C'Mon England..

They need to slay the demons in their minds before contemplating playing for their country again.

 

Didn't watch it, but predicted Italy would win. Got the score wrong but there are no surprises here.

Weight of expectation is always our downfall.

Still never mind

 

We played well attacking until we tired at the end, but our defence is way below par.

 

I just think the formation needs tinkering with and bringing up to date.
We are still in with the 442 crowd of ten years ago, while the rest of the world has moved on.

Do you think its because we're an island ?

 

We played 4-2-3-1 last night mate

 

Probably? No, absolutely certain! The Germans nickname for the English is "Inselaffen" which translates as "Island apes".
There is a very narrow view about football in England simply because none of our current squad of players have ever played outside of England.

I think England actually did reasonably well last night with two notable exceptions.
Firstly that as a team, we allowed the Italian right back the freedom of the right side of the pitch. A left midfielder like Milner might have stopped that but this would have lessened our attacking spirit.
Secondly, our efforts on goal are simply not clinical enough. As a nation, and the other home countries are included, we convert only a very small percentage of goal attempts compared with other nations.
That may be due to the "English" style of exciting goalmouth action as played here compared with the much more patient cat and mouse style seen all over Europe.
There the game is played mostly in the middle of the park with briefer lethal forays into the box, whereas here it is more often in the penalty area but with less final conversions.

 

Spot on Cider

 

We did on paper, but in reality we played a half-assed pressing game with Welbeck as an advanced midfield tackler and Rooney not quite sure how to play on the left.
In reality we had Gerrard and Hendo facing 4 or 5 in midfield, and large gaps where Wilshere and Lallana should have been.
Italy played 5 in midfield (as have most other countries, but then this seems to have gone unnoticed in the England camp. Someone buy Hodgeson a telly), and that is why they controlled the match once again. Wilshere and Lallana would have made a big difference and I feel we would have beaten them with that line-up.

----------Hendo/Gerrard

---------Lallana---Wilshere---Sterling

--------------Rooney

-------------------Sturridge

This is a team that passes (and keeps) the ball, one that can cause the opposition problems.
However, even that formation would not win if we DONT STICK THE BALL IN THE NET !!