England v Italy match thread

[Rich]

I have to say I think roys tactics are perfect for tournament football. Its not pretty but its effective.

He defends with the low block and they try and counter quickly. technically we dont have the.players to compete with spain and germany so you play to your strengths. Defend deep and play counter attack because counter attacking really only requires you to have two or three technically good footballers.

Simply one to pick the right pass to start the counter another to run with the ball and pick the right pass into the final third. england only have two decent attacking players in gerrard and rooney.

He should have gone 4411 and player parker wih hendo and gerrard off rooney. Gerrard could then have sat on pirlo and stopped him making england look like a bunch of idiots.

Rooney was appalling

[Chazza]

England are a quarter final team, they get through the group stages by beating the teams you expect them to, but go out as soon as they come up against a decent side.



When was the last time in a major tournament that England beat a team in the knock out stages that you didn't expect them to?

Spain Euro96

[Gibbo]

@GuillemBalague: agreed @marcotti and my team for 2014: Hart; Walker, Smalling, Cahill, Cole; Wilshire, Jones; Sterling, Rooney, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Wellbeck

Sterling in there is a surprise!

[Kenneth]

I have to say I think roys tactics are perfect for tournament football. Its not pretty but its effective.

He defends with the low block and they try and counter quickly. technically we dont have the.players to compete with spain and germany so you play to your strengths. Defend deep and play counter attack because counter attacking really only requires you to have two or three technically good footballers.

Simply one to pick the right pass to start the counter another to run with the ball and pick the right pass into the final third. england only have two decent attacking players in gerrard and rooney.

He should have gone 4411 and player parker wih hendo and gerrard off rooney. Gerrard could then have sat on pirlo and stopped him making england look like a bunch of idiots.

Kind of agree, as covered before kickoff today. But an attacking four of Welbeck, Ashley Young, Milner, Rooney (the **** one) is just laughably **** compared to the decent teams in the competition. Just not in the same league.

[dom9]

I have to say I think roys tactics are perfect for tournament football. Its not pretty but its effective.

He defends with the low block and they try and counter quickly. technically we dont have the.players to compete with spain and germany so you play to your strengths. Defend deep and play counter attack because counter attacking really only requires you to have two or three technically good footballers.

Simply one to pick the right pass to start the counter another to run with the ball and pick the right pass into the final third. england only have two decent attacking players in gerrard and rooney.

He should have gone 4411 and player parker wih hendo and gerrard off rooney. Gerrard could then have sat on pirlo and stopped him making england look like a bunch of idiots.

I have to say it wouldn't be the first time you are wrong.

[Exiled_red]

Amazing how so many English are loving Roy Hodgson. How is it that they don't see his team has underperformed throughout?

Seems to be this belief that those players are not capable of doing any better and yet its a team full of champions league winners/regulars and all the top players in the premier league.

Strange strange idiology

In terms of where they got to in the tournament IMO they met expectations. They beat the teams they should have beaten, and went out against the first decent side that could put them out. This was where I expected them to get to before the tournament started.

In terms of the quality of the football they have underperformed, they have played some dire stuff, but that is what you get from a Hodgson side, so that too was to be expected!

The players individually probably should do better but the England team over recent years always has been less than the sum of its parts.

[Shaggy]

Sterling in there is a surprise!

What a dreadful team

[Chazza]

Sterling in there is a surprise!

England will get shown up more if they think Jones is a CM

He's a CB and will be a decent one he aint a CM or a RB

[Exiled_red]

Spain Euro96

Possibly, but that was in an era when you expected Spain to collapse though, so I'm not even sure that you would have expected them to beat Spain...

[Kenneth]

What a dreadful team

And it won't look anything like that in reality, it will look almost the same as the **** out there today.

[Daniel 7]

Gerrard should retire from internationals now, but I bet he won't.

[dom9]

Sterling in there is a surprise!

Des Walker?

He used to be really fast. But he'll be slower than Hodgson in 2 years time.

[Leyton388]

I'd put my house on Hodgson's master plan being pens all the way to the final.

[Shaggy]

Hodgson, post-match: "Possession is a red herring. Just stick it in the onion bag more than the other side."

[el matador]

I have to say it wouldn't be the first time you are wrong.

So how would you have done it. How do you stop pirlo in a 442 ?