Crouch Boo Boys.

[Cideriuplandlord]

Apologies if this has been done elsewhere, just needing a view from any of you who were at Old Trafford last night on the Wright Phillips substitution.

My initial take was that the crowd were booing Eriksons decision to take off Wright Phillips, then applauded Wright Phillips off the pitch and then continued to show their displeasure to Erikson. It did not seem to me that it was directed at Crouch and this was backed up by the fact that within a minute his first touch (a knock down) was greated with a good cheer.

However, listening to 5 Live this morning the general concensus seems to be that they were booing Crouch which really bothers me, I thought he had a good game on Saturday, and whatever Eriksons tactical failings they shouldnt be taken out on Crouch. Even Joe Cole commented on it saying it was out of order.

I am now wondering if the cheer for his first touch was either sarcastic, or that another section of fans upset by his reception decided to give him more support.

I would love to hear from the horses mouth what your take was on it. Thanks.

[Red_Mat]

...and this was backed up by the fact that within a minute his first touch (a knock down) was greated with a good cheer.

I got the impression that this 'cheer' was sarcastic because he had actually won a header. A bit harsh, I thought, as he seemed to be the only one trying on Saturday. I guess it's because you have a predominantly Manchester based selection of fans watching who are always going to be keen to boo Liverpool players.

[Taunton_City]

Sounded to me they were booing crouch! they should be ashamed!

[Rich-TWSC-]

I certainly got the impression that Crouch was booed... Which is a bit out of order. I don't rate him for club or country but there's no need for that.

[Andy082005]

I certainly got the impression that Crouch was booed... Which is a bit out of order. I don't rate him for club or country but there's no need for that.

I was there, it was 100% definately aimed at taking Wright Phillips off!!

[Cideriuplandlord]

I rekon this has an awful lot to do with the press who decided they did not like Crouch from the start. I watched the game on Saturday and agree that he seemed to be one of the few that were trying. I thought he had a great game, created with a couple of good through balls, great flick ons and really put the defense on edge. With the cross he was blamed for not doing better but it was not a pacey cross and he would have done well to get any more power on it.

In the Sunday times there was an article critisising him, especially the fact that he did not look like scoring, fair enough but surely his main job is to hold the ball up, make flick ons, and be someone for Owen to play off, all this he did. It should also be remembered that he was only in instead of Rooney and I think he provided good backup and a great alternative if we want to change things around. Don't forget he made the knock down that led to the penalty.

Anyway, whatever the arguments Pro and against his inclusion the lad tried his heart out on Sat (he had more to prove than the others) and he did not deserve that reception he got last night, i'm still not convinced, or maybe I don't want to be covinced it was aimed at him

Incidently, I thought Ferdinand looked asthough he had taken heed of being dropped and looked asthough he cared less about how he looked and more about the job in hand.

[CiderHider]

I was embarrassed watching the game when some people decided to Boo Crouch, what the hell are they doing spending money going to England games of all they will do is Boo the players?!

It makes me sooo angry to see, and even though i support ManUtd i hate some of the Manc fans, total idiots who can't leave their rivallry with Liverpool at home.

I would also like to add that i was completley disguested that some England fans who thought it would be a good idea to Boo the Polish national anthem, the Polish people are the nicest people you could ever want to meet, they adore us in Britain, i worked in Poznan for several months and i cant speak highly enough of them.

So yeah, if anyone wants to explain why they decided to boo the Polish anthem and then Crouch i would love to hear from you.. :@

[dziekanowski]

I was there, it was 100% definately aimed at taking Wright Phillips off!!

same here, i was booing the fact wright phillips was being subsituted

[albany P reds]

I would of loved the chance to boo the polish anthem but was still trying to get to the ground at that time.

Over 6 hours to get there. I'll never moan about a 15min wait in bristol ever again.

As for crouch, it was aimed at sven but saying that there were a few jeers everytime crouch won a header.

Sadly i don't think whatever he does for england he won't be excepted by the fans, for whatever reason.

To go back to the poles, there fans were spot on last night.

Fair play to them, they were everywhere around the ground.

Now i know what it feels like when we travel abroad, and get in the home end.

Thankfully we won and there was no trouble, the party atmosphere might not of been so good if we hadnt.

[Roger Red Hat]

I thought they were booing the taking off of Wright-Phillips. As we know the media have to knock somebody. It was noticable that after saturdays game that Lineker picked up on the booing as people left the pitch and immediately said that Erikson was being booed, but I think in fact it was the ref, but of course that would'nt have fitted the media's agenda.

[E Block]

[Nogbad the Bad]

Fair play to them, they were everywhere around the ground.

Now i know what it feels like when we travel abroad, and get in the home end.

Thankfully we won and there was no trouble, the party atmosphere might not of been so good if we hadnt.

