Saints V England

[paulwantsapint]

Is it because when I watch Saints its using saints rose tinted glasses but we look a better team than england

Yes player for player england are far far better but as a team saints look more organised & together while england often look disjointed & like the players have never seen each other play

[Arizona]

But which team would Rickie play in???

[niceandfriendly]

Yeah we'd walk all over England IMO. Seabourne would have Rooney and Crouch in his back pocket whilst smoking a cigar with Fonte.

[Nexstar]

That's like saying Dagenham and Redbridge are better at finishing than Chelsea, because they scored 3 and Chelsea only scored 1 at Wembley...

[forever a red and white]

the question of quality is obviously silly.

Obvioulsy Saints will look more like a team beacuse they are a club side, train everyweek together and have played around 50 games together and probably at least 20 with the new signings.

England train very few times a year together and after qualifying and the season has finished have around three weeks to try and get a team together, that is the challenge but really its quite simple why saints look more like a team.

If you look at the other leagues they do more to support their national team by finishing the domestic season earlier, but we have also brought our season-end in earlier too.

[alpine_saint]

I just got back from the game.

England were f**king awful. They played like it was a training kick-about.

The Chelsea contingent were lethargic and disinterested - Ashley Cole was utter dire. Lampard is a plank that will never recreate his league form for England; he is a latter-day John Barnes.
Huddlestone is utterly useless, and Theo played crap. Rooney was playing so deep sometimes and hardly ran; he clearly isnt fit.

I reckon Saints at their peak last season (Bristol Rovers away ?) could take the current England team easily.

[for_heaven's_Saint]

I just got back from the game.

England were f**king awful. They played like it was a training kick-about.

The Chelsea contingent were lethargic and disinterested - Ashley Cole was utter dire. Lampard is a plank that will never recreate his league form for England; he is a latter-day John Barnes.
Huddlestone is utterly useless, and Theo played crap. Rooney was playing so deep sometimes and hardly ran; he clearly isnt fit.

I reckon Saints at their peak last season (Bristol Rovers away ?) could take the current England team easily.

haha please tell me you're joking! That's utterly ridiculous. I know you have to rely on the reports of people on here as you can't get to many games but come on...

[Arizona]

I just got back from the game.

England were f**king awful. They played like it was a training kick-about.

The Chelsea contingent were lethargic and disinterested - Ashley Cole was utter dire. Lampard is a plank that will never recreate his league form for England; he is a latter-day John Barnes.
Huddlestone is utterly useless, and Theo played crap. Rooney was playing so deep sometimes and hardly ran; he clearly isnt fit.

I reckon Saints at their peak last season (Bristol Rovers away ?) could take the current England team easily.

[LGTL]

I just got back from the game.

England were f**king awful. They played like it was a training kick-about.

The Chelsea contingent were lethargic and disinterested - Ashley Cole was utter dire. Lampard is a plank that will never recreate his league form for England; he is a latter-day John Barnes.
Huddlestone is utterly useless, and Theo played crap. Rooney was playing so deep sometimes and hardly ran; he clearly isnt fit.

I reckon Saints at their peak last season (Bristol Rovers away ?) could take the current England team easily.

That's exactly what it was.

They'll come good when it matters, probably.

[Smirking_Saint]

Thought Huddlestone looked ok, Agree, Lampard is pedestrian in the three lions

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

saints are better than England. Also Lambert is way better than Torres.......

[Graffito]

I just got back from the game.

England were f**king awful. They played like it was a training kick-about.

The Chelsea contingent were lethargic and disinterested - Ashley Cole was utter dire. Lampard is a plank that will never recreate his league form for England; he is a latter-day John Barnes.
Huddlestone is utterly useless, and Theo played crap. Rooney was playing so deep sometimes and hardly ran; he clearly isnt fit.

I reckon Saints at their peak last season (Bristol Rovers away ?) could take the current England team easily.

The players want to avoid injury.

Your last sentence is a cracker.

[Smirking_Saint]

The players want to avoid injury.

