This. Wayne played well. Unlucky not to get a couple last night. Scored one, close with three. But close not good enough, unfortunately
Most of the good play and creativity came from Liverpool players. v Italy, Cahill having a nap to let Bad have an easy header and twice jag was asleep for both of Suarez goals, I mean he couldn't keep tabs on a player who just had knee surgery and played no football at all for over a month. Suarez loves playing against Jag I certainly wouldn't blame Rooney. he did manage to feed off some good Liverpool play to get his tap in but when it came to delivering he missed a couple of chances you'd normally bet Rooney to put away. Especially that chance he shot right at the keeper from 6 yards out. The England defence was piss poor and you can see the worth of Cahill without someone like terry to back him up
Suarez certainly managed to feed off some 'good Liverpool play'. Hats off Stevie, two assists in one match, fair play.
It's hilarious how desperate you are to try and cover up the failings of the Liverpool players. Half the team were Liverpool players yet apparently it's nothing to do with them!! Genius. Gerrard was bang average and mostly responsible for both goals, forgot Henderson was playing till the final 20 minutes he was so anonymous. Johnson is a liability and was at fault for the Balotelli goal for being so far out of position. Cahill whilst not amazing was by far England's best defender and the only one of the 4 who looked remotely comfortable at this level. Sturridge was very good as was Sterling. The other 3 are not international class (Gerrard was but is done). Rooney on the other hand had a pretty good game. I've been critical of him of late but he did well.
Me and a work mate were joking before the game that Gerrard would put one on a plate for Suarez and then it happened.... How many more times Stevie Me???? Costs Liverpool the title and now England the World Cup
Cahill had a good game last night, better than his performance V Italy for sure and was the best defender on the pitch. Sturridge and Sterling have both impressed me so far. Gerrard is past it, and should be nowhere near the team. Johnson and Henderson are complete dog sh!te and should also be nowhere near the team. Baines and Jagielka were both okay, nothing special last night but not terrible either. Rooney had a good game. For me: Hart 7 Johnson 4 Cahill 8 Jagielka 6 Baines 6 Gerrard 5 Welbeck 6 Henderson 5 Sterling 8 Sturridge 7 Rooney 7
I think he has been great in both games tbh. Challenging a little reckless, but in both games, showed bags of energy, willing to get forward and create, taking players on etc. He will be a cracking player when he gets older. The only players on that pitch last night who were dire were Henderson, Gerrard and Johnson.
He didn't have a good game. That's what the pressure of being England's saviour does, next world cup he'll be getting blamed for our failure two weeks in advance if us even starting (if we even qualify!!) Of the team that started only Cahill, Welbeck, Sturridge, Sterling and Rooney should be considered for England again. The rest are too old or not good enough, in Gerrard's case both.
Hart was okay. Baines didnt do too badly, though wasnt very impressive either. But I pretty much agree with what you are saying. Especially Gerrard, slow, passing has gone awry and he is too old
Liverpool's front 5 have been devastating this season. Swap Suarez and Coutinho for Rooney and Welbeck from that Liverpool five, and you have the England front 5 and you saw last night how much more mediocre they played with those two changes. Rooney/Welbeck vs Suarez/Coutinho essentially highlights the difference between United (plodding, predictable) and Liverpool (dynamic, pacy, scores lots of goals) this season. Rooney is not in the top tier of strikers like Suarez, but we should stop bashing him because he's still one of our better players. We just need to manage expectations with such a mediocre set of footballers representing us. Having said that, half the teams that will qualify from their group have no better a set of footballers than us... the difference is in the management and desire of the players. Management can be solved by the FA actually employing someone sensible. But how come other countries have countless numbers of ex-pros turning into pretty good coaches who seem intelligent (Martinez, Klinsmann, Guardiola, Deschamps, Luis Enrique, Hyypia, De Boer) whereas our ex-internationals and ex-pros all seem undoubtedly stupid and rubbish at coaching modern football (Adams, Ince, Shearer, Robson, Pearce)? Where are our intelligent, qualified ex-internationals? I can envisage Lampard, G Neville, and Scholes being a good manager. But why do other countries have so many ex-pros turning to managing compared to us? Most of ours seem to just want to sit on a couch and get paid loads to be a pundit.
