Official World Cup Matchday Thread - Uruguay v England

Fixed

 

Exactly! When was the last time we created several GLORIOUS opportunities against a side like Uruguay? We should have been ahead at half-time. The bastards nicked it because they have a world class striker who took his chances, and we don't. Even Sturridge missed a couple of really good chances.

No way can anyone level any criticism at Hodgson for me. Cole barely got a game for Chelski, Terry is too slow at this level, and out of the group we had, the best players were picked. Mistakes by defenders and Hart cannot be coached out by the international staff. What the **** Hart and Baines etc were doing at corners when the most awful crosses were put in towards the front post, I don't know. World class it ain't.

If we had a Suarez, I don't think it would be ridiculous to suggest we'd have won comfortably last night.

 

Even if you think Terry should play, I thought he retired and said he wasn't coming back? I'd have took him simply because we were so low on options. I'd rather have taken Caulker or Shawcross than Jagielka. Don't get me wrong he is a solid player but I'm just not convinced him and Cahill works. There is no leadership there.

 

Both lost a striker for a split second, let them get goal side, and both times it ended in a headed goal. It doesn't help that we have a traffic cone in goal, but really really bad errors from top players. Cahill gets a lot more credit coming out of this tournament though, I think he's a really decent defender. Jags should be dropped.

I would agree with Shawcross. Don't understand why he's never been given a fair crack, when Jones and f***ing Smalling have had loads of opportunities. Suspect club loyalties play a part.

Shame Micah's career has been ****ed as well really. Anyone to get Johnson out of the starting 11 (although I think he'd be a great sub to have for the last 15 minutes if we're losing).

 

I think Jones might come good yet. I think Van Gaal has a knack with young players and the lad has been pissed about since going to Old Trafford. Not their fault, but he moved too early. He needed a few years playing regularly at centre half. Instead he left Blackburn and found himself a bit part for when Vidic or Rio was out, playing right back or centre midfield. Its easy to forget he is 22.

Smalling is overrated in my opinion. Micah is a massive shame. Perfect physique, his struggles are he tends to get caught out a lot positionally. Full of heart and passion, I'm not sure the brain is there though. I don't mind Johnson and Baines. Neither is the best defender. The trade off is what they give you as attacking full backs. That only works though if the 2 centre backs are class acts and your holding midfielder performs. I must admit the criticism of Gerrard has surprised me. I think he has done pretty well bar that flick on. When we have possession like the Italian and Uruguay games, he looks the player he is for Liverpool.

I suppose we lost, so in England that means we have to find a few scapegoats and assume we were terrible regardless if we actually were.

 

Gerrard has been disappointing for me in that he has given the ball away far more often than people expect him to. Even before the flick on, it was Gerrard who lost the ball in a tackle in the lead up to the first goal. The surprising thing is though, that it is surprising. He has done this a few times for Liverpool this year, most notably to let in Ba, but other times too. The problem is that he is an attacking midfielder who isn't fast enough any more so he has moved back to stay in the team. That works for Liverpool because he is Mr Liverpool and that's fair enough - we've had more than a few of those ourselves down through the years.

He shouldn't be Mr England though. I'm not wanting to direct dogs abuse in his direction - he clearly loves his country and playing for England, and nobody tried to lose - but he is another symptom of us not being ruthless enough. In most other countries our 'star' players would have been dropped the minute they were past their best in favour of building the next generation. Our country believed its own hype about the 'golden generation' and we have stuck with them religiously, even in the face of the evidence of their performances, just because we know what they can sometimes do. We shouldn't be finding ways of fitting our biggest names into a team - we should be picking the players who fit into our best team. Gerrard playing defensive midfielder is another example of us doing this. We're using a square peg in a round hole just because he's one of our favourite square pegs.

 

Do you not think though that is because we don't actually have a holding midfielder? The hope was Rodwell would have established himself by now. However his love of having splinters in his derriere means Woy is unable to pick him. We have nothing else. It is like our keeping and centre backs. We've gone from having great centre backs, a great keeper, greta holding midfielders but no attacking midfielders to unlock the door. Now we have loads of attacking midfielders but average keepers, centre halfs and not even one holding midfielder.

I think Gerrard has done well but there is no doubt he dropped a couple of clangers against Uruguay. I don't think he gave the ball away much in either game to be honest but the missed tackle and flick were obviously poor. Of course if Rooney buries his two sitters no one is bothered but they are still errors. I just think all this stuff about him being a relic who should have been discarded is a bit far fetched. He played as a holder early on in his career and as a central midfielder. He can do all of the roles for me.

Imagine if you could drop David Seaman, Sol Campbell, Tony Adams, and Paul Ince into this team. David Batty must look and think "for ****s sake, I had the world class Ince blocking my way in, now they haven't even got one!"

Not sure why we can't put it all together.

 

I'm not meaning to hurl abuse in Gerrard's direction. Its more the issue of picking names instead of players. I have no issue with Gerrard being in there, but if he is we don't need Henderson next to him, we need a pitbull. Gerrard is good at carrying the ball, and usually (not so much this WC) good at distributing it. He's not so good at getting it. Ince would fit that role in the past, but we should have been developing a tough little Stoke type player over the years too. Its hard to pick a name cos it could have been anyone with a decent tackle and a ruthless streak. A reducer. Someone like Nobby Stiles. He probably wouldn't make the team these days cos the press would be in uproar that there were more talented players out there. What I'm saying is **** how talented someone is and lets see how good the team is with them in it. I know I'm not expressing what I mean very well but I can't find a way to describe what I'm trying to say. Too tired lol.

 

Lee Cattermole................

 

Jack Colback, step right up!!

 

I suppose a future England line up may look something like:

--------------------GK-----------------
Flanagan---Stones-----Cahill---Shaw
--------------------DM-----------------
---------Henderson--Barkley---------
Sterling-----------------------------Ox
---------------Sturridge----------------

Maybe Barkley pushed on a little. GK - Hart, Butland, Forster, Foster - f**k knows. DM - Rodwell if he gets off his fat arse? Maybe Jones instead of Cahill if Van Gaal sorts him out.