England v Costa Rica

[Yorkshire Blue]

I didn't think Wilshire did that badly. That was the best I've seen of him in an England shirt. He moved the ball quickly and intelligently, but is prone to falling over. I like the look of Shaw as well. I already rated Foster.

Barkley was out of his depth, Phil Jones isn't an international right-back.

Had Sturridge been an international striker we'd have won comfortably.

 

[Pubey]

I didn't think Wilshire did that badly. That was the best I've seen of him in an England shirt. He moved the ball quickly and intelligently, but is prone to falling over. I like the look of Shaw as well. I already rated Foster.

Barkley was out of his depth, Phil Jones isn't an international right-back.

Had Sturridge been an international striker we'd have won comfortably.

I like how Wilshere moves the ball but he needs to stop thinking he's Iniesta and running into people. To be fair, we should have scored more with the amount of attacking free-kicks we had. Our deadball setpieces were consistently dreadful.

I thought Shaw was excellent, and the only bright spark. Ben Foster is fine but I'd have liked to see Forster because I've not seen much of him but what I have he's been superb.

 

[Beefy]

Wilshere did well I thought. Showed he should have been starting the earlier games. We should have won by two or three goals tonight.

To be fair to the team, we were the better side in two of the three games and weren't much worse in the third. In all three games we've had far more shots on goal than the opposition and have barely conceeded a handful of shots on our goal in the whole group phase. We should have had penalties tonight and against Italy and Godin should have been sent off in the Uruguay match. We're rightly going home but it is real fine margins at this level. We got through four years ago with three far worse performances and the same number of goals scored.

 

[Pubey]

Wilshere did well I thought. Showed he should have been starting the earlier games. We should have won by two or three goals tonight.

To be fair to the team, we were the better side in two of the three games and weren't much worse in the third. In all three games we've had far more shots on goal than the opposition and have barely conceeded a handful of shots on our goal in the whole group phase. We should have had penalties tonight and against Italy and Godin should have been sent off in the Uruguay match. We're rightly going home but it is real fine margins at this level. We got through four years ago with three far worse performances and the same number of goals scored.

Damn you Beefy turning up and speaking a load of sense. Some of us are hurting!

I agree, there's a lot of positives to take, and we do have some talented players. There are (broadly) similar European teams (Italy, Portugal, Russia, Croatia) who appear to be in a much worse position than England at the moment. None of them were out of the reckoning after 2 matches, but we weren't miles away from getting through a tough group.

That game could have dented our rankings though. Getting a low seeding clearly screwed us over with our group.

 

[buffalowolf]

What a boring game , both teams could have played for another fortnight and not scored, toothless up front, did Sturridge get one shot on target ,and his first touch was aweful.Shaw and Foster looked good.Goes to show to me that this so called group of death was one of the weakest groups as i think both qualifiers will go out in the next round.:angry:

 

[OldBlueLady]

We also have to stop appealing to officials and play to the whistle, instead of looking like petulant prima donnas waiting for the ref to give us something. That was something Wilshere did a few times. I like both him and Oxlade-Chamberlain, but they need to step up a bit to be proper England players. Cahill's a good central defender but don't think he's a back line leader...yet...that's maybe something JT can help him to learn. We also need to work on some of those not included in this tournament, Kyle Walker, Andros Townsend and Theo Walcott for instance, and get them to a more consistent standard.

I never want to see Welbeck in an England shirt again, I'd almost rather have had Ashley Young there!

 

[Jam_Man]

Wilshere did well I thought. Showed he should have been starting the earlier games. We should have won by two or three goals tonight.

To be fair to the team, we were the better side in two of the three games and weren't much worse in the third. In all three games we've had far more shots on goal than the opposition and have barely conceeded a handful of shots on our goal in the whole group phase. We should have had penalties tonight and against Italy and Godin should have been sent off in the Uruguay match. We're rightly going home but it is real fine margins at this level. We got through four years ago with three far worse performances and the same number of goals scored.

Well said. Looking back at 2010 we played better this time and did worse, but when you look at the opposition it was better.

It was very fine margins and all games could have gone either way.

That said I was never impressed with the Hodgson appointment and he hasn't done anything to convince me he should be England manager. There are positives, I like that he has chosen some of the younger players and given them a chance, and whilst performances were better I just dont think he has got the best out of them.

Could a better manager have given them enough of a boost to make those fine margins go in our favour?

As the performances weren't actually terrible I would hardly be calling for his head but neither do I have any confidence in him.

 

[Blue_Wes]

Well said. Looking back at 2010 we played better this time and did worse, but when you look at the opposition it was better.

It was very fine margins and all games could have gone either way.

That said I was never impressed with the Hodgson appointment and he hasn't done anything to convince me he should be England manager. There are positives, I like that he has chosen some of the younger players and given them a chance, and whilst performances were better I just dont think he has got the best out of them.

Could a better manager have given them enough of a boost to make those fine margins go in our favour?

As the performances weren't actually terrible I would hardly be calling for his head but neither do I have any confidence in him.

