England World Cup squad/11

[mondatoo]

20 seconds in to this... pretty sure were going to win the World Cup 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqimlFcJsM

[Waz1892]

Riccccccaaaaa

[George2Loose]

Looks like Sterling is in for Lallana

[Waz1892]

Sometimes it is your time...

Uraguay lost, italy keeper out. Sterling on fire. Dodging Spain in QFs.

Win tonight we are in QFs. Simples

[mondatoo]

Think we did play close to our best so fair enough.

Whilst a bit of luck might've seen us snatch a draw, clearly the best team won.

Demoralisingly see us out of the World Cup by Thurs, confirmed Mr Negative, sigh.

[Matt.NFFC.]

At least we had a go, that was good to see, but we have never been good at keeping the ball have we?

Suarez, the person we love to hate, to put the final nail in the coffin?

We can win these next 2 games, but I've got a feeling we will go out on goal difference or something like that.

(Glass still half full, just)

[anthonyl]

Performance was okay but it's about results and we lost to a poor Italian side.

Drop Rooney for Ross please and we should best Uruguay.

[smurf]

One of the most positive attacking performances England have put on for a long time. Rooney was his usual "I will never be dropped self" and Johnson always seems to pass to the opposition more than his own team.
Other than that (yes a tad shaky at the back) England are more than capable of winning their next two playing like that.

[pleno1]

After this World Cup finishes Johnson and baines should never play again for England. I seriously think baines is the most overrated player in current football. He simply cannot defend, it was abit embarrassing at times. Way more vulnerable than Johnson who is also not nearly good enough.

Lots of positives though, I think we were evidently the superior team and ran v bad in the match. Henderson was really good and showed really good energy in a v mature performance.

I was surprised how much time we allowed Pirlo on the ball in the first half, I would have assumed that would have been out first line of defense but we seemed to allow him the ball.

We look weak when teams pass through us or go down our channels, I think other teams will struggle to do the through balls Italy did between our lines and hopefully Suarez stays more central than coming wide otherwise it could be trouble.

We highs it was 1-0 England for a long time in Marbella. When sterling had the early shot everybody assumed it was in and it went mental at the stars party for a while, pretty comedy.

We saw the future of England last night with Barkley, Henderson, sterling and Sturridge and the future looks extremely bright.

One thing I can't get away with is wilshire. Very bad substitute yesterday from Roy IMO, Henderson was doing more than wilshire is capable of. If Henderson was tired I would probably have put lambert up front and tried to get crosses in, why take him otherwise?

[Tal]

Disagree, Mr Pleno. Henderson anonymous again for me. Really was a disappointment that Lallana didn't get the nod, when up against an ageing midfield, with gaps available that the Liverpool duo couldn't exploit. Then, when he was brought on, we had no outlet ball. I can't believe we didn't bring on Lambert as a longer ball alternative, when everyone was struggling for legs.

Sterling is exciting but has no sense of direction. He can run quickly and beat people but at times ran either into trouble or no closer to goal. Johnson is tremendously fortunate we are light at RB. Gerrard had a lot of work to do and did well. He ran around like a mother figure, trying to do dinner, hang out the washing, pack the kids' gym kit and do her nails at the same time. I hope he hasn't done any damage for Thursday.

Baines was not supported by the centre backs and the midfield pairing, so was left isolated far too often. You can't win games if you don't do the basics right when you don't have the ball.

Rooney won't play worse than that for England again.

The last twenty minutes was embarrassing. As Steve Macmanaman put it, it looked like we had no plan...unless the plan was leave Pirlo alone. If the players are exhausted, you have to have a Plan B and we had nothing. That simply isn't acceptable.

What really annoyed me, above everything else, was the lack of movement in the final third. Whenever Sterling had it on the right, or Baines on the left, the front three stood still and waited. The ball either went to feet and we gave Italy time to deal with the threat or it went into space and we were only even money to make it. Suarez would have scored three against that defence because he finds the space and makes the runs. It's schoolboy football. Sturridge did it in patches but none of them did it enough. The system was fluid so the success of it is reliant on pulling the defenders out of position. We found the channels inside the full backs at times, but didn't pull the centre halves out anything like enough.

We have plenty of potential but that yesterday looked like Liverpool minus Suarez a couple of years ago.

B-  from me.

[George2Loose]

Rooney is getting a lot flak unfairly. He's being played out of position. Either play him behind Sturridge/instead of Sturridge or have ye bravery to drop him.

[Waz1892]

I just read this, which is rather depressing.

Only four of 46 sides to lose their opening group game since 1998 have gone on to qualify for the knockout stages (Spain in 2010, Ukraine and Ghana in 2006 and Turkey in 2002).

Rooney plays in the middle, or he shouldnt at all. National level you really shouldnt be playing a player out of position, unless it tactical.  2 touches in the 18yd area all game; an area he excels in.  Does make much sense.

As loses go, it was disappointing, but straight away we can see a different England starting to emerge. Roy went for it, so hard to complain now really.

Still positive we can out score Uraguay

[kinboshi]

Aside from the defensive error for the second goal, the game was pretty much level across the board. They held on to it well, as expected, but England had the offensive line that looked more likely to conjure up something.

Should have had a penalty as well.

Thought the substitutes were disappointing, other than maybe Barkley. Both Lallana and Wilshire added nothing to the attack, and think they gave the ball away more than anyone else in the time they were on the pitch.

Best game Welbeck had had in an England shirt, but still the weak link. Rooney did well early on, but tired. He did well going forward on the left, and obviously his cross was key for the goal. Sterling and Sturridge were both very good, and all the pressure and hope placed on Sterling before the match has now turned into expectancy.

We play like that against Uruguay and Costa Rica who don't have the defensive setup of Italy, we'll be on six points at the end of the group stages.

[kinboshi]

As an interesting side note:  91% - England's pass completion tonight was the highest they've ever recorded in a World Cup game (1966-2014).

[pleno1]

Paying lallana in the defensive two would be such a bad decision and if we left lost then hodgson would be getting so much stick on this and every other forum. Henderson broke down more plays than anybody and was fast against that "ageing" midfield.

Also think Rooney criticism is too much. He's played much worse than that for England.

I think we did have a plan b as well. Hodgson put wilshire and Barkley on who he thought would be fast/athletic against a old, tiring Italian midfield and both players like to commit players and run at them. I just don't think wilshire is the right player for it.