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I also sympathise with Owen Hargreaves. He may not have set the world alight for England, but the England fans booing him makes me embarassed to call myself a England supporter.

The problem is not Hargreaves but Eriksson!!!

The problem is not Hargreaves but Eriksson!!!

Poor ol' Owen Hargreaves. Maybe he should have played for Wales instead, since they were the ones who 'found' him!! He doesn't seem to fit in the England set up at all. Give Sepp a call, Owen, and see if it's not too late to change your mind. Poor lad.

A serious warning to journalists crawling around in the forests around B眉hlerh枚he: Beware of tick-borne diseases like meningitis!

I don't know why people have such unrealistic expectations about fans' behaviour. Terrace justice is rough - always has been, always will be. Football is a pantomime, with villains and heroes, cheers, hisses, whistles, boos. That doesn't mean that Hargreaves deserves to be booed - he doesn't - but neither do many footballers who are ritually booed every Saturday. Trying to stop that happening is as difficult as getting fans not to swear!

If people are saying Owen Hargreaves is not good enough to be in the England sqaud even though he's a regular for Bayern Munich, shouldn't the same applly to Lampard since he has not really turned it on for the nation as well?
Or is it because we see Lampard week in week out (surrounded by foreign world class players, I might add!)in the premiership so we believe he's one of the best midfielders in the world?

Togo you are doing so well, quite unexpected of you. Keep up the good work and get better as the days pass

I feel sorry for the treatment of Hargreaves,but he has done little to show he is international standard.Crouch has also done little to merit his present media darling status[dancing aside]- he lacks the technique to cut it against quality international opposition as time will tell. The svenmeister's substitutions[or was it Mclaren?] speak for themselves-verging on the incompetent.

Hargreaves has not had a run of games true, but he's passing is poor even if he is supposed to do the simple things and he lets players go by him

Hargreaves does not deserve to be booed as most of the good work he does is not noticed by the armchair fan. However a lot of responsibility lay with the press who have been unfairly harsh on a player who has just had a great season with Bayern.

Including Mr. McNulty above I believe.

No need to worry about Hargreaves, you just wait until Rooney gets out there in his metal boots. Talk about Bobby Charlton, he'll be lashing them in from the dressing room!

Can the 麻豆官网首页入口 provide a link for the entire Owen Hargreaves press conference it would interesting to hear what questions were put to him by the press. Also if they were more taxing than the one's put to Frank Lampard by Gary Linker last night.

I think Paul McNulty's sly little dig at Owen Hargreaves in this article is uncalled for, but to be expected really from much of the press. If Hargreaves is 'surplus to squad requirements' does that also include Jenas, Walcott, Bridge, Campbell and Downing?

The constant Hargreaves bashing is a new national press game in the mould of the 'Heskey bashing' that the press used to enjoy. Terry Butcher is 100% correct about the sheep effect.

Why are we blaming Hargreaves for accepting an invitation to play in the World Cup? Surely it is Eriksson who should be blamed if people disagree with his selection policy. Hargreaves is also a versatile player who can fill a number of positions, like Carragher, which is essential in any squad based tournament. Finally, for those harping on about Sven taking Hargreaves - should they not be more vociferous about why he took Jenas?

It would be better if Rooney does not play - He will be goaded into retaliation and sent off (as per Beckham in 98)

Hargreaves on hie England performances so far has been very poor, I can only assume he does something for Svenn, that no other England player would!

It's a shame for Hargreaves. So few starts and so often out of position and difficult to come off the bench and be a holding midfielder.

I feel sorry for the players in Baden Baden for having to put up with Garth Crooks for god knows how long. He might well talk proper but doesn't really do much else. Quoting someone on one of the 麻豆官网首页入口 boards once about his style: "Why use 1 word when 100 will do?"

To Manjit -
We do stream the media conferences live but do not make them available on demand. Tomorrow's (Wednesday) is sometime after 1530 BST so make sure you visit the site then.
Also - I am sure Phil will stick up for himself if he wants to, once he gets a chance to read your comments, but I am not sure there was anything 'sly' about it. Phil just said what he thought, as our chief football writer.

Owen Hargreaves can hardly be blamed if, instead of bedding him down in a single role, Sven gives him whatever odd job turns up. How can he possibly shine? I wouldn't be surprised if the poor lad gets a phone call when Sven's washing machine leaks.

In response to Manjit...I'm not really sure quite openly saying I don't think Hedargreaves should be in the squad can be regard as "sly."

I appreciate your opinion, but equally my opinion is that Hargreaves should not be in the squad.

I believe he is taking up a place that would be better filled by Jermain Defoe.

I am happy to be proved wrong, but Eriksson needed a fifth striker and someone had to give way.

