World Cup Qualifiers Thread: 16th October

[GSC]

First topic message reminder :

England head to Warsaw on Tuesday minus Theo Walcott to take on Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland in a Group H encounter. England start the day 3 points above Poland atop the group, having played a game more than their hosts who have managed 4 points from their opening 2 games. Poland are not a threat to be taken lightly boasting the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Jakub Błaszczykowski among their attacking threats in what promises to be a tough game for England.

The Republic of Ireland head to the Faroe Islands, needing to rebound majorly from a 6-1 hammering by Germany on Friday. Theres also an opportunity to gain ground on the leaders as Germany host Sweden.

Scotland face what amounts to a do or die qualifier in Belgium, as having dropped 8 points against the weaker teams in the group, they find themselves 5 points behind Belgium and Croatia. Not too many harder assignments than the 3rd most expensive squad in International football.

A win against Scotland eased some of the pressure off Chris Coleman, and they will look to build on their momentum when they travel to face Croatia. A tough ask minus Aaron Ramsey, but a win would really bring Wales into the mix in their group.

Finally Northern Ireland draw the toughest assignment of each arguably as they travel to Portugal, where a loss would probably push them out of contention altogether.

[mystiroakey]

GSC I do believe its hard to take a real look at the england team based on watching the games. Because the way we play is so disjointed- however the truth is we rarely get beat- Infact we get beat less(in full time) than almost any other nation out there..

I think we have to give out defenders a lot of credit for that, when we break it down..

We can defend as a unit - but our philosphy and talent is clearly flawed- we can never seem to attack and dominate as a unit..

[GSC]

I said it a few times, we turn up playing to avoid losing rather than to win. Defense can take credit but assisted by negative wingers and at least 8-9 behind the ball at all times.

I honestly believe we should ditch the tried and failed older generation. Might be naive, but at least the youth can play without fear of the shirt.

[mystiroakey]

i agree with ya. id rather lose and play nice football than watch this draws

[GSC]

I can understand that we might set up shop vs Spain or Germany.

But we can't turn up and give Poland a game?

[Duty281]

Why do people constantly think we're not a top 10 side and then expect us to turn in performances ala Brazil 1970 every game? We did no worse yesterday than Germany or Portugal did on Tuesday. It's one game, relax. We're still top of the group and the hardest game is out of the way. So relax.

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