England Beat Poland 2-1

England beat Poland 2-1 to win group 6 and qualify in 1st place for the finals.

A good display from England. There seemed to be a new energy about the team. Whether that was because there was new blood in the side, or whether the lack of pressure to qualify, I don't know. I do know we looked a lot more impressive against the Poles than we did against the Austrians. The Polish team has won 9 games in a row and has been in some form of late.

Ledley King had a good game sitting in the anchor role behind the midfield. Ledley broke down many Polish attacks before they got started. Most impressive of the newcomers was Wright Phillips out wide right in place of Beckham. Phillips was everywhere in the first half and looked very dangerous. Sven will still pick Beckham, but Becks will have seen Wright Phillip's ability and knows he will have to really play very well to warrant keeping Phillips out of the side.

The England defence was pretty solid against a decent attack. Only 1 lapse where we got pulled all over the place after Luke Young was caught playing everyone on. That said, Luke Young had another good game overall at the right of defence. Terry and Rio played well at the back, Rio even came forward at times. Carragher was steady on the left.

Lampard got the winning goal and is in fine goalscoring form at the moment. Joe Cole was lively on the left and showed some nice touches. Cole will be better suited to playing in the centre I think, but still plays very well out wide. Rooney was Rooney, running with the ball he looked very dangerous. Twisting and turning opponents inside out, good passing, good vision. Controlled his temper. All good.

Owen scored a 6 yard flick and showed glimpses of his pace at times. If Michael's hamstrings hold up, he could well be playing the best football of his life over the next few months. Hopefully Owen will light up the world cup finals with some real quality displays and bring the world cup back to England with him.

Posted at 9:59 PM, Wednesday, October 12, 2005

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1 Comments

It was a good game. The only one that I've enjoyed since we beat Denmark(?) 3-0 in the 2002 World Cup. It was lovely to see them playing attacking football at last, instead of the cautious cat and mouse performances they've been putting out of late.

The formation looked much tighter, and less likely to break down. I think the personnel that was in there were tremendous. Ledley King and Joe Cole were the best players on the pitch last night in my opinion, but Rooney was wonderfully inspiring as usual.

I worry though that we depend on him to elevate the team too much.

I listened to Talksport after the match, and there was one caller who rang in and complained that the performance was poor, and that the players showed no passion. He also said that he didn't understand what Ledley King was doing playing in the first place.

I suspect he'd just escaped from a mental asylum.

Frigging idiot.

By Karen Scott, at 9:18 AM

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England Beat Poland 2-1