I said yesterday this was not a criticism of Hargreaves, merely trying to get the balance of the squad right.

I think on a personel level booing Hargreves is not nice, however its not on a personel level, it was all down to Erikison and his insistance to play Hargreves. We need better managierial decicions.

As a Scotsman we would welcome the welsh, canadian, german, english player that is hargreaves. he obviously is doing something right to play regularly in germany. i also agree that lampard is not the player everyone thinks he is and is certainly not the worlds second best player as i think he was voted recently

Nice one the journalist for trying to get a sneak at Rooney and Sven's tactics. I'm assuming then plan was to then reveal this news prior to the Trinidad & Tobago game, allowing any secret weapons we might have to be exposed and allowing them to plan for it. What an intelligent bunch the media are, letting our rivals know our secrets in the name of freedom of the press, and then complaining when we don't win because the opposition have planned for it. Oh the irony...

As a Scotsman we would welcome the welsh, canadian, german, english player that is hargreaves. he obviously is doing something right to play regularly in germany. i also agree that lampard is not the player everyone thinks he is and is certainly not the worlds second best player as i think he was voted recently

I am the one among millions who cannot watch world cup 2006 match due to this yr's commercializing of the match, selling broadcasting rights to odd channels. I have no cable operating system in my party, pay channels are charing much which we cannot afford. Invloving too much money to the football is going to ruine it.

a Sufferer

Catch 22:-
It is reported that Rooney should not play until he is match fit.

How does he become match fit unless he plays??

vbcxb

Owen Hargreaves is the single most useless player on the england team. He has no ball controll or team imagination. The problem lies with the both of them: 1) Hargreaves for being a waste of space 2) Erikson should have not picked him or ever play him

Owen Hargreaves was in the trees himself. Truly, according to sources in Frankfurt he was seen out after the team curfew with a member of what looked like the German fire department. Strangely reminiscent of his behavior outside the Bayern training facility in Sept.

Hargreaves has been mis-treated and few English fans can claim to have seen him regularly in Germany, where his performances have been said to be good. He hasn't been given a big enough chance in England colours, but it maybe too late to experiment now.

RE VK.Sulaiman - where do you live? World Cup 2006 is available to everyone in Britain on terrestrial television.

In response to Phil McNulty, thank you being polite enough to respond to my comment. Perhaps I was a little harsh in my original comment in refering to your opinion in the blog as 'sly'. But the constant attacks in the British media about Hargreaves are starting to get tiresome would you not agree? The idea that the inclusion of Hargreaves will lose England the World Cup is laughable?

I agree that it would have been to have included a striker such as Defoe? So why do'nt the media make more of a issue the inclusion of Jenas (who not as experienced as Hargreaves) or Walcott (who has not played in the EPL).

Is the Hargreaves baiting more to do with the fact that he plays his football in the Bundesliga and was not born in England. Some sections of the press frankly need to grow up as do some England supporters.

Owen Hargreaves is getting a rather bad treatment from the English fans.
It is utterly disgusting. The supporters have to stand by the team no matter what their personal opinion is of players.
Give owen a break . He is a Champions league winnerand just because he doesnt play in the EPl doesnt make hima wimp

Owen Hargreaves is getting a rather bad treatment from the English fans.
It is utterly disgusting. The supporters have to stand by the team no matter what their personal opinion is of players.
Give owen a break . He is a Champions league winnerand just because he doesnt play in the EPl doesnt make him a wimp

Manjit,

I agree with you that Owen Hargreaves gets a very bad reception in the UK, just because he plays in Germany. I've seen him play for Bayern Munich and, to be honest, was amazed at how good he was. He may not have produced for England but neither has Defoe yet!

I would also question the wisdom of including Defoe (who couldn't even get into the team at Spurs!) instead of Bent. My choice: drop Jenas and take Bent.

All this talk about Owen Hargreaves, Rooney and Sven etc. Why is Walcott out there and Defoe is sitting at home when he's the man that could replace a Micheal Owen that is not 100% match fit? Why did he not see action in the Paraguay match? More importantly, why is David Beckham England Captain? As Captain what does he actually bring to the table that Steven Gerrard and John Terry don't bring on a weekly basis in the Premiership? Yup, I know that International football is different from club football but, being a true Captain is in the blood. When the chips are down and your team are putting in a lethargic performance similar to Saturday's game (The heat? C'mon now, that's bull, this is the World Cup, you should be playing out of your skin just for the privilege of being there. So, you can stall that little excuse) you need someone to take the whole thing by the balls (pardon my French) maybe in campaigns gone by pretty boy Becks may have been capable, but he doesn't wear the armband week in, week out, plus, Terry and Gerrard lead by example naturally. If Sven got the Captaincy right, then, that would be half the battle.

