[piazza]

No, he is sidelined with an injury. His younger brother was amongst the subs.

Hmmmm, perhaps it could have been a different story had he actually played...No. No. Probably not actually but I just looked up his brother, expecting some 19 year old wunderkind, and turns out he's some 25 year old who's still stuck in Belarus playing his club footy.

 

[Red Devil]

RD young should be in the england set up!

rooney is playing very well atm!

You cannot place every player who is playing well in one team, BUT, if the team continues likes they played for the past 120 minutes, then nobody is going to get into it!!

Is this the best that ITV can do for international pundits

Tony Adams - alcoholic looks
Andy Townsend - played for Eire and Villa, not exactly top draw
Graham Le Saux - played a few times for England, even good once or twice!

 

[reddwarf]

I think Young should be in the England squad ahead of Downing tbh but as for the game...

Superb ball juggling skills by Rooney to set up Gerrard who finished brilliantly from over 30 yards out. Tbf to Belarus they had a real go at us after they'd conceded and deservedly equalised although Walcott was at fault for not tracking back.

The timing of England's 2nd goal crushed Belarus. Rooney was brilliant in the 2nd half and his 2nd goal was World class.

This is England's best ever start to a World Cup qualifying campaign and, although we still have 3 tough games (Ukraine home & away and Croatia at home), I am very confident we will be in South Africa in 2010.

However, it is important to not get carried away. The friendly against Spain may give us a better indication of how we are progressing under Capello, but it is not until we meet top quality competition in a major championship that we can really judge.

 

[Red Devil]

I do not rate Downing, he has done nothing. I do not know Young so cannot comment. We are still only half way to qualification though, so nothing is cast, yet.

 

[versa]

Seeing how organised Belarus is, their passing and movement, their ball skills and control etc, it was really hard to envisage the scoreline (except for somebody here who made sure we are all well aware ). So I must say England did very well indeed to come away with a good away victory.

Then again, should there be any manager of genuine quality who can drag a big-time choker as England out of the rut, it must be Capello. Yeah, England is looking up again... until the tournament proper at least. So all England fans and the infamous media have every reason to be hopeful again.

 

[reddwarf]

I do not rate Downing, he has done nothing. I do not know Young so cannot comment. We are still only half way to qualification though, so nothing is cast, yet.

Downing's main quality is that he is a good crosser of the football. He strikes it reasonably well too so he scores the odd decent goal. Hasn't really done much in an England shirt though.

From what I've seen of Villa in the past couple of seasons, Young has pace, good dribbling ability, is a good crosser, scores spectacular goals and makes runs into the box to score from close range. I certainly think he deserves a chance - maybe he'll get one in England's upcoming friendlies.

I also think that Micah Richards should be given the opportunity to step up to the senior squad again.

 

[United_OG]

good result for england.

Poeple are being way overcritical of wallcot thought from what im hearing. I watched the game yesterday (finally got setanta, whoop whoop) and i have to say, without having a good game, he gives us something totally different from the rest of the team. He is all running and very direct and gets at players like nobody else does in the england team...not even rooney no more. People forget he is only 19 i think so he is still not always composed and calm but that will come with experience and you have to play the kid and give him chances instead of expecting the complete product everytime he plays...like waddle was who was calling for SWP to play instead of him. Sorry waddle but wallcot>>SWP though its nice to have the option of two but still...SWP seems to run into people rather than dribble around them everytime i see him play for england while theo may be less experienced and consistant right now, but in terms of potential is wayy ahead of SWP.

Anyway i thought it was a very positive result for england and we played very well. Second half we looked very composed too and rooney and gerrard were very good and rio at the back is just amazing.

To be fair to belarus, they're goal was amazing and quite frankly i dont think i could see england scoring a goal like that at wembley because our fans would be become inpatient after 5 passes and probably start booing us if we dont hit a long ball lol...

Anyway thats maybe going over the top but a very good performance from england but still conceeding goals...am i the only one who never feels safe with james in goal? ...whats worse is we have no better option!

Anyway 4 wins out of 4 and maximum points ofcourse but still alot of room for improvement.

pz

 

[Red Devil]

Walcott is fast, and gets into some goos positions, but his inexperience showed. There was an opportunity, after beating a couple of defenders, to square to the ball to Rooney for an easy tap in, instead he went for glory and blasted it wide. He needs to get his head up now and then and actually look around, but it will come.

 

[United_OG]

Walcott is fast, and gets into some goos positions, but his inexperience showed. There was an opportunity, after beating a couple of defenders, to square to the ball to Rooney for an easy tap in, instead he went for glory and blasted it wide. He needs to get his head up now and then and actually look around, but it will come.

Yep i completely agree, thats what i meant, that exact situation where he should had squared the ball to rooney or if he wanted to shoot, he should have carried the ball further after he got past the last defender but his inexperience showed and he panicked and shot instead.

pz