I'm a Hammer so I don't see Sterling week in week out.. anyway he did fantastically last night. He has done more in 90 minutes than that useless gobsh!te Rooney has in the last 3-4 tournaments as far as i'm concerned. Shearer was bang on when he said that at this level you *have* to take those chances, and Rooney as always disappoints.
It's obvious that Henderson isn't the problem. In the LFC squad, Gerrard alongside Henderson, Henderson being the more free, but Coutinho/Sterling/Suarez do a big job in receiving the ball. Italy were so deep when we had the ball, we worked the ball well to the wings at times but there's just a lack of options! And like you said, Sturridge often found himself out wide which is a complete waste in itself. I think there are many factors.. The heat, the unfamiliarity between players and most importantly Roy Hodgson, a better manager could at least get this team playing good stuff as there is plenty of pace, skill and talent in the team. But last night we played in to Italy's hands for sure, but it was still better than I expected.
henderson for Wilshere was an odd one for me at the time, as the reason was well we don't need 2 defensive midfielders now and wilshere likes to push forward, henderson will do that if told to! why wasn't he given 5-10 mins and told to push up to see if he could do something before replacing for that reason? if costa rica can get something against italy, i fancy us and them going through and the 2 favs in the group? out.
Lallana should gave come on for Hendo then Lambert for Sturidge when he was injured. Instead we brought on another midfielder to make the team even less attacking. I'm really not sure what Wilshire brings to the team. Just tried to run through 3 players and then falls over.
On a side note - How ****ing boring was Phil Neville? Micheal Owen has some tough competition for must dullest commentator in sport
It's bad when Henderson, playing a deep midfield role, has more / better shots on goal than one of our forward players (Rooney). Sterling ran the italians ragged and they couldn't cope with him. Nailed on for the next 2 games. You must know the gods hate you when they give your older brother all the looks, talent and brains . . . especially if your older brother is Gary Neville!
Rooney was a left winger first half. One whos prime role was tracking the runner. Yep, no other country on earth is as stupid as england. Lets play our best player in a random position where hes got to somehow become antonio ****ing defensive winger valencia. Makes sense....
He didn't. That was our biggest problem. We've done it with Scholes and Gerrard before him. We try to play our best players not our best team. Always been our problem.
Because hes a striker. Milner is the player for that role. Defensive winger. We can play all our best players though, check the team v guays thread for my master formation of brilliance and excellence. Roy who?
Wasn't through the middle we were having a problem, it was down the wings. Woy's formation is all wrong for Gerrard and Hendo. Needs to be a three man central midfield with two playing off Gerrard, the same way Liverpool play. Having three players behind one forward will mean you are lightweight in the CM position, especially against a team playing with 3 central midfielders. A 4-3-3 formation is the way to go, not this ridiculous 4-2-3-1.
Sterling was constantly dropping back to help out defensively. It was Rooney, and occasionally welbeck, who didn't drop back enough and left our midfield exposed. With Sturridge as the number 9, up top, it's their job to brop back without possession an help out defending the midfield. Surprised anyone is trying to find something to use to criticise our best player on the night. Sterling did little wrong. If Rooney had ran as much as as Sterling last night for attacking or defending (hence his cramp), less people would be criticising him today.
He didnt at all. He was good going forward, lost the ball loads though. Lets not pretend he was amazing, he was good and he was our best player but it was a million miles from perfect.
Not biased at all then, UIR. If Rooney had performed like Sterling, you and your other Man Utd fans would be crowing for months and would probably start innumerable threads lionising him! We'll agree to disagree. We've said something nice about one of your players (Welbeck), care to return the favour?
There's no way England will beat Costa Rica and Uruguay, so that's that for another 4 years...... Henderson is mince btw
Italy was always going to be our hardest game. I've seen nothing of the two other teams to suggest we can't beat them, but you might be right. Disagree.
He was good. No question. But he was very raw and not always very intelligent. Just calling it as i saw it. And if rooney played like that, i would say the same. Cant imagine rooney playing that way would get him much praise though.
Fair enough. We all see things differently, it appears. Barkley reminds me of Rooney before he was 'World Class' and his ego started to run rampant. Rooney used to run for the team like Barkley does now, but perhaps he's a bit old for that now, and, as we all know, his lifestyle isn't conducive to a long playing career in this day and age.
