Now Owen's injured do you think Sven made a big mistake with the striker selection in the squad?

Personally I feel he has. Owen and Rooney's fitness was always in doubt but they both had to be picked I agree. But knowing that neither of them will be at their best he decided to only bring 4 strikers, of which two weren't fit and the other has only played Championship football. That only leaves Crouch who has been playing well but 1 good striker is not enough. DeFoe or Bent should have been selected as a 5th option instead of having one too many midfielders.

As for yesterdays game, there were signs of improvement at times (apart from set-pieces and their 2nd goal) and Joe Cole's goal was superb. I just hope a changed formation will do the job against Ecuador.

He has made a big mistake, he really should have brought Defoe & not Walcott.

Or both, and left Jenas at home.

But I hope all the Hargreaves-bashers on this forum were convinced by yesterdays performance - I knew he'd come good.

Forget Owen, i've lost Koller, Baros and Lokvenc and I might lose a tenner!

Sven is a clot, and should have taken Darren Bent.

There were two things Sven could have done, and probably should have done:

> Had Defoe in the squad in place of Walcott
> Had Bent in the squad in place of Jenas

I really feel for Michael, he's not had the best of luck in the past couple of years.

I have no idea what Eriksson does now has he has some problems:

> Gerrard proved last night that he needs to be allowed to get forward more often
> Lampard has been poor in this tournament but Sven won't drop him
> Beckham hasn't had the best tournament either and to be honest, looks to have nothing in his game but set pieces and delivery, both of which have been extremely poor to date. As he is captain and national darling he won't be dropped.
> It would be a waste of Rooney's talents to play him upfront alone, as that's not a role he should be playing as he likes to come deep and get the ball.
> Joe Cole has been one of England's best players in this tournament and can't be dropped.

Sven needs to make some big decisions to get the best out of the players who will win this World Cup for him. He has to find a way to get the best out of Rooney, Gerrard, Beckham, Lampard etc...

Against Ecuador he'll probably go with:

-------------------------------Robinson------------------------------

-Neville------------Ferdinand------------Terry---------------Cole-

-Beckham---------Gerrard-------------Lampard------------Cole-

-------------------------------Rooney-------------------------------

---------------------------Crouch------------------------------------

Looks awsome on paper but for the past year that team has not been performing (Owen in place of Crouch)- defeat against Northern Ireland, struggling against smaller nations etc... No doubt Sven will stick with it as he doesn't have the goolies to change it but IMO, it won't win England the World Cup unless that Lampard/Gerrard axis suddenly resolves itself and a couple of other players in that team pick up some form.

This is England's best chance since 1966 to win the tournament, it angers me that such an inept manager is in charge.

So, on Sunday we'll get an off-form England against an on-form Ecuador in conditions that suit the latter far more than the former.

Can anyone adequately explain why I just saw England at odds-on to win in 90 minutes and 1/5 to make the last eight?

I think Rooney and Crouch will have to start on Sunday unless Gerrard moves up and Hargreaves replaces him in Centre Midfield.

I think Sven'll play the same team as Ciara suggests but with Hargreaves behind the back four and Rooney upfront. Our striker situation is making me nervous. It's not NOW that bringing Walcott was a bad idea - it was a bad idea from the moment it rooted itself in Sven's head. I mean, what was he thinking? If he's not going to play Walcott in the group stages then one can only assume that he's not going to play him at all, which basically means that if Rooney goes and loses his temper (I know, as far-fetched as it might seem) and manages to get himself suspended, then we could end up with no options when it comes to strikers. Not that we really have any at the moment.

What a waste of a good chance to win. I'm so disappointed. And yes, I feel sorry for Michael - injury seems to hunt that boy down like nothing on earth. I hope it doesn't have the same kind of effect on his career that Pires' knee injury had on his - I know it didn't end his career but he hasn't been the same since. I don't want to say this but I've a feeling we've seen Michael Owen in an England shirt for the last time

I think that's being a little bit pessimistic. I agree that it doesn't look good but he's recovered from bad injuries before and come back raring to go, I think the reason for this poor performances this World Cup are because he didn't play the last half of last seasons Premiership.

I agree with you on Theo Walcott too. To take four strikers, one of them being Theo, is pure MADNESS! I don't think he'll make an appearance for us now. His chance to play was in the Sweden game. I feel sorry for the likes of Jermaine Defoe and Darren Bent, they should be there in place of the likes of Jenas. I can't see Jermaine playing either, unless a plague sweeps the training ground.

Part of me really thinks that because Sven knew he was going to be out of a job he picked a bit of a weird squad to stick a couple of fingers up at the English FA.

Alot of players have had the same injury as Owen and have come back from it - like Shearer. We just have to hope it won't be a recurring injury like his hamstrings. Although they haven't been a problem for the past couple of seasons.

As a Newcastle fan I am gutted about Owen BUT as an England fan it was clear to me that the guy was never 100% fit and playing when you are injured is a sure fire way to get a worse injury.

As for the selection of Walcott - I did not understand why an Arsenal Reserve made it to the squad.


But then I remembered something I read.

Walcott has the same AGENT as the England Team Manager to be Steve Maclaren.

From a footballing point of view his selection makes no sense at all.

Something is VERY wrong here folks!

It actually crossed my mind that Eriksson is trying to screw The FA and England over, then I thought maybe not, as he has a reputation to protect too. But if he's agreed to become the new Madrid manager then who knows.

The man is such a tool.

My fear for the Ecuador game is that Sven will revert back to what he knows with a front two of Rooney and Crouch, supported by the Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham quartet.

It's a safe option but it completely ignores the problems that have surfaced during the previous three games.

1. Gerrard and Lampard as a midfield 'two' just get in each others way.
2. The midfield has no pace, no-one who can genuinely beat an opponent (Ok, Cole was doing it last night but he only ever comes inside)
3. Crouch, as much as I like him, doesn't have the speed of thought for this level.

Personally, I'd have the obvious back four, Hargreaves as the holding midfielder, Gerrard and Lampard in front of him (allowing them both to get forward), Lennon on the right, Cole on the left, both supporting Rooney up front.

Even that formation I have doubts about as it doesn't really allow Rooney to drop deep and pick the ball up (which he does well) but it's the best of a bad job.

Having said all that, I still haven't seen a team that are head and shoulders above everyone else, so I still think we've as good a chance as anyone, although there are probably 7 or 8 teams saying the same thing.

I have seen a team head and shoulders above the rest, Argentina, but they didn't play nearly as well last night.

The winners will be one from Brazil, Argentina, Germany and the Dutch. I would add Spain to this list but they always fall apart eventually, and Germany are on this list only because, like Korea four years ago, they'll probably play every match from now on with fifteen men (eleven players, the referee, his two assistants and the crowd). England have absolutely no chance.

Excellent point from Gerry regarding Walcott, and Ciara's explanation is almost conceivable. The fact we can even consider it tells its own story, to be quite honest.

When Walcott comes off the bench and scores, then you won't all hate him. I just hope Sven has the courage to use him, otherwise he was a bad selection.

But I have faith in Walcott, just as I had faith in Hargreaves.

Just you watch...

I don't think it's a case of hating Walcott - not at all! It's just that there were other possibilities out there, better options.

I don't hate him. I just feel we should have picked a more experienced / proven striker rather than Walcott if we were to go with 4 strikers. But really we should have brought 5. That is all.

HOT NEWS FROM GERMANY
Theo reached puberty this afternoon so everything is ok ..... why on earth were we worried eh?

LOL Gerry.

Have you read the story about Newcastle United suing the FA over Owen's injury. What d'ya reckon?

@ Gerry and Will