Anybody who thinks Welbeck was poor should probably be watching Midsomer Murders or something on the other side. Ran his bollocks off last night, closed down the Italians quicker than any player on the pitch, scared them to death when he ran at them with pace and has tricks to go past a player. On his day, he can be the best player in the pitch, but even when he isn't he still offers enough to start ahead of anyone else in that position.
Anybody who thinks Welbeck was poor should probably be watching Midsomer Murders or something on the other side. Ran his bollocks off last night, closed down the Italians quicker than any player on the pitch, scared them to death when he ran at them with pace and has tricks to go past a player. On his day, he can be the best player in the pitch, but even when he isn't he still offers enough to start ahead of anyone else in that position.
You wanted Italy to win, agent Wellbeck did his job.
Sorry but I'm not accepting any Welbeck abuse. First of all Rooney was on the Baines' side so I'm not sure how he is at fault for the goal at all. He isn't a natural wide midfielder but has good work rate, pace, power and touch. There is a reason the Italian's kept attacking our left side rather than the side with Glen bloody Johnson in defence. He clearly threatened the full backs last night and made some great runs. He is one of the first names of the teamsheet for me and offers more than Rooney is in general play.
Don't get me wrong, I thought Welbeck had a decent game overall but you do realise him and Rooney swapped sides at half time?
It was a great ball in - I think Johnson and Cahill were more to blame for that - but we need to look forward to Thursday - This could still be a great tournament for England. The team looked good and having decent subs is key in these conditions - the players don't need digging out, but pats on the back and encouragement. And we don't need to find scapegoats - the difference yesterday above all else was that it was Italy's day!
It was a great ball in - I think Johnson and Cahill were more to blame for that - but we need to look forward to Thursday - This could still be a great tournament for England. The team looked good and having decent subs is key in these conditions - the players don't need digging out, but pats on the back and encouragement. And we don't need to find scapegoats - the difference yesterday above all else was that it was Italy's day!
The difference yesterday was that we carried 2/3 players who shall remain nameless so that we don't 'dig' them out although they will be none the wiser thousands of miles away plus the very same 'senior' players never stood up to be counted. We still have enough to qualify IMO. Edit; assuming of course the England squad are not avid followers of CL :-0
Good honest performance in my opinion. First time in years where England have not looked technically inferior. It restored a bit of national pride for me.
Espana lost their opening game 2-1 in 2010, but stuck to their game and refused to panic. So maybe, just maybe......
Anybody who thinks Welbeck was poor should probably be watching Midsomer Murders or something on the other side. Ran his bollocks off last night, closed down the Italians quicker than any player on the pitch, scared them to death when he ran at them with pace and has tricks to go past a player. On his day, he can be the best player in the pitch, but even when he isn't he still offers enough to start ahead of anyone else in that position.
You wanted Italy to win, agent Wellbeck did his job.
Anybody who thinks Welbeck was poor should probably be watching Midsomer Murders or something on the other side. Ran his bollocks off last night, closed down the Italians quicker than any player on the pitch, scared them to death when he ran at them with pace and has tricks to go past a player. On his day, he can be the best player in the pitch, but even when he isn't he still offers enough to start ahead of anyone else in that position.
You wanted Italy to win, agent Wellbeck did his job.
Eh? Who wanted Italy to win?
Let it go Leroy, most of us have Roman blood in us since the invasion of AD43 under the rule or Emperor Claudius :-0
Utd made him the player he is. E was far better when he was at Everton and when he made his England debut. He was more of a threat. Now he is a good all round player. Utd have made him that way
The second Italian goal was almost identical to Ecuador's first against us (opposite flank) - free cross, poor marking and a goal. Cahill and Jags are not capable of defending that area on their own.
On reflection the whole thing was a little bit disjointed for me.Roy was brave with the side he picked. He chose not to tighten up the left hand side, and decided instead to let our attacking prowess be a form of defence. It worked on our right and sort of worked on the left,but Rooney did not get into attacking positions nowhere near enough to make their full back have second thoughts about bombing forward.The one time Rooney did get into a decent position on the left hand side we scored from it. It was clear who was winning the battle though and I would have pushed Baines up and moved Shaw in. If Rooney is going to continue in that role then he is going to have to get through an awful lot more work than he did last night and I'm not sure that's possible as he did put a shift in. And what in gods name was going on with our corners? No prep work whatsoever which I'm surprised about.
