England haven't beaten a major team at a major tournament since Beckham's penalty against Argentina in 2002 so no real surprise that we didn't win last night. I said before the World Cup began that I would be pleasantly surprised if we got through the group stages and that remains the same. We simply are not at the level of quite a number of other teams just now.
And there we have it ^ Rooney already on the team sheet for the Uruguay game. Hodgsons got no balls...
In the cold, sober light of day I'm finding it difficult to judge. Sterling was class. We looked threatening for most of the game. In the main our shape was good and we worked hard in a climate where we are never going to be at our best. On the other hand, Rooney was poor, we were unbalanced on the left hand side, we lacked ruthlessness in the final 3rd, they could have scored 4 or 5, Woy's changes didn't improve us. However, Uruguay looked gash and although Costa Rica looked classy, I think that was accentuated by how poor Uruguay were 2nd half. We should still go through with 6 points.
Were you drunk when you made your comments about Italy being much worse than us, that went well didn't it? Just watched the highlights again and I thought we were possibly a little bit unlucky in the game but the key was their defence could hold the lead whilst ours cost us the game. Scholes should be on the TV his comments about Johnson and Rooney are just spot on, Rooney is past it and Johnson is really a spare part at times, Baines got done for the goal but thats Woys fault for not taking Ashley Cole which is looking like a horrific decision at the moment
I thought Cahill and Jagielka looked poor as a partnership. They should have had the best Premiership English centre half in Brazil.
It's a weird situation with Rooney, he's obviously a great player, we see it week in, week out for Man United, but all his talent seems to disappear when he pulls on an England shirt. After that showing, he should be replaced by Barkley, but he probably won't be. The only saving grace is that Uruguay looked gash.
Rooney was a typical old hand, shows why we need younger players and then pulls off a great pass just to spite his critics.
I'd simply move Sterling out wide & play Rooney behind Sturridge. Lallana is another option & if he was brought in I'd drop Welbeck. Rooney's scoring record for England is excellent, overall better than 1 in 3 & better than 1 in 2 over the last 3 years. With the lack of experience we have up top I don't think we can currently afford to drop him.
Like your optimism, the only thing I disagree with is that our shape was good. I don't know if it was a plan to stay narrow and force them out wide but there was just so much room out there it was ridiculous. When we went forward and played it to our wide men there were 2 defenders in front of our winger, as there should be. It's not that hard to do if your wingers aren't lazy ****ers. They were passing it out from the back and casually passing to their wingers under no pressure, already behind Rooney/Welbeck and one-on-one with the fullback. It was hardly the standard 'two banks of four'. I was surprised that Johnson seemed to deal with their 1-on-1 attacks better than Baines did. And in fact I was more frustrated by Johnson going forward.
I agree I still think we will do it, though my predictions are ****e I bet a friend that England would get the first goal and England would win, £20 for both, so lost £40.
I can see it following a well worn path of past World Cups. Italy will beat Costa Rica 1-0 or 2-1. We will draw with Uruguay with a frustrating performance and everyone will say we're out. Then, the group will look like this Italy 6pts Costa Rica 3pts +1 England 1pt -1 Uruguay 1pt -2 Italy and Uruguay will fight out a bad tempered game which will not see an outcome of Uruguay winning by 3 goals. We’ll need to beat Costa Rica by and two we will a la Poland in ’86, or Colombia in ’98 and we’ll go through to the Second Round with 4pts and also with the usual unrealistic expectation restored. The hype will increase after we win R2 against either Colombia or Ivory Coast before inevitably succumbing to penalties in the QF.
They were the joint best partnership in the world in the qualifying rounds. Joint best defensive record with Spain, who played 2 games less than us, so really we had the best defensive record by virtue of playing more games.
Bookie I use won’t let me put anything like that as an accumulator. I know I could probably contact them and ask them but I can’t (currently) be arsed. Might put a paltry bet on: Uru/Eng Draw Italy to beat Costa Rica England to beat Costa Rica – 1.5 goals (Asian Handicap). That comes out at just under 11-1
Going forward England ranged between very good to being superb. Defensively England ranged between fairly good to very poor. Hence the 2 goals conceeded. Sadly Leighton Baines was found out for most of the game but had no help at times. Sadly, Ashley Cole was missed as i said he would be but nothing we can do now other than hope that Baines improves. Thankfully for England Uruguay and Costa Rica dont have a Pirlo.