I'm not so sure it was 'fair play' for the Poles to have fans all over the ground.

There was an official away section with 6,000 in it, wasn't there?

I don't know how tickets for the "England areas" were made available to the general public but if the large number of Poles now living in England had an equal chance of getting them as England fans then that can't be right.

In that scenario Poland could have had more supporters than England at the game.

This has happened in the past at England v. Scotland matches and if it is still a possibility then something needs to be done about it.

Apart from the increased possibility of trouble, and preventing genuine home fans from going, it's absurd if home advantage can be so diluted by allowing away supporters who live in England to get unlimited tickets.

[Cideriuplandlord]

I was at the game and can confirm 100% booing for Wright Phillips being taken off just as he was really getting into the game – hence the cheer on his (Crouch) first touch and general support for effort after

Funny to see the couch potatoes “embarrassed” by this?

Many congratulations for going to the game. This couch potatoe who couldnt drive to Manchester on a Wednesday night was just trying to find out what the feeling of fans who attended was. So far the general feeling from the ground seems to be that it was the substitution that was booed not Crouch and that makes me happy.

[Guest BCTIDBolts]

Watching the game on tv got the impression the cheer when crouch won the header was because people felt sorry for his unwelcome substitution from some of the supporters. Real shame everyone cant just get behind the team and respect the managers decisions.. That boo could have effected the whole teams morale luckily crouch dealt with it well and played his part in the win.

[CiderHider]

I would of loved the chance to boo the polish anthem but was still trying to get to the ground at that time.

Over 6 hours to get there. I'll never moan about a 15min wait in bristol ever again.

As for crouch, it was aimed at sven but saying that there were a few jeers everytime crouch won a header.

Sadly i don't think whatever he does for england he won't be excepted by the fans, for whatever reason.

To go back to the poles, there fans were spot on last night.

Fair play to them, they were everywhere around the ground.

Now i know what it feels like when we travel abroad, and get in the home end.

Thankfully we won and there was no trouble, the party atmosphere might not of been so good if we hadnt.

Bad luck mate, i never drive to OT anymore, i get the train and stay at the Marriot nr the Airport, then get the train to OT direct from there.

I drove to OT a few years ago when they were playing Brian Munich in Champs league, i got there with about 20 mins to go, needless to say i was gutted and never took car again, plus we drew 0-0.

Yeah it looked a good atmosphere, can't wait for the finals!!

[Northern Red]

This whole episode just highlights some of the pondlife that follow our national side. Whether the booing was aimed at Crouch or not, the sarcastic cheering whenever he won a header was pathetic and out of order. Its not his fault that he was brought on. It seems that they've swallowed the rubbish being spouted by the media. I actually thought he was one of our better players on Saturday, certainly more so than the supposedly world-class Owen. With the system working so well last night, I wonder if Eriksson will have the balls to drop Beckham & Gerrard. Ive said for some time that I don't think Gerrard & Lampard can play in the same side, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

On another note, did anyone else think that it would have been funny when Owen was brought off, if he had passed the captains armband to Rooney, just to see the horrified reaction of the press

[albany P reds]

I'm not so sure it was 'fair play' for the Poles to have fans all over the ground.

There was an official away section with 6,000 in it, wasn't there?

I don't know how tickets for the "England areas" were made available to the general public but if the large number of Poles now living in England had an equal chance of getting them as England fans then that can't be right.

In that scenario Poland could have had more supporters than England at the game.

This has happened in the past at England v. Scotland matches and if it is still a possibility then something needs to be done about it.

Apart from the increased possibility of trouble, and preventing genuine home fans from going, it's absurd if home advantage can be so diluted by allowing away supporters who live in England to get unlimited tickets.

I'd be a hypocrite if i said it was terrible that they were allowed in our end due to the fact i've done it when watching us abroad.

To be honest most of the fans around the ground in our end more than likely bought them off the english "fans" who were touting them outside.

So it had nothing to do with poles buying them when they went on general sale, they took a gamble on going to the ground and buying one there, which i've done countless times abroad.

So when i say fair play to them i mean that they took the gamble to travel that far, as could any england fan to see what tickets were on sale at the ground.

I don't agree with touts but at the end of the day its the same as everything, it all about supply and demand.

[Red_Mat]

This whole episode just highlights some of the pondlife that follow our national side. Whether the booing was aimed at Crouch or not, the sarcastic cheering whenever he won a header was pathetic and out of order. Its not his fault that he was brought on. It seems that they've swallowed the rubbish being spouted by the media. I actually thought he was one of our better players on Saturday, certainly more so than the supposedly world-class Owen. With the system working so well last night, I wonder if Eriksson will have the balls to drop Beckham & Gerrard. Ive said for some time that I don't think Gerrard & Lampard can play in the same side, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

On another note, did anyone else think that it would have been funny when Owen was brought off, if he had passed the captains armband to Rooney, just to see the horrified reaction of the press

Agreed, Northern. I'm still ashamed when idiots boo the opposition's national anthem. I'm not particularly patriotic, but it's still disrespectful.

