England come through Easy Friendly with no injuries

Interesting that the team played with their allocated World Cup shirt numbers and that Gerrard is STILL stuck wearing number 4.

I thought for at least the friendlies they would line up in traditional 1 – 11 numbering and Gerrard would have a better pick, rather than the most boring number available, the number 4, which he clearly dislikes.

Good to see Defoe wear number 19 – it suits him and he seems very happy with that number.

Thank godness!!! We need everyone healthy if we want to win!! Lets go England!!!
As a fan of the sport Football (Soccer), I honestly wait four years for this event to happen. Not only during the World Cup do you see the greatest display of talent… you see the ENTIRE world come to an abrupt halt just to watch greatness take place. The Nike commercial sums it up as good as anything. World Cup is the best time ever and even if you don’t understand the game… you still can enjoy all the chaos that surrounds it… and also ‘The Women Of The World Cup’ as everyone country is full of beautiful women… check out a gallery @ http://www.lionsdenu.com/soccer-babes-in-body-paint-world-cup-gallery/
So who’s everyone got winning 2010?

Most lottery addicts are less concerned with numbers than some of the commenters on this site.

Gerrard is centre midfield though, which is where Number 4 would be?

No number 4 should be a defender or defensive midfielder such as Barry.

Gerrard should be wearing 8 or 10 and he has mentioned how unhappy he is with the number 4.

It would make more sense for 6 to become a midfield number and 4 and 5 to be the centre back numbers. Quite a few Midfielders (ieVan Bommel and Obi Mikel) wear number 6 in Midfield. That makes more sense and 4 should be at the back.

Discuss.

I would be happier if Gerrard wore 6 (or Lampard wore 6 and Gerrard wore

I would be happier if Gerrard wore 6 – or if Lampard wore 6 and Gerrard wore 8

It’s the numbers again!

4 8 15 16 23 42

Why don’t we just take the numbers 8 and 10 out of circulation? They seem to be the most popular and desired numbers, so by removing them each player can choose a number that will feel more like it’s there’s to keep. I see this is being the most fair solution.

My suggestion is that the players start using these numbers:
Gerrard 17
Lampard 26
Rooney 20

The rest of the squad seem happy with what they have so we won’t change them for now.

The numbers will become famous for being owned by those players. When said players retires their replacements will choose their own number, but also have the option to emulate their hero’s by wearing their number – just Like how Theo Walcott wears Henry’s old 14 shirt and Fabregas wears Viera’s old 4 shirt.

This is a good idea.

Well, I’m going to deviate away from the numbers to the point of the article… I think this would be a match that tells little to fans. The players obviously did not play to their full potential, so it is hard to get an idea for their strategy. For instance, I think playing Hart in goal was just to get him some last minute game experience, in case something happens to the other keepers.

darco20worldcup.blogspot.com My world cup blog. Will cover all the games, probably not to the same quality as Rob, but I’ll try my best

I think Capello is starting to lose his rag with these guys. Apparently, he had a go at them before they came out for the second half because of a lack of effort. It does not bode well for the USA game as they play hard for 90 mins and will be waiting for us to coast in.

I think some of you guys need to bone up on your footie history – number 4 has always been a midfielder’s number, with 5 and 6 the numbers for the centre backs. There are reasons for this, tho’ I have to admit I can’t actually remember them. The number on your back shouldn’t make any difference at all – Gerrard can’t use that as an excuse for poor performances.

I still can’t get over Capellos shirt number selections. I don’t think he’ll last as England coach.

Stevie G you’ll always walk alone!!!

Numbers:
Anyone here who’s competent in imminent lotto numbers?

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They seem to be starting slowly in matches lately, and needing a rocket up their backsides at half-time before they play as they should.

What on earth stops them from doing that from the start? It’s bizarre, and surely they don’t need a bollocking every time to make them play better. Same against Mexico, Japan and now this kickabout match.

As for the shirt numbers…seriously, chill out people. It makes no difference to anything whatsoever. How people can get their knickers in a twist about it is beyond me. Chill people, chill.

Capello should take a leaf out of Greame Taylor’s book and get back to basics!
Beardsley struggled at number 6 so was changed to 9. Lineker was able to perform at both 10 and 8. Capello needs to realise that Gerrard and Carrick can swap numbers with minimal impact on performance. Now that Rio’s 5 is free – Gerrard could play at 5 and 4 could be given to Johnson who actually likes playing at 4.
C’MON ENGERLAND!!!

I see Dawson has taken Rio’s number 5 shirt. That’s another silly decision – should have gone to king. Then Dawson could have worn number 20 as that’s his personal favourite number.

Some of you may think this is silly, but seriouslly, if capello can’t even allocate shirt numbers correctly in a way that Keeps the players happy, how can he do anything else? We will not win the world cup. Fact.

I thought a key point from this game was that Joe Cole played the whole game. This may be a sign of a start on the left handside. Although I’ve seen the goals on youtube who where reasponsible for the worst misses as sky news reported loads of misses. Thanks

Good point on Joe Cole

as he has shirt number 11 I expect him to start on the left, even though the number allocation is misleading with Gerrrd wearing number 4……

With Gerrard wearing the number 4 – some opposing sides may well become disorientated and find themselves either marking the wrong player or in completely the wrong position. Maybe Capello is using this tactic shrewdly.

I think the opposing sides will already know about the England squad number allocations. If they don’t already, they’ll probably read about it on here, so I douubt this will prove to be a wise tactical decision by Capello.

All this is likely to have done is pissed off Steven Gerrard – slapped in the face with a number 4 pound fish!

GERRARD FOR NUMBER 7 !!!!

My uncle Billy is going to the world cup. I am going to make a very large oversized banner with CHANGE GERRARDS SHIRT NUMBER and ask that he takes it to every match.

Capello’s trump card is me. I have a number 7 shirt in my kit bag and I’m playing on Friday. Wait til the Yanks see that. Oh and one more thing, Basil Brush has the number 9 shirt so I think we’ll win 2-0. the USA will never cope with all that disorientation.

Your Uncle Billy isn’t playing is he ? I heard he got the number 4 shirt at Marks and Sparks.

Correctamundo

I agree Aidan. It looks to me like they are taking this tournament too lightly. I’ve said it before that we’re not good enough to switch on and off like that. My nightmare is that we’ll be sitting watching the press conference after Saturday’s 0-0 tie and listening to players complaining that “we just never got going”. I think that’s why Capello gave them a bit of cold steel yesterday as I’m sure he sees it.

With the recent run of injuries of course they took it easy in this game. They’d be nuts to go 100% into this. With Steve G at the helm he’ll get England’s mind’s right on the big day.

Footballers are a superstitious lot. I hope the number doesn’t affect Gerrard, but he’s a strong minded player, he’ll shrug it off.

A convincing win against The USA will show confidence, a loss should cause the team to dig deeper. I fear an unconvincing win from a lack luster performance the most. If that’s what we see, then don’t expect better than the semis, anything else and with a bit of luck, we stand a chance.

I don’t think Gerrards number makes any difference he always freezes in the big England games. Captain of England he should be in gaol for that cowardly attack on that bloke last year and if he wasn’t a footballer he would be! Terrible role model, terrible human being. John Terry even with all his sexual shenanighans should be captain at least he isn’t a coward and a cheat.

Do the English have a number 00 ?
If not, they should.

WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT THE NUMBERS!?!

Some people are commenting under different names with regards to the numbers thing…me thinks.

It was funny initially, then it got boring.