England V Italy

[StanSP]

That's a shame. We didn't deserve to lose. 

 

Sterling -  . 

 

Italy were just calm and composed from front to back. 

 

Baines got very little help down the left hand side and that was our undoing all match. All of Italy's chances came down their right hand side and it was pinpointed from the first minute - Italy always had a player hugging the touchline on their right. 

 

There's a hell of a lot of positive from that tonight though. Good to see England attack from the start and not be cautious. Just have to be slightly more clinical and effective - too many times we were finding ourselves in good positions but other players weren't keeping up. Balls across the six-yard box, crosses not being attacked or met. Think we could have tested them more given all of our attacking play.

[kingfox]

Not good enough in the final third in that second half, too many wasted chances which were either lashed wide or over. Italy closed down well, Pirlo being the centre piece of that, all their midfield worked hard, while I thought particularly on the right side, Darmian & Candreva were very good at times, both defensively & attacking. 

 

One thing though on tonight's performance, Barkley really needs to start next game, he is one player who is willing to get on the ball and try and do something, I thought Rooney & Sterling tried too hard at times, after we fell 2-1 behind. 

 

Kind of expected this result though tbh. 

[MC Prussian]

It was an exciting match to watch from a neutral point of view, I really like the way Woy has set up the English attacking force.

Not so sure about the defensive side of it all, Italy had a field day exposing Baines on the left and Johnson on the right doesn't link up well with the rest of the team.

 

Sadly, for every appealing Sterling and Sturridge scene tonight, you got Wayne Rooney who was more concerned with scoring his first WC than blending in, in particular in the second half.

I see positive signs and a new unit developing and growing together. Might just need a few more older players to finally hang up their international boots and you'll be cruising.

 

Chin up.

[MPH]

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

 

 

Problem with Baines is that Rooney was just too bloody lazy to track back  and he left him exposed time and time again....

 

Its easy to Give Baines the blame but he time after time had two men attacking him with one constantly overlapping ....

 

 

That was a very frustrating part of the game to watch.

 

 

We should of buried half of our chances too....

[Sharpe's Fox]

Thought it was the perfect game to bring Lambert on.

[DennisNedry]

We didn't play too badly but Italy once again prove to be a superior side.

 

I thought after going 2-1 down we didn't play with enough pace and urgency in and around the box.

 

We aren't getting through this group.

[Donut]

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.

 

Welbeck was one of our best players on the night so saying it was "stupid" to start him is a bit ridiculous.

 

"Too thick" to make the right decisions? jog on

[Stadt]

The pitch was shite too which may have been the reason for the terrible crossing

[Kitchandro]

Then we get idiots like Rio defending his performance by saying he's out of position. Not an excuse, a truly world class player would have done more for us tonight.

 

There were some people on the bench tonight who really should have got more minutes and there were players on the pitch who should have got less. Ass Shearer is saying, margins are fine, quality tells, and we lost it because we were made to pay for our mistakes, both selection wise and otherwise.

 

Glen Johnson is abolutely terrible, but tbf we have no options at right back.

[DennisNedry]

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.

 

Gerrard is still brilliant at cross field passes to find men in space.

 

Laughable that you slag Gerrard off yet have Danny Welbeck as your avatar. He's utterly useless for club and country.

[Tincy]

If Rooney starts on Thursday that's me done with England this World Cup

[Guest ttfn]

STILL no mention of the huge penalty shouts we had.

[lgfualol]

Absolutely gutted. They played well but just didnt work for them. Sterling was great.

Rooney dropped pls.

[Kitchandro]

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.

 

Well that's completely wrong, Barkley kept getting on the ball and was spraying it about and running at people. Welbeck was anonymous 2nd half. What match were you watching?

[Les-TA-Jon]

It shows just how bad things have got, that us merely attacking is worthy of praise and this performance and result being framed as respectable. 

 

We're on 0 points, with only 6 to play for. Italy didn't even break a sweat. Then again they employed some pretty revolutionary tactics - pass it to the other blokes wearing the same colour as you are.

 

Meanwhile we're stuck passing it out to Sterling in the right corner, watch him do a few step overs and then run down a blind alley with 2 or 3 italians. 

 

Did we create anything in the last 25 minutes? They did know that this was a competitive match right?

 

No fight, no ideas, no points!

[Tielemans63]

Were we that good in attack? Thought we were clueless in that last 30 mins. Aimless balls, no incisive passing, laughable crossing.

[BlueSi13]

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.

 

Not many I have met thought we were going to win tonight.  Besides what's the gloating about?  England were well worth at least a point.  

[Leicesterpool]

We played quite well tonight, loads of positives, but once again poor defending and goalkeeping slightly let us down. Italy got there chances and took'em. Best way is too pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down and move on to the next game. 

 

One thing to finish on was, i felt the subs slowed down the game. Rooney should have gone off apart from set up the first goal he was poor once again. 

[Corky]

Far more entertained by our display at a World Cup for years, possibly since Denmark in 2002.

 

The youngsters looked lively, the older players struggled (Rooney's cross aside). Didn't threaten enough from set pieces. Sterling, Welbeck and Barkley looked lively, the defence was all over the place.

 

For years we've wanted England to stop hitting it long, yet tonight we didn't when it was possibly required.

 

Italy were the better team in a close game, we're a new side still learning, disappointing result and hopefully we can bounce back on Thursday.

[MooseBreath]

Deserved a draw. Just lacked that little bit of quality we needed to unlock an Italian side who very much parked the bus for the last half an hour. We matched them and that's not a bad effort.

People will criticise Rooney but he provided our only goal so, maybe a bit harsh.

[Donut]

Well that's completely wrong, Barkley kept getting on the ball and was spraying it about and running at people. Welbeck was anonymous 2nd half. What match were you watching?

 

The game where Welbeck worked tirelessly in the first half, ran at pace, caused problems, hunted down the Italian centrebacks, as noted by Thierry Henry.

 

That game.

[Guest ttfn]

Gerrard is still brilliant at cross field passes to find men in space.

Laughable that you slag Gerrard off yet have Danny Welbeck as your avatar. He's utterly useless for club and country.

Gerrard was atrocious today. A proper 3/10 performance. Welbeck did well, if you disagree that's fine, but I think you've misjudged the tone of the avatar changes somewhat,

[SeCrEt FoX]

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.

If we closed down quicker and sorted the defensive errors who says we couldnt of beat them tonight? We wasn't bad apart from last 20mins. We need to take our chances better. Punting 30/40yard balls out to Sterling and Lallana in the last 15/ 20 mins was way too predictable, tooo easy for their defence. Lambert for Rooney and go 4132

[Leicesterpool]

For me now if we want any chance of getting out of this group i think we need to look to go two up front. We simply goals now.

[Guest ttfn]

Deserved a draw. Just lacked that little bit of quality we needed to unlock an Italian side who very much parked the bus for the last half an hour. We matched them and that's not a bad effort.

People will criticise Rooney but he provided our only goal so, maybe a bit harsh.

Rooney was fine today. Not great but fine. Worth retaining for Thursday.