England V Italy

[StanSP]

What a berk Shearer is.

 

Making the point that 4 England players got cramp last night and Pirlo didn't get any even though he's 35.

 

That's cos our players ran more than Pirlo and do so at  a higher intensity. Talking bollocks as usual, Geordie ****. 

[BlueSi13]

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

 

We all know that he will start.  I'm beginning if there's more to it than our performances on the pitch, is it the FA's commercial interests that keep him on the pitch no matter what?  It must be something right?  Right?

 

Saying that though I actually felt a little sorry for him tonight, nobody goes out to be consistently poor for his country.

[MPH]

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

 

 

if we are going to keep the same formation then he needs to learn to track back.

 

making a great pass for our goal means nothing if you are going to leave the LB exposed time and time again...

[Jon the Hat]

Bench Rooney for Lallana and we would have a decent chance against Uruguay. Suarez is not that much better than Balotelli, and the rest of their team isn't nearly as good as italys.

[morris1234]

I will say one thing..

I do enjoy how there has been so much talk about how England have so little pressure and expectation...and then reading twitter etc it seems we were lying hahaha

"Don't worry Wayne just give your best....WHAT WAS THAT, World Cup over etc etc"

Gotta love football fans

P.s

Next game lallana next to gerrard. Ox on the left, sterling on the right. Rooney or Barkley behind sturridge.

[Guest ttfn]

We all know that he will start. I'm beginning if there's more to it than our performances on the pitch, is it the FA's commercial interests that keep him on the pitch no matter what? It must be something right? Right?

Saying that though I actually felt a little sorry for him tonight, nobody goes out to be consistently poor for his country.

He didn't do well offensively but he did set up the goal with a brilliant cross. Rough with the smooth.

[Leicesterpool]

Is the ox available for Uruguay?

 

Also Rooney was poor but not the worst on the field, there are other candidates for that role.

[Jon the Hat]

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

Except for his utter failure to do his job on the left of midfield?

[BlueSi13]

He didn't do well offensively but he did set up the goal with a brilliant cross. Rough with the smooth.

 Or defensively which was also his responsibility tonight.

[kingfox]

Fed up with this Welbeck hate, he worked bloody hard tonight, 10 times harder than that fat twat Rooney.

 

In terms of overall performance, I'd say he was our second best player tonight, after Sterling. 

[Tielemans63]

Except for his utter failure to do his job on the left of midfield?

This. How anyone can think that was an acceptable performance from Rooney I don't know.

[Corky]

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!

 

Yes, it has been bad, we've had three tournaments before this where we've been extremely dull and uninspiring. At least tonight we can look at Barkley and Sterling and see people who had no fear on the big stage.

 

The no fight/ passion is so boring, that defeat wasn't for the want of trying, Italy were just better than us when it mattered and have a fantastic player in Pirlo who can run any game. We need that type in our team. They've also been coached for years how to manage games and keep possession in tight areas, we've neglected that for so long for pace/ power/ strength/ get rid of it quickly mentality that it makes us look so inferior in big games.

 

The game as a spectacle worsened towards the end, as expected given the heat and humidity.

[Phube]

This. How anyone can think that was an acceptable performance from Rooney I don't know.

Roy does...

[Guest ttfn]

Or defensively which was also his responsibility tonight.

I meant defensively but given that two people have replied I won't correct it.

Poor from him really but we need his quality in the side, much as we need Gerrard. Ultimately Rooney had a poor game punctuated by a wonderful assist and Gerrard did bugger all.

And yet again here we are with everybody pinning it on Rooney. We should have done better today - Italy weren't very good.

[johnny the fox]

Rooney is a fookin myth..I don't understand the obsession with him..not playing ashley cole was a massive mistake. in the end we are second rate Im afraid.

[MooseBreath]

Except for his utter failure to do his job on the left of midfield?

I don't know about that really. In a 4-2-3-1, is it the left attackers responsibility to be covering the left back? If it is, then it seems really strange to play a striker there.

[Guest ttfn]

Literally no mention of Gerrard's invisible man performance from anybody else,

Rooney sets up a goal and gets lambasted.

Both below average but England still should have got a point.

[Leicesterpool]

Player ratings tonight

 

Hart- 4

Johnson- 5

Cahill- 5

Jagielka- 6

Baines- 4

Gerrard- 7

Henderson- 7

Rooney- 5

Sterling- 8

Welbeck- 6

Sturridge- 8

 

Wiltshire- 4

Barkley- 6

Lallana- 4

[Guest ttfn]

Literally no mention of Gerrard's invisible man performance from anybody else,

Rooney sets up a goal and gets lambasted.

Both below average but England still should have got a point.

[Charl91]

Rooney is like the emperor's new clothes. He's been on the decline for 3 years or so, but everyone always been too bloody scared to say so, because of the media perpetuated myth that he's a "world class" ( ) player. So everyone just goes along with it. Truth is, he's been shit for Man U for a while, and shit for England for almost a decade.

 

Gerrard was also bad. Welbeck, Sterling and Sturridge looked nice though.

[johnny the fox]

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

what? this is the fookin world cup mate.. "fine" just don't cut it for a so called world class player.

[Bert]

Baines Why oh why we've left our best ever left back at home is beyond me.

Impressed with Sturridge and Sterling. Rooney did well for the goal and should've scored when he dragged it wide of the post, otherwise another lacklustre performance. Gerrard was largely anonymous. Have no idea why we say so far off Pirlo.

Don't think we've deserved to lose that game either tonight. None of the subs had any impact when they came on but it's always hard to break teams like Italy down when they're ahead.

Onwards and upwards.

[StanSP]

Literally no mention of Gerrard's invisible man performance from anybody else,

Rooney sets up a goal and gets lambasted.

Both below average but England still should have got a point.

 

Gerrard should be getting more criticism but just because Rooney had one moment of 'magic', doesn't mean the rest of his game was good enough. 

[GingerrrFox]

Literally no mention of Gerrard's invisible man performance from anybody else,

Rooney sets up a goal and gets lambasted.

Both below average but England still should have got a point.

 

Mate I'd just like to mention that Pirlo is shit and anyone who would have him over Gerrard knows nothing about football  . Where's Grandad when you need him?

[Bert]

Hart 5

Johnson 5

Baines 3

Cahill 6

Jagielka 6

Henderson 6

Gerrard 5

Rooney 6

Sterling 8

Welbeck 6

Sturridge 7