The Midweek Friendlies Thread

mike65

Not the full list

Austria v Germany, 19:35
Croatia v Holland, 19:30
Cyprus v Ukraine, 16:00
Czech Republic v Poland, 19:30
England v Switzerland, 20:00
FYR Macedonia v Serbia,
Georgia v Latvia, 20:00
Greece v Finland, 19:15
Hungary v Slovakia, 16:30
Israel v Romania, 18:45
Italy v Portugal, 19:45
Malta v Belarus, 18:45
Northern Ireland v Bulgaria, 19:45
Rep of Ireland v Brazil, 19:45
Slovenia v Denmark, 19:00
Spain v France, 20:00
Turkey v Sweden, 18:30

Sadly for some of us - BBC1 NI is showing er Norn Iron (wtf?!).

Spain-France looks like the pick of the bunch for those who place art above endevour

Mike.

Nailz

Austria v Germany, Deutschland
Croatia v Holland, Draw
Cyprus v Ukraine, Ukraine
Czech Republic v Poland, Czechoslovakia
England v Switzerland, En-ger-land
FYR Macedonia v Serbia, Serbia will crush them
Georgia v Latvia, Georgia (just because of dodgey Kaladze :cool:)
Greece v Finland, Draw
Hungary v Slovakia, Slovakia
Israel v Romania, Israel
Italy v Portugal, Ooohhh...
Malta v Belarus, ????
Northern Ireland v Bulgaria, Bulgaria
Rep of Ireland v Brazil, Brazil... we're not Brazil, we're shìte!
Slovenia v Denmark, Denmark
Spain v France, Ooohhh... (again)
Turkey v Sweden, Sweden

chopperbyrne

mike65 wrote: »

Sadly for some of us - BBC1 NI is showing er Norn Iron (wtf?!).

It's BBC Northern Ireland, what did you expect?

P_1

Not much travelling involved for a good few of those teams for their away matches.

mike65

It's BBC Northern Ireland, what did you expect?

The chance of showing a decent football game?

Mike.

Vokes

Do Montenegro have a game on? Would be interesting to see some highlights if they're playing.

DSB

Austria v Germany,Germany
Croatia v Holland, Croatia
Cyprus v Ukraine, Ukraine
Czech Republic v Poland, Czechoslovakia
England v Switzerland, England
FYR Macedonia v Serbia, Serbia
Georgia v Latvia, Georgia
Greece v Finland, Draw
Hungary v Slovakia, Slovakia
Israel v Romania, Draw
Italy v Portugal, Italy
Malta v Belarus, Belarus
Northern Ireland v Bulgaria, Northern Ireland
Rep of Ireland v Brazil, Brazil
Slovenia v Denmark, Denmark
Spain v France, Spain
Turkey v Sweden, Sweden

OPENROAD

Austria v Germany,Germany
Croatia v Holland, Holland
Cyprus v Ukraine, Ukraine
Czech Republic v Poland, Draw
England v Switzerland, England
FYR Macedonia v Serbia, Serbia
Georgia v Latvia, Georgia
Greece v Finland, Greece
Hungary v Slovakia, Slovakia
Israel v Romania, Israel
Italy v Portugal, Draw and Ronaldo to pick up an injury hopefully.
Malta v Belarus, Belarus
Northern Ireland v Bulgaria, Northern Ireland
Rep of Ireland v Brazil, Brazil
Slovenia v Denmark, Denmark
Spain v France, Draw, hope Cesc is not playing
Turkey v Sweden, Sweden

Green Giant

Austria v Germany - easy German win
Croatia v Holland - Croatia to edge it
Cyprus v Ukraine - sneaking suspicion this will be drawn
Czech Republic v Poland - Czech Republic
England v Switzerland - England by one goal
FYR Macedonia v Serbia - Serbia
Georgia v Latvia - bore draw
Greece v Finland - Greece
Hungary v Slovakia - draw
Israel v Romania - Romania
Italy v Portugal - Italy 2-1
Malta v Belarus - I'd like to think Belarus will take this
Northern Ireland v Bulgaria - NI
Rep of Ireland v Brazil - 1-1, maybe Robbie Keane to transfer his Spurs form to a green shirt at last
Slovenia v Denmark - Slovenia to nick it
Spain v France - Spain 2-0, there will be hell to pay if Fernando Torres gets crocked
Turkey v Sweden - Sweden

_blank_

mike65 wrote: »

Sadly for some of us - BBC1 NI is showing er Norn Iron (wtf?!).

