In-ger-land, In-ger-land, In-sip-id!

I went to watch the England vs. Germany second round clash at one of the licensed venues in town last night. Thank god I didn't go to one of the venues inhabited by England fans, as I would not have liked to see the aftermath of the wretched performance by the Three Lions, especially by their defence.

Granted the last two goals were conceded on the break when they were chasing the game and they should not have been chasing the game at 2-1 after the Lampard underside of the bar drama, however nothing can excuse England’s leaky defence for the first two goals.

They showed great sprit to get back in the game with the Upson goal and the Lampard non goal and judging by the anxiety of the two German fans sitting in front of me, were well on top for the first 20 minutes of the 2^nd half.

These German chaps freely admitted that Germany had all the luck the young German side looked more than a little flustered before they got the 3^rd goal. But with typical German efficiency, the Gerrys played on the break, because they had that luck already in the back of the net with first offside goal, and executed England accordingly.

All Germany’s goals showed that superior pace was all they needed to beat the creaky legs of the Pommy defence. Even Ashley Cole, who is no slouch, got burnt on a number of occasions. Glen Johnson is going to have nightmares about Ozil, (the KD Lang lookalike World Champion) for a long time, as he tore the Liverpool man to shreds. He may have flashbacks every time he hears the song Hallelujah from now on!!

For a goal kick, that’s right a goal kick, to go untouched from the six yard box to about 7 or 8 yards out from the opposite goal is disgraceful.

It shows the complete lack of commitment, communication and organization in the England defence, very similar I must say to the current NSW league side! The Podolski goal was very similar to the one he scored against Australia, going unchecked near the penalty box and punishing the unaware and obviously mute Poms.

Presumably all the England players do speak English but maybe they are above actually talking to players below their pay scale, as their communication was non-existent.

On Rooney, he’s got no excuse for his insipid performances in all 4 games. The German lads in front made a very funny comment, in a very German way, “Ha-ha there will be no Rooney babies” in reference to the Nike ad. They were right, I highly doubt anyone is going to name their child after the Crimson Shrek, he was woeful and if I were on the England team I would have stopped passing him the ball last night.

Lamped finally showed up finally but it was all too late. As soon as his goal was not given my first comment was,

‘This England side hasn’t got the heart to overcome a circumstance like this.”

In the lead up I read stories about how England were ready for penalties. How defeatist is that?? Whatever happened to being confident that you can dispatch a far less experienced German side??

English football just expects tragedy and adversity, most of which is self-inflicted i.e. Beckham’s red card in ’98, Rooney’s red card in ’06 and their exits from a number on tournaments on penalties. The English players, fans and the media would rather slit their own throats before they give anyone else a chance.

Well England, Germany saved you the trouble last night, by putting one of the most talented but equally disappointing squads to go to a World Cup, to the sword last night.

PS. At least Australia conceded four goals with ten men for most of the game, and at least we won a game, i'm looking at you Italy, France and New Zealand.

Triple J

I have very much enjoyed what i have heard from the two lads from bluejuice in the last couple of days on the drive shift, chiefly because they are not part of the cool agenda that exists at triple j.

I love triple j for the fact that it will pretty much play anything, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is any good. I'm a little tired of the sermons delivered by the announcers on the next new band you should know about, but they knew about before you because they saw them live in Brooklyn last northern summer.

Its a little like; "You'll be cool too if you like this band but just remember that i was cool first." A trait that is endemic across the music scene.

Triple j aims towards a young (teen and student) audience and sometimes its to their detriment. People have been listening to triple j for a long time, longer than some of the very youngsters they try to court have been alive.

My point is that maybe some of these older listeners are being forgotten about when it comes to content on triple j.

The Next Hot Thing is fantastic and i respect triple j for the fact it breaks new bands, but less impressionable listeners have seen many a fly by night band fall long, quick and hard by the wayside.

Triple J alienates long time listeners by doing this. I'm not suggesting they play 'nevermind' and 'blood sugar sex magick' front to back 24/7 , but maybe they should be finding out who listens to triple, but more importantly who doesn't listen to triple j and why,

In this day and age it is very easy for people to switch to other content whether it be another radio station, mp3 players, phones the list is endless.

By being focused on the cool and not respecting the listener, the announcers, for me, don't really create a connection with the audience. You can hear it in the way the interact with regional listeners with the barely disguised "I live in erskineville / newtown"contempt for "country folk".

The lads from bluejuice are great because their agenda is to solely entertain, not even to flog their own band!!! Maybe some of the full time announcers should get back to this rather than delivering the cool sermon from the Mount Ultimo.

Let the listener be the judge of what's good and what's not.