England vs Italy (Group D) Saturday 14th June 2014

[Badgers]

Gary Lewin picked up a dislocated ankle, won't play this tournament.

A tragic loss but his replacement is on the plane over.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

A tragic loss

Ha. If there's one thing worse than a Gooner it's a physiotherapist.

 

[JTG]

Dunno. The groundsman himself had said it was pretty bad, and apparently they spray painted it green to make it look better on telly

But... it didn't seem to play that poorly tbh.

It didn't play poorly at all and I had heard that the spraying was purely cosmetic - yellowed grass doesn't mean it's a bad pitch

 

[Dr. Furface]

I think Costa Rica are the potential upsetters here. They have three points and plus 2 goal difference. If they they win one of, or draw both their last games they will qualify.

Never rule out Uruguay but they are in the weakest position. Worst goal difference than England and they still have to play Italy.

If Italy beat Costa Rica on Thurs - as expected - they'll be through and it's highly likely they'll rest some of their stars against Uruguay in their final game, so it's pretty crucial we beat Uruguay on Thurs, and by at least the same scoreline as Costa Rica did yesterday. In that scenario we'd qualify second with a draw against Costa Rica (er, I think). Alternatively, if Costa Rica should beat Italy, then they might not put up much resistance against us in the last game, but it won't matter much anyway if we don't beat Uruguay first, so it all rests on thursday's game for England.

 

[Badgers]

Too. Many. Permutations.

 

[JTG]

they'll be through and it's highly likely they'll rest some of their stars against Uruguay in their final game,

Bit of an assumption. Getting through is one thing, winning the group - and therefore avoiding a very good Colombia in the second round most likely - is another

 

[Corax]

It didn't play poorly at all and I had heard that the spraying was purely cosmetic - yellowed grass doesn't mean it's a bad pitch

Hard to tell just from a photo, but the yellowed bits looked like joins in the turf in the pics - which you'd expect to be ridged or dented.

But like you say, it didn't seem to affect the run of the ball, so maybe they sorted it somehow.

 

[ska invita]

There's a few reasons why this is.

The main is that we don't have players who are able to play that sort of football because of how youth training works in the UK. The kids play on bigger pitches than in other countries and so the strongest and fastest players stand out. Strong midfielders who barge someone off the ball, then hoof a long pass up the field for the fast forwards to ping in the goal. Whereas abroad they play on smaller pitches until they are much older so it's more about slotting the ball through, passing it around etc. It builds technique.

The other reason is the crowd demands it. Whenever we do have spells of passing the ball around at the back, waiting for an opening, you hear people shouting, "get it up field", booing and whatnot. It's seen as boring. Then the second the striker is within shooting distance of the goal you hear cries of "shoot!". Patient build up play gets criticised.

The two are no doubt linked, but until we sort out youth training, then it will continue.

I'm happy with either style, to be honest. If we play like we did last night all the time I'd be happy even if we lose. But if we played the more technical game and still lose it would be less of a spectacle and for nothing.

thats interesting, and i dont doubt it, but i have an additional element to add which is the weather: countries like spain, italy and brazil play their football in high temperatures - if you want to last the 90 you have to run less and only expend energy when absolutely necessary... by contrast english football is played under average conditions of a light drizzle where running around more than you have to is essential not to get a cold.

I dont want England to play boring football, and Id rather they go out in playing exciting football, but I do think we still need to move a little closer towards that technical holding play than we do at present.

Re Rooney, when alls said and done if it wasnt for him itd have been 2-0 last night, and he came a whisker away from scoring in his own right

If that had gone in it would be a different conversation today

 

[Fez909]

Italy's passing accuracy was the highest in a World Cup match since 1966 (93.2%)

 

[Fez909]

England's was 91%, which is their highest since 1966 as well.

 

[ska invita]

England's was 91%, which is their highest since 1966 as well.

it was a really good game i thought, lots of quality - really enjoyed it - can wait to sit on the sofa all day and drown in more! havent had a chance to do that yet...

 

[Badgers]

Italy's passing accuracy was the highest in a World Cup match since 1966 (93.2%)

1966 eh?

 

[JTG]

1966 eh?

 

[Badgers]

it was a really good game i thought, lots of quality - really enjoyed it

I enjoyed it too really. Never like seeing England lose but I did not sit there feeling as annoyed and frustrated as I have done.

 

[The39thStep]

Get rid of Phil Neville on the commentary,he makes Michael Owen sound fascinating

 

[Badgers]

Get rid of Phil Neville on the commentary,he makes Michael Owen sound fascinating

Is Joey Barton busy?

 

[Mungy]

wazza lost his edge a while ago. he's still good mind, just not as good as he was. we played well against a good team, we could make it to the quarter finals with just a tad more right effort in the right places.

 

[JTG]

we could make it to the quarter finals

Careful there

 

[Mungy]

Get rid of Phil Neville on the commentary,he makes Michael Owen sound fascinating

as boring as his voice is, it was also fascinating at just how boring and matter of fact he made it sound.

 

[JTG]

Heaven forbid that the beeb bring in someone who actually coaches at the top level. Let's stick with old lags who either never tried management/coaching or who were utter failures at it

 

[Gingerman]

Get rid of Phil Neville on the commentary,he makes Michael Owen sound fascinating

Wasn't he terrible,robotic, dull and unenthusiastic.......

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I enjoyed it too really. Never like seeing England lose but I did not sit there feeling as annoyed and frustrated as I have done.

Two good teams playing well.

I thought England were very good, and played exactly as England should. Praise to roy for that. My only real worry is Hart. He looks like he's got a howler or two in him.

I enjoyed it despite the result, and I definitely think these are the best two teams in the group.

 

[Corax]

I'd like to see Collymore get a TV spot. He's pretty entertaining - and surprisingly (for me anyway) insightful on talkshite.

 

[TitanSound]

We lost, but we were not defeated. Encouraging performance I thought.

 

[Gingerman]

Far better than the shite they served up in 2010 in SA......

 

[The39thStep]

Sick and tired of exproffesionals and out if work managers doing the football. I want someone like Danny Baker or Steve Bunce or Alan partridge .

 

[binka]

Sick and tired of exproffesionals and out if work managers doing the football. I want someone like Danny Baker or Steve Bunce or Alan partridge .

danny baker is shit

 

[Joe Reilly]

thats interesting, and i dont doubt it, but i have an additional element to add which is the weather: countries like spain, italy and brazil play their football in high temperatures - if you want to last the 90 you have to run less and only expend energy when absolutely necessary... by contrast english football is played under average conditions of a light drizzle where running around more than you have to is essential not to get a cold.

I dont want England to play boring football, and Id rather they go out in playing exciting football, but I do think we still need to move a little closer towards that technical holding play than we do at present.

Re Rooney, when alls said and done if it wasnt for him itd have been 2-0 last night, and he came a whisker away from scoring in his own right

If that had gone in it would be a different conversation today

"Obsession with Rooney must end" advises Paul Hayward in the Sunday Telegraph in lengthy article.

 

[JTG]

danny baker is shit

He made the single most interesting pundit contribution to the BBC's SA 2010 coverage

 

[Corax]

Far better than the shite they served up in 2010 in SA......

Very, very true.