Have you got Sky digital?

You can tune in the other regional BBCs on that, check in the Satellite forum for instructions.

PHB

I tell ya, I'd love to watch Portugal Italy, very very interesting tie.

Attractive Nun

So, according to this, Capello's England is set to look like...

---

James

---

Brown---Ferdinand---Upson---Cole
Bentley--Hargreaves--Gerrard--Young

---

Cole

---

---

Rooney

---

Interesting...

mike65

Brown at RB over Richards? Hmm.

It is a freindly game after all.

Mike.

PHB

Brown has been playing in the best defence in the league at RB, and has been very sold in it. He deserves to be in there ahead of Richards.

I like the look at that team. Natural width. Two excellent technical players up front.
Defensive midfielder dictating player, with a creative midfielder to pass the ball around. Granted no target man, but I don't expect that sort of play from any of Capellos team.

I think this will be an excellent formation to use once Capello can get Gerrard to play properly. He can't lose the ball constantly, so will have to really cut out his tendency to hollywood ball it. That said, it's been a long time since he's felt that a manager wasn't obliged to play him, so I think if he gets instuctions from Capello he'll obey it.

Bubs101

PHB wrote: »

I think this will be an excellent formation to use once Capello can get Gerrard to play properly. He can't lose the ball constantly, so will have to really cut out his tendency to hollywood ball it. That said, it's been a long time since he's felt that a manager wasn't obliged to play him, so I think if he gets instuctions from Capello he'll obey it.

TBH, I think Lampard will go right in to the team when he comes back. He's very very highly rated in Italy and I doubt Capello has heard the convincing (though as a Chelsea fan I must say flawed ) arguments in the Stevie Gerrard song. England should win easily though

Attractive Nun

Now apparently Jenas and Barry have come in for Hargreaves and Young. According to the ticker on Sky News anyway. Odd.

So I guess:-

---

Barry

---

Bentley---Gerrard---Jenas---Cole

---

Rooney

---

Not so sure about this one...

mayordenis

so the only match on normal cable in ireland is the NI match?

mike65

Yep.

Mike.

Mr Alan

England 1 up, Jenas.

OPENROAD

Mr Alan wrote: »

England 1 up, Jenas.

Rooney looks quite poor imo.

Mr. Presentable

Italy 1 -0 Portugal

Also Italy had a goal disallowed for who knows what the f.....

Melion

Not watching the game but i think Rooney playing upfront on his own is a terrible decision, he cant do it, we've all seen it before.

Mr. Presentable

Now 2-0

The worlds best player doesn't look so hot tonight: two dives and two Free kicks that obeyed the laws of physics.....

herbieflowers

Melion wrote: »

Not watching the game but i think Rooney playing upfront on his own is a terrible decision, he cant do it, we've all seen it before.

when? the only time I saw Rooney play up front on his own was for Utd against Milan at Old Trafford last season, thought he played pretty well

Mr. Presentable

Rooney is strong enough and talented enough to play up on his own if he gets the support from midfield he deserves.

Peyton Manning

nipplenuts wrote: »

Now 2-0

The worlds best player doesn't look so hot tonight: two dives and two Free kicks that obeyed the laws of physics.....

God forbid he should not be at the top of his game in a meaningless midweek international friendly. Sell him I say.

Guy:Incognito

Archimedes wrote: »

God forbid he should not be at the top of his game in a meaningless midweek international friendly. Sell him I say.

