Oh dear - Gravesens coming to kick our ass...

Gardner in the England squad - lump on Denmark. It's that simple

[GETT1NLOTS]

England have a poor record in friendlies under Erikkson.

Da Han' - we would - of course beat Denmark easily if the game mattered though. :smokin

A classic 'no bet' friendly IMO.

Seriously, though, with the depleted squad England are putting up, the game would probably be pretty even if it werent for the motivational factor. For the Danish players, this game is something special. For the English players, its hardly the same.

We will be without a few players as well, but IMO there is good value in current odds on us

[GETT1NLOTS]

DH - I agree.

If I was to bet on this game it would be on Denmark.

As I said - England under Erikkson in friendlies have an appalling record.

[edtkh]

I wouldn't think England's record in friendlies is as bad as many would be led to believe. Their record this year is as follows :

Feb. 12 - Australia 1 - 3
May. 22 - South Africa 2 - 1
Jun. 3 - Serbia & Montenegro 2 - 1
Aug. 20 - Croatia 3 - 1

On the other hand, Denmark's record this year :
Feb. 12 - Egypt 4 - 1
Apr. 30 - Ukraine 1 - 0
Aug. 20 - Finland 1 - 1


This is England's starting lineup : James, G Neville, A Cole, Terry, Upson, Beckham, Butt, Lampard, J Cole, Rooney, Heskey. I can see a few of these lads being fired up for this one as they bid to cement their place in England's squad for Euro 2004.

Problem is I can't find Denmark's squad - maybe you could be of help DH? The match is starting in 15mins..

at 2-2 the match has been a good one thus far with most young England players nicely fired up to win this in the second half. live betting is @2.00 at the moment and despite Graveson's efforts denmark are running out of players. Rooney to win this in last 10...:rolleyes

Hmmm.. As I saw it, England were outplayed in the 2nd half. Joe Cole had a good game and Rooney was outstanding, but some of the other players - especially Glen Johnson - were poor.

Very impressed with some of our young players after England managed to take a few of our players out in the 1st half. David James should have walked and it is feared Rommedahl may have broken some bones in his leg. Terrys elbow on Wieghorst was appauling as well.

Jorgensen played his best international since WC France 98. Somewhat surprised to see him in Tomassons normal posistion, but he was easilly the best man on the pitch.

And Gravesen did kick your ass, lads

Sand was completely anonymous as per usual these days, though. And we really could do with some competition for Thomas Sorensen..........

After watching that game I can only say England were a complete shambles, especially at the back.

Some will say it was a weakened England side but just how many of the players are on 40K+ each week...........enough said.

Ist half wasn't bad except for letting them back in it twice. 2nd half we weren't in it. Rooney had a good effort against the post but for me that was it almost. Denmark seemed to have far much time on the ball. When we had it the Danes were snapping at our heels and didn't give us time.

As far as passing went can any player pass the ball forward?? It was passing back all the time, so negative.

Sorry Sven but must do better. If we don't get it sorted then it will be a quick exit for our boys.

[PompeyPunt]

Was only a friendly lets not forget. For a team like Denmark coming to England, they are always going to be up for it, whereas for us its just another expeimental pointless game, and for the England players after playing in the Turkey game, it must be hard to motivate yourself for a game like this.

Alot of good things have come out of todays game, for instance Sven now knows players like Johnson are in no way even nearly ready for the international scene, whilst IMHO it even more cemented the fact that we now have a strikeforce (when fit) in Owen and Rooney that will pick itself.

Well done to Denmark anyway, they don't look a bad side, greatly improved from when we pissed on them at the WC.

I would think Joe Cole also staked a good claim in todays match. He was, in fact, far better than Lampard today.

[PompeyPunt]

Have to say i'm a fan of Joe Cole, i always seem to be impressed by him, took his goal well today to.

He needs to be playing more though IMHO, the odd start against the smaller Premiership teams, and a game in the league cup certainly can't be good for his development, which can't be good for the English game as a whole.

I get the feeling he has joined Chelsea at the wrong time, and that Ranieri dosn't really rate him that much either, no beyond possibility that he could move off on loan somewhere to get a few more games.

Pompey,

Feel I have to pick you up on a couple of comments mate.

whereas for us its just another expeimental pointless game

- I take it the Danes didn't use this game to experiment in?

and for the England players after playing in the Turkey game, it must be hard to motivate yourself for a game like this.

- trying telling Joe Cole, Johnsen, Scott Parker, Upson that this game was pointless and that there was no motivation there for them Or John Terry staking his claim to be a first choice centre half instead of Rio or Sol. Or Bridge when he replaced A Cole.