So all in all a premier league performance with a sprinkling of the championship thrown in.
Two things. If you are going to play a holding midfielder (or two)they need to be decent. Henderson and SG aren't so play Wiltshire for a more fluid midfield. Without majority of ball we need to counter with pace so Welbeck not Rooney or Lambert.
Two things. If you are going to play a holding midfielder (or two)they need to be decent. Henderson and SG aren't so play Wiltshire for a more fluid midfield. Without majority of ball we need to counter with pace so Welbeck not Rooney or Lambert.
If fully fit, the Sturridge Sterling partnership should not be altered, it was the one thing that worked really well. This partnership should not be broke up just to include Rooney, who is out of form and seems to spend most of the game aimlessly wandering around midfield. Reputations count for nothing during a hard fought match, how many world cups do we have to do poorly in, for putting this above form and passion.
Yes we lost, but that was a better performance than we ahve seen i n many a world cup final, we kept theball on the deck and played football. Even if they do not get past the qualifying stage they can come home heads held high if they continue to play like that.
Henderson certainly played a lot better than i was expecting.
I've a fear we may look back on this WC and see a pattern in disappointment in the England team over recent tournaments, and tat is trying to 'accomodate' our best players to the detriment of the 'team'.
We negatively impacted ourselves for a number of years sticking with the Gerrard / Lampard combo in the hope that it would suddenly work because they were two of our better players. It didn't.
We can still qualify, Spain lost their fist game and won it last time. It was a 100% improvement from the last time we played Italy, bottled it and played for a draw. Nice to see us attack teams, yes, the defence wasn't great but you didn't have to be bleeding Nostradamus to work that out. If we can find replacements in the squad for Gerrard, Lampard, Milner, Johnson, then that will be all the South Africa shit gone.........Except for one..........
A serious question. How many of us on here lending our learned opinion of where Roy went wrong actually have A) Any coaching experience at all or A coaching qualification, and if so what level? I have sod all, but I do tend to keep out of tactical debates as a result.
Comments
Edit; assuming of course the England squad are not avid followers of CL :-0
Espana lost their opening game 2-1 in 2010, but stuck to their game and refused to panic. So maybe, just maybe......
Fearless
Uruguay looked very poor. Could they be that much different with an injured Suarez?
As for yesterday, thought England put in a good shift and were beaten by a better side.
He chose not to tighten up the left hand side, and decided instead to let our attacking prowess be a form of defence. It worked on our right and sort of worked on the left,but Rooney did not get into attacking positions nowhere near enough to make their full back have second thoughts about bombing forward.The one time Rooney did get into a decent position on the left hand side we scored from it.
It was clear who was winning the battle though and I would have pushed Baines up and moved Shaw in. If Rooney is going to continue in that role then he is going to have to get through an awful lot more work than he did last night and I'm not sure that's possible as he did put a shift in.
And what in gods name was going on with our corners? No prep work whatsoever which I'm surprised about.
So all in all a premier league performance with a sprinkling of the championship thrown in.
Johnson Cahill Jags Baines
Henderson
Stirling Barkley Ox or lalana
Rooney or lambert
Sturridge
Only 4 teams out of 42 have lost their first game in the world cup and still qualified. But I still have hope.
I've a fear we may look back on this WC and see a pattern in disappointment in the England team over recent tournaments, and tat is trying to 'accomodate' our best players to the detriment of the 'team'.
We negatively impacted ourselves for a number of years sticking with the Gerrard / Lampard combo in the hope that it would suddenly work because they were two of our better players. It didn't.
The same i fear will now happen with Rooney.
It was a 100% improvement from the last time we played Italy, bottled it and played for a draw.
Nice to see us attack teams, yes, the defence wasn't great but you didn't have to be bleeding Nostradamus to work that out.
If we can find replacements in the squad for Gerrard, Lampard, Milner, Johnson, then that will be all the South Africa shit gone.........Except for one..........