He should'nt feel the need to dive in them either. It falls in with what PHB was saying about needless diving and worsening his reputation with refs, like in the Derby game.

Mr. Presentable

Make that three dives.

OK, it's a friendly, but it's a friendly for everybody, and doesn't professionalism in anything mean you do your best?

Mr. Presentable

Portugal pull one back - dubious offside, but whatever. Now Italy score to make it 3-1

mike65

Rooney up front could only be a case of Capello seeing how badly it does'nt work!

What was the formation when Crouch came on?

Mike.

Did anyone else hear Lawro and Motson talking about how Englands Player of the Year was voted for by fans online and then they asked who votes and Lawro said "geeks!"


Priceless!!

Bounty Hunter

so Capello's England win 2-1, Spain beat France, Italy beat Portugal 3-1, Bulgaria beat NI 1-0, Wales get a good 3-0 win over Norway and we lose 1-0 to the Brazillians

chopperbyrne

USA are playing Mexico at 8pm CT tonight if anyone is interested.

Could be a good match.

OPENROAD

Deleted User wrote: »

Did anyone else hear Lawro and Motson talking about how Englands Player of the Year was voted for by fans online and then they asked who votes and Lawro said "geeks!"


Priceless!!

Lawro :mad:

OPENROAD

OPENROAD wrote: »

Lawro :mad:

Lazy typing and nothing more

estebancambias

Cyprus drew at home to Ukraine.

OPENROAD

Deleted User wrote: »

Lazy typing and nothing more

Is it boards.ie rule that you have to write an essay for each post.

Don't like Mark Lawrenson as a pundit.

eirebhoy

Very happy that Vennegoor scored for Holland. Before Saturday most Celtic fans wanted him dropped. Samaras arrived and he was motm on Saturday.

pd101

Does anybody know why so many home teams played in their changed kit last night?

Vokes

mike65 wrote: »

Rooney up front could only be a case of Capello seeing how badly it does'nt work!

What was the formation when Crouch came on?

Mike.

Was at the game last night, mike. When Crouch came on, it was something like this with Bentley moving inside:

---

James

---

Brown--Ferdinand--Upson--Cole

---

Barry

---

---

Bentley----Gerrard
Phillips

---

Rooney

---

Crouch

---

The interesting bit when England were defending, was the covering of the opposite sides from attack. i.e. When Swiss coming down Brown's side, Rooney would be right back alongside A. Cole helping him out, and coming down A. Cole's side, Wright-Phillips was back covering Brown.

They didnt look too comfortable with the 4-2-3-1 / 4-1-4-1 they were playing with up until then (except for a 5min period towards the end of the first half). Rooney needs to be one of the attacking trio, wheres he of better use, rather than the one up front.

Mr Alan

how did Gerrard play?

Melion

Mr Alan wrote: »

how did Gerrard play?

MOTM

Vokes

Yeh, Gerrard played pretty well, more reserved with his high-risk passing game, more solid stuff. I reckon Capello has had a word with him, asking him to dial back on the amount of Hollywood passes.

Mitch Connor

SofaKing wrote: »

Yeh, Gerrard played pretty well, more reserved with his high-risk passing game, more solid stuff. I reckon Capello has had a word with him, asking him to dial back on the amount of Hollywood passes.

and if he listens to Fabio and follows through on the advice, he'll become a much better and more effective midfielder.

Hopefully he pays no attention to him at all.

~Rebel~

Tauren wrote: »

and if he listens to Fabio and follows through on the advice, he'll become a much better and more effective midfielder.

Hopefully he pays no attention to him at all.

I think Capello for England could be one of the best things to happen to Liverpool. He's just the man to get Gerrard focusing more on his good attributes.

pd101 wrote: »

Does anybody know why so many home teams played in their changed kit last night?

As a guess i'd go with marketing. They rarely play in them, so may as well give them exposure where they can. Was a bit laughable for the England Switzerland game though, both in their away kits and also defeating the purpose of even having away kits by still playing in the same colours as each other.