Voinjama Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I still think they are a top 10 side in the world but they were just unlucky to be in a tough group. If you swapped England with another European unseeded team like Bosnia, France or Greece and had their groups we would all be laughing now. Sometimes we get an easy draw like 2010, and sometimes it hard like 2002 and today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 (edited) Things would get quite funny if Costa Rica somehow beats Italy or even ties them. Actually a tie would knock England officially out. Just realised that. Edited June 20, 2014 by Czechlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briggsy Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 We've conceded too many sloppy goals and defended poorly simple as, which is a shame coz the kids have looked quite good going forward As much as i hate John Terry i think Hodgson made a massive mistake not taking him and Ashley Cole He should of played Cahill and Terry as centre halves and Cole at left back, 3 Chelsea players together would have made us a lot more solid and would also leave the option of playing Jagielka as a right back if Johnson's form didnt improve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 20, 2014 Things would get quite funny if Costa Rica somehow beats Italy or even ties them. Actually a tie would knock England officially out. Just realised that. I'd be less than amused. But I suppose it would put us out of our misery somewhat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 20, 2014 We've conceded too many sloppy goals and defended poorly simple as, which is a shame coz the kids have looked quite good going forward As much as i hate John Terry i think Hodgson made a massive mistake not taking him and Ashley Cole He should of played Cahill and Terry as centre halves and Cole at left back, 3 Chelsea players together would have made us a lot more solid and would also leave the option of playing Jagielka as a right back if Johnson's form didnt improve Hodgson couldn't take Terry. He's retired from international football. I do agree that him and Cahill would be the ideal partnership for us, but that's not Roy's fault. Cole is different. He should have gone. But Baines would still have been first choice. I think Johnson was one of our best players yesterday, fwiw. Not that that was difficult Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I think Italy will win tonight, and that England will beat Costa Rica. But the problem is that I think Uruguay will get something from the Italy game. Lets just hope Italy do the business tonight and at least that will keep things open for the last game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 If Engerland sneak through I can see them galvanising and putting in a few decent performances before getting knocked out on penalties by Brazil (if that's possible, but it's a Scolari team, so England would have to lose to him eventually). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Just reading various other forums on my lunch break and Jagielka is getting a hell of a lot of criticism. I think slightly unfair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 20, 2014 I think Italy will win tonight, and that England will beat Costa Rica. But the problem is that I think Uruguay will get something from the Italy game. Lets just hope Italy do the business tonight and at least that will keep things open for the last game. I was saying that Italy and Uruguay would play out a draw next week as it's in both of their interests. A point would keep Italy top and make sure Uruguay qualify. But then I realised Uruguay would still go out in that scenario if Costa Rica beat us, so they can't afford to not go for it. Not sure if that's a good thing because it will mean it's an actual game, or a bad thing because Uruguay will be up for it and Italy won't. It seems so unfair that we've actually got a chance of going through! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Zatman will know the answer to this. A walking football encyclopedia. Has a team ever lost 2 group games, but still gone through, in a world cup or Euro? I can't remember that happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 20, 2014 Zatman will know the answer to this. A walking football encyclopedia. Has a team ever lost 2 group games, but still gone through, in a world cup or Euro? I can't remember that happening. Not sure about Euros, but it's never happened in a world cup. Ireland got through on 3 points in 1990 IIRC. That was 3 draws though I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villanun Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I know Jagielka's getting a lot of heat, but personally I was disappointed with Baines. I like his play for Everton, but he never seems to be able to do it at international level. And it's not a skill thing, it's weird choices like constantly cutting back inside instead of whipping in a cross like he would in the Prem, or the fact he couldn't seem to beat the first man at corners. The one big plus he offers over Cole is his attacking play, but for England that part of his game goes missing. Not to mention how often Sturridge dropped back into midfield to collect the ball. It's it any wonder we had no penetration? All that bother about playing Rooney in position, and then the player he's supposed to be behind spends all his time behind Rooney. