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The ITV commentary team would me up a bit during the Brazil match with their negativity. Brazil aren't that great these days without the likes of Kaka and Ronaldinho and Neymar is an overhyped lightweight at the moment - I thought they were there for the taking. However after a very tired-looking first half I was left wondering what might have been if the England players hadn't wasted so much possession - and how on earth we hadn't conceded.
More negativity at half time and when Brazil scored it looked ominous, mainly because it was a shit goal to concede with defenders ball watching instead of following it in ready to clear. But Chamberlain had loads of energy and the others seemed to perk up a bit and we played like I'd hoped we would from the off for a while. Good goal from Chamberlain and the Rooney deflection was a bonus as his shot was going straight into the goalie's hands. But they all looked too knackered to keep up the pressure and go for a third so I guess a draw was a fair result.
But this isn't the Brazil everyone used to fear and it annoyed me that the commentators and media hyped them up so much. Good players, but not great like Brazil teams from the past.
Quite liked Hodgson's system but it was a compromise. It was set up so that the game was never stretched which meant that when wide players were faced with a choice of pushing on or holding the ball up, they invariably passed it back so that the team could move forward as a unit - which meant Brazilian defenders always got back in numbers. It was like they weren't allowed to try to score on the break - and TBF the few times they did try the passing was poor. I'd just have liked them to move it a bit quicker and mix it up a bit. Good job overall from Hodgson I thought.
More negativity at half time and when Brazil scored it looked ominous, mainly because it was a shit goal to concede with defenders ball watching instead of following it in ready to clear. But Chamberlain had loads of energy and the others seemed to perk up a bit and we played like I'd hoped we would from the off for a while. Good goal from Chamberlain and the Rooney deflection was a bonus as his shot was going straight into the goalie's hands. But they all looked too knackered to keep up the pressure and go for a third so I guess a draw was a fair result.
But this isn't the Brazil everyone used to fear and it annoyed me that the commentators and media hyped them up so much. Good players, but not great like Brazil teams from the past.
Quite liked Hodgson's system but it was a compromise. It was set up so that the game was never stretched which meant that when wide players were faced with a choice of pushing on or holding the ball up, they invariably passed it back so that the team could move forward as a unit - which meant Brazilian defenders always got back in numbers. It was like they weren't allowed to try to score on the break - and TBF the few times they did try the passing was poor. I'd just have liked them to move it a bit quicker and mix it up a bit. Good job overall from Hodgson I thought.
