North Ireland vs. England

Norn Iron were great and England were awful at best. There's alot of criticism about England playing 4-5-1, but some of it isn't justified. I think when to play it was wrong, it should have been against Denmark not in a true qualifier, especially against home country opposition. Anytime England play Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, it's like a derby where form and everything else goes out the window. So for me the timing of this formation change was bad.

Yes thats an important point, i dont think many people outside of Britain realise that this is a derby game. As i said before, Sanchez had his team pumped up and ready for a fight, Sven had ours ready for a patient passing game

However, if you look at the players we have you have to ask why it didn't work as 4-5-1/4-3-3 (they're pretty much the same formations it just depends if you're attacking or defending in my opinion) suits alot of our players. A midfield 3 of Lampard, Beckham and Gerrard means Lampard has the same role he has for Chelsea and Beckham has his centre position, which leaves Gerrard but he should be able to adapt.

The trouble is Beckham. 4-5-1 are the tactics to get the most out of Gerrard and Lampards attacking qualities but by playing Beckham in behind them we nullify our own threat! Beckham plays 50-60 yard passes which completely bypass our Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney (who drops deep in his natural Utd game) this leaves us with SWP ahead of play and only Owen as a target for any cross he may produce, and Owen is hardly big Dunc

We also lose out defensively because Beckham cant tackle, the way he stood off Davis was criminal at that level. Parker or Carrick are the better option for the role, with Parker being my preference as he is a great tackler (despite his red yesterday ) and more likely to pass it short in midfield.

But lets celebrate N. Ireland's TEAM performance and hope England can learn from it and also that Sven might be asked to leave, although i can't see it as it would cost the F.A. too much money. One last thing, why do so many people round the country want Allardyce to manage England ? I can't see anything in him.

Agreed, no point getting rid of Sven now, less than year before the world cup with 2 important games only a few weeks away and no obvious successor

I do like Big Sam because he speaks his mind and has worked wonders at Bolton. He handles ego's well and can work well with limited selection and small squads, he is also more tactically adept than Sven imho, he plays longball against some teams, 3-5-2 against others, 4-3-3 at other times etc and he does it without his players being left with that "what am i supposed to be doing?" look that the England team had last wednesday. Despite all that though i dont think he should be given the England job direct, i'd have liked to see him work at Newcastle for a few years and if he had been successful at that level (ie battling for 4th, strongish in Europe) then maybe he could be a long term successor. I would like to see Psycho involved with the England team though, he has motivational skills that we sorely miss right now.