Mr Blue Sky wrote:Heh, you sound even more pessimistic than I do
Nah, i think, in spite of our weaknesses, we should win against Ukraine. It shouldn't even take scraping a draw to edge through.
Punditry is all bollocks anyway. i had Poland and Russia to get through group A (i had Russia as a dark horse to get to the final) - and if any pundit wants to come forward and claim they predicted three dutch defeats i'll show you a complete liar
Perhaps Ashley Young will look better once Rooney's back in the team alongside Wellbeck. Carroll did great as a one-off against a very Premiership-like team but I think Rooney/Wellbeck/Young will be a better combo because they should have that immediate club understanding. Gerrard will continue to feed through quality balls no matter who's up front.
i'd actually have no problem with trying out the three together - even though Young's constant ability to give away possession in our own half scares the shit out of me.
It shows our lack of quality, though, when Gerrard is the man who's expected to run a midfield. He's a top player, but he's never shown that ability for England and he gives too much away with too many careless attempted 'hollywood' balls (i accept that's partly because we have little to no off-the-ball movement from other players to receive possession more easily).
Parker might be able to throw himself around to block a few things, and does a decent enough job, but he's not Makelele, Dechamps or Matthaus when it comes to quality midfield generals.
Amazingly it's our defence I'm most worried about now. Not exactly the Fort Knox we were lead to believe by some pundits going into the competition.
We're missing Cahill. he was the one major loss out of the pre-tournament injury glut. Terry is as past it as Ferdinand, and Lescott doesn't look to have the quality at this level. He always looks like bambi on ice, to me, whenever the ball get played around his feet. We need better than players who can try and compete for headers and scrappy clearances.
I think we'll probably scrape a draw tomorrow night and progress but I have visions of a 90 minute bore draw with Shevchenko popping up in the 91st to put Ukraine through - John Terry beaten for skill and pace falling flat on his arse in the process...
As i say, i think we should beat Ukraine, but i stand by thinking they can easily beat us if we continue to give cheap ball away in midfield and sit too deep when they;re coming forwards.