Liverpool FC Forum

by **7_Kewell** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:29 am

maybe i'm going crazy in the heat....but i honestly think we're in with a chance here. The 2nd half today looked good....Rooney is now match fit ( :oh:

) and i think the 5 man midfield is the answer to the Gerrard-Lampard problem. Portugal are going to be 2 (or maybe 4) players down on saturday and i think we're going to get a result there....which will put us in our first semi final since 1990. This reminds me of our Champions League run...dare we dream?

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:44 am

Yes we have reached this stage without playing our best football. 3 matches three great performances and we are world champions. I just hope we can avoid Brazil, not because they are that much better than England, but because we always seem to play with fear against them.

by **Fowler_E7** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:56 am

Get to the final you must be out of ur mind, England might scrape through to the semi's but Brazil will knock England out, no problem.

by **kobashi** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:16 am

Brazil would easily beat England. A footbaling side like England dont deserve to grace no World Cup Final. Rather watch Paint dry than England play. Not exciting at all.

by **Lando_Griffin** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:23 am

kobashi wrote:Brazil would easily beat England. A footbaling side like England dont deserve to grace no World Cup Final. Rather watch Paint dry than England play. Not exciting at all.

Cheers mate.

How's the weather in Brazilia?

by **Bad Bob** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:44 am

7_Kewell wrote:The 2nd half today looked good....Rooney is now match fit ( ) and i think the 5 man midfield is the answer to the Gerrard-Lampard problem.

Not convinced we were watching the same game there mate! From where I was sat, England were woeful for 90 minutes, one fortunate free-kick aside. On current form, England will struggle against even a depleted Portuguese team and, should they manage to scrape by that hurdle, will surely succumb to Brazil (or Spain) in the semis.

It's time for the rose-coloured glasses to come off people! Some have likened this to our CL run to Istanbul. Difference is, we weren't just scraping by against the likes of Juve and Chelsea...we were playing inspired, organized, never-say-die football. If England keep sputtering on like this, with no cohesion, no creativity and no ability to stamp their authority on the game, they will eventually run into a team that will tear them to shreds. It may not be Portugal but bigger threats loom on the horizon. It's dire, dire stuff England are playing! :no

by **LFC #1** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:28 am

England probably woudn't have beaten Portugla ta full strength, but with Deco and Costinha out, Figo possibly could be suspended and w Ronaldo looking doubtful I think they can win. It's England's best chance for a long time.

Portugal's main weakness defensively is Valente on the left. Personally I think Lennon should start ahead of Beckham as he will take Valente on, whereas Beckham will just fire long balls into the box, which will be useless if Rooney plays up front on his own, as Carvalho and Meira will win the aerial battle all day.

if Beckham does play, which I suspect he will, Crouch HAS to start IMO. Crouch will give Meira and Carvalho problems in the air and give support to Rooney, so Rooney will have more space and shoudl be a lot more threatening. Rooney worked tirelessly yesterday but he needed a partner.

Portugal's main strength over England is the width and creativity of the midfield. However with Deco (who'd walk into the england team ahead of Lamaprd) suspended, and Ronaldo and Figo possibly out, much of that strength is lost.

Engand will go in favoutites, but if Figo and Ronaldo play then Portugal will have a great chance, and probably win. If they don't Simao will probably play wide right, and perhaps Boa Morte on the left, with either Tiago or Viana in Deco's position. Petit is a good repalcement for Costinha, and Maniche is playing fantastically, they system Portugal plays really suits him. He will be a real danger man for England, and if one of the central midfielders doesn't track him when he goes forward, he could be the match winner.

England are slight favourites IMO, due to Portugal losing key players, but Portugal have sufficient depth to still field a strong side.

by **7_Kewell** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:49 pm

whilst i agree that England haven't been playing well, i thought (after the goal) the 2nd half was a much better performance. If Lampard had his shooting boots on, it would have been 2-0 and our only real scare was Terry's miss timed header. As S@int said, we've not played well and we're in the last 8....for now, i'm keeping my rose coloured specks on :cool:

by **Big Niall** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:56 pm

I think England have been extremely poor all competition. But they are in the last 8 and while Portugal out classed them two years ago, they will be depleted this time (Figo not suspended though).

