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Well that was very painful to watch. After two goals in the first twenty-odd minutes I was holding out for Beer O'Clock at the pub (Can't serve frothies before 5am apparently?).

Now, I'll definitely go against the norm here, but I don't suscribe to the 'Its Pim's Fault' argument. Granted, tactics today were questionable, but I don't think the criticism for Verbeek is justifiable. Yes, our qualification process is easier now, but with the squad we have, he has done a servicable job[/cop out]

In regards to this mornings formation, the only decision I believe Pim got wrong was Garcia over Kennedy. We were obviously going in with a 'Park the Bus' mindset, which is fine by me, but you need an outlet. I didn't see the point of playing a 'floating' forward line with Garcia and Cahill interchanging up front. I don't know whether it was to add some attacking flair, but you can't have it both ways.

As many have pointed out, the biggest WTF moment for me was the Back Four's mentality. The defence has copped a lot of criticism in this thread, and justifiably so. Too slow, too old etc. Unfortunately, they are the best we got. I honestly couldn't fathom the decision to play the offside trap. If you're setting up with a Formation consisting of essentially a lone/no striker, with two defensive midfielders, why on earth would you defend so high up the pitch? Give ze Germans all the space they want in their half, when they penetrate (lol) the middle of the park/forward third, pounce. Back Four, defend deep enough so the likes of Ozil and Klose (wtf I knew you weren't quick Neill but really?) can't outpace you. Anything behind the back four should be Schwarzers (2nd goal was his fault I reckon). The tactic went completely against the premise of the 'Park the Bus' formation.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I am pretty content with Pim's squad selection. If it wasn't for Cahill's brain fade, we should have a full-strength line-up for Saturday. Not playing Kewell was the right decision IMO, and if Kennedy doesn't start against the Ghanains, then I think the Pim-Hate can certainly be justified!

The funniest moment of it all was in the post-match analysis in the studio. I quote Ned Zelic:

The real positive out of this, is that we are still in competition.

Massive LoLz.