England 2-1 Switzerland

[joey_nicks]

Now, let’s not get carried away. Half decent performance wit a few positives. Like most England friendlies, very slow, a few dodgy clearances, some odd and hugely mis placed passed.

But I thought we could definitely take some positives from this performance. The defence looked half solid, even without one of the first choice players next to rio ie king, terry, woodgate, joe cole continues his fine England form, gerrard had a bit of license, jenas played well, and Bentley was fantastic – first player we have had since beckham who can whip in a decent ball. I have always been a big admirer of Bentley I felt he was the one youngster arsenal shouldn’t have let go! And SWP came on and bagged, what a good season he is having.

There is a long way to go, but I feel positive about this squad, especially with the strict rules capello has laid down. Clearly there is only one man picking the team and that’s how it should be!!!

With lampard, terry king and others missing, we definitely have a strong squad, just down to capello to find the right mix!!!

good result, ok performance, good base to build on for the future

[the lawn mower]

I thought it was a fair enough start to Fabio Cabellos reign, most of the team, eventurely played well, although why Mikar Richards did not play right back instead of the woefull Wes Brown, I do not know.
Annoyed to hear John Motson mention the words, No.7 and Beckham, 25 times in the first 35 mins, whats up with people, why dont they MOVE ON.
Rooney 8 shots, and one on target, needs to get some chalk on his que.
I Thought overall, my theories about dropping Beckham and the exclusion of Lampard where proved correct.
I thought we could do with John Terry at the back instead of Rio, James is ok and the mid-field looked quite good untill Hargreaves came on, but overall a good start.

[The Tye]

Lampard is Injured, Beckham will win his 100th cap and Rooney cant play upfront as a lone striker, he is so effective for Utd with Tevez bouncing off him, thought 4-5-1 was a bit negative and we didnt really look that potent in attack, that said, you could see Capello means business, Gerrard wearing no10 just 1 example of this, or possibly a marketing ploy, getting scousers to buy the new Gerrard shirt, nah cant be that, not many printed shirts fall off the back of lorrys these days!!!

[Bear]

I thought it was a fair enough start to Fabio Cabellos reign, most of the team, eventurely played well, although why Mikar Richards did not play right back instead of the woefull Wes Brown, I do not know.
Annoyed to hear John Motson mention the words, No.7 and Beckham, 25 times in the first 35 mins, whats up with people, why dont they MOVE ON.
Rooney 8 shots, and one on target, needs to get some chalk on his que.
I Thought overall, my theories about dropping Beckham and the exclusion of Lampard where proved correct.
I thought we could do with John Terry at the back instead of Rio, James is ok and the mid-field looked quite good untill Hargreaves came on, but overall a good start.

Do you support Chelsea ?

[the lawn mower]

I thought it was a fair enough start to Fabio Cabellos reign, most of the team, eventurely played well, although why Mikar Richards did not play right back instead of the woefull Wes Brown, I do not know.
Annoyed to hear John Motson mention the words, No.7 and Beckham, 25 times in the first 35 mins, whats up with people, why dont they MOVE ON.
Rooney 8 shots, and one on target, needs to get some chalk on his que.
I Thought overall, my theories about dropping Beckham and the exclusion of Lampard where proved correct.
I thought we could do with John Terry at the back instead of Rio, James is ok and the mid-field looked quite good untill Hargreaves came on, but overall a good start.

Do you support Chelsea ?

NO MATE ENGLAND

[Gainzy]

I thought that it was a much more "grown up" display than we have seen in recent years from England. I agree that Brown was shocking on the ball, but he and Ashley Cole aside, I thought everybody acquitted themselves well.

Bentley did well, but I wouldnt say he has made the position his yet!

I think that 4-5-1 is a system that can work if England apply themselves although it will take time. As was mentioned by the pundits, you need to be far more patient at international level, and the gung-ho style of the premier league will only work a small percentage of the time. I feel for Owen, if we are to persist with 4-5-1 I cant ever see him being a regular with the likes of Rooney about.

[seafordtillidie]

I was at the game and I am still trying to work out how I feel about the performance.

