Damning statistics from BBC Sport. They refer to our 'porous' midfield through which Iran stormed time and time again. And who were playing midfield? No Legs Bale and No Form Ramsey. What were they doing there anyway? They should have been benched after the USA game and brought on late in this game if needed where they could use what little energy they do have for 15 minutes or so. Any more than that and they're in dire need of gas and air. For sure they are now stealing a living at this level but their arrogance would never let them stand down in favour of other players who would have contributed more. And star-struck Page was equally culpable in selecting such out of form players. Some stats:
POSSESSION: 62-38 SHOTS: 10-21 OT: 3-6 CORNERS: 2-7 FOULS: 9-10 GOALS: 0-2
Note that Iran managed over twice as many shots as us despite only having 38% possession. So what the fcuk were we doing with the 62% we had? Creating sod all is the answer and Bale/Ramsey were SUPPOSED to be our main men in this context. In reality Bales struggled even to get a touch and surely his time has come. Ramsey saw more of the ball but his use of it was slipshod to say the least, redolent of standards to be found in the lower levels of the EFL. International standard? You're having a laugh! He dyed his hair no doubt to draw attention to himself as so many ego-heavy footballers do. He certainly did that by drawing attention to how crap he was!! Take a look at our ratings which I absolutely agree with.
DAVIES: 4.14
WILLIAMS: 4.11
MOORE: 4.00
AMPADU: 3.97
RODON: 3.96
HENNESSEY: 3.83
MEPHAM: 3.80
WILSON: 3.52
ROBERTS: 3.39
JAMES: 3.37
JOHNSON: 3.36
ALLEN: 3.29
WARD: 3.28
RAMSEY: 2.63
BALE: 2.56
Has anyone on this forum EVER seen such a shockingly poor set of performance stats???
Our best performer achieved the heady heights of 4.14. But guess who was the WORST player on the pitch. Yes, it was Gareth Bale with Aaron Ramsey close behind. Our so-called star performers, the players expected to deliver success for us, were the
worst two players on the pitch. And, without being wise in hindsight, I predicted as much after watching them stink the place out against USA. I have never seen any player awarded a "2" score in my life but that pair managed it in the same game. Did we ever have a chance?
As for Robert Page, he can piss off as fast as he likes. For me, like greased lightning would be far too slow. He's got as much tactical nous as one of Chris Coleman's and Gary Speeds' week old turds. I'm afraid that being manager at Northampton and Port Vale is absolutely no preparation for international football and the performance of his players in this game is clear evidence of that. And motivation? Hell, he couldn't even motivate so much as one player to achieve a 5!!!
We still have a chance but we have to beat England who will do us no favours after the undisguised delight our players showed when Iceland beat them in the Euros a few years back. Talk about Karma coming back to bite your arse! If they can put 10 on us they will and with undiluted pleasure. I'll check the odds on that because it could happen and it serves our right if it does.