What I didn't understand is that Welbeck and Sturridge had gone off and Rooney still didn't move up front. I wonder if Lambert would have been a better option instead of bringing Lallana on. In form, enjoying his football and knows where the net is.
Rooney wasn't meant to track back imo he was told to drop back and stay close but be ready to brake like he did for the goal
I am sure he would of been told to help the full back, on whatever side he played on and he never did
The one thing Rooney always does, no matter how shit a game he is having, is track back. At one point he popped up in the centre half position, prompting cries of WTF is he doing there...
A decent enough performance but when we needed a goal at the end I never felt we were going to get it we seemed to use too much energy early and ran out of steam quicker than Italy. Would be tempted to drop Rooney for one of Milner/Wilshere and go to a 3 in midfield. Henderson did ok but he is limited if he can't actually go forward next to Gerrard.
It's not just Pirlo's passing though is it. Watch his movement off the ball, same for Xavi and Iniesta. This could be the last time we see some of these players at a tournament. Make the most of it and enjoy.
I am an England fan though, and I don't care about players for other teams - I can see them "weave their magic" for club sides that don't hurt me, any time I want these days - it's not 1980 where the only time we saw their like was at a world cup.
Now I can understand the criticism that our players get on here. I don't think Italy were that good. Baines had a stinker, and Hart could have done better. Lots of huff and puff but didn't trouble Italy to much. Sterling needs to realise it's a team game. Hodgson got his tactics wrong. Way to gung ho. And I don't get the Rooney slagging.
Lots of huff and puff but didn't trouble Italy to much. Sterling needs to realise it's a team game. Hodgson got his tactics wrong. Way to gung ho. And I don't get the Rooney slagging.
Couldn't disagree more with all of that. You'd rather Sterling passed the ball more yet he was a massive threat every time he got the ball and caused there left back so many problems? I thought we actually set up well, 2 chances, 2 goals for them. Swap Rooney for Balotelli and we'd of smashed them.
Other than the lack of tracking back I don't think Rooney was bad, just he's not as good as the others at the way we want to play. Sterling is a better number 10 as he can run right at them, Sturridge is a better striker at the moment, Ox/Welbeck/Lallana are probably more suited out wide as well. We need another player in midfield to support the two and I think he offers less than Welbeck, Sturridge and Sterling do at the moment.
Lots of huff and puff but didn't trouble Italy to much. Sterling needs to realise it's a team game. Hodgson got his tactics wrong. Way to gung ho. And I don't get the Rooney slagging.
Couldn't disagree more with all of that. You'd rather Sterling passed the ball more yet he was a massive threat every time he got the ball and caused there left back so many problems? I thought we actually set up well, 2 chances, 2 goals for them. Swap Rooney for Balotelli and we'd of smashed them.
2 chances 2 goals, LOL. Did you miss the last few minutes of the 1st half etc
Another positive England can take is the two goals they conceded can easily be worked on on the training pitch, set pieces and crosses.
Thats the thing though. Hodges on shouldn't be having to teach the best 22 players in England how to defend set pieces. Johnson is bloody awful and should have been on the far post when Ballotelli scored abd not in front of Cahill. Is he really our best option at right back ?
Lots of huff and puff but didn't trouble Italy to much. Sterling needs to realise it's a team game. Hodgson got his tactics wrong. Way to gung ho. And I don't get the Rooney slagging.
Couldn't disagree more with all of that. You'd rather Sterling passed the ball more yet he was a massive threat every time he got the ball and caused there left back so many problems? I thought we actually set up well, 2 chances, 2 goals for them. Swap Rooney for Balotelli and we'd of smashed them.
2 chances 2 goals, LOL. Did you miss the last few minutes of the 1st half etc
Thought we were really good. Feeling very positive.
Thought Rooney kept leaving baines on his own. Everytime they attacked it was 2 vs 1 on baines side and Rooney was nowhere to be seen. Ox to replace Rooney next game for me.
Thought when we took Henderson off we never looked like retaining the ball but all in all thought we played well. Special mention to Jagielka for clearing it off the line, to Sturridge and sterling.
Chart on BBC shows Rooney had just one touch in the penalty area all game. Can this be true? Astonishing
No, considering he took three touches for the shot he dragged wide of the left post. He came close with the shot he had outside the box as well (again, ignored by many it seems).
Whilst there were some shortcomings, especially defensively, that was a very decent performance and credit to Hodgson and the players for trying to pass the ball rather than lumping it forward. We showed a fair amount of attacking verve as well until we ran out of steam in the second half. A far cry from Euro 2012, when our best pass completion percentage was Hart booting it up to Andy Carroll.
Overall, we were a bit unlucky not to get a point against a technically skilful and extremely streetwise Italian team. It will be tough now (statistically, only about 10% of teams qualify after losing their first game) but we still have a chance if we can play like that offensively. Let's hope that Sterling gets some protection from the referee next Thursday.