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainer Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Things would get quite funny if Costa Rica somehow beats Italy or even ties them. Actually a tie would knock England officially out. Just realised that. A Costa Rica win would officially knock us out aswell. They would have 6 points, Italy and Uruguay would both have 3 and have to play each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Zatman will know the answer to this. A walking football encyclopedia. Has a team ever lost 2 group games, but still gone through, in a world cup or Euro? I can't remember that happening. Not sure about Euros, but it's never happened in a world cup. Ireland got through on 3 points in 1990 IIRC. That was 3 draws though I think Also a 24 team format which meant three teams could progress from a group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 20, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 20, 2014 Zatman will know the answer to this. A walking football encyclopedia. Has a team ever lost 2 group games, but still gone through, in a world cup or Euro? I can't remember that happening. Not sure about Euros, but it's never happened in a world cup. Ireland got through on 3 points in 1990 IIRC. That was 3 draws though I think Also a 24 team format which meant three teams could progress from a group. Yeah true. They still went through in second though, just googled it. I know people have fond memories of Italia 90 because of how England (and Ireland) did. But reading about it, it sounds like a **** boring tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 If England don't go through I hope Costa Rica do instead of Uruguay. Nobody gave them a chance of getting out of this group and Suarez is a word removed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Italy is going to smash Costa Rica. Uruguay looked so dysfunctional and unorganized which Costa Rica took advantage of. That won't happen with Italy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 (edited) Well having taken most of the day to think on it. At least we have had something to cheer and get excited about in this tournament. In the last Euros we were dead men walking the entire time and South Africa was Villaesque in its ineptitude at virtually every level. At least here in both games here we looked the better team at times and played some half decent football, but got schooled by the hard realities of international football. That gives me a very small crumb of comfort. Not a lot I know but I'm on a diet anyway. The one thing I hope we can get back in the coming years with these new players coming through is a sense of identity. For years and even in the poorer parts of the two games here we have looked nervous, lost, pretending like we were controlling the game when actually it was just because we didn't know what to do. As soon as we went behind we started playing at a higher tempo, moving the ball quickly, hassling, closing down, putting in some meaty challenges. I just wish we played like that all the time, like that was our thing. We've had enough talented players for years to do better than we are but we haven't found a formation and style of play that carries through no matter the personnel. All the other major teams have this. Edited June 20, 2014 by villaglint 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 The FA get it all wrong yet again hiring Hodgson, whose insistence on starting Gerrard, Jagielka, Glen Johnson, and Jordan Henderson clearly cost them the game. Jagielka is not anywhere near good enough. Uruguay must be having a good old laugh right about now. Pub league defending. Lallana should have been in there, why was Sterling brought off, he was the best midfielder in a white shirt. There was no form to the side, it was all seat of their pants stuff. They were desperate from the first whistle, and it showed. A proper 4-4-2 might have been worth trying too. It is all very well complaining about the players the manager picked after the fact but most of the time his selections are fairly popular. It's not like England have a group of world class players not being picked. Complaining about picking the likes of Jagielka, Henderson or even Glen Johnson is pointless if in reality those are the best players England have in those positions. It would be like me complaining about the Socceroo manager picking McGowan, Wilkinson and Davidson for the Australian defence. That's debatable, LL. Surely you aren't suggesting Australia and England have an equal dearth of options? Players who could have been included in the team, as far as I'm aware: Ashley Cole, Shawcross, Shaw, Richards, Bertrand, Delph, Albrighton, Barry, Carrick, Phil Jones...Hodgson showed some balls picking Sterling, but why did he sub him off when he was the best midfield player for England on the day? When he's not totally baffling, he's tactically inflexible. But I'm not even sure it was clear what kind of formation they were actually playing yesterday, they seemed to be all over the place. Playing Sturridge and Rooney together upfront would have put more pressure on their back four...Baines and Johnson were given the chance to make runs, but too often Rooney was completely marked out of the game and unable to get free to latch onto any crosses those wing backs might have put in. There's also the mentality question. Could another manager have prepared them better mentally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 (edited) Despite all that though, England should have played the bulk of the match with a man advantage, the referee clearly did not have the courage to send off that player in front of that stand full of blue shirts. Shame. Edited June 20, 2014 by maqroll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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