Beaten by a not very good Italian squad and yet again the quality of England's play is up to the usual rubbish. Rooney should be dropped and I'm sorry but I have never had faith in Joe Hart as an international goalkeeper but the who else is there? Getting very tired of watching a national team that has no pride in the shirt and they put in displays that are sadly lacking and yet again today I heard the most common phrase from an English commentator when he said "much against the run of play" which may very well be true, but you don't win matches by listening to commentaries but rather you do it by running your ass off for your country. Some reasonable performances out there by some players today but the rest should be benched, or even better sent home.
Italy had two efforts on target and two goals. England had loads more chances but except for their goal, all the others ended up wide or over the target. And £300,000 per week Rooney even put a corner into Row Z. Not good enough!
I really didn't think we played that bad, Sterling should start next game he was excellent , but Rooney was ****e, think their were more positives than negatives from tonight's game
I thought for a majority of the second half Italy was on their back foot. Rooney was ****e, but I think he's put himself under to much pressure to get his first World Cup goal. The only downfall was playing on the right hand side of the pitch it was cutting up bad. Italy were even uncertain bringing it out that side. On the plus side I said. 2-1 Italy with Sturridge to score Another thought. How the **** did Pirlo when surrounded by three players against the touch line manage to get that pass perfect out?
Everyone really loves to stick the knife into England, we more than deserved a draw, everyone in that team put in 100% even if some performances were poor. You probably made this thread straight after the defeat and feeling a bit angry, hopefully in the morning you might change your mind on some of your points.. The was more heart and effort in that game than the whole WC 2010 campaign
Come on people stop the negativity this is a young england squad and have given more of a fight today then most England teams in recent years . In answer to your question rod 1 cause pirlo is awesome and 2 johnson didn't track the other Italian
Love the positives from this site but please answer this question "did we actually win?" Taking positives from that usual crap is beyond belief in my opinion because we've been saying the same things for years and to me that sounds somewhat like Bristol City. Doing the same thing every time and expecting a different result is called stupidity in my books, and how that lot can continue to embarrass the nation and expect us to be positive is unbelievable.
P.S. Tomorrow I'm watching the Argentina with a friend who is from down there and can you begin to imagine what he will say about our performance today? At least our expectations were lower than Spain and Uruguay.
We played well mike. We're not out yet and have only lost 1 game. That's the trouble with England fans. Win last night and it would have been "we'll win the group, we'll win the world cup, England are amazing etc etc.." lose and its all this negativity rubbish! If we lose to Uruguay next then yes we will probably be going home unless Italy do a number on them in the last game and we beat Costa rica. Either way we need Italy to win our group with 9 points. It's our best chance now.
You must have watched a different game to me Mike!! We lost yes, however we played well, far better than any performance at the 2 major tournaments for many a year. Costa Rica beating Uruguay was a huge result and means we are from out of it, if we beat Uruguay and there is a win for either Italy or Costa Rica in the other game, them the group is very even again. If we lose again to Uruguay then we are out and the negative press will begin, and will probably be deserved, but not after last nights performance.
I still think England played well. Johnson was tracking back, but the other Italian which switched with Bolitelli so I don't blame him they got done by a good move. Italy had three on target one a fantastic clearance of the line plus the two goals. I'm welsh and thought England done well in my books I could only see one team to score after 50 minutes and if Pirlo's fantastic free kick went in that to me would of been an injustice result. Vilalli was correct in what he said prior to the game England are saying no chance a month before, but during the comp put a lot of pressure on the team only to rubbish them when it don't go your way. My concern for England will be Costa Rica, beat Uruguay and the pressure will be back on, and Costa Rica showed Uruguay yesterday they ain't no walk over. Overall from a observer I didn't think you done too bad. On another day Rooney would of buried those chances, he got done by his own pressure which he knows he let the country down 4 years ago with his outburst. Italy are a good tournament side and as the Brazilian fans showed when they was cheering for them a team that people expect to do well.
I think England were ok, a bit inexperienced, some obvious managerial miscalculations, thank god for 1 magic cross from Rooney and I'm amazed that nobody mentions the prick Gerrard as 1 of our major weaknesses, he hid away for a lot of the game, made no challenges in midfield, defence qualities non existent, his distribution was pathetic, his stamina was obviously lacking, he's supposed to be our Pirlo, he's 3 years younger and couldn't lace his boots. Time to take the blinkers off and drop him, bring on the youth, Barclay, lallana, Henderson, Wilshire, TheOx, use Gerrard as a sub or drop him, his time is over..
Positives for me were Sterling and Sturridge.- Beyond that it was difficult to draw positives. For me Hodgson got it wrong tactically. He takes off Welbeck and Henderson, but could have prevented that by not even starting them. Gerrard was ordinary at best and the debate to if Rooney should have started or not, I think was answered. At least he didn't start with 50 cap, 1 goal, Milner,really would have given him 0 out of 10 if he had done that.
Agree! Gerrard needs to call it a day all together in my opinion. Praying he retires after this comp.
"He takes off Welbeck and Henderson, but could have prevented that by not even starting them' We looked a better side with them on the pitch than when they went off, the subs made no impact on the game at all.. Its the defence for me, Johnson keeps going missing, that man def has no desire for the England shirt and if its because its too heavy for him take it away.. We're not out yet, but its now gonna be very difficult to get out of this group..
Am I right by saying if Uruguay beat us, we beat Costa Rica by a decent margin (3 or 4) and Italy beat Costa Rica and Uruguay, we will go through on GD? If so then all is not lost, Italy are a strong team in my opinion and can turn over both Costa Rica and Uruguay. As for England, Rooney has to be benched or at least put up front (although I would rather Lambert or Sturridge), he's trying too hard which is making him complete horse crap. I'd go 4-2-3-1 Hart; Baines, Cahill, Jagielka, Johnson; Gerrard, Henderson; Sterling, Welbeck (who I have criticized a lot over the past few months to other people, done well last night), Lallana; Sturridge. Rooney is our "golden boy" who expects to start, if Roy does the right thing and benches him it may make him hungrier to score goals...
Italy were the inferior side until they sat back on the ball after their lead. We can beat a weakened Uraguay and Costa Rica.
im a gerrard fan , but he was missing last night, looked like he got injured too after 70 odd mins. Johnson keeps killing the ball when we come out of defence, Rooney is looking like a hoddle, someone who is brilliant for club, but never performs at international level. After the recent friendlies i thought we would play a reasonable high tempo during our games (even with the heat) but we reverted to the "same old England" last night , slow and lathargic, we only showed life when we went behind. I think we can beat Uruguay, but really worried about Costa Rica to be honest! i think a win and a draw or a win and a loss and we are out IMO!
