One word…

so says the man with two flags on his car :ohmy:

Are you really surprised?

I expect them to be able to pass the ball to each other.

Rooney is a good player but he’s so unfit he should have been hauled off at half time.

The England midfield was so deep the Italians could do what they wanted with the ball. Usually Rooney drops back and is that extra man in midfield but he was blowing out of his @rse.

Poor decision to keep him on in my opinion.

I expect them to be able to pass the ball to each other.[/quote]

Really?
How many teams pass the ball about in the Prem (a la Barcelona)?
Better still how many are any good at it?
And those that are, how many of the players are English?[/quote]
All the players in that England team tonight were from club sides that are considered to be good at passing the ball and keeping possession. So at a basic level I think it is reasonable to expect that they should be able to pass to a team-mate and then put themselves in a position to be able to receive the ball back.

No surprises for me, England are the most over-rated international team I can think of, and have been for as long as I can remember, sure there are moments of joy, the odd good result, but that’s the same for all countries, I really don’t see how we can think of ourselves as any better than the denmarks and portugals of this world, let alone ze Germans and Spain.

The game tonight highlighted the technical and tactical deficiencies in the England set up, when compared to a team that have it in bucket loads, despite (like England) not having a team full of superstars.

I’ve got to say that defensively I thought we were half decent, I think the back four did a job, but the midfield and attack was abysmal, just nowhere near the standard to win these tournaments.

Milner – shows willing, but too slow and one dimensional

Young – how the hell does he warrant a utd shirt, let alone an England one? Absolutely awful, and that’s nothing to do with missing a pen, that only compounded the fact he’s stealing a living as a winger. Maybe he’d have better luck in the Olympic diving team, because his signature dive, where the feet go higher than the head as he crashes to the ground, after being looked at by a defender, would defo give Tom Daley a run for his money, that’s his one consistency, I’ll give him that.

Gerard – no doubt he’s been a fine midfielder, but his strengths were always his engine, and getting forward supporting the strikers and dragging the opposition midfield with him, those days are long gone, sad to say he’s past it, certainly at this level, I can remember him banging goals in for fun at Liverpool, it’s been a while now hasn’t it? Now more a defensive midfielder/ sweeper role would be more apt, because his legs have gone.

Parker- shouldnt be anywhere near that England team, not on skill, not on experience and not on fitness, end of chat.

Walcott – shows glimpses of what could be, and his pace puts defenders in doubt, but end product is invariably poor, and can drift out of games completely.

Welbeck – could be a decent striker in the future, but nowhere near this level yet, he does show you snippets of quality that give a bit of hope that in a couple of years he could be very good, no service here though, and it’s very difficult to get the goals if you haven’t got the ball.

Rooney – the single most over- rated footballer in the world today, I can honestly say I’ve never rated him, at international level he gets exposed as the average player that he is, and has as many moments of madness as greatness, and it’s much the same at club level, I can remember some quality goals, but I can also remember as many acts of petulance and downright twatishness, just don’t see the attraction myself, the likes of messi and ronaldo are light years ahead of this guy, in fact i think I could name dozens of players that are better than him, crap for mine, and a prick too.

Carroll – Sweden have Ibrahimovic, we have Carroll, enough said.

Hodgson – set them up to be hard to beat, but chasing the ball against quality opposition is just prolonging the inevitable, would have been better going for it, had nothing to lose, will have to hope for a bit of quality coming through and lots of luck if he is going to have any success.

I think all the expectation comes from the Premier league, the fact that it’s touted as the best in the world, skys relentless marketing and coverage, building up hopes and building up players. But let’s get real, the majority of quality players in the premier league play for other countries, and without them the league would be shite, so I can’t see things changing anytime soon!

Roll on the World Cup, come on Engerlaaaaaaaaaaannnnndddd