And the score tonight will be??

[* ORM *]

Kicked off at 6am here. Couldn't be bothered to stream it. Not available without paying or going to a bar (1 hour away). I read a comment from Danny Mills though. Should have taken Terry and Cole. What a mupoet. England haven't won a thing since 1966 because we out our faith in overpaid underachievers. That's a generalisation but an accurate one.

Exceptions I would say are Robsons Italia90. Euro96 and France 98

Keep the faith in Hodgson and allow him to bring this squad on and I fancy us for the Euros. Sadly we will emerge with either 0 or 1 point and the media and uninformed will call for his head.

 

[buffalowolf]

I thought England played well , definitely got some fine young talent,but think you in need of a goalkeeper to be honest.dont remember him saving one shot on goal.I think Italy only had 4 efforts on goal , 2 resulted in goals ,one hit the upright and the other was headed over by Jagielka.But what fine talent you have in Sterling,Barkley, and Sturridge, thought Wellbeck did well also and Henderson.Didnt see enough of Llana to pass an opinion , but the future looks bright for the 3Lions.Also watched the Costa Rica - Uruguay game and if England continue to play as well as they did against Italy they will go through to the last 16.

 

[ozzie]

we could have played the 2nd half ,another hour longer & we would not have scored..i still say hodgson is a poor manager,knowing we must score,takes off sturridge(maybe injured) & putting on a winger!!!why not lambert,also bringing on wiltshire,who is at this moment not playing well..italy scored twice,hit the post&crossbar!!! we were well beaten...all this talk about"ok,next time we will be better" has been going on for decades..

 

[MK Shrimper]

Decent first half, dreadful 2nd. More holes at the back than a swiss cheese.

 

[mrsblue]

When we passed the ball quickly it resulted with our goal so am bemused why for most of the match our build up play was so so slow allowing Italy to get everyone behind the ball.

Gerrard is to old whilst Rooney should either play in his favoured position or be dropped,Excellent from Sterling .

Use the youngsters.

 

[RHB]

All is not yet lost, wins against Uruguay and Costa Rica and we're in the next round. I know that sounds optimistic but I genuinely believe it is still possible given the way we attacked the Italian back four. Only problem is our back four, but hey ho we must get some luck soon. Jones in for Johnson and maybe Barkley starting please Roy.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Went to bed at half time as have to work today, glad I made that choice. I thought we played well in the first half, Rooney and Sterling's work in the build up to goal was top class, and Sturridge took it very well. Gerrard is no Paul Ince or Paul Scholes though, that role doesn't suit him. If he's past it then let's cut our losses. Jagielka did a brilliant bit of defending to clear one off the line but him and Cahill don't look as comfortable together as our central defenders historically have. There was no clear leader in that defence, no Terry, no Butcher...someone needs to step up there.

It had to be Balotelli though didn't it?

 

[mrsblue]

Went to bed at half time as have to work today, glad I made that choice. I thought we played well in the first half, Rooney and Sterling's work in the build up to goal was top class, and Sturridge took it very well. Gerrard is no Paul Ince or Paul Scholes though, that role doesn't suit him. If he's past it then let's cut our losses. Jagielka did a brilliant bit of defending to clear one off the line but him and Cahill don't look as comfortable together as our central defenders historically have. There was no clear leader in that defence, no Terry, no Butcher...someone needs to step up there.

It had to be Balotelli though didn't it?

Agree with every word!

I cannot recall any crunching tackles from an England player or even a tasty tackle,Pirlo was allowed so much time and space it was criminal whilst Mario had an easy night against his markers,Roy should have brought on Lambert with 15 remaining.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Gerrard was terrible. We don't have a natural holding player and it shows. All the talk of the young guns yet 35yr old Pirlo was best player on the pitch again and didn't get cramp either!

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Thought we played well but Italy were the better team.

Still hope thought against Uruguay and Costa Rica.

 

[mrsblue]

Roy has to ditch Gerrard and play 442 as it's now win or bust

My team

Keeper and back 4 the same

Sterling Wilshire Barkley Chamberlain

Rooney and Sturridge

Energy driven midfield will Imo blow the opponent into kingdom come and let Rooney play in his natural position.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Roy has to ditch Gerrard and play 442 as it's now win or bust

My team

Keeper and back 4 the same

Sterling Wilshire Barkley Chamberlain

Rooney and Sturridge

Energy driven midfield will Imo blow the opponent into kingdom come and let Rooney play in his natural position.

