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Post by jammydodger on Jun 15, 2014 1:14:58 GMT
Certainly think blaming Baines for there second goal is unfair. The winger should have tracked back and it was fairly obvious even before half time that Italy were targeting the right hand side with their very good full back.
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Post by John Lennon on Jun 15, 2014 1:37:47 GMT
I was Impressed tonight. We need to improve and be better, but we set up to win tonight, and we didn't deserve to lose.
Big game on Thursday now.
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Post by KLYellow on Jun 15, 2014 2:38:43 GMT
One man escaping a lot of flak is Gerrard. That was a hopeless performance from him pretty much from start to finish. I'd drop Rooney like I said earlier but does Hodgson have the balls to drop Gerrard because he contributes virtually nothing anymore. What does he do ? Pirlo, who I assume he was marshalling, would have had less space in the middle of a desert, Gerrard is dining out on what he could contribute years ago - which admittedly was immense - but he's so limited nowadays. Disagree, Gerrard did exactly what was asked of him and played well in front of the back 4 and kept Pirlo largely quiet. Only when Pirlo went very deep did Gerrard let him go and stay in position.
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Post by saddletramp on Jun 15, 2014 7:26:32 GMT
One man escaping a lot of flak is Gerrard. That was a hopeless performance from him pretty much from start to finish. I'd drop Rooney like I said earlier but does Hodgson have the balls to drop Gerrard because he contributes virtually nothing anymore. What does he do ? Pirlo, who I assume he was marshalling, would have had less space in the middle of a desert, Gerrard is dining out on what he could contribute years ago - which admittedly was immense - but he's so limited nowadays. Do you know ANYTHING about football ? "Pirlo, who I assume he was marshalling, would have had less space in the middle of a desert" How the f@@k was Gerrard marshalling Pirlo ? Gerrard plays the holding role just in front of the back four,Pirlo operates mostly in the centre circle,then dropping deep to get the ball from his back four,knowhere near Gerrard.
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Post by Junior on Jun 15, 2014 7:41:10 GMT
Gerrard was very poor. He & Johnson are the weak links in this dynamic attacking side.
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Post by horseman on Jun 15, 2014 7:46:14 GMT
Gerrard was very poor. He & Johnson are the weak links in this dynamic attacking side. Comments like that and your laughable "white pele" comment are the very reason why it's pointless being on here these days...
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Post by Junior on Jun 15, 2014 7:49:38 GMT
Disagree then? What did Gerrard or Johnson offer? The later has been poor for a very longtime in an England shirt.
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Post by bicesteryellow on Jun 15, 2014 8:08:56 GMT
Disagree then? What did Gerrard or Johnson offer? The later has been poor for a very longtime in an England shirt. Gerrard did his job. Protect the back 4, distribute simple balls and don't do anything simple that will cost us. Neither goal was down to him, and he didn't create an Italy chance. Johnson was sub-standard but he's the only right back in the hotel
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Post by dubaiyellow on Jun 15, 2014 8:27:06 GMT
we should have got something from the game, sadly we lacked a bit of quality when it was needed in the final 3rd. A team like italy will always create chances so lets not be too hard on anyone. we limited them to a handful (at most) of half decent chances and ultimately they were clinical and we weren't. Just need to win against uruguay and we are back on track.
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Post by Long John Silver on Jun 15, 2014 8:27:29 GMT
Agreed. We've gone a young squad and, although the result wasn't right, the approach was far better than I have seen England play in ages. For large stretches, England outplayed Italy and for a few naive decisions here and there we could have walked out of there with a point or better. We all know the limitations of the squad (Johnson, Baines, Rooney not turning up - I'd love to see Lambert get a run out to act as a means of getting Sterling involved), but moaning about us losing doesn't covers up what was a good performance with a novel approach. I like what Hodgson is trying to build with the England team. We don't have a perfect XI where every cog is as good as the next one to create a well-oiled machine like Spain from a few years ago. To think it was shit though shows you're not thinking stoically.
