From an England perspective, it will be a total different test compared to the San Marino game. They will pose much more of a threat then San Marino, who only had one professional player on their team. On the contrary, I will predict 2-1 England. Oxlade Chamberlin and Rooney to score.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes..... http://www1.skysports.com/football/...ing-changes-for-World-Cup-qualifier-in-Poland
My team: Hart Johnson Cahill Lescott Cole Lennon Gerrard Carrick Oxlade Rooney Welbeck Not going to predict a score, but I'm confident we'll beat them.
6 changes at least for England. Theo Walcott is out and Lampard and Bertrand have gone back to Chelsea. Gerrard back as capt. Can only see Cahill surviving in the defence. Milner should also start for some reason ? I would start with 3 goal scorers as well from the San Marino game. It wont be a classic game but i think England will win by a one goal margin. 1-0 or 5-4 who cares. A win is a win.
I think Poland will win this game, they have some class players. Bet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Tomaszewski features heavily in the build-up as per usual. I'd worry about any team of ours led by peanut brain shrek but seriously I think we might be found out
I think Milner will play instead of Lennon. We might nick a goal from a corner and edge it 1.0, otherwise a boring nil,nil.
2-1 England. Poland are beatable, the lads need to get their heads out their arses for once and have a go. I'd play Defoe and Rooney upfront. Defoe has been good recently for Spurs, plus he'll go for goal when he has the oportunity. England need to take their chances away from home, like we did last time we were there, because they'll limit them. Stop all this "trying to walk it into the net" ****e and have a pop at goal if you can.
They have a few decent larkers, but we have much better players and they'll be worrying about us far more than we need to worry about them. They could well get a result, but it'd be an upset and we're nowhere near as bad as we like to make out we are. You're probably right about Milner, that was just the team I'd like to see. I don't mind Milner for the record, but I prefer Lennon.
Thing is, passing the ball properly (and yes that does mean more slowly) is the best way to play. That's why Spain and Italy are ahead of us, they don't have this impatient need to see the ball in the box every time they have the ball and it results in much better attacks when they do, it also helps the defence a lot because they have the ball most of the time. We're too impatient in this country, demanding the ball forward all the time and bemoaning the more continental players like Carrick (or at our level, Cairney) who play the ball sideways more often. Sadly, the people who display this impatience are the same ones who go on about how far behind the other top countries we are, but don't want to seem to want anything done about it.
Spain are so good because their work rate is far greater than anybody elses. They do lose the ball afterall. The likes of Xavi, Alonso, Iniesta, Busguets work hard to win it back, which is something Carrick, Milner, Gerrard, Lampard etc can't compete with. It's also about having the confidence to pick the right pass- against San Marino we tried to play it through the eye of an needle every time, we had wingers in Baines & Walker, but everytime they came inside, rather than beat their man. They need to mix it up. A better team will mop that up. Unfortunately, we don't have Iniesta, Xavi or Pirlo- so you can't always play possession football. Sometimes running with it at pace, and passing it around faster/ more direct is a good thing. I expect us to play on the break. It might suit us away from home.
Either a draw or an England win, still undefeated under Roy & no I don't count penalties as being beaten, when we do get beat it'll be by a better team than Polski Sklep!
You're right about their work rate, but I'm sure you agree that their sheer quality on the ball and their style of play are also key factors. The thing about picking the right pass is spot on and kind of what I was getting at, even when we play it on the ground in this country we're still obsessed with playing the Hollywood ball straight throuhg the defence when playing it simply across the pitch would be much easier and would stretch the defence. I don't even think that if done correctly, that style of play should be boring, for example Spain's way of doing it certainly isn't boring. We might not have one talismanic playmaker like Xavi or Pirlo but in Lampard, Gerrard, Carrick, Cleverley, etc. we have a lot of players who are good on the ball and Rooney is the ideal striker for that style of play so I think we definitely have the players to play a passing game. It looks like that's what Hodgson is trying to do and I fully support him in doing so.
Wasilewski, who will play tomorrow, he was linked three years ago from Hull City. We have several young players: Milik, Wszolek and Skorupski. Milik (18 years old) is the largest Polish talent. Fulham reportedly watched Skorpuski (GK)
I don't agree that they will be worrying more about playing us, if anything it's a freeroll for them against our over-rated prima-donnas. It's a shame Walcott got injured because I don't like Lennon at all, for me he's the new Wright-Phillips, a huff and puff fairy on big wages who flatters to deceive, maybe Ok for Spurs now and then. Also that image of him smoking the cigar after we got busted out of the World Cup in Germany doesn't sit easy with me. The problem is we have so few players now that the old scummy types will keep getting recalled, that's why Beckham was playing till he was pension age.
There are people like you who can't stand the 'tried and tested' or older players, and the rest (for example Erik) think that any player who is young, unproven or still plays for a **** club can't possibly be good if the media haven't latched onto it yet. England can't win with most English people.
