Group D - England v Costa Rica & Italy v Uruguay

[Flojo]

 

 

He is hypocrite this you cannot deny

You seem to be talking in random fits and spurts, what are you alluding to?

You need to stop defending Gerrard especially in England shirt because he hasn't had a good game since that game against Germany@Euro 2000.

Gerrard said players like Cristiano Ronaldo are spoiling football(in his own autobiography) by diving.

We all know Gerrard loves a dive and even tried one last night.

 

 

I aren't interested in defending Gerrard, I've never been shy about speaking on his shortcomings in the 10 years I've been using this forum / RWD so trying to reduce it to "flojo sticking up for Liverpool players" is bullshit.

 

I come on here for a laugh and joke just like everyone else but sometimes I wouldn't mind a discussion about the game that goes beyond people saying 'I told you so', 'lol at (insert player name here)' etc etc.

 

You made a point and I asked you to expand on it then you posted some random tidbits that made me check I wasn't arguing with a female.

 

He is hypocrite this you cannot deny

 

Gerrard loves the blame game as well

[O Fenomeno]

The post with the headlines and also the autobiography diving comment

I explained the reasons behind them comments

[Zizouz]

 

 

 

 

England got nothing to lose, take Bielsa, give him the keys to the city

 

least it'll be entertaining and he'll leave something worthwhile behind 

 

 

 

Won't see another foreign English manager till after the next WC imo.

 

They'll let Roy slip up at the Euro's then give him the next WC.

 

Probably get 0 points for the whole thing.

Then people will want a foreign manager.

 

 

Roy weren't built for this 'proactive' style they kept talking about

 

hindsight's a bitch but he got further playing his 'small country in a big world' system

 

coulda took Terry and his pal Cole and did the same as he did during the Euros - achieve a respectable knock-out-stage failure

 

this tek era people on here talk about will never happen, not with the coaches they select and the lack of foresight/politicking involved

 

look at Chile/Mexico - best coached sides in the tournament judging by their play as compared to their personnel

 

then again Bielsa's like using a cheat code

 

but Martinez  took over Everton from Moyes and within a season they're playing some of the best football in England

 

so surely it can't be that hard - under the right coaching - to play something resembling 21st centrury football on the international stage

 

just contradicted myself, this must be how Kim feels when she types them long rants 

 

 

I'm not a fan of Hodgson and expected a safety first approach at this World Cup, but after seeing how he lined up against Italy I accepted that I was wrong and gave him credit for stepping outside his comfort zone. The team played on the front foot and took the game to Italy, were it not for his reluctance to address the Rooney situation more directly I think he'd have got a result.

 

After that game I was optimistic about the Uruguay game but it seems like the team resorted to what I expected him to do for the Italy game, I think this is the reason yesterday was so disappointing for people. I was speaking with someone the other day who tried to say the performance against Italy wasn't much different than the game in 2012, I had to bow out and accept some people can't separate performances and results. 

 

The fact that the same things get said by the same people regardless of how the game went just makes me dismiss their opinion.

 I'd love to hear people's opinions on where it went wrong that go further than shitty soundbites that they throw out after every game as a way of saying 'look I told you so and so is sh*t blah blah blah'. 

 

 

The yellow is why I mentioned the policking involved. The fact that Rooney still got selected even after that Italy performance and was on the pitch for 90 minutes against Uraguay (his goal means f*ck all, the guy who was meant to be the striker had to produce a moment of magic to break the opposition down) is a testament to it. Hodgson aint stupid and neither are the pundits. They can see what we see. It's just a case of Rooney being more valuable for nonfootballing reasons  than anything else else.  How one side of the pitch can look so balanced and involve so much swift, quick and incisive play against Italy and the other be a destitute land where you get overrun for 45 minutes is ridiculous. The lopsidedness of the first half vs Italy was a joke and Baines did well to hold it down. Wherever Rooney got moved to - if it werent upfront - resulted in a broken link in the chain. It just hurt the team a lot more when that broken link was slap bang in the middle of the attacking band.

 

Hodgson himself could have done more even if he was handicapped by accommodating Rooney. His attempts at changing the game at times were strange. He took off Welbeck against Italy and although Welbeck by his standards wasn't fantastic, he at least was doing things off the ball to make Sterling and whoever else's life easier when they were on it. When he went off a lot of that ceased to exist between the players (e.g. Rooney stealing the ball off of Barkley) and Italy began to sit back. Sterling became isolated on the wing as well and had to try beat 2-3 players on his own. Same again during the Uraguay game. I'm not 100% sure why Lambert was a go to sub though. If Rooney had to stay on the pitch put him upfront and out of the way and bring on players who could help the team break the opposition down. Too often after his substitutions the team would get even more disjointed. Towards the end of the game, Italy in my opinion were comfortable with what England had to offer.

 

As for the rest of the team, you don't really get  to see what they are truly capable of when their passing avenues are getting restricted like they were. Baines and Johnson didn't get much of a chance to get forward like you'd expect because that requires a certain level of ball retention in midfield - something we didn't get to see too often until Rooney was moved upfront. England are a decent side, I just don't know if Roy is the guy to bring that level of football out of them. I was thinking if he couldn't do it with the shadow of Rooney looming large over the squad, maybe his best chance would have been to play the way he did at Fulham. Maybe Rooney could've be his Zamora like Toney was saying

 

 

[Mr. Martinez]

:lol:

I need to stop walking around grinning bare teeth

people getting pissed off

:lol:

[Michel Kane]

worst thing that could happen for england now is they play the youngers and smash costa rica

Co2 levels will be mad

I would LOVE it.

[Seydou]

I hope they tear Costa Rica.

[O Fenomeno]

 

[Mame Biram Diouf]

Roy gone Woy

[Benicio del Toney]

That ain't a bad team at all.

 

Looks better imo

[Fearless-Guy]

Wilshere and lamps will get exposed easily but looking forward to lallana and barkley

[Guest Chelsea Jack]

Is anyone bothered bout this game?

[Bruno Di Gradi]

watch fat frank score a banger the wanker.

 

Costa Rica gonna have Jones and Smalling cutting shapes disgustingly

[Adotbiz]

Haha Jones gonna be pulling them faces as well ha

[Benicio del Toney]

Lampard has more of a football brain than Gerrard tbh

[Mame Biram Diouf]

Smalling will have Joel on lock

[Rsonist]

Terrible coverage of Italy and Uraguay from ITV

[O Fenomeno]

Not feeling this commentator at all for Italy-Uruguay

Its like he is reporting for Futbol Mundial

[O Fenomeno]

Terrible coverage of Italy and Uraguay from ITV

pmsl

[O Fenomeno]

Verratti is back

Liking this lineup

[O Fenomeno]

3-5-2