‘I got a little bit impatient at times. It was a long 80 minutes to watch and I probably aged 20 years, but we won the game. You have to be constructive’

What the hell was there to be constructive about?

Monye – Worst fullback ever. Wilko spend the first half covering his ass and Cueto had to take over in the second half. Did end up wondering if he’s argentinian or got paid off by any chance?

Leadership – None. Yet again Borthwick never even attempted to talk to, motivate or lead the team. Instead he tried his hardest to do absolutely nothing – for which I would give him an A* for effort and execution. MUST at the very least lose the captaincy – but should also be dropped from the squad all together!

Game plan – Was either to kick as poorly as possibly and let the argentinians run at us all day or there was NONE! How many people (supporters/commentators/players) have all commented on the lack of game plan and how the players looked “nervous” and “scared” to play. What does that say about our coaching team/management!!!

Coaching – Maybe we could recruit them as sleepers and inflitrate them into other teams so they can mess everyone else up as bad as us!!! If not, Wells and Ford have to go (maybe also Smith)

Johnno – The man is a legend and i’ll always respect him, however he is obviously not in control, doesn’t command the same respect from the players or his coaching team as when he was a player and I think it will only be a short matter of time till he is given his marching orders.

Rob Andrews – As guilty as everyone else and so should be given the boot too!

Subs – why when we have talent like Lawes on the bench, did he spend 80 mins sat down. Deacon was yet again awful and I actually think Borthwick may have been worse. Our top 3 2nd row players are Kennedy, Lawes and Shaw. Why are they not being played? Is this another “cipriani” case, where they are out of favour with the coaching team/management?

Moody – Our only saving grace. The only player seen talking to the team and leading by example and the only player currently with the ability to take over the captaincy.

Wilkinson – Poor kicking out of hand and poor place kicking, however he did spend all day having to cover full back and worry about everyone else that I don’t think he was able to concentrate enough on his own role.

All in all, shocking doesn’t even come close. Everytime we think “at least it can’t get worse” they manage to surprise us and sink even lower.

Joke

PS I wrote this last night before Mick Cleary wrote his article in this morning’s Telegraph….. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/6575438/Off-colour-England-struck-down-by-fear-against-Argentina.html

Get this – at one point we tried a simple move and broke the gain-line…and we did it on the THIRD phase!

France v SA was excellent though – especially as there was a vociferous Saffer fan in the pub who clearly didn’t understand the rules.

I only watched the Highlights and that was tedious enough for me.

If millioons of people can sit in their armchairs and see that:
A, Monye is not a full back
B, Borthwick and Deacon are not world class
C, england have almost no gameplan, and no fall back plan for when A fails.

WHY CAN’T MJ?

I play, i coach, the most important thing in our sessions is collectivly working on game plan and patterns, I couldn’t see either in that game at any point.

1. Call of the game against the All Blacks!
2. If Van der Sar is injured at Manu do you think they will put Rio Ferdinand in as a replacement? So why the hell Monye on this position……..AGAIN? So once again if a 15 is injured you have to pick the 2nd choice 15, if he’s injured you pick the 3rd choice etc etc.
3. If England comes up with Monye on 15 again, you have to sack everybody involved before the match.
4. The 4 and 5…..They are a good laugh, and yes why not keeping a young, strong, modern rugby talent as Lawes on the bench for 80 minutes if the locks are performing like that. What happened there. Nevertheless I understunf the 4 and 5 in the England team better now. Johnno thinks it must be the 4th and the 5th in quality of locks. After Kennedy, Lawes and Shaw they probably come pretty close.
5. Gameplan….There was simply no gameplan.
6. On this forum almost everybody seems to agree to some major changes but who are we.
7. If the game is not called off, I will be stupid enopugh to get to the pub with my friends to watch the game and to be honest after a few pints it was very funny watching Monye….

This has got to stop. Ford and Wells must go. Johnson either needs to read the riot act or totally wipe the slate clean.
What happened since beating France in the 6 Nations – anyone remember how well we actually played?

Great effort for whoever threw the paper airplane through the South stand sticks though!

Hardly surprising that players are nervous about making mistakes…

I remember joking on here ages ago about the body language among the England coaches – at the time I was talking about Ashton and Wells, but if you look now you see Johnno, Wells and Smith looking like they’ve never met before.

It’s no better on the pitch either. Borthwick spent more time whinging at Nigel Owens at one point than I ever saw him spend talking to the team. Did he not think anything needed saying? Or was he just trying to lead by example with another crap performance?

Agree with Fiachra about Monye. That’s been a real bugbear of mine for years now about the England coaches thinking you can just pick 3 wingers and expect one to just slot in at 15. It’s a specialised position for God’s sake, and this is international rugby.

Still too depressed to even think about next weekend.