2014 World Cup Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy

[War]

Michael O?Neill: England?s pace can cause overhyped Uruguay problems | Football | The Guardian

 

[MasterBlaster76]

My take

Was one of our better performances I've seen, that does not say a lot but it's something to build from for once.

Normally their is no positives, last night there was.

Sterling
Sturridge

Even Welbeck had a decent game, I'm his biggest critic but he put a good shift in.

Negatives

Gerrard, did not get involved enough, look at Pirlo an equal old head but had energy all night.

Rooney, poor, out of form, did not do his job on the left, (although not his fault in a way as he is not a left sided player)

If we had taken Cole I would have had him at left back with Baines on the left wing in this match, would have been solid at the back with Baines delivery further forward.

Hindsight hey.

Moving on, pretty much same again but I would fit Barkley in somewhere, probably for Rooney

That's a good summing up and nice to see you give credit where it's due to Welbeck even though you're obviously not a fan, ha ha! If Rooney is in the team, he has to be played off the striker. He. Is. Not. A. Winger. Do you understand that, Mr Hodgson? I mean for Christ's sake, you played a winger in Rooney's position (Sterling) and played Rooney on the wing - what can he do on the wing other than cross the ball which luckily resulted in a goal for us. Sterling himself was a revelation - the entire cinema where I watched the game thought that early shot was a goal and Italy were terrified of him throughout the match.

For me, England were the better team - Italy were very lucky to win that. A draw would've been a fair result but as we all know, you don't always get the fair result in football.

Omitting Ashley Cole was a huge mistake by Hodgson - the guy is among the best fullbacks in the world - there aren't many England players you can say that about. To leave him out of the squad was idiotic.

It was a relief to turn up against a 'bigger' team and really give them a good game - it's a long time since we've been able to say that, although I still want to keep England far away from the clutches of the likes of Germany and Holland. Barkley must start against Uruguay.

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Michael O?Neill: England?s pace can cause overhyped Uruguay problems | Football | The Guardian

Agreed. We play like we did against Italy, we beat Uruguay and Costa Rica in my book.

 

[War]

Lugano out, if ENG attack don't make a real mess of that defense now, something wrong...

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Surely we'd want Lugano to be playing as he is a liability.

 

[Dipak]

Surely we'd want Lugano to be playing as he is a liability.

On the bench for west brom, and he's the Uruguay skipper.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I'd have to fancy england tonight, uruguay look a bit of a mess.

the only caveat is england have a history of bringing out the best in great players, the most recent example being ibrahimovic running riot a year or so ago, and if suarez is having a stormer it's anyones game.

 

[ParkedTheBus]

Will be interesting to see Uruguay's back four today. Their captain is out and so is one of their fullbacks. They can either opt to start Coates as a CB and and Fucile as a fullback or even start Gimenez as a CB.

 

[War]

Surely we'd want Lugano to be playing as he is a liability.

Ye, but the fact that he is still their main defender, what they have in reserve ain't great.

 

[War]

Gabriele Marcotti - England's obsession with Wayne Rooney is madness - ESPN FC

Somebody ought to give Marcotti a medal for this article.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Gabriele Marcotti - England's obsession with Wayne Rooney is madness - ESPN FC

Somebody ought to give Marcotti a medal for this article.

Agreed - the media do not do the team any favours - everything from constantly ramming '66 down their throats to this stupid picking at individual players. Leave them alone so they can concentrate on the matter in hand! Sometimes I really hate the English media.

 

[War]

 

[Lee1981]

Bloody disgrace

Disgusted

Utter utter crap.

Can't blame. Refs, weather, pitch.

Only blame ourselves, one of the worst performances I've ever seen by an England team, and I've seen many

Worlds and worlds behind the top nations, when we go into a game as favourite or slight favourite we cannot handle the pressure

When we played Italy we was the underdog, hence why we played with freedom, tonight was just business as usual.

doesn't do it justice

 

[zimrahil]

Now you know why expectations were so low leading up to the tournament

 

[Dutch]

Very very very predictable; what is Joe Hart doing in goal? Is there really no alternative?

 

[War]

This is was old England tonight, all nerves - where was the pace & energy from the Italy game!

Sterling never got a chance to run at their full-backs since we where so slow in our approach play.

All the pre W-Cup talk of trying to recall Terry & keep Ash cole has fully come back to haunt Hodgson. Not many teams have solid defenses in this w-cup if at all - but they probably should have been here cause in both games because the Jagielka/Cahill partnership was well exposed & Baines was a bit iffy at times defensively - although a bit better going forward this game.

I'm not even going to worry about England qualifying right now, to much favours needed even if they win vs Costa Rica.

This essentially then end of talented but failed generation, been a difficult 16 years.