I thought James did well, apart from that sliced kick he was confident and commanded his area.

The Swiss looked dangerous when going forward, mainly due to weaknesses on the flanks with Brown showing why he shouldn't have been there and Cole was poor after a lay off. Ferdinand did ok but the jury's still out about Upson.

In midfield I thought Barry did his job well and without fuss, Jenas was hardly in the game except when he scored, while Gerrad came on stronger as the game went on. The best England player on the park was the other midfield David Bentley. Almost everything of note that we did offensively emanated from him, his passing was superb and he also worked very hard. (He so reminds me of Steve Doughty at Seaford?)

Rooney worked his nuts off, but it wasn't until Crouch came on that he looked relaxed and was certainly more dangerous then.

Performance about 6/10

[Geoff]

The best England player on the park was the other midfield David Bentley. Almost everything of note that we did offensively emanated from him

Bit harsh on Joe Cole?

[seafordtillidie]

The best England player on the park was the other midfield David Bentley. Almost everything of note that we did offensively emanated from him

Bit harsh on Joe Cole?

Not really in my opinion, he forgets there are other players in the team in my view. Needs to be more of a team player IMO

[joey_nicks]

joe cole was man of the match and has been or best player for a few years now, since before the last world cup and going into the world cup.

his work rate is spot on, he set up the goal, quality player, good performance.....

bentley is quality, the highlights i watched alst night, his passing is immense

[Geoff]

The best England player on the park was the other midfield David Bentley. Almost everything of note that we did offensively emanated from him

Bit harsh on Joe Cole?

Not really in my opinion, he forgets there are other players in the team in my view. Needs to be more of a team player IMO

Set up the first goal?

[The Horse]

Who are we kidding??

I thought it was a turgid, overly negative boring display, that contained none of the development people are saying. Switzerland were rubbish and yet we only sneaked a win.

I went to the game, as I went to games when Sven and McClaren was manager and nothing has changed yet. I love the way people kid themselves that after two training sessions, Capello has developed a style of football for the team!!

I am not for a minute suggesting Capello is the wrong manager, just that understandably he had very little influence over this result. First half the reason we were poor is the endless long balls didnt have a target man to head them on and watching rooneys body language he was fuming with the endless wasted passes from the back four and Barry, Gerrard and Jenas. When crouchy come on we then hit his head and got flick ons - where is that different to what has been our tactic for the last 10 years??

Barry is so average its unreal and yet people say he is good??!! Compare him to Flamini, Hargreaves, Makalele, Essian and even Carrick and he is not even half as dynamic and as he proved against Croatia, isnt even that great at protecting the back four. Hargreves did more in 20 mins than Barry did all game with his safety first sideways passing his only contribution to the game. Jenas was rubbish and whilst bagged a goal, is out of his depth and Gerrard whilst decent tried too many of his hollywood balls.

Granted Wes Brown aint the greatest but Richards is not a good defensive full back (but a great centre half) and so being Italiah he went for defence first.

Lawn Mower - do you hate Man United by any chance? Just wondering as you slated Hargreaves, Beckham, Rio and wes brown in one post??

For the record Rio was excellent as always and is by far the best centre half in Britain.

[Geoff]

Fella, don't you think thats a bit harsh on a new regime in their very first game with only three days to prepare?

The first 20 mins were not good to watch I agree... but with both sides playing 5 through the middle it was going to get congested. But Capello has come in totally afresh with no pre-conceptions and decided to play a side he has seen on league form... thats quite different for us here.

Three players started, that played against Croatia. So we have a transformed side, a new manager, a new team and three days to prepare. I think we settled down extremely well and even looked quite fluent at times.

Judge the coach after ten games, judge the team he picks and how well they perform and what results they get after ten games, not on the first performance.

I'm satisfied with his first performance as coach and I will give the overall set up and game the same as someone before... 6/10.

Don't read too much into a friendly, a first game for the new coach, and basically a new side. It's not bad considering.

[The Horse]

Never criticised Capello - just dont think there was any change from previous teams, matches and tactics.

[Geoff]

One game does not make a season.