I don't think the problem is the manager though, it's simply that the players we have are not good enough. We need to stop elevating any English player with an iota of talent onto some ridiculous pedestal and expect the world from them, only to rubbish him when he fails to live up to the media/fans unrealistuic expectations.

Some people on here simply thing changing everything will reap rewards. Last night proved that wasn't the case. I think it would be the same with the manager as wel, as chaning the manager isn't suddenly going to improve the pool of players we have to choose from.

Say we did look to change the manager though, who would you look to bring in to replace him? As I'm struggling to think of anyone that could do it at the moment? Certainly not someone with Roy's international & European pedigree?

 

[mrsblue]

I don't think the problem is the manager though, it's simply that the players we have are not good enough. We need to stop elevating any English player with an iota of talent onto some ridiculous pedestal and expect the world from them, only to rubbish him when he fails to live up to the media/fans unrealistuic expectations.

Some people on here simply thing changing everything will reap rewards. Last night proved that wasn't the case. I think it would be the same with the manager as wel, as chaning the manager isn't suddenly going to improve the pool of players we have to choose from.

Say we did look to change the manager though, who would you look to bring in to replace him? As I'm struggling to think of anyone that could do it at the moment? Certainly not someone with Roy's international & European pedigree?

Roy took Blackburn to last in the Prem they sacked him!
Roy took Liverpool into the bottom 3 they sacked him!

If England were a club side they would have sacked him!

I think the players are not as bad as some make out and should have fared much better than they did,Now if the players are not doing it then the buck stops with the manager.I noticed Roy holds the worst win ratio when he was Finland manager.

2 years in charge and Roy has been amazing in turning England into a tedious/boring team to watch,No panache as Roy plays his football in a dour manner with the main aim don't concede and nick one up the other end.Costa turned up to make the game not to even try and win it yet sadly England lacked everything AGAIN.

 

[EastStandBlue]

2 years in charge and Roy has been amazing in turning England into a tedious/boring team to watch,No panache as Roy plays his football in a dour manner with the main aim don't concede and nick one up the other end.Costa turned up to make the game not to even try and win it yet sadly England lacked everything AGAIN.

Eh? I thought Capello was a "disaster" for England? (your words, not mine). He can't have been that bad if the football we played under Hodgson at this tournament is tedious, boring and dour in comparison. Which way do you want it?

 

[ozzie]

poor players,dour manager,gormless,..with have now drew with costa rica,ecuador & 10 man honduras..even with our players,we should be beating these teams,but our tactics!!! before the game,the 4 german "experts" were laughing at our efforts(so far),after the game,just shook their heads..as one of them said before the game"to get out of that group,you need a goodish team,that plays together & a good manager,england has not either" they also said,which i agreed,that costa only wanted a draw,played for one,england wanted a win,but never ooked like getting one....wait till we struggle in switzerland,next game

 

[mrsblue]

Eh? I thought Capello was a "disaster" for England? (your words, not mine). He can't have been that bad if the football we played under Hodgson at this tournament is tedious, boring and dour in comparison. Which way do you want it?

How much did the FA pay Capello was it around 20 million to achieve what he did.Was that money well spent?

Both Capello and Roy were poor choices IMO but you have to give them a chance but under Roy it's all gone wrong.

 

[mrsblue]

poor players,dour manager,gormless,..with have now drew with costa rica,ecuador & 10 man honduras..even with our players,we should be beating these teams,but our tactics!!! before the game,the 4 german "experts" were laughing at our efforts(so far),after the game,just shook their heads..as one of them said before the game"to get out of that group,you need a goodish team,that plays together & a good manager,england has not either" they also said,which i agreed,that costa only wanted a draw,played for one,england wanted a win,but never ooked like getting one....wait till we struggle in switzerland,next game

Agreed.

We will qualify for the Euros mainly because the group is so weak not even Roy could manage to mess up..Or can he?At the finals we are awful then Roy quits and the FA give it all of the same old boring cliches.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Italy drew with Luxembourg before the tournament, lost to Costa Rica at the tournament and have now exited at the group stage of two successive World Cups, having won the thing in the tournament before that. How are they escaping the criticism that's being reserved for an England side that very few expected to get out of what has undeniably been the toughest group in the competition?

Some of the remarks regarding Hodgson, the players and the football on show are horribly revisionist. Pre-tournament, nobody was prepared to talk-up England and the general consensus was that we should be using the tournament to continue the rebuilding process. Hodgson has done that with the likes of Sturridge, Sterling, Barkley and Lallana being introduced to the team and built around more experienced players. The Costa Rica game is a continuation of that process with Jones, Smalling and Shaw also there.

Now we've gone out, it seems people are happy to revise their targets in order to attack Hodgson, when the reality is that he's just not the problem we have. Time and time again we've looked to hoist blame upon an individual, when really the problem is that as a collective we are not good enough. What can Hodgson realistically be expected to achieve with a group of players that have routinely failed? You can argue the case that they should be better, but where's the evidence? Because they play better in a domestic league? The two types of football are completely incongruous and shouldn't be used as a yard stick. Look at the troubles Manchester City have had in European competition despite their domination of the domestic league.

