Picking Raheem Sterling is an incredibly pleasing and positive move by Roy Hodgson. It's a shame he has still kept Danny Welbeck in the side though. There is no-one in the world, even Welbeck's family, who want him in the squad, let alone team. A truly average player.
It's because of that I am going to say England will not win. As an Italian in England I can tell you that Sterling and Sturridge terrify us (especially me as a Liverpool fan who sees them every week) but Rooney and Welbeck don't in the slightest and I feel they'll counter each other out. Gonna go for a 1-1 or a sneaky late Italian winner. Super Mario's time to shine...
That was a bit disappointing from England's point of view, best I've seen them play in ages, but didn't win. Sterling was great.
Italy were solid, and that Marchisio goal was brilliantly worked and executed. Not sure what else to say, other than Chiellini's tackle on Sturridge was pretty horrible. If he's injured I reckon England's in trouble.
Sturridge and Balo showed their class, both had one chance and scored. Rooney and Baines were a catastrophe on the left. Love listening to Rio on the Beeb trying to convince people Rooney still has it. He's more interested in his money than football now, as she showed when he held United to ransom again this season just gone.
We looked class. Pirlo is just... sexy. He looks like the only player playing in real time while everyone else (bar Sterling) was in slow motion.
"Oh smeg. What the smegging smegs he smegging done? He's smegging killed me."
I don't think it helped that England stood off Italy for the entire game. They were trying to lure them out of defensive positions and play counter attacking football, but it backfired because it just meant Italy could control the pace of the game for most of the 90 minutes.
No one closed anyone down, just let Italy pass it about at their leisure. And with players like Pirlo pinging the ball up the pitch without even looking, you're asking for trouble. The same goes for the likes of Marchisio, who if given the chance, will have a shot from just about any range.
Overall, I feel like the static defending was easily the biggest problem England had.
Bah. Stick in Shaw. Lalalalana on the left, sterling right. Gerrard, wilshere, barkley in the centre and Sturridge lone striker. Rooney if needed can come on whenever.
I thought England played well last night. It's the best I've seen them lose in a long time, if that makes sense -- and I think they deserved the draw. The Rooney dilemma's a difficult one, because I personally think he should be in the team, but I'm not really sure where he fits in. Obviously Sturridge, Sterling, etc, all deserve to be in the team as well.
I think if we keep playing like that, though, we definitely have a chance against Uraguay and Costa Rica - there were a lot of positives IMO.
I think the group is pretty open but we'll probably need to beat Uruguay, I can see Costa Rica causing further upset against Italy. I say play Sturridge on his own because our defence is pretty average, that's why we should play 5 in midfield and try to keep the ball. Playing three strikers when you have jagielka and Cahill at the back is suicide against the top teams. We lost to Germany, Chile and now Italy . I appreciate the more positive approach but we should have drawn at the very least. Hopefully we won't get a Uruguay backlash and then we can crush Costa Rica.
As a Liverpool fan I can tell you Danny S is best utilised as a lone striker with pace and creativity behind him (Sterling and Lallana) or partnered by a genius, which England just don't have. If they want to progress from the group then Hodgson needs to grow a pair fast and make the big decisions and drop Rooney, Welbeck and even Baines (he was shocking, all the fuss pre-game was on Johsnon who was surprisingly solid for once). Again as a Kopite I can tell you that just won't happen as Hodgson is a turd with no clue whatsoever to what he's doing. We'd have been relegated if he hadn't been sacked. If Sturridge is injured however I'd actually try playing Sterling as a false nine or even Lambert.
As for the midfield, Henderson does a lot of dirty work that goes completely unnoticed. He's one of those players that only his clubs fans appreciate. He needs to moved up a wee bit though as, for Liverpool, he is best doing Gerrard's leg work while yesterday Hodgson played him more or less behind Stevie G. Wilshire for me shouldn't play, he's great in an Arsenal shirt but as soon as he puts white on he just turns into a headless chicken, like it saps his confidence. Barkley should be tried against Costa Rica but I'm still unconvinced by him, for every good thing he does my Everton neighbours gloss over the nine dreadful things he did around it. He's still young and raw though so that will change but he's yet to do anything in a big game and Uruguay is going to be huge now. If Suarez is fit then he will single-handedly slaughter you as an act of retribution for the FA/English press. Jagielka best not play against him either by the way, he terrorises him like Torres used to with Vidic.
I think you have to look at Hodgson as well. Teams in need of direction need a good manager to shout at them from the touchline. Where was Hodgson? Sitting on the bench chewing his fingers. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence does it?
I think you have to look at Hodgson as well. Teams in need of direction need a good manager to shout at them from the touchline. Where was Hodgson? Sitting on the bench chewing his fingers. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence does it?
Spot on. He's a clown. Hearing him refuse to criticise Alex Fergusson when he accused Torres of diving at Old Trafford ("If Alex said that then who am I to disagree") sums him up perfectly. I was livid. Would Kenny Dalglish have tolerated that? Or Rodgers, Mourinho, Wenger, etc? They'd have told him where to go, and a lot less politely. He's just not good enough and needs to swan off back to Hogwarts delivering mail.
I don't really agree with the drop Rooney talk at all, but I fear I may be outnumbered on that front.
Why do you think he should play though? What does he offer? There's better players in all positions than Rooney who never, *ever* performs when it matters most.
"Oh smeg. What the smegging smegs he smegging done? He's smegging killed me."
Why do you think he should play though? What does he offer? There's better players in all positions than Rooney who never, *ever* performs when it matters most.
He's 10 goals shy of being England's greatest ever goalscorer (I think?), was United's best performer by far last season (albeit in a poor team), and is, in my opinion, capable of changing games on his own. I get the criticism about him not turning up to the big matches, but I think you lose more than you gain by leaving him out.
With Rooney I think you may as well start someone else against Uraguay and see what happens. Can't help but feel that Rooney gets extremely tired later on, especially in warm climates - can't take the heat. May be better used as a substitute at this juncture, depending on how well other players work.
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