I can't see England beating Brazil or Argentina and I think England are no better than top 8.

Still - you never know, upsets do happen so good luck.

by **7_Kewell** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:33 pm

Big Niall wrote:I think England have been extremely poor all competition. But they are in the last 8 and while Portugal out classed them two years ago, they will be depleted this time (Figo not suspended though).

I can't see England beating Brazil or Argentina and I think England are no better than top 8.

Still - you never know, upsets do happen so good luck.

England won't have to play Argentina until the final...

by **stmichael** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:36 pm

No chance. Semi's at best. Spain or Brazil would walk all over us I'm afraid.

It's been quite sad to watch this England team frankly, and although I'm behind them and I want them to win, they have absolutely no chance unless they turn it up a notch.

I hate being like this, I really do, and take no pleasure out of it whatsoever, but we are a lame duck. There was a time, not so long ago, that a meet up with England would put fear into the opponents. Not now, I'd be rubbing my hands.

Not sure what Sven can do either. He's taken a generation of footballers and turned them into statues. The same, cagey approach will be played in the next round.. we'll lose the ball continuously and get totally over-run.

by **woof woof !** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:38 pm

I wouldn't say England have been poor (they're in the quarter finals ffs ! ) They have however considering the players they have been disappointing .

They will need to significantly raise their game if they want to progress , we all know that every player is capable of putting in a much better performance than what they've shown so far , if they manage to do that I believe they can beat anybody .

by **RUSHIE#9** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:54 pm

7_Kewell wrote:
Big Niall wrote:I think England have been extremely poor all competition. But they are in the last 8 and while Portugal out classed them two years ago, they will be depleted this time (Figo not suspended though).

I can't see England beating Brazil or Argentina and I think England are no better than top 8.

Still - you never know, upsets do happen so good luck.

England won't have to play either of them until the final...

Sorry to burst your bubble Kewell but should we progress past portugal then we will meet either Brazil or Spain/France. On the current form though I think you've more chance of pissing into the wind and not getting wet than england making it to the semi's. I might sound pessimistic(sp?) but unlike sven and his rose tinted glasses i didn't see any signs of improvement yesterday; in fact I thought that his comments of playing really well that he made on ITV were fookin' laughable and for a minute i thought i'd stepped into a time warp back to the GH days at Liverpool. Deffinately two managers cast from the same mould in my opinion.

Yesterday I thought that the midfield didn't look balanced one bit, Rooney looked isolated at times up front on his own and the lack of any thrust going forward won't be giving any of the possible opponents any sleepless nights in the coming fortnight.
The big difference between england and our run to istanbul is that we had a manager who was able to compensate for the lack of goalscoring options upfront. Rafa is able to pick out where any weaknesses are in his own side and address the problem; whereas Sven seems to wait for the press to agree on what his most likely side is going to be and then matches it. Unfortunately i just can't see england getting much further in the tournament. I'll be there in front of a TV on saturday willing them to win but deep down i'm prepared for the disappointment that comes with elimination. :sniffle

by **2520years** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:57 pm

It's impossible to say how we'll play against top teams. Sweden are good as are Ecuador, but they're certainly not in the top eight teams in the competition, which is where England are now. I believe any of the teams in the Quarter-Finals will be able to get to the final (with the possible exception of Switzerland/Ukraine) because the route is now so short. With a bit of luck, a dodgy penalty, a wonder-goal in the last minute or a crooked ref even Italy could get there.

by **LFC #1** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:01 pm

2520years wrote:With a bit of luck, a dodgy penalty,

jeez, talk about mystic meg, the Aussies won't liek you at all.

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