England vs Italy

[One Planer]

For me it was the same old sob story.

Players picked by the club they play for and the name on their backs rather than their form.

Rooney, Milner and Young, Terry to name a few.

Milner can't even get into his club side in recent memory, yet he is picked over a bright young lad in Ox pretty much the whole tournament, why?

Young was poor from game 1, yet still manages to find the starting 11! Why is obviuos, he plays for United.

If they wre both still at Villa would they have even been picked?

Rooney wasn't even remotley match fit and was blowing hard after half an hour. Why the manager can't see this is beyond me!

Same old Terry, leggy and slow, but of the 4 mentioned he was probably the best.. At least he made an effort to fulfil his role within the team.

Tactics were shocking, but what do you expect, Woy has made a living out of those tactics, but sadly don't work at international level.

 

[Marshy77]

I don't agree with getting picked by the club they play for but I do partially agree about picked on name. Rooney should have been replaced as should Gerrard after he picked up his injury, he did nothing for the last 50 mins (apart from the pen), Young was ineffective and we didn't play to Walcott when he came on so that was a waste of a sub.

 

[FairwayDodger]

Lucky escape for England, if you ask me. After being outplayed by two mediocre, toothless teams - France and Italy - I can only imagine the cricket score the current German team would have run up against them.

Amazed that anyone can think the BBC commentary was biased against England. We always complain about it up here but accept that the commentators support England so it's only natural. Last night, however, was the worst I can remember. Lawrenson should never work for them again - he abandoned all attempt at analysis and became a cheerleader, admittedly a rather depressed cheerleader given the way the game progressed!

The absolute nadir was when one of the Italians started limping and the commentary clowns were going on about how they hoped it was a serious injury - unacceptable IMO - they weren't even joking. Too many other examples of bias to list here.....

I think if BBC Scotland put their own commentary team in more scots would support England. My OH started the match willing England on but switched to Italy after around 80 minutes due entirely to the commentary!

 

[Val]

Sorry Valentino, but I disagree wholeheartedly.

The commentary team don't have to be more impartial at all. If a neutral fan is watching the game via an English broadcaster - then they should accept that the commentators are going to be hoping that their side win.

Why exactly should they be impartial?

They were broadcasting to the UK not just England, and my response initially was to a post made complaining that they weren't more biased.

 

[Mungoscorner]

I thought Shearer was pretty unbiased and accurate with his comments,Lineker however was his usual idiotic self.He said England controlled the game for 20 minutes at the start,well he was obviously watching a differrent game to me,because i don't remember them controlling the game for 20 seconds let alone 20 minutes.

 

[A1ex]

The think the defence and Joe Hard did well. At times they were caught ball watching and got cut open by Pirlo's vision but they did defend with everything they had and made some excellent tackles/blocks.

The midfield was dire, excluding Gerrard. Upfront we just looked so average. Rooney looked about 50 out there, he could hardly move.

That said, with such an average side we managed to give ourselves a chance of scraping through on pens. The semi finals would've been an overachievment.

Italy were absolutely average aswell, bar the class of Andrea Pirlo. Who at his age stood out and totally bossed the game.

 

[FairwayDodger]

The think the defence and Joe Hard did well. At times they were caught ball watching and got cut open by Pirlo's vision but they did defend with everything they had and made some excellent tackles/blocks.

I agree with this. I'm no John Terry fan but surprised he's picked up some stick on this thread; I thought he was England's man of the match with a few vital challenges and blocks. Possibly England's man of the tournament actually from the games I saw.

 

[Whee]

After the first few mintues, where Italy almost rattled England, there was a period where we played nice football, worked a couple of openings and almost grabbed an opener ourselves. No, not domination, but we played football.

It was an open and frantic 20 minutes, then the Italians got a hold on the game and slowed the pace right down.

People waxing lyrical about Pirlo this morning - he made two tremendour passes, granted, but the rest of it was easy, not a white shirt within 10 yards of him, I could've stroked passes around like he did for christ sake.

England were shattered, with Rooney and Wellbeck not working hard enough off the ball, meaning the midfield had to do more than their fair share - it also meant we dropped deeper.

Still, that said, if you're game plan involves taking it to penalties, then at least be sure you can take them. Cole and Young should be ashamed of themselves this morning.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

As a Scotsman watching England play, as Mungo says after the crazed build up and ten minutes of the English comentators, you desperately wan't to see whoever they play against win.
Why do you guys put up with such drivel. We shall send you Jim Spence down for the next game so you can understand proper commentry. I put it on mute and enjoyed a close game.

Good defence by England but some of the players did not look fit especially Rooney in his two games.
With about 25% of first team players in the EPL being English I think that this is as good as it gets for England.

 

[Snelly]

Poor. As expected.

When you take England's best players out of the premier league, you can see them for what they really are. Technically sub-standard, tactically immature and devoid of football intelligence.

For example, it is easy for Milner to look like a class act when he is playing in a front line of Tevez, Aguero and Silva. Any English wide midfielder from the conference upwards would look a decent player in that company. But substitute them for the best in England and they look like very average players.

The FA are the problem. Were they to adopt the latest German blueprint for success that Klinsmann implemented with Joachim Low, then we may see some improvement over the next decade but sadly this is highly unlikely. The FA are just talkers - no action.

Still, reasons to be cheerful. The rugby team managed a decent result on Saturday and we have the number 1 and 2 squash players in the world at the moment!

Time for us to switch focus to tennis now. Anyone but Murray mode switched on! Apologies in advance if anyone thinks that this is vile racist bile of course......