I also think it would have been hilarious to see Ronney as captain.

And from an anal point of view - would that have made him our youngest ever captain...?

[Alex_BCFC]

There were ironic cheers in both games when Crouch won headers. I don't rate him but he gets unfair stick. If you watch the build up to the 2nd goal he doesn't do too badly to move the ball out of our box and to Rooney?! Twas a good pass anyway.

[Cideriuplandlord]

Just one more quick comment on this subject. It was great to hear Joe Cole come out in defense of his Team/Squad mate, maybe this type of solidarity boads well for next year espacially if they stick with the same squad for a length of time.

All through the summer the England cricket team kept referring to the team ethic and the fact that if one member of the squad got critisised by either the public or the press (Giles,Geraint Jones) the rest of the squad got behind them, supported them and made it an even stronger tighter unit. It would be great if this happens with the footie as well.

[Jungle Jim]

Was there too, booing was for Eriksson not Crouch. SWP looked dangerous every time he had the ball, his best England game yet.

The ironic cheers when he won a header were a carry over from Saturday, and is a reflection on how many he manages to lose despite being twice the size of the defender.

Loudest boos were for G4 at half-time though, they got absolutely ruined.

Sadly some idiots did boo the Polish anthem, doing that makes us no better than the sad welsh booing God Save The Queen.

[Alex_BCFC]

Loudest boos were for G4 at half-time though, they got absolutely ruined.

Really? I didn't see that. Can't see why, they write such great songs.

[myoudale]

i thought they were booing svens desicion to take SWP off. has he actually completely a full 90mins for the country yet. i think crouch is good in the air thats about it. if i am mistaken and it was aimed at SWP or crouch then that is discrasful

[Godzilla]

I was there, it was 100% definately aimed at taking Wright Phillips off!!

Ditto.

The booing was of the substitution.

[Andre_The_Giant]

I was sat in the North Stand last night and the booing was definitely aimed at Crouch and the jeer was a sarcastic one! No doubt in my mind at all.

BS4

[Alex_BCFC]

I was sat in the North Stand last night and the booing was definitely aimed at Crouch and the jeer was a sarcastic one! No doubt in my mind at all.

BS4

Even if the booing wasn't for Crouch- which I think some of it was, we could all hear the ironic cheers when he headed the ball.

[Roger Red Hat]

What the booing idiots wont of noticed is that Crouch started the move for our winning goal. He collected the ball in our penalty area, made a good short pass to feet out of the area (not a big boot into row Z), and very quickly we were 2-1 up!

[Guest Frank]

Frank Lampard is in the papers today defending Crouch and saying the booing of him was unacceptable and disgraceful. So whoever it was aimed at, the players felt it was at Crouch.

I'd believe it was for the substitution if it wasn't for the fact it carried on when Crouch ran onto the field and the fact his first header was met with ironic cheers.

[PhatWill]

I was at the game and I cannot believe what I'm hearing from others who are supposedly saying they were there too.

The booing was at first a reaction to Wright-Phillips being taken off and Crouch appearing from the dug-out to come on.

In my opinion SW-P's had a completely ineffective game as it was and deserved to be taken off.

But the fact was that when Crouch entered the field of play there was booing! That suggests to me that he was being booed?! Crazy as it may sound.

Now, in my opinion there must have been an element of Man U/Liverpool rivalry as most people around me inc. mates were absolutely astonished at the what was happening.

It was negative, embarrassing and completely unnecessary. Unfortunately there are far too many planks who follow England, something I have discovered in the last couple of years having been to Portugal etc.

Crouch's first touch was met with some ironic cheers along with some more boo's.

Hope that clears it up. To the person who admitted they booed, grow up and don't bother coming to watch England in future you uneducated #####.

I was there, it was 100% definately aimed at taking Wright Phillips off!!

No, you either weren't there or are deaf.

[Guest MaloneFM]

I'm not so sure it was 'fair play' for the Poles to have fans all over the ground.

There was an official away section with 6,000 in it, wasn't there?

I don't know how tickets for the "England areas" were made available to the general public but if the large number of Poles now living in England had an equal chance of getting them as England fans then that can't be right.

In that scenario Poland could have had more supporters than England at the game.

This has happened in the past at England v. Scotland matches and if it is still a possibility then something needs to be done about it.

Apart from the increased possibility of trouble, and preventing genuine home fans from going, it's absurd if home advantage can be so diluted by allowing away supporters who live in England to get unlimited tickets.

It was Christian Roberts idea that was. Silly silly man.