FIFA World Cup 2014 - GROUP D [Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy - 14/19/20/24 June] **spoilers**

[sunama]

Dunno what to say really.

I think we should Sack Everybody. Even our ******* Physio got himself injured. + =

The physio getting injured was bizarre.
The injury was so bad he had to be taken away on a stretcher.
How did he get injured?

 

[4T5]

Worst moment for me was that Gooney corner. I'm a 164 years old & I could have done better.

 

[dannyjo22]

Well Sterling played the perfect ball to Rooney, set up an unbelievable chance on a plate which no one arrived too and generally caused problems with good link up play. Then was ****ed and gave the ball away a lot

Who passed to Sterling, how far back do we want to give credit

I guarantee if Rooney had played that pass when no one attacked the box, this forum would be full of people saying he passed it to no one.

 

[4T5]

The physio getting injured was bizarre.
The injury was so bad he had to be taken away on a stretcher.
How did he get injured?

Jump up & down like a **** I s'pose.

 

[Rroff]

His cross was good, and you can't take that away from his performance.
But the problem was his finishing when he went for shots (The thing he's paid to do), he could and should have scored. I think he took 3 shots at least, I can't even remember if he hit the target?

Rooney? that cross was a pure fluke, desperate play with no other options that Sturridge happened to be able to turn into something through giving it his everything.

 

[Hellsmk2]

But him not being played in his position is somewhat irrelevant when it came to his finishing, as arguably he'd have been in those exact same positions in his "native" position? I'd perhaps want 2 up front, Sturridge and Rooney, but if we're playing one "striker", it's not going to be Rooney over Sturridge. Which probably is why there's so much "err" over whether or not Rooney should be in the first team.

I agree he's not really a winger, and we have better players to put forward as wingers.



Agree he's not a winger, but that doesn't change his end finishing (Which he'd arguably have been in the same position, had he been playing his native position)

If you want your finishers to finish, then put them in their preferred position where they are comfortable. This is common sense.

He looked like a fish out of water at times tonight because that's exactly what he was. He still got a really really good assist.

Play him up front or in the no 10 role and he will get / create lots of goals. He's proven that year after year at Utd. This year he still scored more goals and got more assists than any other player in that no10 role, yet many still say others are better. They aren't.... It's that simple!

 

[dannyjo22]

Really? This is a bang average Italian squad and a tactically inept England side.

We'll scrape a win against Costa Rica to go through and he'll make out it's 1966 all over again.

Spain lost the first game to Switzerland, nothing like as good as this Italy side and won the world cup

 

[Purdy]

Who passed to Sterling, how far back do we want to give credit

I guarantee if Rooney had played that pass when no one attacked the box, this forum would be full of people saying he passed it to no one.

taking it that's a joke

Good chance you're right, Sterling still played a lot better than him though

 

[Robbo]

I was disappointed with Gerrard too, I know Pirlo was in a better midfield setup, but Gerrard is meant to be doing a similar sort of role and he just doesn't look even 1% as good.

Still, there were some good aspects to the performance and I think we'll be able to beat Uruguay in the next game. Even if they play Suarez (which is 50/50), he isn't going to be fully fit.

 

[BaZ87]

Who passed to Sterling, how far back do we want to give credit

I guarantee if Rooney had played that pass when no one attacked the box, this forum would be full of people saying he passed it to no one.

High profile players always attract exaggerated opinions. They're either great or ****.

There's no doubt however that Rooney's causing Hodgson a problem now though, which is a surprise given that Rodgers solved the problem for him 6 months ago.

England just need to play a 4-3-3/4-4-2 diamond like Liverpool were with Rooney (poorly) imitating Suarez.

 

[dunker]

that rooney miss?! my goodness how is that possible?! has rooney caught in world cups what torres has?

 

[Matteysan]

People are forgetting also that this was Sterlings first game on this kind of stage. Rooney should be used to this by now & should have kind of expected this from Italy.

Ok Sterling was a bit wasteful at times, But even then at least he was looking to try & create something. I might sound like I'm bashing Rooney but he really was useless out wide apart from the assist (which could have been anyone in that position).

It wasn't a bad performance at all. But could have been so much better. Taking almost 60mins was it to fill that left hand side was a bad mistake. That should have been caught from the first goal.

I guess the problem is where the hell do you play Rooney? Sterling looked much better in the central role than he did on the right. Maybe Sturridge & Rooney should be rotated?

 

[BaZ87]

I was disappointed with Gerrard too, I know Pirlo was in a better midfield setup, but Gerrard is meant to be doing a similar sort of role and he just doesn't look even 1% as good.

How can you expect him to play a similar role when playing a different system? Pirlo had 4 other midfielders around him doing his work, Gerrard had 1.

 

[Purdy]

I was disappointed with Gerrard too, I know Pirlo was in a better midfield setup, but Gerrard is meant to be doing a similar sort of role and he just doesn't look even 1% as good.

Still, there were some good aspects to the performance and I think we'll be able to beat Uruguay in the next game. Even if they play Suarez (which is 50/50), he isn't going to be fully fit.

Why would he play a similar role in a completely different formation and setup

 

[Nate75]

that rooney miss?! my goodness how is that possible?! has rooney caught in world cups what torres has?

zomg etc!

 

[Martini1991]

If you want your finishers to finish, then put them in their preferred position where they are comfortable. This is common sense.

His position shouldn't alter his ability to finish when he's in the same attacking position that he'd be in if he was playing his native role. He's a grown man on 300K a week. Is his mentality that weak?

 

[Robbo]

How can you expect him to play a similar role when playing a different system? Pirlo had 4 other midfielders around him doing his work, Gerrard had 1.

Of course, but when he got the ball I thought he was disappointing, a couple of good passes but that was it. He just seemed absent a lot of the time. I thought Henderson was better.

It was a lot like watching Carrick of late.

 

[dmcg]

gerrard and rooney should be benched next game wilshere didn't look any good either

 

[Nate75]

the Rooney hate is starting to get beyond the joke.

 

[dannyjo22]

High profile players always attract exaggerated opinions. They're either great or ****.

There's no doubt however that Rooney's causing Hodgson a problem now though, which is a surprise given that Rodgers solved the problem for him 6 months ago.

England just need to play a 4-3-3/4-4-2 diamond like Liverpool were with Rooney (poorly) imitating Suarez.

Yeah I agree, I just don't know what England fans expect. Only Sturridge scored more league goals than him last year, in a far better team and only 4 more goals. Only Gerrard got more assists(english)? This from a united side that was pretty god awful, playing negative football. So we play this man as a winger?

Madness, play him upfront or not at all.