Having finished top of their group and avoided the tournament favourites Spain, England and their fans had finally started to believe that this could be their year. Unfortunately for them that was not the case. Still, I wouldn’t take anything away from this current side who really have overachieved throughout these Euro’s and will only get better from here on out. The Italians were never going to be an easy side to beat but on another day, and with the amount of chances they had, this game could have easily ended up as a 4 or 5 goal difference in favour of the Italians. It’s now more clear than ever that there’s a vast gulf in standard in terms of technical ability, fitness and tactics between England and Europe’s elite.
Joe Hart – Somehow kept a clean sheet thanks to some wasteful finishing from the Italians and a ridicules amount of luck. Has an odd knack of pushing the ball back into the danger-zone when saving which nearly cost the team today. 6
Glen Johnson – Caught out of possession again continuously today and missed England’s best chance early on. He wont be at the World Cup in two years. 5
John Terry – Did you see him chase Balotelli down and make a last ditch tackle!? Too bad his pathetic reading of the game was what lead to him playing Balo onside. Shambles of a defender. 4
Joleon Lescott – Strong at the back and reliable throughout the tournament. Say what you want about him for being a City player but Lescott has been very good over the last 12 months. 7
Ashley Cole – Didn’t get forward as much as he’d have wanted and beaten far too often down the left hand side. Missed the penalty which sent England out. 4
James Milner – Improved on his last performance against Ukraine by looking for get forward and attacking the opposition fullback. Needs to work on his end product. 6
Steven Gerrard – Ran, ran, then ran some more. It was impossible for him to have an impact on the game when all he was doing was chasing down Italy’s midfield. 5
Scott Parker – He can’t shoot, can’t score and he can’t pass. It’s amazing how he manages to get starts for Ingerland against teams where you need to keep hold of the ball. 4
Ashley Young – Quite all game and without being too harsh, all tournament. Oh, and he ballsed up his penalty. 4
Wayne Rooney – His task today was to keep close to Pirlo and make sure he doesn’t have room to play. Says it all really that Pirlo probably just put in the best individual performance of the entire tournament. 3
Danny Welbeck – Worked hard, tracked back and won a few aerial duels. Missed a really good chance as well after some wonderful interchange between Rooney and himself. 6
Subs:
Walcott – Like a lost puppy in a field, he didn’t know what to do with the ball once someone kicked it at him. 4
Carroll – Completely changed England’s play for the worst as they resorted to ‘Route One’ football. That’s not his fault. What is his fault however is that he had a 53% passing rate completion. Shambles. 4
Henderson – No comment.
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I don’t think we overachieved. We only beat Sweden & Ukraine. I can’t get over going out in another tournament on penalties. The spirit was non existant. The team was set up not to be embarassed, which in itself was embarassing. The whole goal of the game is to score, we never even tried. I know they were tired but throw a couple of players in the box & hope for the best
Until England start to pass the ball the result will always be the same whenever we face decent opposition. You have to start by picking players that can actually pass the ball such as Carrick, Scholes and Leon Britton of Swansea.
Whenever Hart got the ball he just lumped it up the pitch every time to give possession back to Italy. Why did the fullbacks not drop deep and wide to show for possession? Same old long ball rubbish from an England team. The midfield was abysmal all tournament. Replacing Welbeck with Carroll said it all really…
Milner was no more than a 4/10 in any of the matches. He’s played 30 odd games for England without any goals and for a wide player that’s not good enough. But then I didn’t need to tell you that statistic for you to know he’s out of his depth at this level.
But then did anyone expect anything else from Hodgson’s England when we saw the squad he picked? Against Spain or Germany the gulf in class would have been even greater. Now that really would have been painful to watch.
Milner is the worst England starter in my lifetime. Unbelievable. & hodgson has got a free pass beacuse expectations were so low but he was poor. He should have told Carrick he would be a starter immedietly, we would have kept the ball then.
Where was Sturridge? Oxlade Chamberlain should have started. Why take Kelly, Downing & that Liverpool player whose name i can’t even remember if they are never going to play anyway?
Mate….even I know I wasn’t worth a 6.
If I had a left foot, I probably could have scored off of Wazza’s brilliant pass in the first half but I took it with my only foot, I mean my right foot, and nothing doing.
If me and Milner get 6’s each then you’re crazy. Milner was slightly less than anonymous.
I honestly think Welbeck was our best player overall, his pass completion% was over 90% for the tournament which is incredible for a forward. He missed once chance against Italy, but how many would he have scored given the chances Balotelli had?
If I was Welbeck I would consider retiring from international football and state frustration at playing for a team based on “kick and rush” or “shit on a stick”. In the long run, Welbeck would be helping England by making his point.
Hodgson seems a nice bloke and all, but the game has moved on from the 1970s. The BBC was still showing clips of the 1966 victory before the Italy match, comparing Gerrard to Pirlo…what a joke! Pirlo and half of the Italian team are already World Cup winners. Of course, Hart is the best goalkeeper in the world, Cole is the best left back in the world, Stevie Me the best midfielder in the world and Wazza the best striker in the world! Talk about deluded nation.
I hope Roy Keane rips into England next time like he did with Ireland. 🙂
you are definitely smoking on something bro or watching another game.. Theo was definitely a 7 until he came on England had zero attacking threat! You must be watching another game or just high!
He did nothing, had a decent tournament though.
Okay, I can’t say enough about how much I loath John Terry as a footballer and as a human being. But he really had a blinder today, even if he was responsible for Balotelli making the break you mentioned – he did amazingly well to run the guy down and block the shot, and he put in some timely stops over and over to save England’s blushes. Be interesting to know if he was next in line to take a shot for England during the penalty kick stage.
Milner was crap, as were Rooney and Wellbeck.
Yeah Terry did ok, as did Lescott. Young and Milner were poor every game, Rooney had a shocker and didn’t look fit at all. I thought Welbeck did much better though given the poor service though.
You are a complete knob the defence kept them in the game your marks for terry and johnson just go to prove you cant see past the fact you would have preferred jones and ferdinand in their positions you sad manc twat.
As for even marking Rooney and Young above one what game were you watching,Carroll cant help that we revert to route one when he comes on although it might have helped him if that lazy twat Rooney was prepared to run onto his flick ons instead of strolling around avoiding getting involved in the game.
Clearly wellbeck should have stayed on to partner carroll and rooney subbed off the Ox come on for Young and at least it would have given an injection of pace and players who look like they want to play for their country.
Young is below zero, cnt understand why Ferguson is willing to let Nani go
I think that Italy was a better side than England most of the time. The English players played their worst ever game in the tpournament against the Italians whom they allowed to dictate terms to them. England ought to be lucky not to have returned with a gunny sack of Italian goals!
young was probably the worst player of the whole comp! looked good going into Euro’s…but was absolutely pathetic.
We will NEVER do well in world cup with stupid 4-4-2 formation. Who else decent uses it?? Exactly…..No-one!
“I think we’ve done the country proud but again we go home with heart break which is difficult to take.” – Gerrard
What a leader. He made his country proud. Scottie Parker, JT, “Three lungs” Milner …
…there were eleven captains on the pitch last night!
Sarcasm right?
Of course! Well I was being sarcastic, you’d have to ask Gerrard if he was being sarcastic. 🙂