exactly what happened. Here's my ratings on the players:

Hart 7: Had a decent game imo, just wish he could keep the ball in play more when he takes goal-kicks.
Johnson 2: Is he seriously the best we've got?....terrible.
Cole 2: Why was Baines dropped for him?.....again, terrible.
Lescott 4: Labours far too much and still scares me to death when he has the ball.
Smalling 5: Forgot he was playing tbh.
Milner 6: Tireless worker at both ends, good effort overall.
Cleverly 3: Non existant and shit scared of putting a tackle in.
Carrick 3: Same as above, so why was Lampard dropped?
Gerrard 6: Needed more from him, but still tried.
Welbeck 6: I actually like him and think he did ok, just wish Woy would play him upfront and not out wide though.
Rooney 5: Good 1st half, absolute shite 2nd. Seemed to be on his arse moaning all the time.

I thought we were pretty tedious and I only watch the first half. I dread to think how we were in the 2nd.

I do think Roy is good for England, but I'm finding the older I get, the less and less interested I am in England. Which is a real shame. I used to get this amazing sense of excitement for the tournaments. But now....

Jordan, that feeling you're getting as you get old is called "Experience". When you're young, you can get excited about the prospect of seeing good things happen. As you get older and failure makes you cynical, you start to look at games such as that one last night and think, "Hey, if we play like that against a world class side, like Germany or Spain, we'll get ripped to shreds." So when it happens, it's not so disappointing.

Sorry, I've been a City fan for too long. My levels of expectation are largely non-existent!

Oh, yeah, about the game...

I still can't figure out why we have a pair of decent full backs in Luke Young and Leighton Baines and yet they can't get a game ahead of Cashley Hole and Useless Johnson. Do they have photos that the FA's top brass would rather were kept sacred or something?

Also, Smalling? Is he there so someone can prove we need Plug? And was Lescott drafted in because we needed someone with experience? What's wrong with Phil Jagielka?

And Cleverley instead of Lampard? Come on, I know we're looking at younger players to take over from the old guard, but really? Is he honestly the best CAM we have? Or is he in because the scouts don't bother looking any further than Manchester these days?

In the first half, our attacking trio of Welbeck, Rooney and Gerrard were on great form, but we needed to make more of our goal attempts. In the second half, Welbeck and Gerrard still tried to get stuck in, but I don't know what the hell happened to Rooney - was he marked out or did he just put his head down?

Also, have to shout at Roy too. They switched a holding midfielder for an attacking midfielder and they suddenly caused us no end of problems. So why the hell did we make any changes sooner to counter the problem? I calculated we had two subs left, why didn't Roy use them?

Jagielka withdrew, just like Dawson, Cahill and of course the colossus that is Rio . The 2 that played were the only 2 left.

Totally agree with your last paragraph too leo, a change should have been made before they scored.....things could have been oh so different.

Very generous some of those those scores Den. Thought we played well for the first 10 minutes and then once we had scored sat back instead of continuing with the pressure and were crap from then on

Hart 5 Didn't command the box Almost let one through his legs. Poor distribution. Big hoof everytime up to one of the smallest players on the pitch - Jimmy Milner who lost just about every ball or it went straight into touch. You never see Spain or Germany hoof the ball up. Keep possession !!! It's not rocket science
Johnson 4 Had one good shot cant remember too many decent crosses from him or anyone and he is just not a good defender
Cole 3 Think he should now make way for Baines. Enough said
Lescott & Smalling 5 Both looked comfortable in the 1st half and then looked uncomfortable and panicky in the 2nd. Both did poor headed clearances straight back to the attack and were lucky not to be punished. But unfortunately they were all we had !
Carrick 4 Really what is the point of him? Very average player. Never an international. No skill, average passer of the ball, just doesn't really ever do much apart from run around
Cleverley 3 Was he playing ? If he's an international then there's hope for anyone. Players like The Ox, Lampard, Defoe Sturridge, Young and even Parker on the bench and Cleverley gets a game . Unbelievable !
Gerrard 3 One of the worst games I've ever seen him play. Passing was woeful. Lost the ball several times in the middle of the park putting us under pressure. Should have got the team going when we were under the cosh in the 2nd half but went missing instead
Milner 4 Thought he did oK in the 1st but was disappointing in the 2nd. Usual effort from him but nothing special. Just doesn't do it for me as a right winger. Too small to head on all Hart's punts up to him as well
Rooney 6 Superb for the first 15 minutes and our only dangerous player of the night but like the rest was disappointing in the 2nd half
Welbeck 4 Sorry but he's just not very good. Looks like Bambi on ice. Defoe would have been 10 times the threat. I'd rather have Carroll at least he's a threat in the air & is a handful. If Rooney gets injured we really r screwed !

Hodgson 4 Clueless ! Couldn't he see we were gonna concede that goal?? It had been coming for 20 minutes & yet nothing was done. He then brings Young on after the goal to change the MF !!! Another mediocre manager & mediocre England team that may or may not scrape through to the WC finals where we will be lucky to get past the 1st round