England vs Italy. Saturday 14th June. 11pm

[GP]

Kieran Gibbs should've been our first choice LB.

[Niall_Quinn]

Van Gaal won't put up with Rooney's shit. RvC will be number #1 there without a doubt, it's not even a real competition. Judas is ten times the player. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we end up with the fat bald shit at our place. We'll have swapped the best striker in the world for the most hyped if that happens.

[GP]

Van Gaal won't put up with Rooney's shit. RvC will be number #1 there without a doubt, it's not even a real competition. Judas is ten times the player. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we end up with the fat bald shit at our place. We'll have swapped the best striker in the world for the most hyped if that happens.

It wouldn't surprise you if we signed a player on £300k?

Are you sure?

[Niall_Quinn]

I thought it was a dreadful performance masked by the novelty and excitement of seeing an English player with a bit of talent and pace. Italy had more gears if needed, they were so well organised compared to us. Like a machine compared to a bunch of spare parts cobbled together. Hodgson is a disaster zone. He hasn't got the bottle to pick his own team and tactics. The solution to Rooney playing badly on the flank was not to move him inside and fuck up the one positive we had going, it was to leave him out of the team in the first place. But when you have a gutless manager that's not an option. It's a fake debate to be wondering where Rooney and Sterling should play. The former hasn't justified a place in the squad, the latter has been doing the business all season. This is where the stupid vested interests that plague the English game really bite. The Rooney myth must be maintained, even if it costs us a run in the world's biggest tournament. That's how desperate they are too keep up the pretence.

[Niall_Quinn]

It wouldn't surprise you if we signed a player on £300k?

Are you sure?

He'll have to drop that significantly because he doesn't come close to justifying a quarter of it. He either sees his contract out playing second fiddle, or moves on and adjusts his pay to his talent. Don't think his massive ego can bear being #2. If it's not now then next season.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

B..b..but he's our only world class player!

[Marc Overmars]

Rooney is finished as a top level player. I bet he couldn't believe his luck when Moyes gave him his new deal.

[Syn]

Baines and Gerrard were shit. Very, very shit. England might've won that game if they weren't playing with 9 men. Rooney was also terrible but he might get more leeway because he provided that great cross for the goal. I'd start Lallana, Barkley and Milner over Henderson, Gerrard and Rooney.

Looking forward to England V Uruguay now. Uruguay seemed less organised than England, 2nd place could be anyone's.

[Power n Glory]

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.

Disagree on Henderson and Gerrard. Pirlo had far too much room and even though Italy didn't dominate the midfield and we weren't punished, it still doesn't make it right. Other than that, I agree. Sterling was amazing! Everything was running through him down the middle. Far from a SWP or Lennon. I have no idea why Woy tried to accommodate that lump of shit, Rooney, and shift Raheem to the wide right where we lost our attacking influence. It was a poor second half from then on and I hope Woy doesn't pull that stunt again. It's also alarming to see our players pull up with cramp in the first game. What the heck have they been doing in training?

Not an awful performance but some players need to step it up. That's including Wilshere. A small cameo but brainless as usual. Baines was terrible and it was a mistake to leave Cole.

[Penguin]

Some people are being a bit harsh on Baines. He was constantly outnumbered on the left and Candreva was always in acres of space. He should have done better in those situations but any left back would have trouble dealing with both Marchisio and Candreva with no help. Rooney should have been helping him out, or if the plan was to leave Rooney up on of the CMs should be there. Hodgson had no answer to it and showed up his lack of ability by ignoring the problem.

Wilshere was awful, he makes one pass and runs away from the ball to hide in some corner. Make yourself available FFS. And what does he do when he gets the ball? It's his signature move of dribbling into a crowd of players and losing the ball. I don't mean to single him out or anything but I expect more from him and he doesn't seem to be learning from his mistakes. I hope he's nowhere near the first team for us next season if he carries on like that.