England V Hungary 30/5/06

[PREM-R]

The England V Hungary 'warm up" game at Old Trafford tonight is to be shown on Thai TV 3 at 0200 local time. If you have a TV with "dual language' capability you should get the English commentary

(I hate the Beckham Krap, England Krap, Thai language comentary).

The BBC is reporting that Peter Crouch will be left out and Steven Gerrard will play in an 'advanced' midfield position, supporting Michael Owen as a lone striker. Jamie Carragher is expected to be deployed as a holding midfielder in front of the defence.

This could be the team that Sven will send out against Paraguay on June 10th.

[ProfessorFart]

Cheers Prem. I was just about to ask this question!

[johnh101]

Owen is injured, Crouch is back in.............God help you !

[PREM-R]

Owen is injured, Crouch is back in.............God help you !

(BBC Sport) England striker Michael Owen is set to play the full 90 minutes in Tuesday's friendly against Hungary after getting the all-clear following a thigh injury.

The Newcastle striker pulled out of Monday's training with the problem.

He was taken for a scan, but the measure was just a precaution for Owen, 26, who is expected to play as a lone striker after being passed fit.

[ProfessorFart]

Owen is injured, Crouch is back in.............God help you !

Breeze Blocks..........Never mind lads, the Highland Games will be on soon......

[tom yum goong]

Jamie Carragher is expected to be deployed as a holding midfielder in front of the defence.

Carragher as holding mid?

Has he ever played this position for his club? Whats wrong with Carrick

If this is true Eriksson has definitely lost it.

[PREM-R]

Jamie Carragher is expected to be deployed as a holding midfielder in front of the defence.

Carragher as holding mid?

Has he ever played this position for his club? Whats wrong with Carrick

If this is true Eriksson has definitely lost it.

Here is the full BBC report

BBC Sport/ England V Hungary

[Momenthai]

This game is also on Star Sports with English analysis as well as English commentary

[mrbojangles]

The BBC is reporting that Peter Crouch will be left out and Steven Gerrard will play in an 'advanced' midfield position, supporting Michael Owen as a lone striker. Jamie Carragher is expected to be deployed as a holding midfielder in front of the defence.

I was hoping he would do something like that. I think it is the only way you can have Gerrard and Lampard playing in the same team, and let's face it, you can't leave either of them out. Not sure about the Carragher role though

And even though tonight is a friendly, they better play like they mean business

[ProfessorFart]

It wasn't too bad a showing!

Solid enough, with no injuries or silly buggers.

[Momenthai]

Good win but I wasn't overly impressed, I only watched the second half and thought Joe Cole played well but it seemed like every time he got the ball Ashley Cole would steam down the wing and then Joe would cut inside. This is probably natural for him as he's a right winger but it meant that the team had no width. It was the same on the right, I shouldn't really criticse Beckham as he delivered to very good free kicks for first the two goals but there was no width on the right either.

I thought Crouch played well and it was good to see a goal in open play but I would have like to see Lennon on for the last 20 minutes. Walcott didn't do much but then he wasn't really given much of the ball.

Hopefully they'll build from this and score a few more against Jamaica on Saturday

[ProfessorFart]

At the end of the day this and the Jamaica game are workouts. Players getting used to playing together etc.

They were never going to go flat our and risk injury so close to the WC.

For me there were plenty of positives to take from the game and few negatives.

[Momenthai]

Agree that they shouldn't be going flat out as they don't want to risk injury and there were positives from the game (3 goals, a missed penalty and other good chances) but we did seem to lose our way about in the middle of the 2nd half and we created very few clear cut chances in the 2nd half (1st half may have been better...I didn't watch it).

I would hope that after a two year qualifying campaign most of them should be used to playing together already. Admitidly (sp?) Sven has had the Rooney change forced upon him but the core of the team has been together now for coming up to two years.

[ProfessorFart]

Its still been a while since they were last on a pitch together. I'm just pleased he played the full side and everyone got a good workout.

The same again on Saturday would be ideal but I can see Jamaica being a bit more physical.

[Momenthai]

Agree that Jamaica could be more physical but Ghana (who are also physical) beat them 4-1 last night so I'll be hoping for a similar result. Jamaica shouldn't worry us at all and it would be nice to see a few goals to improve the teams confidence....I'd like to see Owen get a few and Lampard and Gerrard to gel a bit better.

Changing the subject it was good to see Germany scrape a draw with Japan after their 7-0 win against Luxembourg

[ProfessorFart]

Changing the subject it was good to see Germany scrape a draw with Japan after their 7-0 win against Luxembourg

Very funny but Japan are no mugs....Aussies take note!!

Despite all of their troubles under Klinssman, I still reckon the Krauts are going to be a big ask for any team on home soil. I hope we Poland get in round 2 instead!

Edited May 31, 2006 by ProfessorFart

[Momenthai]

Agree, Germany have been very inconsistent of late but they always seem to go far in major tournaments without actually playing that well and playing at home is a big advantage for them...basically we need to beat Sweden and our previous record against them is not that great.

Sweden played pretty poorly against Finland last week but that was without Lungberg, Larson and the guy who plays for Juventus who surname sounds Russian (Zhabramovic!!?)....anyway with the three of them playing they'll be a very different team

[Simmo]

and the guy who plays for Juventus who surname sounds Russian (Zhabramovic!!?)....

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Swedish by way of Bosnia

Edited May 31, 2006 by Simmo

[Momenthai]

Cheers Simmo...I think I sort of merged both names into a surname....anyway he's agret player but has been a bit out of form of late....let's hope it continues until after the Sweden England game

[mrbojangles]

Some positive and negatives for me, last night.

A good workout and Hungary played pretty well in the first half, getting behind the ball. We had to show alot of patience, that's good, cos we'll need to do the same in the knockout stages. Although it was a bit boring to watch.

Second half was better and i think a positive from this, is that Sven should now realise that Hargreaves should not be in any squad Walcott didn't get much of the ball but when he did he didn't look at all phased. J Cole has also booked his spot i think.

Man of the match for me, David Beckham. Sometimes his play is abit dubious but this guy can deliver with pin point accuracy from either a set piece or on the move.

[ProfessorFart]

I thought Gerrard played well last night as well. All in all I'm encouraged by what I saw.

As long as its the same result in 10 days time I'll not be too mithered.

[lampard10]

I thought Gerrard played well last night as well. All in all I'm encouraged by what I saw.

As long as its the same result in 10 days time I'll not be too mithered.

Again I differ, I only watched the second half right through, but I thought Terry had a blinder. Not much to choose between him Gerrard ansd Beckam though. Cole came to rights late, and a dazzeling piece of play created the third goal. Lampard was steady, thought Ashley Cole looked a bit out of touch.Wallcott did not do himself any harm either. What I saw of the first half I can't recall hearing Owen mentioned much.

[ProfessorFart]

You're right Lampard, Terry did play well.

I hope Erikkson uses him to push forward from defence to support the midfield allowing Gerrard and Lampard to get forward and support the strikers.