Your last sentence is a cracker.

Agreed, sorry alpine but if that last sentance is serious then, well, whats the point ?

[Winchester_Saint]

Didn't even watch the game but heard it was pants. Sorry, just can't get into supporting England like i do the Saints. But that's a different issue...

[S-Clarke]

saints are better than England. Also Lambert is way better than Torres.......

totally. Torres would struggle to score more than 5 goals in L1

....

and alps - seriously? England would do us comfortably, why is this even a debate? it's mental.

[dubai_phil]

But seriously...

As a warm up game, would our 1st XI have beaten England today?

By all reports they were awful, one on one we'd get murdered, BUT as others have said, with England playing it as a training game and wanting to avoid injury would we have beaten them?

IMHO in the circumstances today - yes I think we would. In the other 99 games in mid season? No, we'd have got walloped. Seabourne V Rooney in a normal game? 'aving a larf


Meanwhile, for those who DO support England our form inthe warm up games is good news. Teams who win the WC are normally awful in the build-up and struggle to get through the group stages. Still not putting any money on them though.

[S4INT]

I just got back from the game.

England were f**king awful. They played like it was a training kick-about.

The Chelsea contingent were lethargic and disinterested - Ashley Cole was utter dire. Lampard is a plank that will never recreate his league form for England; he is a latter-day John Barnes.
Huddlestone is utterly useless, and Theo played crap. Rooney was playing so deep sometimes and hardly ran; he clearly isnt fit.

I reckon Saints at their peak last season (Bristol Rovers away ?) could take the current England team easily.

Alpine this is the closest I have come to liking the drivel you normally post on here. Obviously your personality with a sense of humour is currently at the steering-wheel

[Colbury]

I despair at some of the drivel posted on here.

[scott_saints]

lol

[hypochondriac]

Bwahaha. Just read this. Needed a chuckle so thanks.

[1976_Child]

Yeah. Saints are better than England. And I am going to buy a season ticket at Fratton next season.

[ericofarabia]

Shame on you all ..... Alps posts something positive about Saints and you slag him off. :cool:

As Phil said any team facing an opposition team treating the game as a training session stands a good chance of winning ... if we'd been in with a shout of promotion against Gillingham don't you think we'd have performed a bit better

[alpine_saint]

I was at the game; some of you dismiss my opinion about Saints for not being there, have a bit of respect for the fact that I was seeing the demeanor of the players off the ball.

The attitude of the likes of Terry and especially Rooney was very worrying. When I said Saints could take the current England line-up easily, I meant on the basis of the performance yesterday, not what England did during qualifying or the players did in the PL.

And I stand by it this morning; England were DIRE yesterday - couldnt string two passes together...

[skintsaint]

but they still won...and they would do against Saints even if they performed like they did yesterday imo.

Too much quality for Saints.

[alpine_saint]

but they still won...and they would do against Saints even if they performed like they did yesterday imo.

Too much quality for Saints.

Erm, Japan scored all three goals.

[alpine_saint]

A disappointing post, considering that you are a mod/administrator and are supposed to uphold the rules on abuse and sarcasm.

[Thedelldays]

if any of you were not at the game, then you have no right to comment

people who comment who were not there are not real fans

[skintsaint]

Erm, Japan scored all three goals.

Put the balls in the danger area and it dont matter how they go in..

and we missed a pen...should of been 3-1...not bad for a ****e performance.

[alpine_saint]

if any of you were not at the game, then you have no right to comment

people who comment who were not there are not real fans

hehehehe.:smt038

[Thedelldays]

mate..I went to wembley last monday and I really appreciated how bad we were...terrible

if mexico were any good they would have been out of sight in the first half

[surrey1saint]

[QUOTE=Graffito;742042]The players want to avoid injury.

That was my take on it as well.

[alpine_saint]

[QUOTE=surrey1saint;742231]

The players want to avoid injury.

That was my take on it as well.

Its a possible partial explanation.

But certain players are supposed to be fighting for their squad place, and others appear to be too comfortable in the squad.

