England v Poland

[PortVale89]

I went last night and must say it was the most enjoyable England game I have watched at wembley.

 

The poles made it a decent atmosphere but I am disappointed with the FA for giving them so many tickets. They said it was to prevent polish being in the home end, but there was thousands of them and they weren't afraid to make themselves known. The majority all shirters, singing and chanting in the concourse. The stewards just stood and watched!

 

The FA need to consider taking a similar approach to how cricket grounds sell tickets for England matches. Designating areas for different types of fans. For example the singing stand where people maybe singing and swearing and then family stands etc. there is too many different types of fan in each area, which makes it hard to generate any real noise. Making people aware of different areas would get the singers together and would maybe improve things.

[toyahw]

When you have so many Poles in your country, it's how it goes. Must admit it irritated the **** off me the whistling when we had the ball, and the fireworks and the **** that ran on the pitch. If they were English they'd have been nicked. But... its the way of the world these days, so get on with it (and we won).

[Alfonse]

I don't understand the criticism of Welbeck. Perhaps he should've scored more but his record for England is brilliant. He's a very intelligent player who creates a lot of space for others with this movement and pace. The front four is very exciting.

[TylerB]

Personally, I've been proud to be an England fan again over the last week or so. Not just because of the two victories, but we now look a proper team that will fight for each other. I thought we played well against Montenegro and were even better against Poland, though in the latter after so many missed changes I thought that the writing was on the wall for the Poles (who gave a good account of themselves) to somewhat steal a draw.

 

It was a real team performance but there were a few individuals who really stood out. Gerrard led the side with a super captain's performance, Rooney looked something like the player he once was again and Leighton Baines is now the best left-back in the Premier league, perhaps even in all of Europe. And of course there was Andros Townsend who gave two scintillating performances and will now make opposing sides really sit up and take notice. When you add the likes of Walcott, Barkley and an in-form Jack Wilshere to the future starting 11 then things look really positive for a change. We're not world-beaters, and Poland and Montenegro are only decent opposition so beating them doesn't make us so, but the squad and the manager really deserve a pat on the back for their efforts this last week or so.

 

Roll on Brazil. (and another early exit!) :D

[TylerB]

I enjoyed it as a whole, I just wish we were more clinical. The Poles gave a good account of themselves but I think the early shot that Lewandowski pulled wide summed their night up- great build up, no final product.

 

Wellbeck seems to divide opinion, personally I'm not convinced. I prefer Sturridge but he is far from the finished article at International level & I think it's obvious Rooney is the key up top

 

I'm a big Baines fan and thought his service into the box was top draw.

 

Smalling looked a little nervous at times early on but you can hardly blame him. Once he settled down he was very steady.

 

Townsend continues to impress. He has a very fearless nature when it comes to running at the opposition and because he is so able with both his feet he makes room for himself and time for the rest of the team to catch up. His shooting is tremendous too.

 

As for the central two, Gerrard & Carrick, they bring a calmness that the combination of Stevie G & Lampard never did.

 

Agree with a lot of that.

 

But Danny Welbecks holds the ball up as good as anyone and has terrific work-rate. He's a funny kind of player - He often scores the sublime but then can also miss when it's easier to score, as he did in the 1st half! He's young, learning and will only get better, the same goes with Daniel Sturridge, who has the talent and attributes to be one of the best forwards in Europe IF he continues to improve, especially his awareness of those around him.

[Paul6754]

In 1974, Poland came to Wembley needing a point to win the group, and England needed a win. There was only one other team in the group: Wales. If England had taken maimum points from Wales, the match at Wembley would have been a dead rubber. Poland went on to finish the WC torunament in the Final group, finishing either 3rd or 4th, behind West Germany and the Netherlands.

 

Yep, I watched that game on tv, England had something like 30 shots to the Poles 2. The Wales game shows football is not predictable and together with the precedent or 1973 why the FA were a little lax in having the Polish game last, imagine the furore if Lewandowski's toe poke had gone in and it had finished 1-1, anyway its all history now.

