England vs Mexico

[papereyes]

but you can't say the Mexicans were better than us if they still failed to beat us.

No-one did.

[Hoop Blah]

but you can't say the Mexicans were better than us if they still failed to beat us.

No-one did.

He just wasn't listening properly!

Another thing that I saw this morning was one of the papers going on about Scholes and how it's a shame he wasn't talked out of his retirement.

Now I love the way Scholes has played over the years but he's been very hit and miss this season, I'm not really sure he was in good enough form to be an improvement on the players laready in the squad.

[Maguire]

Baines, in the face of some strong competition, looked the worst of our players IMHO. Come back Ashley, all is forgiven.

In fact, come back Terry, Cole, Lampard, and James whilst we're at it.

No point reading too much into it because it was only a friendly after all but there's clearly work to be done.

[Tails]

I thought the keepers did an OK job - with out having a stand out choice I'd be content for any to come in and do a job. The centre-half pairings were very suspect, and were especially exposed in the first half when we didn't have a midfield (Carrick was shoite).

I agree with the sentiments already posted about Baines, not really going to cut it at this level, though I don't think he was helped out by the guys to his right or right in front of him. Glen Johnson and Walcott worked well on this occasion, but will they be strong enough against a more savvy side? I'm not sure but hey ho, their strength is when they attack - Walcott seemed to have his man for pace everytime, hopefully he can develope his understanding within the squad to know where to put it for the likes of Rooney (who was clearly running at 60% today, don't blame him either).

Massive agreed on A.Johnson, would love to see far more of him this summer, definitely a positive from the game.

Thought we looked alright once we added some punch to the midfield and our fullbacks started to push forward in the second half, some really smart play glimmering through.

[TBM]

I didn't realise Baines was English, he's much better than Bridge anyway, no great loss

[Big Foot]

Crouch scores AGAIN, what's his minutes to goals ratio at now for International level?

[Ian Royal]

King was awful, we fluked a win with goals a better team wouldn't have let us get a sniff of.

We also would have been punished a lot more by a better team.

[readingbedding]

Glorified training session.
Phoney war bollox.

[Stranded]

King was awful, we fluked a win with goals a better team wouldn't have let us get a sniff of.

We also would have been punished a lot more by a better team.

True but there is no way we will start a game at the WC with a starting XI of:

Green, Johnson, Ferdinand, King, Baines, Walcott, Milner, Carrick, Gerrard, Crouch, Rooney

So as a fixture it was fairly pointless.

[TBM]

It was obviously just a fixture for Cappello to help him trim his squad to 23

[Big Foot]

King was awful, we fluked a win with goals a better team wouldn't have let us get a sniff of.

We also would have been punished a lot more by a better team.

True but there is no way we will start a game at the WC with a starting XI of:

Green, Johnson, Ferdinand, King, Baines, Walcott, Milner, Carrick, Gerrard, Crouch, Rooney

So as a fixture it was fairly pointless.

King completes 90 minutes, Green makes a few top drawer saves, Milner impresses again in an England shirt, Rooney plays 90 mins, both Johnsons and Lennon impress - not quite as pointless as some would believe.

[Zammo]

King was awful, we fluked a win with goals a better team wouldn't have let us get a sniff of.

We also would have been punished a lot more by a better team.

True but there is no way we will start a game at the WC with a starting XI of:

Green, Johnson, Ferdinand, King, Baines, Walcott, Milner, Carrick, Gerrard, Crouch, Rooney

So as a fixture it was fairly pointless.

King completes 90 minutes, Green makes a few top drawer saves, Milner impresses again in an England shirt, Rooney plays 90 mins, both Johnsons and Lennon impress - not quite as pointless as some would believe.

Agreed. We know we can play better, yet we still beat the Mexicans 3-1. In fact, in terms of our entire World Cup campaign I see this fixture as very important. Capello now knows that Walcott and Glen Johnson won't work, Gerrard is totally wasted on the left, Baines isn't good enough and Carrick is just plain awful. I thought some of our passing in the second half was very good. I felt quite positive at the final whistle.

[Muskrat]

Thought the biggest "learning" if you can call it that, is that King is a carthorse only rated by RTG Spurs fans and sections of the Media for reasons unknown.

If he gets a seat (or maybe he'd need two to himself) on the plane to SA then my opinion of Capello will be greatly reduced.

[Stranded]

King was awful, we fluked a win with goals a better team wouldn't have let us get a sniff of.

We also would have been punished a lot more by a better team.

True but there is no way we will start a game at the WC with a starting XI of:

Green, Johnson, Ferdinand, King, Baines, Walcott, Milner, Carrick, Gerrard, Crouch, Rooney

So as a fixture it was fairly pointless.

King completes 90 minutes, Green makes a few top drawer saves, Milner impresses again in an England shirt, Rooney plays 90 mins, both Johnsons and Lennon impress - not quite as pointless as some would believe.

We knoe King can play 90 mins - problem is can he play 90mins 4 or 5 times in a few weeks.

Keeper makes decent saves isn't really learning anything.

Milner is already going so not sure we learn anything new there - he may force his way into the 11.

I'll give you it's good that Rooney got 90mins and Johnson impressed.

[papereyes]

Milner - willing runner and versatile, good enough to back up centre midfield, not good enough to dominate it of his own accord

Would have been my summary of his performance.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

We knoe King can play 90 mins - problem is can he play 90mins 4 or 5 times in a few weeks.

Played 4 times in 15 days at the back end of the season - Man Utd (a), Bolton (h), Man City (a), Burnley (a).

If all goes to plan and we win our first two games in the group there's no reason why he couldn't have the best part of a week's rest before the second round.

[Seal]

Seems like a touch of an over reaction on here.

A pre world cup friendly is only ever going to be a chance for one or two players to make an impression, and for everyone else it's just a case of avoiding injury (particularly on that pitch). Would people have preferred Rooney to be sprinting around like a mad man throwing himself into challenges? Thought not.

In addition to that people seem to forget Mexico are a decent side. Always get to at least the last 16 of the WC, very unlucky to get knocked out by Argentina in the last tournament. Great in possession of the ball. As ever their perennial problem is lack of a great no. 9. If they had the Drog up front they'd be some side.

a 3-1 win in the last home game before the WC against decent opposition seems like a decent night's work for me. Also all this criticism of the fans is a bit trying. It was the Mexicans who started the Mexican wave, so was just a bit of banter (the mexican fans were excellent btw). A Wembley atmosphere in a friendly is never going to be great, but that's just the same as any club side in the world.

[Hoop Blah]

Can't believe that any is questioning King's class on the back of a poor performance last night!!!

I've always rated Milner, and I'm pleased he looks to have booked his seat but I'm not sure where he'll manage to force his way into the side.

Personally I still believe Gerrard should play through the middle which means there is a spot on the left up for grabs. I'd love Johnson to nip in and claim that but Milner may well be an option there too.

So much of it depends on how Barry shapes up.

[FiNeRaIn]

I thought we looked much better with Johnson and Lennon on, even if it was for like 10 mins max. Why wasn't johnson on way earlier?

As a whole though, poor performance and very lucky for a 3-1 win.

[Hoop Blah]

I thought we looked much better with Johnson and Lennon on, even if it was for like 10 mins max. Why wasn't johnson on way earlier?

As a whole though, poor performance and very lucky for a 3-1 win.

I would guess it's because he'll get a decent run out in the next game and so those that started were given more time to impress.

Either that or perhaps Fabio knows what he's going to do already.