England v Uruguay

[MeatnSpudsMCFC]

Italy will win both their games. Milner will start next game and will bang in two.


It's inevitable. Hodgson has very little to lose now, it's more or less over... however, he's going to look like an absolute twat if he sticks the same team out there.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Just thinking about it, what system were we playing last night? Gerrard and Henderson were the 2 in a normal 4-2-3-1 but Henderson's strength is in going forward, as Yaya or Fernandinho would do for us. Didn't see him do that last night so he was largely wasted.

Then we had Rooney, Welbeck, Sturridge and Sterling further forward but only Sterling is some sort of midfielder. Yet we had Lallana, Barkley, Milner and Wilshere on the bench. At least two (or maybe three) of those should have started. Welbeck is a complete waste of space and Sterling isn't really experienced enough yet so he should have been used as an impact sub.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Just thinking about it, what system were we playing last night? Gerrard and Henderson were the 2 in a normal 4-2-3-1 but Henderson's strength is in going forward, as Yaya or Fernandinho would do for us. Didn't see him do that last night so he was largely wasted.

Then we had Rooney, Welbeck, Sturridge and Sterling further forward but only Sterling is some sort of midfielder. Yet we had Lallana, Barkley, Milner and Wilshere on the bench. At least two (or maybe three) of those should have started. Welbeck is a complete waste of space and Sterling isn't really experienced enough yet so he should have been used as an impact sub.

No idea, and thats exactly what i was thinking last night.

We seemed to start with Gerrard and Henderson as a two with the other three just ahead of them, but Sterling has largely been playing as part of a diamond at Liverpool, so straight away you've got your least experienced player playing slightly out of positon.

Then when we made our subs, you had Barkley playing from the right from what i could see, but he plays more centrally for Everton, so again the least experienced player on the pitch playing out of position. Do we even know Barkleys 'best' position?

When you have a player in Welbeck who is basically on the pitch to 'close people down' then i think you have a problem. He offers absolutely nothing in footballing terms, only an England team would have a player thats main resposibility is to press the opposition.

We've learnt absolutely nothing this tournament apart from that Gerrard, Johnson and Rooney should probably hang up their international boots. I'm guessing the only reason Shaw didn't play is because Baines is more 'experienced', cause from what ive seen he is arguably a better full back.

It's frightening to see some of the players that we had on our bench last night, if he wanted someone to press the play he should have opted for Milner instead of Welbeck, at least he offers something on the ball.

 

[abu13]

We didn't have a fucking clue how to deal with Italy or Uruguay, the llayers are not good enough and anyone who is deluded enough to believe ghat Sterling, Sturrige, Welbeck, Henderson, Barkley, Lallana ans Shaw are going to be any better than our last golden generation need to give their heads a wobble.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

We didn't have a fucking clue how to deal with Italy or Uruguay, the llayers are not good enough and anyone who is deluded enough to believe ghat Sterling, Sturrige, Welbeck, Henderson, Barkley, Lallana ans Shaw are going to be any better than our last golden generation need to give their heads a wobble.

I don't really care how good they are but the problem with England for the last 40 years is that the manager picks big-name or flavour-of-the-month players then tries to fit them into some sort of system. I want a manager who decides what system will be played then picks the right players for that system. So last night should have seen something like Gerrard, Henderson/Wilshere, Lallana/Milner Sturridge & Rooney, with Henderson/Wilshere told to get forward and behind the Uruguayan midfield whenever we were on the front foot.

 

[burning blue soul]

the more i watch england the more i am convinced that our one major international competition win was a fluke.

we are just not that good at the game we invented, and when you compare the current squad to virtually every other team in the world cup we seem to be the most aimless in our style of play and cohesion....and more worryingly in our desire to beat the opposition.

going out of the tournament in the first round is not a disaster in itself (if its good enough for spain, its good enough for me), but if there is not an introspective look, honestly and critically, at the way our players are taught to play from an early age it will be borderline criminal. over to you FA!!!

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

the more i watch england the more i am convinced that our one major international competition win was a fluke.

I wouldn't say it was a fluke, as we won it on merit, but playing every single game at Wembley possibly helped.
The trouble is, that win became the benchmark/yardstick by which every subsequent campaign would be judged, regardless of the fact that our squad may well be Rizla paper thin, or that we were playing in 100 degree heat, or at altitude, or whatever.
After 1966 there was an unrealistic expectation that we would dominate world football that was never going to be met.

 

[lancs blue]

the more i watch england the more i am convinced that our one major international competition win was a fluke.

we are just not that good at the game we invented, and when you compare the current squad to virtually every other team in the world cup we seem to be the most aimless in our style of play and cohesion....and more worryingly in our desire to beat the opposition.

going out of the tournament in the first round is not a disaster in itself (if its good enough for spain, its good enough for me), but if there is not an introspective look, honestly and critically, at the way our players are taught to play from an early age it will be borderline criminal. over to you FA!!!

Didn't even have to travel around, all the games were at Wembley. Same at Euro 96 and got to the semis.

The only half decent England performance in an overseas tournament was getting to the semis at Italia 90 after the FA told Bobby Robson his contract wouldn't be renewed!! And then the FA compounded that beaut by appointing Graham Taylor, sometimes you really cannot make it up.

 

[burning blue soul]

the more i watch england the more i am convinced that our one major international competition win was a fluke.

I wouldn't say it was a fluke, as we won it on merit, but playing every single game at Wembley possibly helped.
The trouble is, that win became the benchmark/yardstick by which every subsequent campaign would be judged, regardless of the fact that our squad may well be Rizla paper thin, or that we were playing in 100 degree heat, or at altitude, or whatever.
After 1966 there was an unrealistic expectation that we would dominate world football that was never going to be met.

i dont know if winning the world cup can ever be spoken of as a bad thing, but it does seem like it has cast a long shadow over all the proceeding england teams since.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

the more i watch england the more i am convinced that our one major international competition win was a fluke.

I wouldn't say it was a fluke, as we won it on merit, but playing every single game at Wembley possibly helped.
The trouble is, that win became the benchmark/yardstick by which every subsequent campaign would be judged, regardless of the fact that our squad may well be Rizla paper thin, or that we were playing in 100 degree heat, or at altitude, or whatever.
After 1966 there was an unrealistic expectation that we would dominate world football that was never going to be met.

i dont know if winning the world cup can ever be spoken of as a bad thing, but it does seem like it has cast a long shadow over all the proceeding england teams since.

I agree - winning the trophy became a millstone around the necks of every subsequent manager, as anything less than lifting the cup again would inevitably be seen as failure by our notoriously fickle media.
In fact I would go as far as to say that several of the best candidates for the job since 1966 haven't have touched it with a very long and very shitty stick for that very reason.
I know we've had some clueless buffoons over the years, but it really is a bit of a poisoned chalice of a job.