Good performance, irritating result. Anyone else staying up for the Japan vs Ivory Coast game? No I didn't think it was sh*t just saying what I saw and felt, Raheem superb. Why was Wellbeck taken off he tracked back superbly Rooney should have been replaced by Berkley earlier. the full backs wre pretty poor Johnson especially, There 2nd goal was a big defensive error. but in most parts we did play pretty well shame about our finishing. The second goal was in large part due to Wellbeck not tracking back... just as Rooney hadn't done all first half (they had swapped over at this point). That was the most frustrating thing about our performance... the amount of space they were allowed on our left, Baines constantly had two players to cope with. It should have been very easy to rectify but we didn't at all. Good performance going forward though and we looked dangerous quite often. Rooney did one good cross for the goal, but very little else, and missed the easiest chance of the match. Wilshire when he came on, as he often does, ran into plenty of blind alleys. Johnson didn't have a great game, especially in the second half when he slowed down every attack. I think we should be good enough to beat Uruguay and Costa Rica on the evidence of the two games so far.
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Post by bazzer9461 on Jun 15, 2014 8:42:46 GMT
No I didn't think it was sh*t just saying what I saw and felt, Raheem superb. Why was Wellbeck taken off he tracked back superbly Rooney should have been replaced by Berkley earlier. the full backs wre pretty poor Johnson especially, There 2nd goal was a big defensive error. but in most parts we did play pretty well shame about our finishing. The second goal was in large part due to Wellbeck not tracking back... just as Rooney hadn't done all first half (they had swapped over at this point). That was the most frustrating thing about our performance... the amount of space they were allowed on our left, Baines constantly had two players to cope with. It should have been very easy to rectify but we didn't at all. Good performance going forward though and we looked dangerous quite often. Rooney did one good cross for the goal, but very little else, and missed the easiest chance of the match. Wilshire when he came on, as he often does, ran into plenty of blind alleys. Johnson didn't have a great game, especially in the second half when he slowed down every attack. I think we should be good enough to beat Uruguay and Costa Rica on the evidence of the two games so far. Also was in front of balioteli for his goal and not checking where he was.
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Post by trainingcone on Jun 15, 2014 9:55:27 GMT
A really good effort from the boys last night, and good players for the future, but not quite good enough to continue on from the group stages in this world cup. Italy were in control, they felt that they had done enough when Balotelli was taken off.
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Post by tatabanya on Jun 15, 2014 10:12:58 GMT
Gerrard was shambolic first half, better second
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Post by nige01ox on Jun 15, 2014 11:32:52 GMT
Thought we were pretty good, deserved something from the game. Should have had a penalty but as usual in recent times England don't get decisions in major tournaments. Rooney yet again a big fat failure in the white of England.
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Post by Young Money on Jun 15, 2014 12:01:48 GMT
I think you could divide England's players into three categories:
Bad: Gerrard, Rooney, Baines and Johnson
Good: Sterling, Welbeck, Henderson, Sturridge
Average: Hart, Cahill, Jagielka
Unfortunately, if four of your players play badly then at international level you will probably not win.
Baines showed why Ashely Cole should have been in the squad, there's no way Cole would have been done so easily for the cross for Balotelli's header. Johnson was also poor and in modern football the fullbacks are vital.
Gerrard may have been tidy and sat deep not making many mistakes, but is that enough? For me he didn't affect te game enough.
If I was Hodgson I'd play this team against Uruguay:
Hart Johnson Cahill Jagielka Shaw Gerrard Henderson Stirling Rooney Welbeck Sturridge
With it being Rooney's last chance, in a position he likes. If he doesn't perform then play Barkley there against Costa Rica.
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Post by Junior on Jun 15, 2014 12:49:54 GMT
Would put Rooney into the average category because of his assist. The rest I agree with.
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Post by Gary Baldi on Jun 15, 2014 13:00:28 GMT
Very un England like stats
"Of the 14 teams we have seen so far, England had more shots on goal than any of them. Needless to say, conversion rate was not in the top 10.
"Even more stunning is that England's passing accuracy ranks second, just behind Italy, but ahead of Spain, Holland and Brazil. Go boys!
"Here's another beauty. For passing accuracy in the opposition's half, England come out on top. Stats exclude crosses where England are last."
Last night was incredibly frustrating because the 2 goals came from chances we should have stopped and a lot of chances were wasted. There is a lot to be concerned about, but equally I do think that if you watched the game you'd see a lot to be happy about.
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