We criticise the FA for not setting a plan and sticking with it, and then criticise them more for not deviating from that plan at the slightest hiccup. It's always been the case that 2016 was to be the culmination of Hodgson's work. Judge him on the tournament we agreed to, rather than attempt to use him as yet another scapegoat for failure.

 

[Jim Levenstein]

Italy drew with Luxembourg before the tournament, lost to Costa Rica at the tournament and have now exited at the group stage of two successive World Cups, having won the thing in the tournament before that. How are they escaping the criticism that's being reserved for an England side that very few expected to get out of what has undeniably been the toughest group in the competition?

They were finalists in the last Euro's...
Prandelli has resigned also

 

[mrsblue]

Italy drew with Luxembourg before the tournament, lost to Costa Rica at the tournament and have now exited at the group stage of two successive World Cups, having won the thing in the tournament before that. How are they escaping the criticism that's being reserved for an England side that very few expected to get out of what has undeniably been the toughest group in the competition?

Some of the remarks regarding Hodgson, the players and the football on show are horribly revisionist. Pre-tournament, nobody was prepared to talk-up England and the general consensus was that we should be using the tournament to continue the rebuilding process. Hodgson has done that with the likes of Sturridge, Sterling, Barkley and Lallana being introduced to the team and built around more experienced players. The Costa Rica game is a continuation of that process with Jones, Smalling and Shaw also there.

Now we've gone out, it seems people are happy to revise their targets in order to attack Hodgson, when the reality is that he's just not the problem we have. Time and time again we've looked to hoist blame upon an individual, when really the problem is that as a collective we are not good enough. What can Hodgson realistically be expected to achieve with a group of players that have routinely failed? You can argue the case that they should be better, but where's the evidence? Because they play better in a domestic league? The two types of football are completely incongruous and shouldn't be used as a yard stick. Look at the troubles Manchester City have had in European competition despite their domination of the domestic league.

We criticise the FA for not setting a plan and sticking with it, and then criticise them more for not deviating from that plan at the slightest hiccup. It's always been the case that 2016 was to be the culmination of Hodgson's work. Judge him on the tournament we agreed to, rather than attempt to use him as yet another scapegoat for failure.

Italy have had far more success we can only dream of and their manager did the decent thing and quit,This is Roy's second tournament and whilst his first was ok to a degree this WC has been bog standard and frankly not good enough as his selections have baffled ex top players let alone me.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Italy have had far more success we can only dream of and their manager did the decent thing and quit,This is Roy's second tournament and whilst his first was ok to a degree this WC has been bog standard and frankly not good enough as his selections have baffled ex top players let alone me.

Exactly. They've had far more success than us but have crashed out of more World Cups than us in the last 12 years, so surely they're deserving of more criticism than Hodgson's hugely unfancied England?

You keep using the criticism "ex top players" as a stick to beat Hodgson with completely forgetting that these people are paid good money to stir controversy. They tow an agenda to sell newspapers or garner website views, and from what I can see it's only the rent-a-gob ***** like Robbie Savage criticising Hodgson for his squad and team selection. Others have been far more measured and agreed that Hodgson's squad - with the possible exception of Ashley Cole who should've gone instead of the lamentable Leighton Baines - was as good as could be.

 

[mrsblue]

Exactly. They've had far more success than us but have crashed out of more World Cups than us in the last 12 years, so surely they're deserving of more criticism than Hodgson's hugely unfancied England?

You keep using the criticism "ex top players" as a stick to beat Hodgson with completely forgetting that these people are paid good money to stir controversy. They tow an agenda to sell newspapers or garner website views, and from what I can see it's only the rent-a-gob ***** like Robbie Savage criticising Hodgson for his squad and team selection. Others have been far more measured and agreed that Hodgson's squad - with the possible exception of Ashley Cole who should've gone instead of the lamentable Leighton Baines - was as good as could be.

Playing Rooney out wide against an average ageing Italian team was stupidity from Roy and playing with 2 holding players rubbed salt into the wounds,When Roy was asked if he regretted anything he replied "no".

I firmly believe if Roy had been far more adventurous against Italy we would have spanked them.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Playing Rooney out wide against an average ageing Italian team was stupidity from Roy and playing with 2 holding players rubbed salt into the wounds,When Roy was asked if he regretted anything he replied "no".

I firmly believe if Roy had been far more adventurous against Italy we would have spanked them.

Welcome to the party, Captain Hindsight.

 

[mrsblue]

Welcome to the party, Captain Hindsight.

Not really,

Roy is after all paid very well to make the right decisions and he failed in that respect against Italy yet even more incredible apart from Rooney playing central he played the exact same formation using the same midfield which to me is incompetence against Uruguay!,Most managers would have looked at the opening game then changed it for the second match yet Roy was devoid of ideas.