Well that was a bit of a turn up for the books. Only thing missing from England's point of view was Suarez coming on and getting injured again. Not watched a boring game yet but there is one coming up that may end up that way. Hope I am wrong
No country for old men.
I thought we did OK.. we now need to draw with Uruguay and beat CR and we'll probably go through, which we'd have taken before today. We played OK just let Pirlo dictate and play unpressured. They deserved to win but we played with much more fluidity than in the past, so nice enough performance and all to play for, just hope we lay off the team this week..
Well call me a cynic, but I have see most of it before with England.
I didn't watch the game because my rest is far more important.
Here is simple fact,"Just four of 46 sides to lose their opening group game since 1998 have qualified for the knockout stages"
Two wins is what's now required and that is a tough order as Costa will be more than happy with a draw.
I didn't think we played badly but don't look like we'd trouble a good team. We were a bit naive towards the end trying to run it past 2 or 3 Italian defenders through the centre. That worked well in the first half but only when they isolated players 1-on-1 out wide. Italy deserved to win it as they had more possession and took their chances. That said, it could easily have been 2-2.
Worst performance of the night must go to Phil Neville by a long way
A couple of the later substitutions tried for individual glory rather than keeping up the passing. Sterling was superb but I would have substituted him after he cramped up and brought on Milner. Rooney was leaving Baines exposed in the first half with Baines trying to mark two people at the same time. Rooney could/should have got the equalizer but whatever Rooney did wrong the pass to Sturridge for the goal was excellent and had we got a draw his earlier mistakes would have been forgotten. However one of the most enjoyable games against a good opposition I have watched England play in a long time. I might watch them again now
No country for old men.
Agree about Phil Neville, somebody should tell him to listen to his brother on Sky commentaries. Less is more Phil!. His comment about Man United continuing their passing and playing to the whistle was a valid one though and if England had done that rather than some individual showboating in the last 10 minutes who knows ?
No country for old men.
In case anyone was wondering what had happened to him, Lee Hendrie will be providing 'expert' opinion on England's performance on Sky at 10.00
Agreed. He must have a sponsorship deal with Mute Buttons Inc.
Dodgiest graphic of the night award goes to the figures of the players that wandered into the foreground whenever the pundits were discussing them. At first I thought someone had gatecrashed the studio. It was plain weird. Did they think the viewers would have no idea who Wayne Rooney was without his ghostly presence drifting about?
"Get yourself together, Jones" - Ray Davies