England v Italy 2300BST

I'd drop Rooney, seems an obsession to accommodate him wherever. Now I'm no tactics expert, but his instinct is to come in, and it left so much space for Italy on their right, and, well the rest his history.

On the positives, I thought we looked good in attack, and we will frighten any team on the break. I reckon we will get through to he next round. Just.

 

Stick Rooney on the bench and see if that kicks him up the arse to be an impact player if brought on (I doubt it, he'll probably sulk)

Holland were frightening on the break. England were not.

 

The first half was better than the second half for sure. Stirling, Sturridge and Welbeck created a few chances, but after Italy scored their second goal, i'm afraid that it was oh so predictable and there was only going to be one winner. Italy did what they do best, get men behind the ball and break quickly, England just did not have the guile to break down an organised defence and Roy's substitutions changed nothing.
It will probably help us that Uruguay need to win, but I fear for us if we concede the first goal.

 

Italy did enough. It's what they do. They are possibly a much better team than they showed against England, but why bother breaking too much sweat..? It's a long tournament, and they'll just get slightly better every time.

 

Anyone know where i can see a replay of the game?

 

I hesitate to suggest this, but BBC iPlayer..?

 

Irony of ironies. Running out of steam in a very steamy part of the world!!

 

It's not often I 100% agree with you CBK, but I think you're calling this very accurately indeed.

 

Or has been carrying an injury that hasn't yet cleared up, so it is making him play "crap." To give the lad the benefit of the doubt if you recall he was out injured during the *** end of the season. In desperation he was declared fit when he ain't. He needed to have been left behind in order to build up the necessary muscle tissue and physical fitness for the season ahead. As it is, he will spend many weeks next season on the treatment table.

 

So does a friend of mine but as a destination to visit as she is a very keen photographer of landscapes and nature. I'd like Costa Rica to do well even at the expense of more fancied teams.

 

One thing that did get to me on the BBC was the Neville Co-comentatory, it wasn't what he said, it was the irksome monotonous tone that it was being delivered in. A little bit of modulation end excitement may have helped, the longer it went on the duller it got in my opinion.

 

Apart from the virtually monosyllabic delivery, he had the microphone too close to his mouth as well. Was loud and breathy compared with Mowbray's. Not the best.

 

iPlayer doesn't work out here in Asia. No worries, found one anyway. Ta

 

Thank you kindly.

 

I've seen enough of him, either fully fit or semi-fit or rolling around on the ****ing floor every 2 seconds to judge that he's not England's future, he's not England's present. He's ****.

 

Agreed, wilshere has a lot of learning to do before he should be considered for England in my opinion. Every manager we've had keeps playing him and he keeps doing sod all. He must be amazing in training!

I predicted 2-1 Italy, and I was right. Unfortunately I didn't put my money where my mouth is! To be fair it's the best I've seen England play for ages, but we just aren't as good as Italy. Rooney must be benched for the next game surely?!

 

It's no surprise, we keep chucking in players too early and heaping pressure and expectation on them before they've learnt the game.

Going into a world cup with no defensive midfielder was ridiculous. We have to attack and when the chances are not taken like last night then we'll lose.

 

Not sure I agree with that. If anything it was the experienced players that let us down last night. The youngsters were very good.

 

Ian Wright and Lee Dixon just scored the players on ITV...

Hart - 5

Johnson - 5
Jagielka - 6
Cahill - 6
Baines - 5

Gerrard - 6
Henderson - 5

Welbeck - 7
Sterling - 8
Rooney - 4

Sturridge - 8