We need to let our kids try things and not be afraid to fail and teach them how to read where people are on the pitch. He plays a bit like Sherlock Holmes would, where he is looking where everybody is all the time, constantly analyising - so when he gets the ball he pretty much instantly knows what he is going to do with it, and what he does with it can be very damaging. A great example to us.
I'm not sure Sherlock would have passed the drug test.
This group is now set up for that rare beast - a team loses the first two games and still goes through. Just needs: Uruguay to beat England by 1, Italy win their 2 remaining games, England beat Costa Rica by 2
Not beyond the realms of possibility. Sorted.
:-)
Having trouble visualising the "England best..." part.
If England draw with Uruguay and beat Costa Rica by two or more goals, that should be enough to qualify for the next round. I think it would take some unlikely results for England to finish lower than 2nd in that case. A good position to be in.
The only thing I'd have done differently from Hodgson last night is brought on Lallana after 60 minutes (instead of Barkley) for Welbeck, followed by Barkley on for Henderson (instead of Wilshere) on 70 and then Lambert on for Sturridge (instead of Lallana) at 80.
Lallana needed longer than 10 minutes to effect the game, whereas a player like Lambert is big, strong and gives us a focal point to aim our attacks towards as the clock is running down. He also has a knack so far at international level of being in the right place at the right time (I think he'll be one of those that scores every other game he plays) and I was disappointed he wasn't our last throw of the dice.
It hurts when you take positives from a loss, but it's also encouraging. The problem now lays in playing two fast paced teams, we brought the game to Italy last night and they soaked a lot of it up, it may be different in our next two and we won't be able to bring on so many attacking players. Let's beat Uruguay.. A few doubts in the team but without Rooney we may not have scored.. onwards and upwards.
These stats don't lie. 18 shots to 12, 8 on target to 5, 9 corners to 2, 3 saves 7.
1 goal to 2 was an unlucky result last night. We deserved a share of the points.
Watching the game in France they showed a good stat about 70 mins in, we'd passed the ball 380 times, whereas Italy had notched up about 550 by that point. Our pass completion rate was 85%, there's was 90%. Whilst I agree we played well and we're positive, I think they did enough to deserve it on the night. But by no means will I criticise the team - we played well and can be going into Uruguay in good spirits. Just need some finesse where it counts, and a bit more organisation at the back
These stats don't lie. 18 shots to 12, 8 on target to 5, 9 corners to 2, 3 saves 7.
1 goal to 2 was an unlucky result last night. We deserved a share of the points.
Watching the game in France they showed a good stat about 70 mins in, we'd passed the ball 380 times, whereas Italy had notched up about 550 by that point. Our pass completion rate was 85%, there's was 90%. Whilst I agree we played well and we're positive, I think they did enough to deserve it on the night. But by no means will I criticise the team - we played well and can be going into Uruguay in good spirits. Just need some finesse where it counts, and a bit more organisation at the back
But we were mainly chasing a gane. If wed.been 1-0 or 2-1 up we coukd have passed the pall sideways or backwords 200 times more like they did.
Comments
However Gerrard stays in unless his injury.is more than they are releasing
It's going to be tough now to get through because we have to beat Uruguay in my opinion and they aren't going to be as bad as they was yesterday.
Why is watching England in world cups so depressing ?
I don't think Italy were that good.
Baines had a stinker, and Hart could have done better.
Lots of huff and puff but didn't trouble Italy to much.
Sterling needs to realise it's a team game.
Hodgson got his tactics wrong. Way to gung ho.
And I don't get the Rooney slagging.
Really is no pleasing some people.
1 goal to 2 was an unlucky result last night. We deserved a share of the points.
Thought Rooney kept leaving baines on his own. Everytime they attacked it was 2 vs 1 on baines side and Rooney was nowhere to be seen. Ox to replace Rooney next game for me.
Thought when we took Henderson off we never looked like retaining the ball but all in all thought we played well. Special mention to Jagielka for clearing it off the line, to Sturridge and sterling.
We'll beat Uruguay and Costa Rica
Can this be true?
Astonishing
Overall, we were a bit unlucky not to get a point against a technically skilful and extremely streetwise Italian team. It will be tough now (statistically, only about 10% of teams qualify after losing their first game) but we still have a chance if we can play like that offensively. Let's hope that Sterling gets some protection from the referee next Thursday.
Lallana needed longer than 10 minutes to effect the game, whereas a player like Lambert is big, strong and gives us a focal point to aim our attacks towards as the clock is running down. He also has a knack so far at international level of being in the right place at the right time (I think he'll be one of those that scores every other game he plays) and I was disappointed he wasn't our last throw of the dice.