 

[bladeplayer]

As anyone that has read any of my football posts should tell you , i try to give an unbiased opinin on it ,
I think this England team lacked a bit of imagination , Wilshire should add that , how Young or the left winger from pool (name escapes me at min) is there before Adam Johnson is a puzzell to me & if the only back up to Gerrard is Henderson then theres a big problem for the future.. This England team did ok in the circumstances , BUT in my opinion he should have unleashed the new guard & let them gain big tournament experience , ok maybe they would have lost in the group stages but they were never going to win the thing anyhow , world cup should be a building step to being contenders for the next euros on 4 years . only way for the young gys to get experience is to play ..

Ok i know we lost to the Italians but IMO we gave them a better game , ok ye got a better result but we tried to play & by crikey we aint good .. we have to do the same , blood Mccarthy , Coleman, Duffy , McClean , .. bad vibes on this Irish Tournment but good players coming through ..

 

[Aztecs27]

The think the defence and Joe Hard did well. At times they were caught ball watching and got cut open by Pirlo's vision but they did defend with everything they had and made some excellent tackles/blocks.

The midfield was dire, excluding Gerrard. Upfront we just looked so average. Rooney looked about 50 out there, he could hardly move.

That said, with such an average side we managed to give ourselves a chance of scraping through on pens. The semi finals would've been an overachievment.

Italy were absolutely average aswell, bar the class of Andrea Pirlo. Who at his age stood out and totally bossed the game.

This is truth.

If nothing else, we showed our stoutness in defence in this tournament. I couldn't be happier that we have Joe Hart as our Number 1. At 25 years of age, he's the 1st world class keeper we've had in forever and I feel very happy about our defence going forward. Now, if we could just learn to score goals, we might actually win a few important games!

 

[bobmac]

If you pay a young man an obscene (word chosen carefully) amount of money every week for a lack lustre skill and performance, why do you expect them to raise their level for the "big games".
The England squad are all off home to their multi-million pound homes and lifestyles and probably care not a jot.
In fact, due to the wet weather, they have all probably jetted off to their second homes in the sun.

Who won by the way?

 

[Tiger]

If you pay a young man an obscene (word chosen carefully) amount of money every week for a lack lustre skill and performance, why do you expect them to raise their level for the "big games".
The England squad are all off home to their multi-million pound homes and lifestyles and probably care not a jot.
In fact, due to the wet weather, they have all probably jetted off to their second homes in the sun.

Who won by the way?

That's nonsense. It's like saying Westwood doesn't mind when he comes close to winning a Major but just falls short. Professional sportsman want to win. All the time.

 

[bobmac]

That's nonsense. It's like saying Westwood doesn't mind when he comes close to winning a Major but just falls short. Professional sportsman want to win. All the time.

But if Westwood doesn't win, it's HIS fault.
Footballers have the 'get out of jail free card' and just blame their team mates/condition of the pitch/manager/coach/tactics/etc etc.

Of course they want to win, but that's not enough incentive.
More money for winning?
Nah, got plenty
What happens when they lose? Nothing.
Why make the extra effort when I can blame someone else and still rake in the dosh.

 

[Tiger]

But if Westwood doesn't win, it's HIS fault.
Footballers have the 'get out of jail free card' and just blame their team mates/condition of the pitch/manager/coach/tactics/etc etc.

Of course they want to win, but that's not enough incentive.
More money for winning?
Nah, got plenty
What happens when they lose? Nothing.
Why make the extra effort when I can blame someone else and still rake in the dosh.

Sorry Bob gonna have to agree to disagree on this one. They want to win but unfortunately for them they just aren't good enough

 

[Qwerty]

They were broadcasting to the UK not just England, and my response initially was to a post made complaining that they weren't more biased.

I never once complained that the commentary team weren't more biased.
I was complaining about all the negative crap Lawrenson and his sidekick was spouting throughout the second half whilst the game was still 0-0.
England were poor but at 0-0 the game was still there to be won.

If Scotland were playing Italy in the quarter final of a major tournament and it was 0-0 with 10 mins to go would you be happy with a Scottish commentary team being so negative and telling you how great the opposition is.
I wouldnt be happy with it, and I'm English. And I'd be hoping Scotland got the result.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Some fair points made here, but the biggest disappointment from last nights game was the negative rigid tactics of hodgsons.

To play 2 central midfielders against Italy's 3 men in the middle of the park was deadly and they were always gonna be overrun and spend most of the game chasing the ball. The last 6 games have been exactly the same tactically and that sums Roy up.

Any other top manager would've adapted their tactics to the opposition and the game would not have been as 1sided as it was. There's some very good players in that England squad who I believe can keep the ball better than they showed.

All in all 4 very poor performances but got lucky in a couple of them to scrape through the group stages.

 

[FairwayDodger]

would you be happy with a Scottish commentary team being so negative and telling you how great the opposition is.

Not sure you've seen much of Scotland - that sounds like most games, certainly every time we're up against one of the "major" nations. It's called realism.

 

[Aztecs27]

Some fair points made here, but the biggest disappointment from last nights game was the negative rigid tactics of hodgsons.

To play 2 central midfielders against Italy's 3 men in the middle of the park was deadly and they were always gonna be overrun and spend most of the game chasing the ball. The last 6 games have been exactly the same tactically and that sums Roy up.

Any other top manager would've adapted their tactics to the opposition and the game would not have been as 1sided as it was. There's some very good players in that England squad who I believe can keep the ball better than they showed.

All in all 4 very poor performances but got lucky in a couple of them to scrape through the group stages.

Stu in "bashing Woy" post shocker!