England's World Cup let down

[RichC]

England practised penalties at the end of training to prepare for a shootout in the knockout stages - although did so without a goalkeeper between the posts and some players still missed. Times (subscription)

[Paddy]

Sterling to play the no10 role against Italy?

[Shaggy]

The Independent @Independent
On World Cup Eve, the dreadful state of the pitch that will greet England and Italy http://ind.pn/1l0OXDn pic.twitter.com/DpBHYmEJkV

[Kenneth]

Jesus.

[Fredo]

Not going to affect England too much with their hoofing game.

[Alex]

As much as I want to say England are hoofers under Hodge, I dont think they are really.


I dont really see how a **** pitch effects anything really. Its going to be a fairly slow paced game, and it will effect both the same.

Saying that its a bit of a shambles that the World Cup, which is supposed to be the absolute pinnacle of the sport cant get a fully green pitch.

[Chazza]

It's the World Cup FFS they should be playing on grass like carpet not on potato fields in half finished stadiums.

[Fredo]

It's because of the amount of rain that they get there. Pitch is hard to maintain if there's a tropical downpour 2 or 3 times a day. Probably not drained properly though.

[EwarWoo]

That's not because of rain. The turfs not had long enough to settle in properly and is still dead around the edges.

[Harv]

Wouldn't have these problems if they played it in Australia. ******s

[Trippendicular]

It's because of the amount of rain that they get there. Pitch is hard to maintain if there's a tropical downpour 2 or 3 times a day. Probably not drained properly though.

Except that they've had 7 years to prepare.

[Boogs]

280 million spent on a new stadium for 4 games and the city doesn't have a football team worthy of inhabiting the stadium after the World Cup? They want to use the stadium as a temporary prison afterwards but this was rejected.
I'm with Harv

[Shaggy]

Has Gary Neville revealed England's tactics against Italy ahead of World Cup Group D opener?

• Three Lions coach caught revealing documents detailing tactics for players
  
• Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard carried ipads used to read up on Azzurri stars
  
• England begin World Cup campaign against Italy on June 14

PUBLISHED: 16:28, 11 June 2014 | UPDATED: 17:11, 11 June 2014

England have been working on retaining possession at their World Cup training base, it can be revealed after Gary Neville inadvertently offered a glimpse of his coaching notes.

Coach Neville was walking out to take training at the Three Lions Rio HQ on Wednesday when Sportsmail photographer Mark Large captured his plans for the session ahead of England's opening World Cup clash with Italy on Saturday.

The notes read: ‘When the ball goes into control zone – team must make at least three passes before hitting the CF [centre forward].

‘Once the ball is played into the end zone – 2 MFs [midfielders] try to get in and support for a 3v2.

‘However, if the defending team win the ball back they counter straight away.’

'If there are no obvious options when in possession in our own half, don't fanny about it with it and kick it as long and as high as possible and let Studge chase it'.

England’s decision to adopt a possession-based approach against Italy is born of two factors.

One, the sweltering conditions in Manaus, and two, Italy's utter domination of the ball when they eliminated Hodgson's side at Euro 2012.

That quarter-final defeat by the Azzurri saw playmaker Andrea Pirlo at the centre of everything Italy did, masterfully conducting the game as England ran themselves into the ground.

And while England manfully clung on to a 0-0 draw to force the game to penalties, they know they cannot hope to succeed with so little of the ball this time around in temperatures reaching 34 degrees and in 83 per cent humidity.

The long ball from goalkeeper Joe Hart to target man Andy Carroll was England's most used pass that night in Ukraine.

Head coach Roy Hodgson and his trusted aide Neville clearly aim to rectify that in the Amazon jungle.

Neville, who was appointed to Roy Hodgson’s coaching staff in May 2012, holds his UEFA A and B coaching licence and is studying towards his Pro Licence .

The 39-year-old won 85 international caps after making his debut in 1995 and made 400 appearances for Manchester United in a glorious 19-year spell for the club.

Speaking of his involvement on the pro licence course, Neville told The Guardian in March: ‘Being with this group on the pro licence course is fantastic.

I was in Turkey for eight days in the summer with them, after I'd been away with England. There are people still playing, assistant managers, reserve-team managers, youth-team managers, League One managers; listening to all their experiences broadens my outlook on things because I was in a Manchester United bubble, where I only experienced one manager, one way of life.’

Neville, who is an acclaimed pundit for Sky Sports, is presenting his own video technology-inspired Monday Night Football specials for the England team at the World Cup, defender Phil Jagielka revealed this week.

The former full-back has been using his hugely successful video analysis routines from Sky Sports to teach players the ins and outs of group opponents Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Jagielka told the Daily Telegraph: 'The teams we're playing against, we know a few of the strikers already because they play in the Premier League or some of the big clubs around Europe, so you've an idea of what you're up against.

[BobTheCharmer]

nice edit again

[Shaggy]

What's that all about though?

"When the ball goes into control zone – team must make at least three passes before hitting the CF"

At least three? What if a glorious opportunity opens up after one or two passes? Do they play the pass or stick to Roy's rules?