England v Italy

[taconinja]

Lose against Uruguay and it is the case of don't bother unpacking.

Not sure about that mate, three points could get you second in this group, if Italy win all their games. Not saying I'd be confident of qualifying if we lost to Uruguay, but we would still have a decent chance.

If Costa Rica get spanked against Italy then I would be more confident but still they seem to be a resilient bunch and getting a result in that game will be very tricky.

Thing about Costa Rica is they're comfortable in the climate and the atmosphere. They're not the best team, but they're tough and generally don't quit.

Thought you guys played some decent stuff last night, by the way.

 

[inbetween]

Quite impressed with us last night but as usual our failings are with the total absence of defensive tactics. I can only think Hodgson thinks the Liverpool model of getting it forward quickly like they did this year is the best way of playing but who won the league and who threw it away because they couldn't defend.

We did look really dangerous at times but then there were times when Italy could of easily gone 2-3-4 up. As usual we have an extremely poor mentality in thinking we have to go out there and kill them, beat them to every ball. It was just like watching Liverpool last night, we had that first 20 minutes of running around like nutcases and then bang we are 1-0 down.

Going forward we look very dangerous but it is becoming clear that the second we play a team that can both defend and attack we will fall short.

We did well to get a goal back but Italy were calm and it didn't affect them. They got their 2nd goal and then shut up shop and we were too spent in the game then to do anything about it. They didn't make the same mistake twice after it went 1-1 but we did and hey presto, who won? Mad Mario's goal was absolutely piss easy and it's all probably because this team does not know the meaning of a clean sheet, or the meaning of playing for a draw which would of been a fantastic result.

The only saving light now is that Uruguay were extremely poor yesterday but I think they are a wildcard and could end up turning up against us, then Costa Rica are looking like no mugs either. It is going to be very difficult to get out of this group the way we play. A lot of my mates have said we looked promising but this is tournament football, we can look as promising as we like but losing every game 2-1 playing well is pointless in this competition. A draw would of been a massive result for us and it was a shame that no-one else saw it that way.

England is simply not the complete unit and like Liverpool last year we might do well going forward but the total lapse of concentration on defence will cost us any chance of doing anything in this competition.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

We played really well, nothing to moan about at the end of the day. Very impressed with the quick attacks and Barkley and startling are quality

 

[Nightmare Walking]

Milner should have played left Midfield. It was glaringly obvious that the left was our weakest area and where Italy looked strong.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Decent performance with our attacking players looking dangerous when given space, but our midfield was just too weak. Henderson and Gerrard were cut open time and time again. Baines is no Ashley Cole and we look like conceding. In the second half we were lucky that Italy had no attacking threat.

I see lots of people are going on about us not having enough technical ability etc. That's just not true with the current players. Technical ability is not the problem. Quite frankly it's absurd to claim that the likes of Sturridge, Chamberlain, Barkley, Sterling, Wilshere or Gerrard technically deficient. Our probelms go much deeper than that. The team lacks balance and our defence is weak. On the plus side with Uruguay losing we should make it out of the group and we will have a chance against either Colombia or Ivory Coast from what I have seen.

This ^^^^^^ sick of hearing English players have no technical ability YES they do. They are very talented and technically skilled. All the young England p,ayers are class and win most of the tournaments cos they are th best it's when they get to about 21 that seems to be coached out of them and they are made to be work horses

 

[Shadz69]

I enjoyed the game,Pirlo was the best player on the park but England were a little unlucky to come away with nothing.A draw would have been a fair result but it's still all to play for.I don't think England will have any major fears facing the other 2 sides in the group and can see you beating both.Best of luck for the remainder of the tourney.

 

[Nightmare Walking]

I enjoyed the game,Pirlo was the best player on the park but England were a little unlucky to come away with nothing.A draw would have been a fair result but it's still all to play for.I don't think England will have any major fears facing the other 2 sides in the group and can see you beating both.Best of luck for the remainder of the tourney.

We did not deserve anything. We had a clear cut chance and rug head missed it. Mario had one chance and took it. That was the difference so we did not deserve anything.

 

[Ray78]

Not sure about that mate, three points could get you second in this group, if Italy win all their games. Not saying I'd be confident of qualifying if we lost to Uruguay, but we would still have a decent chance.

If Costa Rica get spanked against Italy then I would be more confident but still they seem to be a resilient bunch and getting a result in that game will be very tricky.

Thing about Costa Rica is they're comfortable in the climate and the atmosphere. They're not the best team, but they're tough and generally don't quit.

Thought you guys played some decent stuff last night, by the way.

England were positive but the Italians knew how to close the game and were more comfortable with the conditions despite being older players. The question is can England maintain that level of performance? Uruguay are not going to play as badly as they did against the Costa Ricans.

 

[Unknown_Genius]

Candreva has improved so much, MOTM for me. I don't get Hodgon's obsession with trying to turn Gerrard into Pirlo, the guy is not a deep lying playmaker, he tries too many hollywood balls, rather than just keeping it simple.

 

[taconinja]

If Costa Rica get spanked against Italy then I would be more confident but still they seem to be a resilient bunch and getting a result in that game will be very tricky.

Thing about Costa Rica is they're comfortable in the climate and the atmosphere. They're not the best team, but they're tough and generally don't quit.

Thought you guys played some decent stuff last night, by the way.

England were positive but the Italians knew how to close the game and were more comfortable with the conditions despite being older players. The question is can England maintain that level of performance? Uruguay are not going to play as badly as they did against the Costa Ricans.

Good question really. And yeah you guys faded badly the last twenty minutes. I think several of those really bad corners/crosses/passes can be partly attributed to having nothing left in the tank. Not sure what you can do about that, though, as it's not like you can acclimate in two weeks of training after league play ends. Perhaps play a more conservative counterattacking game to conserve energy?