Baffling poor performance by everyone. England have not been this bad before the tournament. (honestly)
a) Every single England player had
shockingly poor ball control, needing at least two touches to control it (or 50 if your name is Glen Johnson
)
For me that is the main thing. Cant blame the system coz england have played good using same system in the qualifiers.
England Match Rating
1. David James
6
Most of the goals cant do anything about them. Though he shouldve saved number three as it was at his near post (he dodged out the way
)
2. Ashley Cole
5
Had slightly better ball control than rest of the keystone cops defence but couldnt do anything with it. No penetrating forward runs to speak of. One time he was forward and the ball was slipped through to him, instead of running looking to cross he just stops and passes back lol wtf.
3. Glen "i'm on drugs" Johnson
2
Frankly an astoundingly bad performance from this guy. He was ripped a new one by Ozil time and again. He was even done for pace by Klose! He didnt seem interested in the game. Reflexes and reactions of an athritic camel. Just hard to put into words how bad he was. Offered nothing at all going forward and this
*defender* seemed scared or was just soooo off the pace he couldnt put a tackle in. (hence the drugs comment)
4. Matthew Upson
4
Out of his depth. Done for pace time and again. His lack of international experience showed. One of the goals he is merely shrugged off the ball by Klose i think. No determination or defensive nuance at all. Just looked like he didnt know what he was doing. Half decent header for goal though.
5. John "clueless muppet" Terry
3
Ever since the revelations about Terry's off the field activities this guy has not been at the races at all. He is the most experienced defender and former captain and yet his positioning was all over the place running around like a headless chicken. Him and Plug have been solid as a rock for England and yet when Rio gets injured we suddenly find out who has been carrying who. No organisation in defence at all from Terry. Shocking performance really.
6. Gareth Barry.
3
Supposed to be the rock in front of the back four
Thats right in one aspect has he was immovable, the germans were running past him with ease. He seemed overwhelmed most of the time.
7. James Milner
5
Ball control at times just beggared belief. He did manage to put a couple of decent crosses in. Didn't do much else certainly didnt help track back defending-wise.
8. Franky Lampard
5
Absent most of the time. Did well with a couple of shots but didnt impose himself on the game at all.
9. Steven Gerrard.
5
Did a lot of running around to little effect. A lot of wayward passes. Gave up passing to his clueless team and tried shooting for a spell..that didnt work either.
10. Wayne "the white Pele" Rooney
5.3
Again came looking for the ball on the half-way line evidence of his frustration...wasnt able to link up with Gerrard even to the extent of the Slovenia match. Had spells where he was involved in good play but most of the time had no support. Think he had maybe one shot at goal the entire match?
11. Jermain Defoe.
5.5
Thought he was England's best player when he was on (though that wasnt hard) Was a brilliant turn to setup Lampard for the "goal" that wasnt.
I constantly got the feeling that England were just not comfortable either with the system or the ball. I mean most of the time Rooney was coming deep for the ball to try to get involved The link up play was poor. If England's defence had actually showed up for this game then you have half a chance....coz England are capable of scoring...sometimes.
