Official World Cup Matchday Thread- England v Italy

Our established players were poor last night, including Gerrard rooney and baines. Baines had a shocker, the game passed our skipper by and Rooney was..as always increasingly frustrated when the game wasn't going his way.

At the end of the day I think Roy has to take the blame for this one, the system didn't work. We were outnumbered in midfield and in defence and up front ...well it was just sturridge. Rooney Wellbeck didn't really work in those positions.

Also johnson..suspect. Both fullback suspect. Leaving Cashley at home..now looks like a ******ed idea. Cashley would have liked down that winger and told whoever was in front of him to f**king go with his man. We got raped down the right, both goals essentially coming from the right.

Also, this is for the mackems: hendo was our best player I thought. No clue why he came off. In that climate, the wingers should give it their all for 60 minutes then come off. Sterling had nothing left and he'll probably be struggling nex game and Sturridge who is irreplacable looked like he had a dead leg.

If we play Rooney, it as to be behind Sturridge with proper wingers, meaning Oxlaid and sterling or sterling and lallane on the wing.

I've no idea what Wilshire is suposed to offer. Welback adn Rooney do the same job so they should be replacing one another. They do a decent job winning the ball and making plays but we don't need both of them at teh expense of proper width.

 

The more I think about it we did play well.
It's just a shame that Rooney still cannot work out how to play football at tournaments.
Time for him to be dropped I feel.

 

Aye it was a breath of fresh air. For certain there things we need to learn but as a young side that is natural. Woy dropped a bollock with Roo but otherwise should be commended for getting us playing a more up to date style. We just need to solve the issue on the left. You have to accept when you pick a Baines, he isn't as good as Cole defensively. Its like Alba or Marcelo (not that Baines is that good). Neither is great defensively but its who is in front of them and how you set up. We need to tweak it to get Baines going forward. 2nd half he looked good at times. The easy thing to say is "oh we should have took Cole" but its wrong for me. You just have to play a way that suits the player you picked. Cole would offer nothing going forward, he is past his best.

We have good balance if we use it. We also have a bit of experience with Gerrard. He was quietly effective last night. 2mnd half as we pinned them, he was dictating the play. The only other thing I'd say is we need to move the ball quicker at times. I'm not anti Rooney like some. He just isn't good enough to play 9 or 10.