England V Italy

[Danno]

Is Gerrard still better than Pirlo hahahaha

[Fez of Mahrez]

I'm off to the nut house with everyone who'd take Pirlo above Gerrard.

[Jon the Hat]

Should've started Lallana on the left. We will come 2 nod in the group.

Pirlo is a genius.

[wakeyfox01]

Johnson takes forever to do everything. He's supposed to be quick but you'd never know it, just jogs around like he doesn't give a shit.

[orangecity23]

So so disappointing. We played well in attack, only to stuff it at the final ball time and time again. Some dodgy defending at times, but that Italy 2nd goal was a killer, came just after England had a good spell and were starting to look dangerous.

[Stadt]

I'm off to the nut house with everyone who'd take Pirlo above Gerrard.

Get in the bin.

[Vacamion]

Johnson takes forever to do everything. He's supposed to be quick but you'd never no it, just jogs around like he doesn't give a shit.

I''ve said it for years.

He plays like he's stoned.

[Stadt]

In all seriousness we weren't clinical enough and it's as simple as that, Rooney should've buried his chance.

We weren't terrible and with the Costa Rica result the group is still wide open so it's not over yet

[Tielemans63]

So depressing.

Why are we always our own worst enemy?

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Should have got a draw there. Slack defending cost us in the end, a real lesson really. Just hope we can now win the next two games

[katieakita]

Bloody hell missing Ashley Cole, full backs weak but had many chances to at least draw.

[Fox92]

In all seriousness we weren't clinical enough and it's as simple as that, Rooney should've buried his chance.

He shouldn't be playing wide left, it's stupid. Baines has no cover and Baines isn't exactly good defensively. Hodgson should have picked Cole regardless of his season for Chelsea.

[Dan]

Not good enough I'm afraid. It wasn't a terrible performance by any stretch but we looked more and more clueless the longer it went on.

 

It was pretty clear from about the 70th minute we weren't passing through them. Why wasn't Lambert brought on?

 

It's uphill from here I'm afraid. Still seen enough today to convince me we can beat Uruguay though.

[Guest ttfn]

Gerrard may as well not have bothered.

Absolutely embarrassing performance from a "senior" player. Gerrard ahead of Pirlo? Jesus Christ.

The starting front 4 were all good, particularly Welbeck and Sterling.

Gerrard though - fvck me what an absolute abdication of a performance, he offered absolutely nothing. Livid.

[Legend_in_blue]

Never sorted the left side out at half time. Poor tactical display from Hodgson and not being ruthless enough when we should have done have cost us.

[SeCrEt FoX]

Tooo predictable and not clinical enough. Rooney should be dropped. Should have buried his chance. I think were coming home early im afraid, but please,please prove me wrong. Come on England!!!!!

[broughtonblue]

Useless n clueless

Rooney left mid

Wellbeck right mid

2 years ago pirlo bossed the game and did the same tonight, we've learnt nothing

[Tielemans63]

Roy's got a lot to answer for - didn't change the system, didn't do anything about their right side, too many players stood next too each other, didnt put a man on Pirlo, kept Rooney on when, if you're not going to play him in the middle, what's the point of him playing? Oh and token substitutions.

Compare with Prandelli who played a blinder once they went back ahead.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Rooney in the second half especially was poor, I'd really wish we wouldnt play him tbh

[Stadt]

He shouldn't be playing wide left, it's stupid. Baines has no cover and Baines isn't exactly good defensively. Hodgson should have picked Cole regardless of his season for Chelsea.

Baines wasn't the issue, Danny Murphy pointed out what eventually cost us so I'd expect Hodgson to sort Rooney out to cover him.

We played too narrow as well which meant we had too many players literally stood next to each other

[benpicko]

Best I've seen England play in years and we still lose. Also Rooney shouldn't be playing

[BlueSi13]

Well that went EXACTLY as I predicted, we showed the Italians an unbelievable amount of respect, that then mixed in with our wobbly defence meant that we simply gifted them the three points tonight.  Make no mistake, the Italians were there to be beaten.  It's a shame as we looked good at times, much better than Euro 2012.  But sadly we seem to fail against the top nations time and time and time and time and time again.  

 

My prediction is now that the Uruguayans will be emboldened by Suarez's return who will turn us over quite comfortably and that will be world cup over for us for another four years.

[Feed The Yak!!]

I'm off to the nut house with everyone who'd take Pirlo above Gerrard.

As am I, hope the England fans on here will be less embarrassing next time around. It amazes me how they were supposed to be pessimistic this year, then a few weeks before the WC they suddenly think they're going to beat Italy, mental.

[Kitchandro]

Well Woy got what he deserved for wasting a substitution. Starting Welbeck was just stupid and it meant that at least two of Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Wilshere and Lambert would have to miss out. You could argue we should have had 4 of those 5 starting.

 

It was a fairly even game overall but we needed that bit of quality in the final 3rd and we didn't get it - perhaps we would have done if we'd have had our best players on the pitch.

 

Credit where credit's due, Rooney's set up for the goal was superb but other than that he proved why he's not a world class player. We needed him to make the difference and once again he showed he wasn't good enough to do it.

 

Baines was isolated against 2 players too many times, not sure who's fault that was but it cost us the 2nd goal.

 

Positive performance in general, but we lost out because Woy is too thick to make the right decisions which turn the game.

[Donut]

I didnt particularly like the substitutions. I know the heat is an issue but Welbeck was giving Italy problems with his direct play and pace and was closing down from the front. Barkley had a good effort on goal but was quiet. Wilshere did as much as usual for him which is jack shit, but surely the situation was made for Lambert to offer a different dimension?

 

Rooney and Gerrard were both extremely poor. Other than his assist in the first half, Rooney offered little, and Gerrard was outclassed in the midfield.

 

Candreva, Darmain and Pirlo were all excellent for Italy tonight, and it became more obvious it was going to be "one of those" nights. But all is not lost, we HAVE to beat Uruguay and we can. Welbeck justified his starting role for me, and i hope Roy persists with him on this display.