ITALY vs England

[Gingerman]

Will John Terry turn up at the semis in his England kit?

 

[Wilf]

Last season Pirlo completed more passes than any other player in the history of Italian football

But when Ian Rush played in Italy, his wife said the bread tasted funny.

 

[revol68]

Well, partly. Actually I think England's possession issues is more related to how they set themselves up on the pitch. Yes, there were a 12 dozen or so brainless concessions of possession under no pressure whatsoever. But for me the main issue is that if you set yourselves up as two rigid banks of four, defending the 18 yard line, firstly the other team has a lot of space to keep the ball in, and secondly, even if you do get it back, the person getting the ball back has no obvious, easy out ball and the out that he does have is likely to be heavily marked.

There were times when England showed that they could pass the ball higher up the pitch, in fact for the first 15 minutes England pressed higher up the pitch, forced the Italians to make a few errors, and were able to keep the ball for sustained periods as a result. Then they ceded possession and territory, set themselves up to win on the counter or from a set-pieces and looked rubbish as a result.

Yeah the flatness of the midfield really does mean the only ball is to the flanks and as England dropped deeper, Young and Milner got forced back by Italy's wing backs.

Bringing on Carroll for Welbeck suggested that Roy was happy enough with that and try and steal a goal.

Shameful way for a nation that hosts one of the best leagues in the world to be playing.

 

[Wilf]

Will John Terry turn up at the semis in his England kit?

 

[Gingerman]

But when Ian Rush played in Italy, his wife said the bread tasted funny.

It was like living in a foreign country

 

[Gingerman]

One thing we can all agree on, Mark Lawurenceson is an unfunny tedious sad excuse of a commentator

 

[Lo Siento.]

Yeah the flatness of the midfield really does mean the only ball is to the flanks and as England dropped deeper, Young and Milner got forced back by Italy's wing backs.

Bringing on Carroll for Welbeck suggested that Roy was happy enough with that and try and steal a goal.

Shameful way for a nation that hosts one of the best leagues in the world to be playing.

In fairness to Hodgson, he wasn't dealt a great hand with this group of players. I'll be interested to see what conclusions he draws from the whole experience. Since the problems are so widespread it's going to be a bitch to fix.

 

[smmudge]

Yep, England are rubbish. But I didn't really choose to support them, I got ambushed by Euro '96 as a 13 year old

omg tell me about it!! I didn't realise until recently how strange it was that I can still name the entire team of the Euro 96 squad, but only half of 98 and barely any of 00, 02, 04, 06 etcetc.

 

[savoloysam]

The current crop have nothing on the euro 96 bunch.

 

[Lo Siento.]

omg tell me about it!! I didn't realise until recently how strange it was that I can still name the entire team of the Euro 96 squad, but only half of 98 and barely any of 00, 02, 04, 06 etcetc.

I was thinking about the extra-time against Germany in that tournament. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I remember us being all over them, and really going for it (that famous Gascoigne chance is in extra-time). A long way from this evening...

 

[Gingerman]

To be fair to Roy he got England out of the group and realistically that was all that was asked for and expected,he'll be given some leyway for the simple fact that he's only been in the job for 2 months,once the WC qualifiers start the honeymoon period will be over.

 

[Lo Siento.]

To be fair to Roy he got England out of the group and realistically that was all that was asked for and expected,he'll be given some leyway for the simple fact that he's only been in the job for 2 months,once the WC qualifiers start the honeymoon period will be over.

Yes. It's a difficult job though.
We have to play a higher line - which means ditching Terry. We have to press teams in possession higher up the pitch - which means ditching Parker and Gerrard. We have to use the ball more intelligently, certainly in the centre, and really out wide too (I mean we ditched Joe Cole for giving the ball away too easily years back, but Ashley Young makes him look like fucking Xavi).

Big egos to off, and big problems to fix.

 

[Maltin]

I was surprised at the number of England fans in the crowd they showed wearing the goalie top also, the TV director seemed to be in love with Balotelli considering the number of times they went to him.

 

[smmudge]

I was thinking about the extra-time against Germany in that tournament. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I remember us being all over them, and really going for it (that famous Gascoigne chance is in extra-time). A long way from this evening...

Yeah I don't remember much of the tournament but I'm sure you're right (I was a bit younger than you)

 

[Maltin]

I was thinking about the extra-time against Germany in that tournament. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I remember us being all over them, and really going for it (that famous Gascoigne chance is in extra-time). A long way from this evening...

In my memory, it was fairly end to end. Unlike tonight, especially the last 15 minutes.

 

[Gingerman]

Ah well at least we can enjoy the rest of the tournament without the stress of wondering if England can win it, if Rooney is fit,how the hell is Milner an international, how Germany could've ripped us a new one etc,looking forward to two cracking semis comming up later this week

 

[Gingerman]

Yeah I don't remember much of the tournament but I'm sure you're right (I was a bit younger than you)

Germany had Kuntz up front
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Kuntz

 

[gunneradt]

Will John Terry turn up at the semis in his England kit?

Terry was outstanding tonight

England's best player

 

[Maltin]

Apparently Joe Hart made the most completed passes for England tonight.

 

[smmudge]

Germany had Kuntz up front
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Kuntz

Yeah, I was 9 at the time. But I do recall thinking: "Kuntz? What's so funny about that?"

 

[smmudge]

Apparently Joe Hart made the most completed passes for England tonight.

LOL WTF

 

[Maltin]

Terry was outstanding tonight

England's best player

According to uefa's castrol index he has been our best all tournament.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=2012/statistics/castroledge/ranking/index.html

 

[Lo Siento.]

Germany had Kuntz up front
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Kuntz

Deeply mediocre player, amazing really that he finished up on the winning team that night, considering England's strike force was Shearer and Sheringham.

 

[Gingerman]

Deeply mediocre player, amazing really that he finished up on the winning team that night, considering England's strike force was Shearer and Sheringham.

Only memorable for his surname really

 

[Lo Siento.]

Only memorable for his surname really

I was 13, I remember him well

Amazingly the playmaker in that German side was Mehmet Scholl

 

[Maltin]

Again, based on twitter so don't know the veracity of it, but someone posted about the number of qualified coaches in some countries. Said something like Germany 35,000, Italy 29,000; Spain 24,000; England 3,000.

 

[free spirit]

I wonder what defoe's thinking tonight.

I'm not sure trying to use Carroll to batter his way through was the right tactic here, whereas an attacking formation on the break of Defoe, Rooney, young and boy wonder plus Gerrard would have been a pretty scary prospect on the break an hour into the game.

 

[Lo Siento.]

Again, based on twitter so don't know the veracity of it, but someone posted about the number of qualified coaches in some countries. Said something like Germany 35,000, Italy 29,000; Spain 24,000; England 3,000.

Amazing given the amount of money in the English game.

 

[Maltin]

Amazing given the amount of money in the English game.

The shame is that most of the money is in the premier league and most of it goes to the players. Whilst they deserve the lion's share, I don't think enough goes to the grassroots game in the country.

 

[Lo Siento.]

I wonder what defoe's thinking tonight.

I'm not sure trying to use Carroll to batter his way through was the right tactic here, whereas an attacking formation on the break of Defoe, Rooney, young and boy wonder plus Gerrard would have been a pretty scary prospect on the break an hour into the game.

I think the way we were set up, we were always going to end up camped in our half, watching the Italians pass it in front of us. We didn't use the ball very well on the counter-attack but I don't think Defoe rather than Carroll would've made the difference.