crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Not great, Sweden not the toughest of teams to go out to, Wales ran you close as well, so much for all these 'inferior' (like England in this case) sides getting more of a chance than they deserve. Indeed. This was a very poor tournament and yet Roy Crouchson fluked a quarter-final place! It's become all about survival for me at the moment. Rather than thinking about competing for a trophy, I'm just thinking about trying to meet minimum expectations so that I can stay in the job for a bit longer! Turns out after that initial success at Euro 2012, I'm more of a mediocre manager than I thought I was. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 A tough year indeed! Good to see in qualification and the finals you maintained realism by not letting Turkey score - they have never scored against England! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 I think you have to accept that by aiming to build a team for 2018 that Euro 2016 would be a bit of a duff one. Qualification is on course at least. I'd be looking to play a slightly more expansive system personally. I think you could have Rooney dropping off the front with the pace and movement of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott and Johnson causing problems, with Wilshere/Cleverley hitting raking passes from a deeper-lying role. You then have the natural variation in play of hitting the early ball in behind for Rooney, and also playing it into his feet for him to lay it off to a midfield runner or the playmaker to hit a through pass for one of them. Of course you then have problems when Rooney is out. Perhaps Carroll as a more orthodox target-man? Either way I think with the dearth of forwards performing well for you, you have to look for more goals from midfield. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 A tough year indeed! Good to see in qualification and the finals you maintained realism by not letting Turkey score - they have never scored against England! Yes, indeed! I think you have to accept that by aiming to build a team for 2018 that Euro 2016 would be a bit of a duff one. Qualification is on course at least. I did think that would be the case but at the same time I had hoped that we would be in slightly better shape for Euro 2016. I'd be looking to play a slightly more expansive system personally. Expansive? This is Roy Crouchson that you're talking about! I think you could have Rooney dropping off the front with the pace and movement of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott and Johnson causing problems, with Wilshere/Cleverley hitting raking passes from a deeper-lying role. You then have the natural variation in play of hitting the early ball in behind for Rooney, and also playing it into his feet for him to lay it off to a midfield runner or the playmaker to hit a through pass for one of them. Wilshere and Rooney are going to be the foundations that I will build this team around, for sure, and Rooney will be dropping off with Wilshere dictating things in the midfield. I don't rate Walcott too highly on FM (very poor technicals) and he doesn't fit into my system well. Oxlade-Chamberlain should become increasingly important and someone like Johnson should come in and do well. I actually think that one of the main issues has been finding a clinical striker. My teams, regardless of formation, tend to be built with a quality striker in mind who will bury chances. Welbeck has been so disappointing and his attributes have not improved as much as I would have liked them to do so. I cannot bank on him finishing chances. Of course you then have problems when Rooney is out. Perhaps Carroll as a more orthodox target-man? Either way I think with the dearth of forwards performing well for you, you have to look for more goals from midfield. Yes, you are right. Carroll will feature in the future, he has been injured and so I didn't call him up when Rooney was missing recently. Although the 4-4-1-1 experiment was a bit of a disappointment, it is still an option, but I won't go down the route of making Rooney a 'number 9' like figure again as that was a mistake. As I'm playing as Roy Crouchson, you won't see any 4-3-3s or 4-2-3-1s from me. 4-4-1-1 is the closest I will get to moving away from the 4-4-2! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 International Friendly 2017 - Italy 0 England 2 Match Stats Formation & Ratings Before Euro 2016, we were thrashed 4-1 at Wembley by the Italians. This time, we got our revenge in Rome! This match saw me recall Darren Bent, which the media reported as being a 'humiliating climbdown'. I guess it was a climbdown because it was me admitting that I had made a mistake in dropping him in the first place. He'll be 34 by the time of the World Cup but I have confidence, barring any major injuries, that he'll still be in the reckoning for a first team place in Russia next year. What would the media make of this in real life? Roy Crouchson placing his faith in a fairly limited 33-year-old striker? Well, I don't care too much. Bent had a terrific partnership with Rooney at Euro 2012 and I'm hoping we can re-live those glory days once again! The returning Bent may not have scored in this match but he played well and set up Rooney for the second goal of the match. So what of this result? A great performance against a top quality opposition in their back yard? Does this prove that Bent is the missing piece of the jigsaw? Does this prove that we actually have a quality team in the making after all? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reedy_1988 Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 How has Jay Rodriguez progressed? he usually makes the England starting line up in the saves i've had. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Group 4 - England 5 San Marino 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings We did what you expect when you play San Marino: we dominated to a ridiculous extent and thrashed them. Darren Bent scored four goals. Not much can be learnt from a game versus San Marino though in all honesty! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 How has Jay Rodriguez progressed? he usually makes the England starting line up in the saves i've had. He has done okay and has been in contention when I've had a bit of an injury crisis. Truth is that he doesn't have very good technicals and that the likes of Bent, Welbeck and Sturridge are far superior. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Group 4 - England 5 Romania 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings We hammer Romania at Wembley. With this victory and the one over the Italians, the feel good factor is coming back! Bent grabbed a goal, Wilshere looked fabulous and the whole team put in a performance. Very pleasing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 International Friendly 2017 - England 2 USA 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings We should probably have scored more in this game as we were hugely dominant. Bent went off with an injury after 32 mins and Welbeck came on to grab a brace of goals. I'm feeling more and more confident with this team. We have a bigger test in our next game though as we play Spain away in another friendly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 International Friendly 2017 - Spain 1 England 1 Match Stats Formation & Ratings This England team is starting to look more impressive. We matched Spain in this game and played very well in general. Our forwards were a little disappointing and certain players could have done better but a draw away to Spain has to be taken as a positive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reedy_1988 Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 4 clean sheets you seemed to have sorted out your defence after their shambolic performances in the last competition. Hope it continues EDIT: out of 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Group 4 - Poland 1 England 3 Match Stats Formation & Ratings This was a big result. Recall that we had drawn our home game against Poland. They are our main rivals in this group, so to go away and to beat them was pretty huge. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was brilliant, scoring a fabulous brace of goals. We are now in a much better situation in terms of qualifying. Let's hope that we can keep this recent form up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Group 4 - England 0 Greece 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings Damn, this was frustrating. Look at the stats! We bossed the game. The Greeks didn't do anything. Yet we couldn't find a goal to win the game. I'm really disappointed that we couldn't break them down. Once again, my England team struggled to create and to be clinical when the emphasis was on them to take charge of the game. It is a recurring theme. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Group 4 - Albania 0 England 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings Pathetic! This was so lacklustre and poor that it is extremely embarrassing. Not a single shot on target for England. I'm so disgusted that I don't really want to talk about the game! If the last result caused some anxiety over qualification, this one really hit home. With Poland winning both of their last two matches, it seems extremely likely that we will be finishing in second place in this group. Potentially, the play-offs await us. We have failed to beat Albania home and away during this campaign which, no offence to Albania, is not good enough! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Group 4 - San Marino 0 England 8 Match Stats Formation & Ratings We hammered San Marino 8-0 but it didn't do us any good as Poland did what we couldn't do and beat Albania away from home. Poland won the group by one point and we will have to go to the play-offs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Group 4 - Final Standings: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Poland | | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 7 | +12 | 23 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 2nd | Q | England | | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 26 | 3 | +23 | 22 | [/b] | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Greece | | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Albania | | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Romania | | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | San Marino | | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 37 | -36 | 0 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Too many draws! We'll be renewing our acquaintanceship with Wales in the play-offs. This will be a true battle of Britain! A chance to go to the World Cup at stake! For me, possible humiliation awaits. If we fail to beat Wales in the play-offs, it will be the end of Roy Crouchson, for sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 I'll leave you hanging on the two Wales games. Any predictions? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 One sided slaughter against San Marino If you can knock down the number of draw, this will be a dominant English squad! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 5-0 in your favour? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Playoff First Leg - Wales 0 England 1 Match Stats Formation & Ratings A big performance from England in Cardiff. We were definitely worth the win. We were without Wayne Rooney so Andy Carroll came in to partner Bent. I went with Cleverley wide right and put Oxlade-Chamberlain on the left. The latter scored the winner for us. A nice victory and we just need to finish off the job at Wembley now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, Playoff Second Leg - England 3 Wales 0 (England win 4-0 on aggregate) Match Stats Formation & Ratings We finished off Wales in some style with Darren Bent scoring a hat-trick! We're going to the World Cup and Roy Crouchson keeps his job for a little bit longer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 End of 2017 - Results Summary: Click here for all of the results for 2017! A much better year for England. Unbeaten, 8 out of 11 wins, and look at all of those lovely clean sheets. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 England's World Cup Russia 2018 Group: Group H comprises England, Colombia, Jamaica and Turkey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ism-scfc Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Well done on qualification That's an OK group. You should beat Jamaica comfortably, Colombia will be more of a test but you should win that too, beware of Turkey as always though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatTraveler Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 I see you finishing second. After Colombia, ofcourse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Good group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 International Friendly 2018 - Argentina 1 England 3 Match Stats Formation & Ratings What a result! Even though this was a friendly, I can't help but think that this could be a sign of things to come! Rooney and Bent were great up front, Wilshere was good in the middle and Johnson superb on the left. We came under pressure at times and Joe Hart was excellent, in the end getting the man of the match award. This was a great result against a top side in their back yard once again. If we can perform like this in the World Cup then I think we can beat anyone on our day, surely? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 International Friendly 2018 - Uruguay 2 England 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings My optimism from the last match all but vanished after this defeat! I experimented a little but this was a strong England side so I was still disappointed with the defeat even though Uruguay are obviously a good side. I gave Jack Butland a debut in goal, brought in Kyle Bartley in defence, switch Oxlade-Chamberlain to the left flank and tried Cleverley wide right. I also used all of my subs in this friendly and took the chance to look at Jonjo Shevley in the middle as another option if Wilshere is missing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ism-scfc Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Great result! Bring on the World Cup! How are you playing Wilshere? He's still only 20 but he was terrible in the 2012 Olympics for me! Lightweight and ineffective. Edit: That one was not such a great result, but at least it was with an experimental team! Are these the pre-tournament friendlies with your preliminary squad? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 World Cup Favourites: Spain 3.00 Germany 3.00 Argentina 3.00 France 3.00 Italy 3.00 England 3.50 I deal in decimals so I hope nobody minds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ism-scfc Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 You'll have to translate, I don't understand decimal odds! is 3.50 = 7/2? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Great result! Bring on the World Cup!How are you playing Wilshere? He's still only 20 but he was terrible in the 2012 Olympics for me! Lightweight and ineffective. Wilshere is my advanced playmaker in midfield. He has really matured into a top player for England. I think he's like 26-years-old now. His technicals are really good, his mental attributes are pretty superb and even his physicals have become very decent. It has taken him a while to get to this level though. He seemed to be a slow developer. Hopefully he'll improve in a big way for you in his early-to-mid-20s like he did for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 ENGLAND SQUAD FOR WORLD CUP RUSSIA 2018 ANNOUNCED! Roy Crouchson's 23 man squad! I was pretty sure about my squad this time around so there were no real surprises. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 International Friendly 2018 - Argentina 1 England 2 Match Stats Formation & Ratings For some reason the FA had arranged for us to play away to Argentina again. We turned up and got a fabulous result again. This time we were forced to defend a great deal more and it was more of a defensive approach. I used the match to take a look at my alternative forward line of Caroll and Welbeck. They made a good partnership and finally Welbeck produced the goods for me by scoring a fine brace of goals. I sense Welbeck has more to come and that he may well be a late developer and possibly someone who can replace Bent after this tournament. As for Carroll, he is clearly my plan b, particularly for when Rooney is unavailable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 England Squad Numbers for World Cup Russia 2018: Click here for the squad numbers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, Group H - England 2 Turkey 1 Match Stats Formation & Ratings We finally managed to record a victory against the current European Champions! Bent and Cleverley with the goals! A decent all round performance, we did just enough and maybe rode our luck a little. This was a great start to the tournament for England and I hope now that the momentum will continue to build for us! Other result in the group: Jamaica 1 Colombia 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, Group H - Colombia 0 England 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings Just look at the stats. A very familiar story. We were on top and barely gave Colombia a sniff but we just didn't create enough quality chances. It's not a terrible result but it is a bit disappointing for us. We need to make sure we get out of this group and, of course, a win in our next match will do it. Other result in the group: Turkey 1 Jamaica 0 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, Group H - Jamaica 1 England 3 Match Stats Formation & Ratings We claimed top place in the group with this relatively comfortable win. Rooney and Bent were on form up front. The one disappointment for me so far is that Wilshere is not playing well so far at this World Cup. We really need him to step up his game because he should be shining on this stage and at the moment his performances have been disappointing and pretty average. Other result in the group: Colombia 0 Turkey 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Right now, in the middle of the tournament, Ecuador have decided to offer Roy Crouchson a job as manager of their national team! Rejected. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, Final Group Standings Group A: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Russia | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Uruguay | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Ukraine | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Tunisia | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 1 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group B: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Netherlands | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 5 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Japan | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Ghana | | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Belarus | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 2 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group C: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | United States | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Brazil | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Mali | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 4 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Croatia | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group D: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Portugal | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Chile | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Spain | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Canada | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 1 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group E: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | France | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Gabon | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 5 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Poland | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Australia | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | -8 | 0 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group F: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Argentina | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 7 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Mexico | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 5 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Italy | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Iran | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 0 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group G: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Germany | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 7 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Israel | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | South Korea | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 4 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Morocco | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group H: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 1st | Q | England | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | [/b] | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Turkey | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Colombia | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 2 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Jamaica | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 1 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Obviously a surprise to see Spain and Italy exit at this early stage. Also, Gabon and Israel are a couple of unlikely candidates to get out of the group stages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, Second Round - Israel 0 England 2 Match Stats Formation & Ratings By finishing first in the group, we avoided having to play Germany in the second round and instead got Israel. This was a comfortable victory in a game in which we never looked in trouble. Rooney had been booked against Colombia and Jamaica so he had to sit this one out. Carroll came in for him but was injured after just 12 minutes so in the end I had to go with an unlikely combination up front of Bent and Welbeck. It actually worked okay and both grabbed goals in this win. This was a case of job done but clearly we are yet to start firing on all cylinders. In our next match, in the Quarter-finals, we have been drawn to play Mexico. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Getting excited for the World Cup now! Although I'm mostly nervous about tonight, haha. Edit: Missed the new page, bear with me whilst I read it *facepalm* Double edit: Wasn't a new page, just new posts *double facepalm* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, Quarter-final - Mexico 2 England 1 Match Stats Formation & Ratings With Rooney back, we were back to full strength. We took an early lead through Darren Bent but Mexico hit us back with two goals and we didn't look as though we knew what had hit us. There were some poor defensive mistakes - individual errors - to let the Mexicans back into the game. It seems as though the pressure just got to certain players. Our big players, Rooney and Wilshere, just didn't turn up to this game. We couldn't find our way back into the match and in the end we exit the competition with a whimper. When I looked at my bench, I realised that I didn't really have game changing players to turn around the result. Bringing Milner on isn't exactly inspiring when you're a goal down and need to score. Another quarter-final exit and we will have to wait and see if Roy Crouchson will keep his job. This is starting to remind me of the Sven era with regular quarter-final exits now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Ouch, tough result to take I know Walcott's technical stats are poor but surely he's more of a gamechanger than Milner? I'd definitely be looking at him as an impact sub. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Knock-out Stages Tree: Click here! Argentina - a team we had beaten twice away from home in friendly matches this year - won the World Cup 2018. Roy Crouchson's team once again were underwhelming. Well, actually, at least in this tournament they got out of the group stages in a decent enough manner. I'm just very frustrated with the nature of the defeat versus Mexico in the quarters. Had we got through the Mexico game, Chile in the semis would have been winnable and we could then have been in the final versus Argentina, a team I would fancy us beating actually! It's back to square one for Crouchson. Assuming he keeps his job, he'll need to do some rebuilding. I see nothing as dramatic as in 2014 when Crouchson dropped some older established players to make way for new youngsters. Rooney, for example, is worth at least one more tournament! But there are some newgen players starting to emerge and I have my eye on one player who is a wonderkid and could now be called upon! There will definitely be some changes moving forward as Darren Bent, for example, is retiring from International football. I will be giving some youth a chance and building with the World Cup 2022 in mind, if I'm given the chance to continue as England manager, but I will also not be so stubborn as to drop someone like Wayne Rooney while he still has at least one more tournament in him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 World Cup Dream Team Once again, sadly not an English player near it. That has to be a target for a future tournament. I really want to get some of my players into a tournament best XI or dream team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Ouch, tough result to take Yep. I know Walcott's technical stats are poor but surely he's more of a gamechanger than Milner? I'd definitely be looking at him as an impact sub. His technical and mental attributes are so poor though. In the league, he has been poor (now playing at Liverpool). I just don't rate him on FM. Milner at least has half decent technicals compared to Walcott and his mental attributes are much better. Walcott also doesn't fit into the formation I'm playing. Well, he is at least competent at MR, but I'd rather take a natural or accomplished player to play in the wide positions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Roy Crouchson's England Record (2012 - Present): P W D L F A Win % Competitions ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 86 55 21 10 186 63 63% [b]Euro 2012 Winners[/b] Confederations Cup 2013 Third Placed World Cup 2014 Second Round Euro 2016 Quarter-finalists World Cup 2018 Quarter-finalists Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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