England v Italy

It's the same old story .... we just don't have the technical players to pick from. However I do believe we have better than what was on display tonight. Even that donkey Downing would have been better than Young tonight.

I'm glad that the whole thing is over.

England have been poor throughout and have been taught technical lessons on how to play football in almost every game.

Despite the few minutes or so when they controlled the game last night they always looked uneasy on the ball - too many players who are good at club level but can't raise their game.

Losing on penalties is no disgrace- at least they got that far.

If they had got through the result would have been a disaster. Germany would have slaughtered them- it would have been Dunkirk all over again.

They would have been left completely humiliated. At least they can claim that they held Italy over two hours of football.

Also we don't have to listen to the brain dead garbage that the so called experts on both sides ((Shearer, Hansen etc) have dribbled out since the tournament started.

rammywhite wrote:I'm glad that the whole thing is over.

England have been poor throughout and have been taught technical lessons on how to play football in almost every game.

Despite the few minutes or so when they controlled the game last night they always looked uneasy on the ball - too many players who are good at club level but can't raise their game.

Losing on penalties is no disgrace- at least they got that far.

If they had got through the result would have been a disaster. Germany would have slaughtered them- it would have been Dunkirk all over again.

They would have been left completely humiliated. At least they can claim that they held Italy over two hours of football.

Also we don't have to listen to the brain dead garbage that the so called experts on both sides ((Shearer, Hansen etc) have dribbled out since the tournament started.

Pretty much my thoughts as well.

It was like watching Bolton last night. Another manager who has a plan A (4-4-2) but no plan B or C if things aren't going to plan.

Rooney was absolutely shocking, one of the worst performances I've seen, he couldn't even control a simple pass. But, of course, Hodgson was too scared to take Rooney off.

Ashley Young has played virtually every minute of this competition despite not contributing a single thing in four games. I can't even explain this one, Hodgson must be mad. But the worst thing was letting him take a penalty, it was obvious he was going to miss.

I finally realised last night that Joe Hart is nothing but an average keeper. He doesn't command his area, flaps when the ball is in the air, and can't hold routine shots. If he'd been in Bolton's nets last season I suspect we'd have been down by February.

I have to say though, regardless of his limited ability, Andy Carroll made a difference when he came on. He won the ball but most importantly he put himself about a bit. I thought that was Rooney's job?

Terry and Lescott were good considering their lack of support, the midfield was pathetic. It could have been Mark Davies & Darren Pratley and we wouldn't have noticed the difference.

Overall a pathetic performance, not a single attacking player did anything of note. And worst off all, the manager let it happen.

It was horrible watching England. They surprised me for about 10 mins in the first half by being positive. Then it just got boring. Lots of long balls, wasted passes - it really was like watching Bolton.

I said at half time Rooney should be off - he was never in the game. Oxtail-Soup-Chamberlain would have done better up front. And then there was young abysmal.

When Young stepped up for the pen I said "He won't even look at the goal, he's putting it over" - they always do - players who don't look tend to opt for power and then if you combine that with how lacking in confidence he looked and how shite he was on the night it all added up to a nailed on miss.

Same old then. Future is looking bleak for us especially with the appointment of Roy ,shite pick for me . Should have been Harry no question IMO.

Don't worry peeps, OC will drive Bolton to greatness this season, and Woy will see how its done, follow suit, and the England team will follow in Boltons wake to fame, fortune, and a glorious future. (off for a lie down now)

We are all in agreement on one thing....it looked like a typical Bolton game with plenty of hoofs to SKD for the aimless nod on. You would think we would be used to it.

One thing I disagree with that the England manager should be English ....look where that has got us now. And Sir 'Arry would be the same way..... Crapello was a donkey but I still think a foreign manager who has no association or loyalty to a British club and will pick players on tech ability and form is the way forward. Right now you are looking at Rooney, Young, Parker etc for the next 4 or 5 years at least.

On a side note I believe that Utd are a step behind the very top clubs now because of a Young, Wellbeck, Carrick, and the reliance on Rooney, bringing back Scoles etc. I mention it because this is were England managers are required by law to select their players whether they are donkeys or not.

I think the realisation that England may not have performed quite as well as some said is coming home to roost.

Simply put, they will probably never win a major tournament playing in that way.

I think both Woy and England did very well given the players available. Sure I would have changed a couple of things, but it wouldn't get away from the fact that England is thin on the ground when it comes to skilful players and we were always going to get found out by better teams.

With the lack of quality, I thought Woy did a great job of shoring up the defence by going narrow - and it got us as far as we were ever going to go in this competition.

Only real criticism was not being prepared to take off Rooney or Young who were both shocking. That said there was no guarantee that the subs would have been any better.

Anyone who's still down about defeat can enjoy the BBC's helpful "what if England beat Italy"

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I'm not going to bother commenting on the game as it's all been said above but the only player I will comment on is Rooney, what a fucking useless player at international level he is, christ kevin davies would have given a better account of himself.

He should have been takan off at half time and put carroll on, who to be fair looked pretty decent from what I saw of him.

We got a point against France but for a reason I can't explain he drops Chamberlain who was our best threat against the french and was never to be seen again.