Clearly all England fans wanted a win in the opening game, I personally thought it would be a draw, but them's the breaks.
I was however, pretty happy with England overall, too many times in recent tournaments we have been awful, but this morning (Oz time) I saw a team playing without the weight of expectation and played pretty freely. We had a lot of efforts at goal, a marked contrast to
Kiev 2012 where we were pathetic. The defence was worrying, we pretty much all knew it was one of, if not the weakest back 4's I can ever remember as an England fan in terms of those that start and their back up, and that was exposed for the second goal, I personally do not rate Cahill as a CH for England, has only ever looked average there with JT beside him to bail him out, and was at fault for the Balotelli goal, so to a degree was Baines, again I would have taken Ashley Cole to the WC and played him.
The midfield did OK, Henderson was bright first half, but was MIA in the second, Gerrard was steady but not spectacular, Sterling was excellent, as was Sturridge, Wellbeck offered nothing TBH.
And then there is Wayne Rooney, rapidly becoming an enigma at the WC, now 9 games no goals, however I don't need to tell anyone who saw the game that stat should have changed. Yes he put across a great ball for the goal, but I simply cannot forgive that second half miss. If he thought he got stick before the WC over his form, then wait till the press let loose in the morning, Rooney came out saying Man Utd would be angry at Scholes for his comments, I am sure they would as both they and Rooney big him up as one of the top stars in World football, but the truth is he is not, last night showed he is firmly in the second class of World stars, do you think the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, RVP, Neymar, the likes of which he feels he is on a par with would have missed that second half sitter or blasted so far over the bar from 18 yards not long after that, or spooned a corner into row Z BEHIND the goal, NO, I reckon all would have scored the missed sitter and again asa minimum would all have worked the keeper for the second chance. I would drop Rooney for the next game and see if he can become an impact sub, which I think he probably could, I just don't think he justify's his place in the team as it is currently setup.
I saw more than enough to suggest that if we play with the same level of believe and speed in the remaining 2 games we will get the 6 points we need, something I did not think we would a few months ago. As for Italy, well played, but they are certainly vulnerable and again will have to put in 2 more great performances like that to win the group, I think it is still wide open at this stage.
I was however, pretty happy with England overall, too many times in recent tournaments we have been awful, but this morning (Oz time) I saw a team playing without the weight of expectation and played pretty freely. We had a lot of efforts at goal, a marked contrast to
Kiev 2012 where we were pathetic. The defence was worrying, we pretty much all knew it was one of, if not the weakest back 4's I can ever remember as an England fan in terms of those that start and their back up, and that was exposed for the second goal, I personally do not rate Cahill as a CH for England, has only ever looked average there with JT beside him to bail him out, and was at fault for the Balotelli goal, so to a degree was Baines, again I would have taken Ashley Cole to the WC and played him.
The midfield did OK, Henderson was bright first half, but was MIA in the second, Gerrard was steady but not spectacular, Sterling was excellent, as was Sturridge, Wellbeck offered nothing TBH.
And then there is Wayne Rooney, rapidly becoming an enigma at the WC, now 9 games no goals, however I don't need to tell anyone who saw the game that stat should have changed. Yes he put across a great ball for the goal, but I simply cannot forgive that second half miss. If he thought he got stick before the WC over his form, then wait till the press let loose in the morning, Rooney came out saying Man Utd would be angry at Scholes for his comments, I am sure they would as both they and Rooney big him up as one of the top stars in World football, but the truth is he is not, last night showed he is firmly in the second class of World stars, do you think the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, RVP, Neymar, the likes of which he feels he is on a par with would have missed that second half sitter or blasted so far over the bar from 18 yards not long after that, or spooned a corner into row Z BEHIND the goal, NO, I reckon all would have scored the missed sitter and again asa minimum would all have worked the keeper for the second chance. I would drop Rooney for the next game and see if he can become an impact sub, which I think he probably could, I just don't think he justify's his place in the team as it is currently setup.
I saw more than enough to suggest that if we play with the same level of believe and speed in the remaining 2 games we will get the 6 points we need, something I did not think we would a few months ago. As for Italy, well played, but they are certainly vulnerable and again will have to put in 2 more great performances like that to win the group, I think it is still wide open at this stage.