I am sure the squad will respond in SA, but with the same lack of oomph as yesterday, I reckon Saints in top form could have done them.

[Saint_clark]

Am I the only person who thinks Lampard has been outstanding for England throughout qualifying?

[Turkish]

This thread is proof that there when you think a forum hits the depths of insanity and stupidity it is still possible to sink further.

[alpine_saint]

Am I the only person who thinks Lampard has been outstanding for England throughout qualifying?

Well he was cack yesterday.

[Nexstar]

If anyone thinks that a team of third tier English footballers, all of whom (Bar Morgan) are not up to the standard/fitness to play for their countries can take England, the 8th best team in the world, need their heads checked.

[Turkish]

Well he was cack yesterday.

massively overrated, just like John terry, Ashley Cole, Gerrard & Rio Ferdinand, none of them have ever done it on the big stage for England. The only player who actually lives up to their hype is Rooney.

[Saint_clark]

massively overrated, just like John terry, Ashley Cole, Gerrard & Rio Ferdinand, none of them have ever done it on the big stage for England. The only player who actually lives up to their hype is Rooney.

Erm, yes they have. Not regularly but they have done it.

[Turkish]

Erm, yes they have. Not regularly but they have done it.

When can you say any of those have turned in a top notch performance, when it mattered in a world cup or Euros finals? At a push you could argue for Lampard against Portugal in 2004, outside of that i am struggling.

[Smirking_Saint]

massively overrated, just like John terry, Ashley Cole, Gerrard & Rio Ferdinand, none of them have ever done it on the big stage for England. The only player who actually lives up to their hype is Rooney.

Lol at the hypocrisy !!!

You comment that Alpine has dragged the forum down yet further with his insanity and then you post something like this !!

Well done, now hand the keyboard over to someone else

[Smirking_Saint]

This is what i saw

That was pretty dire, i thought Huddlestone was the only player to stand out in the first half, Lampard is just completely pedestrian.

Walcott just doesn't seem up to it and Johnson is unfortunately error prone in defence.

Why oh why when Ferdinand f*cks up does he have to turn and moan at someone else ??

2nd Half was better, we looked more imposing and had more ideas, puzzled as to why SWP and Heskey are playing when they had little game time to the end of the season ?? Why not try Adam Johnson on the left ??

It also bugs me that when Gerrard and Lamps play together Lampard still plays in his pedestrian wander around the box role, this totally negates the attributes that have made Liverpool into a fairly good team recently.........Gerrard.

I would play him just off of rooney, OR play Cole just of rooney and Gerrard in midfield with a holding player.

Also, Crouch needs to be played instead of Heskey in the hold up role, purely because he is also a goal threat.

I am not confident after this afternoon,

rant over

[alpine_saint]

I am not convinced by any of the current line-up for England.

Japan went at them from the start, and made them look uncomfortable.

Which is why I think any half-decent driven team playing with high pace and work-rate, such as Saints, could do them.

[alpine_saint]

This is what i saw

That was pretty dire, i thought Huddlestone was the only player to stand out in the first half, Lampard is just completely pedestrian.

Walcott just doesn't seem up to it and Johnson is unfortunately error prone in defence.

Why oh why when Ferdinand f*cks up does he have to turn and moan at someone else ??

2nd Half was better, we looked more imposing and had more ideas, puzzled as to why SWP and Heskey are playing when they had little game time to the end of the season ?? Why not try Adam Johnson on the left ??

It also bugs me that when Gerrard and Lamps play together Lampard still plays in his pedestrian wander around the box role, this totally negates the attributes that have made Liverpool into a fairly good team recently.........Gerrard.

I would play him just off of rooney, OR play Cole just of rooney and Gerrard in midfield with a holding player.

Also, Crouch needs to be played instead of Heskey in the hold up role, purely because he is also a goal threat.

I am not confident after this afternoon,

rant over

I see where you are coming from about Crouch (though the FIFA refs will blow against him whenever a defender backs into him because of his size he looks like he is holding) and also about Gerrard (I would drop the useless tw*t Lampard if Barry is fit), but your comment about Huddlestone is plain bizarre.

