WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE DOING!

 

(Image taken from BBC)

 

The last time England played Spain it was a complete disaster. It was back in '04 at the Bernabau. England lost 1-0, Rooney lost the plot, the Spanish fans lost any reputation of decency. The last time we beat the Spanish was actually Sven Goran Ericsson's first game in charge. It was February '01 and I was doing my A Levels. No one had a clue what to expect from the man just in from Serie A...and he gave us a 3-0 win with Nick Barmby, Emile Heskey and Ugo Ehiogu on the scoresheet of all people.

Now Steve McLaren's in charge and his results so far have certainly been mixed. Having said that, with this match being at Old Trafford, you'd have thought we could pull off a win. The 4-4-1-1 starting X1 included it's share of gambles though. In goal was Ben Foster, on loan to Watford from United. Rio and Johnathon Woodgate were central defence, Phil Neville left back. Wright-Philips right mid, Gerrard(also captain)and Carrick centre mid. Lampard right mid. Kieron Dyer support striker with Crouch as main striker.

Well England may have had the first attack but we soon wound up dodging a bullet. Having said that we did have the bulk of the attacking play for the early stages of the match though it soon bacame and end-to-end affair with neither side really having an advantage. England certainly weren't looking to kick into high gear though, and what chances the Three Lions did have were spurned, Crouch being the most guilty in that respect. We needed to do better in the second half.

We didn't. Spain gained more and more of an advantage. Matters weren't helped with the inexplicable removal of Gerrard at half time. The visitors finally made their advantage pay in the 63rd minute when goalmouth chaos left the ball falling to Andre Iniesta outside the box who volleyed it home. At which point our attacking forces should have been boosted but instead McLaren brought on fresh defenders and though England certainly tried to attack but our efforts in every challenge were so weak it was embarrassing and I spent the last five minutes at least waiting for the game to end. I hope that Steve learns the right lessons from this match before we restart Euro 2008 business.

Scotland's main team certainly weren't in action this international week, new coach Alex McLeish preffering a get-together instead but their B team(coached by Alex Smith) faced their Finland counterparts at Rugby Park. Jari Llola opened the scoring for Finland before Shaun Maloney equalised for Scotland and Alan Gow gave them the lead. Juho Makela gave Finland a late equaliser though, which must be seen as a fairly dissapointing result.

Elsewhere, Northern Ireland faced Wales at Windsor Park. Both sides had injuries to their big name players and the result was a very sludgy affair. Both sides had brief moments but neither side really looked like scoring. The fact that a theoretically superior Wales side couldn't his the net would be a boost to Northern Ireland while Wales can take away a solid defensive performance but other than that, this game won't live long in the memories of either side.

There was some Euro 2008 qualifier action going on and the match that held the most interest was the Group D game tween the Republic of Ireland and San Marino at the Stadio Olimpico Serraville. The Irish were always on the verge of embarrassment with the first half goalless. Kevin Kilbane then opened the scoring only for Manual Marani to equalise late on. Just when it looked like the result would be worth a cuckle though, Stephen Ireland hit the winner. That moves them up to third place in the group, three points behind second placed Czech Republic.

And it's back to domestic action on the weekend.

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