England vs Italy. Saturday 14th June. 11pm

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

I'm not entirely sure what Gerrard and Henderson did wrong last night. Our midfield wasn't utterly overrun, we weren't completely dominated by the demigod Pirlo like we were in 2012, even if he did have a good game. It was hardly some masterclass though. People thought their midfield (ie Pirlo) would swat us away, and that we should guard against that. We do that and people complain they weren't attacking or creating something from thin air, despite their role anchoring the centre. Which they did. All of Italy's play came down the left. But hey, Stevie Me haha slip lol hollywood ball lmao.
One player can't press on their own. The whole point is that a number of players do it together. Only Welbeck was really looking to do that. If Henderson presses on his own all he does is leave a gap. On what evidence people think Wilshere would make such a difference playing deeper, god only knows. Maybe he can injure one of the players he runs into.
Players like Veratti, De Rossi and Marchisio get the ball from defence and move it forward, they are calm, controlled and cultured. Gerrard and Henderson do it and they're anonymous because they aren't "driving the team forward". And that's not to mention the sheer numbers game, given that we were somewhat top heavy.

Sterling has come on leaps and bounds in the last few months. He isn't just a Lennon or SWP, he actually has tactical awareness over and above his age. He's cleverer than people give him credit for.

It's painfully obvious who stuck out as being poor. But the fat sack of shit won't get dropped so the same problems will continue. Unsurprisingly we went to shit when he was made the focal point, put centrally and eventually up front. We were at our best when we had fluidity between Sterling, Sturridge and Welbeck. We fell down when Sterling was stuck out on the right, our attack stuck to rigid positions and it was easy to defend against.
Our subs did nothing when they came on. It baffled me to see Barkley get heaped with praise.
FSoS's game really is summed up by a terrible miss, robbed his own player and smashed it into orbit and that corner.

Baines was hideously out of his depth, but got no protection from the FSoS. Rio was pathetic. Neville was the most idiotic choice for co-commentator.

All in all, it wasn't awful.