QF4 - England v Italy

[The Somalian]

Roy's gas at the press conference >>>>

Fits England well make me a fucking coach and mike kane as my assistant

[Rsonist]

30 Cristiano Ronaldo has had more shots in his first four games at Euro 2012 than the entire England squad (29) had at the tournament

20 Italy had more shots on target in their quarter-final match than England had in total in their four matches in Ukraine

88 England conceded more than twice as many shots to France, Sweden, Ukraine and Italy than they had against those teams

39 England had on average 39% of the possession in their four games, their lowest figure at a tournament since Euro 1980

29 Ashley Young and James Milner put in 29 crosses in the four games. Only three reached an England team-mate

300 England averaged 300 passes per match. The four semi-finalists have averaged 479

15 England completed only 15 passes in the 15 minutes of the second period of extra-time against Italy

18 England's most successful passing combination against Italy was the goalkeeper Joe Hart to the substitute striker Andy Carroll

115 Andrea Pirlo had more passes against England than England's four starting midfielders had against Italy

18 Mesut Ozil has created 18 chances in Germany's four games. Steven Gerrard, England's most prolific chance creator, has made six

102 England ran on average 102km in their four matches. Italy ran 7.5km further on average per match

86 England have had the most tackles in the tournament, with Steven Gerrard's 18 the most of any player

29 England have blocked the most shots at Euro 2012, 17 more than Italy, 19 more than Germany, 21 more than Portugal and 24 more than Spain

[mark_INIESTA_davies]

Pirlo > Iniesta

This is a fact

Just imagine if Pirlo could play left wing and bottle all responsibility and cut in from the wing with plenty of space he'd probably still have 5 years left and be world player of the year at least twice in last 6 years.

The fact he plays centrally and dominates against the greatest midfielders on offer suggests he's out there alone in that role ahead of Xavi, Iniesta etc.

The guy is underated, should be named world player of the year next year.

[The Somalian]

So

Style of play don't come into it no?

[Kompressor]

England qualify for tournament - check

England under perform - Check

England fail again on Penalties, - check

Some scroats on the internet make comments leaning towards racial hatred/intollerence, denouncing any ethnic involvement in THEIR team- check,

heads up lads the cycle will repeat when qualification to the world cup starts,

anyway, The only stand out player from the match was Rooney, his performance was utterly amazing. (no other word for it)

happy Welbeck didn't miss a penalty and is going on his holidays injury free.

roll on August.

YOU MEAN AMAZINGLY BAD RIGHT?

Honestly didn't think I'd have to specify what I meant by this,

But so be it.

Yes he was bad, very very very bad.

[Benicio del Toney]

Pirlo >>>>>>

Handed out coaching manuals out there, then did that at the end

Nearly choked on Cheese and Onion Walkers.

[Benicio del Toney]

I remember them times, mentioned it before last night's game when Pirlo raped England U21's in 2002 on Channel 5

He played off some striker can't remember his name who was replaced by Massimo Maccarone

10 years later Pirlo can be trialled for the same crime because the new law when it comes to double jeopardy

That was the game Maccarone scored the best goal I've ever seen in my life?

[Benicio del Toney]

England will win shit when they have this team

----------------Hart------------------

Walker Jones Smalling Bertrand

---------------Wilshere--------------

Shelvey/Lansbury Huddlestone Ox

---------------Lallana/Welbeck----------------

--------------------Sturridge---------

Edit: Not sure if Welbeck is gonna be a true no.9

[O Fenomeno]

When Pirlo clipped to him and flicked over the defender and hit first time?

[Benicio del Toney]

When Pirlo clipped to him and flicked over the defender and hit first time?

Can't even find it but yea.

Goal was fully fucked.

[Benicio del Toney]

Found it.

The defender died after that 1st touch.

[Benicio del Toney]

OIIIII

LEAVE IT!

[darkman]

I have to say I've totally given up with Rooney now. I used to back him all the time but now I'm not sure if hes really top class. His record / performances since has been Euro 2004 has been poor

As for A. Young I've always said he's not that guy and not even cos he missed the pen. F*ck knows what Fergie see's in him. Never a Manchester United player

Pirlo played well yesterday but look how much time and space he had. It wasn't hard for him

Balotelli is sh*t too

[Benicio del Toney]

I have to say I've totally given up with Rooney now. I used to back him all the time but now I'm not sure if hes really top class. His record / performances since has been Euro 2004 has been poor

As for A. Young I've always said he's not that guy and not even cos he missed the pen. F*ck knows what Fergie see's in him. Never a Manchester United player

Pirlo played well yesterday but look how much time and space he had. It wasn't hard for him

Balotelli is sh*t too

Never a truer word spoken, he has decent delivery in the box and that's about it.