Wilshere wouldn't be near the team if I had my way. Was woeful when he came on last night. Henderson is head and shoulders above him.

 

[mrsblue]

Wilshere wouldn't be near the team if I had my way. Was woeful when he came on last night. Henderson is head and shoulders above him.

Either player so long as Gerrard is benched,We need a driving midfield not some old codger whose raking passes are comical.

 

[buffalowolf]

was surprised when he took Henderson off and replaced him with Wiltshire, England needed a goal at that point ,thought a better Sub may have been Lampard, he knows how to score if nothing else.

 

[Jim Levenstein]

Either player so long as Gerrard is benched,We need a driving midfield not some old codger whose raking passes are comical.

Wilshere driving in midfield? :hilarious:

He is awful, 10x worse than Gerrard.

442 doesn't work anymore, we'd be going backwards to start playing that formation.

We didn't play badly. I'm pretty sure if we play like that for our last two games we will finish with 6 points.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Wilshere driving in midfield? :hilarious:

An errant "r" if ever I've seen one.

 

[EastStandBlue]

My take on it -

The back five needs substantial work. I've no issue with Baines or Hart, but the other three just aren't commanding enough and defend too passively. Jagielka in particular looks like he's just happy to react instead of acting first to quell danger, and that's a dangerous game to play against an Italian side that looked to camp themselves on our 18-yard box for most of the game. Johnson's negligent, bordering on the incompetent.

For all of the debate regarding how we lined up in midfield and attack, these positions clearly aren't our weakest. Gerrard and Henderson provided a good base to work from, while Welbeck and Sterling provided ample impetus. Props to Welbeck for once again showing up his doubters and critics. Intelligent, incisive, measured and composed. Everything you want in a support player tasked with occupying the space between the lines.

Rooney's taken a lot of flack, but what more did you expect from a player short on sharpness being played out of position in a vital role? Why shift Rooney - a player who's not exactly renowned for his fitness levels - onto the flanks having already played 50/60 minutes in a hot and humid environment? That was the only questionable decision from Hodgson for me. It seems that playing Rooney in any position other than centre forward is this generation's "can Gerrard and Lampard play together" fascination. It was no then, it's no now. Learn from it and adapt.

You can't have watched that game and gone home feeling too disheartened though. That's the best we've played at a major tournament for some time, the young players did themselves proud and we actually looked threatening going forward. From the first round of games we're actually the most confident passers in the opposition half.

Uruguay's a completely different proposition, however. Likelihood is Ramirez and Suarez will come straight in and they'll certainly look to come at us. We can't afford Sterling to leave Johnson as isolated as he did at times on Saturday night and, as productive as he might've been against Italy, I'd definitely advocate leaving him on the bench until such a time we might need him. Go with a 4-5-1, flood the midfield and look to break quickly and sharply, and there's absolutely no reason why we can't do a job on a Uruguay side that look even more flimsy at the back than we do.

Hart; Baines, Jagielka, Cahill, Johnson; Welbeck, Gerrard, Henderson, Barkley, Lallana; Sturridge.

 

[RHB]

My take on it -

The back five needs substantial work. I've no issue with Baines or Hart, but the other three just aren't commanding enough and defend too passively. Jagielka in particular looks like he's just happy to react instead of acting first to quell danger, and that's a dangerous game to play against an Italian side that looked to camp themselves on our 18-yard box for most of the game. Johnson's negligent, bordering on the incompetent.

Hart; Baines, Jagielka, Cahill, Johnson; Welbeck, Gerrard, Henderson, Barkley, Lallana; Sturridge.

I agree with you on the back 4, so why go with Johnson again after his performance on Saturday? I would rather give Phil Jones a go there. I've been impressed with his forward runs and he can defend.

 

[EastStandBlue]

I agree with you on the back 4, so why go with Johnson again after his performance on Saturday? I would rather give Phil Jones a go there. I've been impressed with his forward runs and he can defend.

Phil Jones at right back is just another square peg in a round hole. Glen Johnson, regrettably, is our best right-back and should be kept on in that position if he's fit and able.