In the end its a friendly, results in most cases do not matter and its the performances or non-performances of players that you gain most from these games. But IMO the motivation would be there, certainly for the fringe players. Also if players are only going to pick and choose what games to get motivated for then they won't be around international football too long with that attitude.

I was very impressed with Danes!
Good passing and if I didn`t know, watching them run like lunatics, I would never guess it was a friendly game.
Gravesen was man of the match for me.
Well done!

[PompeyPunt]

Completely fair points crowie, but personally, if that was a qualifying game, there is no possible way i could see that Denmark would come away with a 3-2 victory at Old Trafford.

What i meant about the motivation, that even all the will in the world to try your hardest in every game, its just not going to happen in friendly games (take a few exceptions), the fear or injury for a club game next week for example would make a player pull out of a 50/50 ball, that wouldn't happen in an important qualifier, like Scotland players yesterday, diving in and blocking everything. That's IMHO of course.

Its sad to think players think like this, and that wearing your countries shirt with pride in any type of match should be a priviledge, but is this not just the way football is today? Maybe i'm wrong.


Don't get me wrong, i wasn't teying to take away from Denmark, as i thought they were outstanding today.

[GETT1NLOTS]

Crowie,

We are all entitled to opinions - and yours (for what it is worth) are some of the ones I respect as being more intelligent and 'even handed' around here.

However,

If you read many of the threads through the PL over time you will see that there is a distinct and identifiable anti-England tone to them. Now most of this is good natured and harmless - I am not that far up my own arse that I can't see that.

However the patriotism, fervour and quite understandable pride that the Welsh, Scots, Irish and 'Rest of Europe' show in times of defeat and victory is seen as admirable, brave and worthy.

When an Englishman takes exception to the tide of disingenuous, ungiving, mildly xenophobic bullshiit he hears (especially about the Rugby today) then he is told to calm down and not take it all so seriously.

Crowies right, Pompey. We had 2 players getting their first cap today as well as quite a few out there who arent regulars.

No way to prove this, of course, but with the England team out there today, I do believe we would also be very likely to win had it been a qualifying game. The difference for England tonight was not whether this was a friendly or nor, but the loss of Owen, Rio, Campbell & Gerrard.

Do you think Glen Johnson would have looked any less nervous had there points at stake? And do you think David James would have been allowed to stay on the pitch had it been a deciding match?

[PompeyPunt]

Surely Glen Johnson would not of played if it was a meaningful game, neither would a few others. This was partly a game for England to test new blood, some of which went wrong. In a qualifiying game, Sven would stick with tried and tested, and as much as i am no fan of sven, to be fair he has got the results.

For the rest of the players who are regulars, i would still stand by the comment that whatever they may say, they are not going to put as much into a game like this as they would a 'meaningful' match.

At the end of the day its a football match, as unpredictable as any sport you can ger, you could play that game again tommorow with the same teams, and get a completely different result, anyway, i digress (as per usual on a sunday :b )

Fair enough Pompey

I think Da Han hit the nail on the head when mentioning the difference being England missing some of their regulars but I still argue, IMHO, that Heskey/Rooney would be competing to see who partners Owen (seems to be Rooney now by the sounds of his performance). Lampard would want to show he can replace Gerrard, Terry and Upson similarly for Rio/Sol. And as I mentioned, your Joe Cole's, Parkers, Bridge all want to show they could/should be in the team/squad on a regular basis. Just IMO off course but thats how I would view these players motivations today.

I take your point about the commitment of the players in relation to a friendly v competitive match but again I would have to say, IMO, that surely both sides may have approached it with this attitude and not just the English lads? Or do the English lads view it as an incovenience where as the Danes approach it with a more committed attitude? As you said, it is rather disappointing if that was the case.

Anyway, just thinking out loud and as you said, the Danes deserved to win. I will take your word for that as I didn't actually see the game so my comments re player commitment etc are just based on my thoughts and some of the comments on here summarising the game

[GETT1NLOTS]

Right I'm gonna come up for a bit of stick for what I'm about to say from DH and the rest here.

But England, IMO, would beat Denmark, at home, the vast majority of the time, in any game that mattered.

Fact is we beat Denmark 3-0 in the WC when it mattered on neutral ground, and if both first teams would have played, I would expect a similar result.

I am getting bit sick and tired of everyone knocking England on the PL (and everywhere else) when we win (like in the rugby today - we get called 'boring') and when we lose it is a totally justified result; irrespective of the circumstance or importance of the match.

It is posts like some of the above why Matt (and me in part) start to 'bite' on threads like this.