[O Fenomeno]

When Pirlo clipped to him and flicked over the defender and hit first time?

Can't even find it but yea.

Goal was fully fucked.

Truly fucked

Cech was sick especially in the final

Frau (what a fraud)

Robinson (concede a lot of goals)

Hugo Viana (the way man destroyed England)

Pirlo (SNM, to think Parker/Barry/Defoe were involved in that game as well)

[O Fenomeno]

I have to say I've totally given up with Rooney now. I used to back him all the time but now I'm not sure if hes really top class. His record / performances since has been Euro 2004 has been poor

As for A. Young I've always said he's not that guy and not even cos he missed the pen. F*ck knows what Fergie see's in him. Never a Manchester United player

Pirlo played well yesterday but look how much time and space he had. It wasn't hard for him

Balotelli is sh*t too

Never a truer word spoken, he has decent delivery in the box and that's about it.

Like I said when the squad was announced it's not difficult anymore to be an automatic starter as winger (none of the wingers have that fantasy about them)

[O Fenomeno]

The thing is if you truly watched Euro 2004

It was only against Croatia when Rooney excelled thanks to the counter attacking

Croatia dominated that game( to think that was their worst squad since independence)

Rooney went missing against France apart from one piece of skill on Zidane and that run which led to the penalty.(I can't blame him for that because France dominated that game)

/

Excuses for his failure this time

Lack of games? (Arshavin was in the same situation at Euro 2008)

Played out of position?

Personal problems again?

[stacksbranning]

I have to say I've totally given up with Rooney now. I used to back him all the time but now I'm not sure if hes really top class. His record / performances since has been Euro 2004 has been poor

As for A. Young I've always said he's not that guy and not even cos he missed the pen. F*ck knows what Fergie see's in him. Never a Manchester United player

Pirlo played well yesterday but look how much time and space he had. It wasn't hard for him

Balotelli is sh*t too

lets not confuse his club form with his country form . That would be silly

[Uncle Man]

nah from what ive seen ashley young is ok for united and indeed ingland in a friendly, just lacks the bottle to play on a world stage apparently

obv i dont know there may be underlying reasons, maybe walcott was bullying him on the team bus or something i dont know

wazza is ok for united cos he is always put in goalscoring situations with guys like nani feeding him goals

wayne doesnt have a bad pass though but he is a fat bastard they should play him in midfield and have a few sharper lads up top

but on the strength of his work for england in the games that count noone can say rooney has earnt a place on the bus

and by bus i mean team because england need to think past this tactic of we'll play for a draw then hope to win on penalties

yr not those penalty taking guys, so try to teach the next gen to string passes from defence to midfield to forward to back of the net instead of hoof it up field then get scott parker to dive in front of the ensuing shot

(rio is a defender who can pass the ball tbh)

england are lacking so much in basic football skill that the fact that we go through this rigmarole of 'what went wrong' every couple of years is truly baffling, england are not a top ten footballing nation because they won the world cup 50 years ago on home soil,their supporters need to slap themselves with some realism and realise that they won their group because it was a weak group and they got lucky. their billionaire players can hardly.play.football, no matter how much money you pay them that wont change.england are a very average footballing nation with no talented players on the horizon. so i mean you can talk about what went wrong but at the end of the day, you dont have very good players you cant win anything with these guys. why are you crippling your economy to pay there wages btw? is it so you can fantasize about being glorious?

[JOHN DOE]

lol @ terry

[Seydou]

"Your wiiiiife, cuz" is what he's whispering

/

@ Umbro though.

[Da Luv Doc]

Lets face it, England are shit because they use mediocre players and hodgson is a bad manager and a bad tactician. How can defending and being stiff win you a game?

[The Somalian]

The switch on rooney>>>

Every paper needs a scapegoat

[stacksbranning]

The switch on rooney>>>

Every paper needs a scapegoat

[O Fenomeno]

Fully deserved