PresIke wrote:gunsnewing wrote:PresIke wrote:gunsnewing wrote:England good tacticians. Good defense and effort. Not not very skilled. Lack foot speed. Similar to USA
Outclassed against the best teams in the world
Like Italy
can't say i agree.
normally england are slower, but their front three yesterday are all very quick.
not skilled? hardly. the u.s. is less skilled by a country mile across the team.
their team is not filled with those in the midfield that will "nutmeg" anyone, but they are good with the ball still.
Yes they are good with the ball but IMO they lack the size & athletism on the grand stage that is the World Cup.
Hey nothing wrong with that. They are still better than some of the lesser teams.
Maybe you are right. Maybe England will get a much needed infusion of athletism from the pipeline
their young players who are starting (sterling, sturridge and welbeck) are all very to quite quick and were running at italy's defense constantly yesterday, which was how they created their scoring chances or almost chances.
the issue is they are all not quality enough and more works in progress. sterling seems most promising as he has been performing well fairly consistently now and has been really causing nightmare's for defenses with his athleticism. so these players are athletic, just not refined talents in their prime. that's why england aren't winning anything because they are relying on them to win.
england and hodgson seem to be trying to emulate liverpool of the last season, who were attacking minded scoring a lot of goals, hence why 5 liverpool players are in the starting 11 (sterling, sturridge, gerrard, henderson, johnson). of course they don't have suarez so that makes a HUGE difference.
rooney is supposed to be that great player in his prime but he is not at all what he was 2-3 years ago, and has sucked as an international.
the world cup is strange sometimes (the u.s. made the quarterfinals in 2002 along with senegal, i think, and turkey), so they could get farther than some expect if they get a few things to go their way, but very unlikely that they win, yes.
Ike, I agree with you on so many things but disagree on Rooney. Ill get to that at the end.
Firstly, Guns, noone is hyping England. This World Cup is seen as a progression here and there is not much expectation on the players at all.
Were well know for being solid, slightly boring and tactically astute but this group is not like that. As you said Ike, Sterling, Barkley, Sturridge, Baines, Lallana, theyre adding a fresh adventurous side to this team which is lovely to see.
Now Rooney. To say hasnt been good this year is simply wrong. Top scorer in qualifying and Man Utds best player by a country mile in a poor season, hes had to do all the creating for the team while still being the main goal threat. As regards his England performance, it reminds me so much of what happened to Paul Scholes. Some players are so good that theyre expected to excel wherever they are put on the field. With Scholes, they put him on the left of the diamond. Why???? The best England midfield for dacades and they played him out of position. They are ding the same thing to Rooney. Stick Pirlo/Xavi/Schweinsteiger/Iniesta on the wing and see how well they do. Stick Ronaldo in holding midfield and see him get sent off out of frustration. Its so frustrating coz its so obvious.
Noone argues that hes the most talented player in England right now, thats for sure. So they stick him on the left wing and tell him to track back with his opposing winger!!! So hes stuck at left back helping Baines out when he should looking to get on the ball in an attacking midfield position/No 10. I think its a huge waste and I cant fault Rooney. You cant fault his commitment, aggression or workrate for the team but theyre not putting him in a position to succeed. Alan Shearer said on the BBC sport site yesterday, if youre not gonna play Rooney in the number 10 role behind the main striker dont play him at all!!
I agree that his goal drough is in his head but i guarantee right now, play him centrally next game and youll see a different player.
And...overrated? Third highest scorer in the countrys history at only 28, best player for (an admittedly poor) United side this year, set up our only goal against Italy with a lovely cross and hes overrated? You want to see overrated have a look at Gerrard. hat guys got so much good press this year coz hes 33 and has won no titles so hes a feelgood story. Has he ever won a game for england like rooney has singlehandedly? I would argue no. Was he pretty much annonymous against Italy? I would argue yes. I honestly cant see what the big fuss is over the guy.
Rant over.