And I maintain the worst player on display yesterday was Ashley Cole.

[Turkish]

Lol at the hypocrisy !!!

You comment that Alpine has dragged the forum down yet further with his insanity and then you post something like this !!

Well done, now hand the keyboard over to someone else

WTF are you on about? its ridiculous to say that a third tier Enlgish football team could beat a top international team. My point about those listed being overrated is relative, as per the comment about "on he big stage"- when was the last time a third division footballer played for England on the big stage you goon. Those i listed are all described as world class players yet have never performed when it matters for England, or do you think they have, if so when? Or is that the reason why we have only progressed past the quarter finals of any competition in fifty years? LOL at the stupidity, well done now hand the keyboard over to someone else.

[Thedelldays]

WTF are you on about? its ridiculous to say that a third tier Enlgish football team could beat a top international team. My point about those listed being overrated is relative, as per the comment about "on he big stage"- when was the last time a third division footballer played for England on the big stage you goon. Those i listed are all described as world class players yet have never performed when it matters for England, or do you think they have, if so when? Or is that the reason why we have only progressed past the quarter finals of any competition in fifty years? LOL at the stupidity, well done now hand the keyboard over to someone else.

italia 90..?

[Turkish]

This is what i saw

That was pretty dire, i thought Huddlestone was the only player to stand out in the first half, Lampard is just completely pedestrian.

Walcott just doesn't seem up to it and Johnson is unfortunately error prone in defence.

Why oh why when Ferdinand f*cks up does he have to turn and moan at someone else ??

2nd Half was better, we looked more imposing and had more ideas, puzzled as to why SWP and Heskey are playing when they had little game time to the end of the season ?? Why not try Adam Johnson on the left ??

It also bugs me that when Gerrard and Lamps play together Lampard still plays in his pedestrian wander around the box role, this totally negates the attributes that have made Liverpool into a fairly good team recently.........Gerrard.

I would play him just off of rooney, OR play Cole just of rooney and Gerrard in midfield with a holding player.

Also, Crouch needs to be played instead of Heskey in the hold up role, purely because he is also a goal threat.

I am not confident after this afternoon,

rant over

LOL at the hypocrisy, you've got the cheek you have a pop at me saying England players are overrated then post this

[Turkish]

italia 90..?

I dont remember Lampard, Cole, Gerrard etc playing Italia 90, do you?

and just reread it, missed out got past quater finals twice in fifty years ;o)

[dubai_phil]

IMHO, yesterday's game was all about finding the "other 3 places" in the squad.

Darren Bent or Emile Heskey?
Does Adam Johnson go or SWP?
Joe Cole?
Tom Huddlestone?
Warnock or Baines?
Which of the keepers?

4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 and it's derivatives

Trouble is the team selection didn't really LOOK like it was trying out the fringe players and it is hard to see the point of the game from all the media (and Alpine's) reports.

As far as I can see there is only ONE thing that we can take from these two warm-up games, we have been awful and have won them both. I'll happily take that all the way to winning the final....

But of course the team on the pitch yesterday playing the way they did yesterday would likely get turned over by New Zealand let alone Saints, so let's hope it was just "done to make sure Alps stayed grumpy"

[Smirking_Saint]

LOL at the hypocrisy, you've got the cheek you have a pop at me saying England players are overrated then post this

Lol at you jumping back with a non entity of an arguement, this is what i saw yesterday, you turned around and said that our better players have NEVER performed for England, where exactly have i said that ??

Better get back to the homework nipper, you've got school tommorrow

[Turkish]

Lol at you jumping back with a non entity of an arguement, this is what i saw yesterday, you turned around and said that our better players have NEVER performed for England, where exactly have i said that ??

Better get back to the homework nipper, you've got school tommorrow

Read it again pal, i said on the big stage. IE world cups, Euro championships, not a friendly against the likes of Jamaica. If your going to try to make a point, make sure its about the right thing.