Official World Cup Matchday Thread- England v Italy

Looks like it isn't working tonight.

 

That's us In the ****.

 

What a half. Really encouraging how the younger players are settling in. Italy have so much skill tho. Still ****ting myself...

 

Watching this is making me realise how numb I had got regarding NUFC matches towards the end of the season just gone.

 

So.....

Sterling, Sturridge and Barkley take a bow
Hart, Johnson, Cahill, Henderson and Jagielka - an appreciative nod
Baines, Wilshere, Welbeck and Lallana - just not good enough
Rooney and Gerrard - when do you both retire? Over hyped trash!

 

Rooney was complete cack. Sterling faded badly after the 70min mark. Baines looked suspect in Defense. Overall Lack of Urgency.

Watch out World, England's back!

 

Disappointing. Italy just the better side.

Rooney frustratingly bad. Glen Johnson also gave a masterclass in giving the ball away.

 

****ing Rooney... Utter gash.

 

Not being funny but we didn't deserve to lose that. One or two changes for Uruguay and we'll probably win. Drop Rooney and start Barkley for sure.

 

I thought it was encouraging.

Rooney was ****, and hopefully Roy accepts that now cos that will be a step forward. But other than that I thought the youngsters played decent, with some playing very well. They tired at the end mainly due to Italy's experience and guile helping them preserve energy better. The defence needs work, but also playing time. For me, this World Cup is about building. we were never gone win the thing and even getting through the group was a challenge with two higher ranked teams.

From what I am listening to Roy saying though as I type this, looks like Rooney will be staying in the team tho

 

Rooney will keep place on name though.

 

I'm really happy with how we played. Italy are a big tournament team, and we got beat by one extra moment of quality. That's it.

Defo not going to mope about it, we didn't do a Spain

Rooney isn't World Class, and wasn't great overall, but fantastic cross for the goal.

If we play similarly to that against Uruguay, and lose, I genuinely wouldn't mind going out in that manner. Like it or not, that's our best, and our best isn't good enough to win a World Cup, but at least they're giving that best for once!!!!

 

^Pretty much in a nutshell

 

Maybe you should mention to the FA that you're not against dropping fan's favourites, would do the job cheaper than Roy, and have a plethora of excuses ready for inevitable defeats

 

Already have but Mike wanted a ridiculous transfer fee and priced me out of it! #****

 

England can't win can they. Still people look for negatives. Personally I thoroughly enjoyed watching a modern England side. Signs are good for future tournaments.

Only mistake we made is shoehorning Rooney in. You need a Lallana to dovetail with Baines a la Pienaar. Or you have to play Shaw. Rooney is still a good player, but Sturridge and Sterling are better in the 9 and 10 roles. Woy has to be brave. All the problems came from that side. We had chances, you don't get many at this level, you have to take them.

I thought Cahill, Jagielka, Gerrard, Henderson, Welbeck, Sturridge, Sterling and Barkley all did well.

Johnson was good defensively, but going forward lacked a bit. Baines had a torrid time, Roo and him did not work at all. Italy are smart, worked it out quickly and made them pay. You need a high energy wide man there to protect him but also clever to release him forward. Roo was poor but I don't think you can blame him, he isn't an international class wide man. He is good back up. I'm not convinced with Hart still.

Overall it was great to see a passing technical England side with energy. Our problems are easy to solve, put Lallana in front of Baines. You'll then have Barkley, Wilshere, Roo and Ox to change games. i'd have started Barkley but must concede Welbeck was good.

 

yep ...thought England done well ..no fear approach from the youngsters ..

rooney aint a winger so has to be dropped .. because he cant take men on got no pace either ,,at least lallana has got a bit skill .. we also seemed to give that old fooka with the beard to much time again and somehow they were getting players unmarked in the hole between the def and midfield I noticed ..

didn't think we deserved to lose a draw would of been a fair result

 

Cahill made one mistake all game I think, and unfortunately was punished by Mario, who seems to enjoy playing against us . But pretty accomplished performance by him.

re-Hart., he didn't have much of a chance with the first one, it moved quickly through about three England defenders, but Gordon Banks would have saved that last one (to be fair, Banks was world class). [video=youtube;ngE9RCAdWaE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngE9RCAdWaE[/video]

As much as I like Foster, I think he hasn't improved as a goalie since his younger days and is still basically just a good shot-stopper, while Forster wouldn't have smelled either of the goals because he's too slow around the goal-line for this level. So Hart is our only choice.

On Rooney, I was listening to the radio before the game as I finished work at 10.15pm, and heard them saying "Hodgson hasn't put out square pegs in round holes, this is where the players play for their clubs, the first time we've seen that in a tournament from an England manager in a long time", so when they read out the team-sheet, I was wondering what the formation would be... No left midfield whatsoever and two strikers?? No. The biggest, fattest square peg was basically casually discarded on top of a tiny round hole, with no attempt to mallet it in.

But this is a problem with Rooney, as well as England managers. He's been passed from pillar to post, and never really had a position of his own. He's not pacey enough to lead the line (since about 2004), nor is he tall enough to be a hold-up type striker. He's ok at being the tap-in kind of striker who brings little else to the team, but that wouldn't fit in any England side, as we've always struggled to create opportunities at international level, and it's a bit of a waste of his other talents. He's got a decent engine on him, but he's not a great tackler and positionally he can be a bit dozy, so that's CM out. And he definitely doesn't have the pace or agility of a winger. The only position he could even possibly be considered for a starting line-up is AMC, and like people have said, we've probably got better players who are suited to that role. It's also a bit frustrating when he starts thinking he's world class and tries to take the game by the scruff of the neck, because he just isn't. He ends up wasting opportunity after opportunity with selfish attempts to be the hero.

 

Can't agree with that. The cross to Balotelli was so accurate I doubt any defender could have stopped him.

A fine performance from England; they just fell short of a wily and more experienced Italian side.

From what I've seen of Uruguay, England should murder them.

 

I didn't blame Hart so much, I just don't think he's not as good as some believe. He'll get better. Saying the standard of goalkeeping in general has been going south for a while. When I think back to Shilton, you realise how blessed we were.

Roo should not be playing. I look at Baines and he has never been a great defender. We are clearly looking for something else. So why not replicate what he has at club level instead of trying to find a way to play Rooney. Ox is one of my favourite England players but Lallana fits the bill perfectly.