 

The 1974 WC finals showed what a good team the Poles were and highlighted the talents of one Kaz.... Deyna who later played for Man City (I think).

[Paul6754]

Agree with a lot of that.

 

But Danny Welbecks holds the ball up as good as anyone and has terrific work-rate. He's a funny kind of player - He often scores the sublime but then can also miss when it's easier to score, as he did in the 1st half! He's young, learning and will only get better, the same goes with Daniel Sturridge, who has the talent and attributes to be one of the best forwards in Europe IF he continues to improve, especially his awareness of those around him.

 

The more I see of Welbeck the more I appreciate what he does and his contribution, he has something but its difficult to nail it down. Its great to see the likes of Sturridge play for England, not only his goalscoring but he does the unexpected/something different that opens up defenses like the flick to Baines that led to the own goal by Montenegro.

[Andyregs]

Is as quite pleased with how we looked going forward, Rooney, wellbeck, Townsend and sturridge some a dangerous combination and will score goals. Strongest going forward we've had for a long time.

[Lornelounger]

You've answered your own question.

 

Wasn't aware I had asked one actually - I was simply making the point that having a fifth of the capacity given over to away fans is no big deal - too many people felt it was a big issue in my opinion. It's history now anyway - good game, we deserved to win, looking forward to Brazil next summer.

[TylerB]

The more I see of Welbeck the more I appreciate what he does and his contribution, he has something but its difficult to nail it down. Its great to see the likes of Sturridge play for England, not only his goalscoring but he does the unexpected/something different that opens up defenses like the flick to Baines that led to the own goal by Montenegro.

 

People are going to have to learn to take the rough with the smooth in regards to Daniel Sturridge. He can often be frustrating to watch, but he has it in him to do something out of nothing and score a goal, and his link up play is exceptionally good considering he can often be an extremely selfish player. (he is a striker afterall!)

[TylerB]

Against the better teams we're going to have to sacrifice one of our attacking players for another body in midfield, or else teams like Germany will rip us apart as they did in the Euro's no matter how good we can be going forward. Our two centre-backs are also a concern for me. Cahill and Jagielka are solid defenders but they don't give me anything like the same confidence as I had when we had the likes of Terry, Ferdinand and Campbell in their prime to call upon. Phil Jones has the attributes to be a great centre-back but at the moment he's being used as a utility player at United.

[cheshirevaliant]

The more I see of Welbeck the more I appreciate what he does and his contribution, he has something but its difficult to nail it down. Its great to see the likes of Sturridge play for England, not only his goalscoring but he does the unexpected/something different that opens up defenses like the flick to Baines that led to the own goal by Montenegro.

 

He is the international equivalent of Ben Williamson, fine until he needs to do something important like score a goal or play a killer pass, then he panics. Sturridge is a better option, as he has Welbeck's trickery and unpredictability, but can also score goals.

[George]

He is the international equivalent of Ben Williamson, fine until he needs to do something important like score a goal or play a killer pass, then he panics. Sturridge is a better option, as he has Welbeck's trickery and unpredictability, but can also score goals.

 

He's scored 8 goals in 20 games for England? That's a great record.

[toyahw]

It drives me mad, the attitude that we (England) have a God given right to win things. Fact is we are a middling kind of team who could beat anyone on the day but aren't up there with the top ten or so teams. So let's just enjoy the fact that we are there. Let's go over, give it our best shot, hope the players are enjoying it for once, and see how it goes.

[For Us All]

It drives me mad, the attitude that we (England) have a God given right to win things. Fact is we are a middling kind of team who could beat anyone on the day but aren't up there with the top ten or so teams. So let's just enjoy the fact that we are there. Let's go over, give it our best shot, hope the players are enjoying it for once, and see how it goes.

 

Don't think many fans expect too much from the current team but that might work in our favour?