When did we boot it up front? I'm trying to remember all of these long balls and can't. We played in Italy's last third a fair few times, and our final ball wasn't quite good enough.
FIFA World Cup 2014 - GROUP D [Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy - 14/19/20/24 June] **spoilers**
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
When did we boot it up front? I'm trying to remember all of these long balls and can't. We played in Italy's last third a fair few times, and our final ball wasn't quite good enough.
I think we can all agree that Rooney on the left was a disaster. I probably wouldn't drop him though tbh. He is being made a bit of a scapegoat atm.
Also, I might not have started Hendo if everyone was fully match fit, but he was really good.
Also, I might not have started Hendo if everyone was fully match fit, but he was really good.
Last edited:
Permabanned
- Joined
- 28 Dec 2009
- Posts
- 13,052
- Location
- london
I hope it was the heat that was affecting them because they looked exhausted before half time even hit. I knew that italy were going to make them chase the ball as that is how they always play and england was too dumb too mark players that don't have the ball and ended up tiring themselves out while italy just took it easy and let the ball do the moving. Italy made england look like amateurs to be honest. England had some class going forward and i would give sterling man of the match for england side. When italy got possession they were tight and when england had possession end of second half for a bit they couldn't do anything useful with it as italy had their whole team back defending. England are ok on the break but if its a slow move up they don't know what to do with it when they reach the box.
And that corner, definitely not a world class performance. There was a few bad passes as well, not good enough. Roony fluffed a corner, probably blame the heat or the pitch.
And that corner, definitely not a world class performance. There was a few bad passes as well, not good enough. Roony fluffed a corner, probably blame the heat or the pitch.
Last edited:
Even though we lost, I quite enjoyed the game, we looked a stronger side and played more attacking game.
That said, Rooney really is crap in an England shirt, I've said it time and time again. 300k a week lolZor.
That said, Rooney really is crap in an England shirt, I've said it time and time again. 300k a week lolZor.
Last edited:
The problem is that Rooney does not merit his place in the team but Hodgson hasn't got the bottle to drop him. If he was a good enough 9 or 10 then he would be playing there, nailed on. For Sturridge and Sterling to effectively have usurped him to an equivalent rating of Danny Welbeck tells you all you neeed to know about how he has regressed as a player. Its been happening for years and only Moyes incompetence prolongued and rewarded his mediocrity.
Rooney has no real pace, is not the best finisher, has no trick that a defender wouldn't expect. What he has got is a decent long range pass. Beyond that I can't see what the hype is about and I am a United supporter. Honestly Lambert offered more unpredictability in the recent warm up matches.
the Italy team is pirlo stop him . its that simple.
all game moments come through him. the whole team look for him. he should have been hammered not given a inch.
at end of day we knew our chances would come from countering . thats why we had speed.
the reason rouney gets picked is he can hold well and provide good balls so if hes not scoring he can do that. which does work.
thing is some of our so called greats choke every time. gerrard, rouney.
look at the big tournes they been in and on avg they not even 5/10 when its proper big time.
we need the big players in big games and they just dont perform for england.
look at italy pirlo they need him to he does it. that's what makes you world class.
all game moments come through him. the whole team look for him. he should have been hammered not given a inch.
at end of day we knew our chances would come from countering . thats why we had speed.
the reason rouney gets picked is he can hold well and provide good balls so if hes not scoring he can do that. which does work.
thing is some of our so called greats choke every time. gerrard, rouney.
look at the big tournes they been in and on avg they not even 5/10 when its proper big time.
we need the big players in big games and they just dont perform for england.
look at italy pirlo they need him to he does it. that's what makes you world class.
Never experienced this place during England playing in the World Cup, its ****ing brilliant
Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Feb 2004
- Posts
- 9,510
Yes shocking indeed. Let's have a look in more detail at these goals.
Teams he scored against:
Westbrom
Westham
Norwich
Palace
Stoke
Fulham
Cardiff
Spuds
Villa
City
So out of them city are the only ones I would consider national team material. Yeah so it is truly shocking he is there
So even in his true position he can only score against the lower end teams. One goal against city does say much other than he turns on his true ability from time to time.
He should be a sub and bring on for last 20minutes in his proper position not put him out of position in favour of someone who plays that position.
Over rated. Over paid.
Sturridge got 36 goals in 49 appearances. that's why he is up front.
This Pirlo loving is getting a bit too much. I'd have completed near 100 passes against that England side and put up a better effort of tracking Sterling for England's goal too. He's a decent player but he's not god.
Had England had an extra man in midfield we'd have won yesterday, I have no doubts about that.
Had England had an extra man in midfield we'd have won yesterday, I have no doubts about that.
I agree. For me, a decent about would be Welbeck for Wilshere, then stick Rooney right up top and play Sturridge wide. I honestly don't think it would change Sturridge's game much tbh.
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Apr 2011
- Posts
- 5,455
The GIF has been updated:
hahaha
Hahahaha great!
its not loving watch the game back and watch him. every break comes directly from a pass started by him. he does it every game. that's what gerrard should be doing but in big games he just doesn't.
if you watch what the commentators like rio and all of them said they knew exactly what was going to happen and pirlo was going to control.
said to my boy last night watch pirlo he should be marked. every time he got ball not one person on him once ! not once ! whole 95 minutes and no one can be bothered to stop the key person.
he gets the reviews and love because he is that good not fanboys.
I'm pretty much in agreement with you that Hodgson got it tactically wrong. In those kind of conditions and against that sort of team, you need the extra man in there. Someone like Milner would have done a good job.
Team selection for the Uruguay game will be interesting, though last nights system might actually work better there. I'm not sure where I'd put Rooney though...
Pirlo was excellent but he was barely closed down, if you give him that amount of space he'll run the game. He wasn't even trying.
You make me want to scream. Why oh why would you move Sturridge wide? Sturridge has proven himself to be our best centre forward over the last 18 months, he has to start through the middle.
Rooney can play from a wide forward position if we played a 3 man midfield. Like when Suarez played it for Liverpool, it would only be his starting position and with Henderson behind, he wouldn't have to worry too much about tracking back or getting caught too far forward. Or even better, play Rooney and Sturridge up top together with Sterling behind and then a 3 man midfield behind that.
Hodgson has been handed the foundations to a very good side by Rodgers. 4 of our front 6 yesterday (+ Johnson) have played a certain system (or 2), week in week out for the past 5 months and been very successful playing that way. Make the most of what we've already got, just fill in the 2 blanks and we'll be a very competent side.
For Hodgson to pick all of Sturridge, Sterling, Henderson and Gerrard and decide to play them in the 1 system that Liverpool tried and miserably failed with is mind boggling. He doesn't even have the excuse of only playing that way to shoehorn Rooney into his best position because he played him out of position anyway.
Sturridge can play wide but it's madness to play him there. He's proven himself to be our best centre forward. He stretches defenses and will give the likes of Rooney and Sterling space to play in.
18 months ago I'd have shot anybody down for suggesting Liverpool should play Suarez wide. Sturridge changed that and if he's good enough through the middle to justify moving Suarez wide, he's more than good enough to justify moving Rooney wide.
Anyway, like I said, you can easily play them together with a diamond behind and then if needed switch to a 4-3-3 with Rooney and Sterling either side of Sturridge.