Why do people make such a big deal out of the captaincy? This isn't cricket. Gerrard and Terry are on the pitch, they don't need an armband to lead.

I would agree that Hargreaves has yet to fulfill his potential on the international stage. However, he is a young payer who has never gotten a run in one position at that level.
He plays at a very high level on a regular basis and is seen as one of the leading lights in the Bayern side, the reigning champions of Germany.

What mystifies me completely about the ongoing criticism of his selection is that there has been less noise about the fact that Beckham had never been substituted or dropped by Eriksonn prior to this cup no matter how badly he had played, Owen was picked consistently despite being on the bench in Madrid for an entire season, Walcott was selected despite never havnig played Premiership football and Jenas was selected despite the fact that he has never dazzled even at club level and is consistently injured. There are far more worthy targets of criticism in the selection policy than Hargreaves but because he does not play and has never played in England he has to take it all. Similarly, in midfield, it is clear that Gerrard and Lampard (two high quality players, no doubt) have a mjor problem co-existing and hitting top effectiveness in the same team.

Is it just me or is the 麻豆官网首页入口 and other "experts" over glorifying Brazil?????

I mean I'm watching the world cup (bra vs cro) and shots that are wide or ridiculous are "excellent" or "brilliant" if that was England it would be "shocking" or "rubbish"

come on there not that good!!!!!

adam

Mark Lawrenson is useless!
he must be the worse commentator in the country. N. Kovac was quite clearly elbowed in the chin as he was pulled over on the half way line! it was shown 3 or 4 times and from each angle i could see it!

Mark Lawrenson is useless!
he must be the worse commentator in the country. N. Kovac was quite clearly elbowed in the chin as he was pulled over on the half way line! it was shown 3 or 4 times and from each angle i could see it!

i think that ericcson should send hargreaves home and put somone good in midfield with becks, lampard and gerrard. owen hargreaves doesnt fit in with the rest of the team and he should follow what the fans think and GO HOME!!!

I am getting tired of the Ref's taking the limelite. When was the last time they scored a goal. They have created great opportunities for many teams giving out unnecessary yellow or red cards. They need to be told and investigated.I believe they are hurting the game from growing. And Sven has to leave today or is it too late? I'm rambling.

owen hargreaves should leave the england squad for good. he is too fat and his hair makes him look like a girl( not very sexy one too) i think we should keep the good and experianced players on like rooney, lampard, gerrard and beckham. ericcson choose wrong in bringing him to the finals. germany rulz!!!

owen hargreaves should leave the england squad for good. he is too fat and his hair makes him look like a girl( not very sexy one too) i think we should keep the good and experianced players on like rooney, lampard, gerrard and beckham. ericcson choose wrong in bringing him to the finals. germany rulz!!!

i think ericcson shouldn't have brought hargreaves along to the finals because he is fat and his hair makes him look like a girl. now that ericcson has brought him along... i think we should ust ignore him and keep the good players like rooney, beckham, lampard and gerrard on because they aren't stupid and fat and the certainly don't look like girls!!!

=O-8
(.Y.)
8-

Hargreaves=poor
Neville replace with Caragher
And if you need an injection of pace bring on lennon.
Motty that laugh is getting worse!!

Was it the England fans jeering Hargreaves or the German (Frankfurt) fans, who absolutely despise Bayern Munich and there players ???
Giving the same sort of reception Thiery Henry, Freddie Lungberg, Robbie Van Persie et al, would receive if the world cup games were at White Hart Lane!

People who question crouchs importance in the england squad are fools. In a perfect world with rooney and owen fully fit he wouldnt be a starter. However he is a vital player and was included to add variety to the squad, late in a game we need a goal u throw him on its something completly different to deal with. This is similiar to the "shock" inclusion of lennon and walcott who are there as reserves who can offer something completly different.

Im sorry to say it but owen hargreaves must no some one to be in the squad, why would you include him ahead of phil neville a more versatile player who has had one of the better seasons of his career. Also why use him ahead of carrick who has been one of the better players in the premiership

P.s can lampard do nothing but shoot sven should have brought back scholes

Have to say this but I feel Croatia have been done a misjustice tonight by.....

The 麻豆官网首页入口 Commentary team.

This has to be the worst commentary I can ever remember by the 麻豆官网首页入口 team of Motson, Lawrenson, Hansen and Lineker with the exception of Leonardo and Ian Wright. Apparently even before the game started Brasil were winning 10-0 and it has been nothing but Brasil during the game. Croatia have played very well but the few comments that are made about them are begrudging. even when Croatia threaten it's as if this is somehow not desired.

Poor, poor commentary. Sort it out 麻豆官网首页入口.

hae tosay this but i feel croatia beendone toight