Thursday, September 11, 2003

Fair point, I guess there have been good strikers who have failed to score regularly for England, he just doesn't seem to look dangerous anymore. Every time he gets the ball to his feet he seems lost, gangly and uncoordinated. I reckon he's been doing too much training with his head, he seems alright at that, but he just doesn't look natural anymore on the ball. Remember the way he ran around Argentina before his goal against them? That was someone who was completely comfortable with the ball at his feet. Now he never seems to have it under control. And is still trying to get it where he wants it when he runs directly into a defender. How many times did he take the ball round someone last night? I don't remember any. How many times did he make an incisive run through on goal? A lot of that is down to how the team behind him are playing, and the Liechtensteinies (?) had 11 men behind the ball for a lot of the time so it's impossible to find any space between them and the keeper - I was just in the middle of explaining to Julie that the solution was for England to drop back a little and draw them on, to create space behind their back 4, when Hansen proudly announced that England should be piling forwards and squeezing them into their own half. The bastard. My way we'd have won 3-0.