England v Italy Match Day Thread - Day 3

[Utter Terry]

Played 3 Lost 3 . Roy sacked . Sean Dyche manager for first game of Euro qualifiers.

You heard it here first (drunk)

 

[arthur]

A breath of fresh air after the South Africa disaster four years ago. Left side was a problem all night - should not the turgid Milner have been used to perform the Aaron Davies role in front of Baines? Thierry Henry "If you don't want to play Rooney in his natural position, don't play him at all". I still think England can qualify.

 

[PeteUSA]

I didnt think Joe Hart had a particularly good game. I thought he was poor on both goals he conceeded, particularly the one from 25 yards out, which bounced a couple of times before he made a disparing dive, all too late, which was from a standing start. In fairness though, one angle of the shot suggests his vision was obstructed by his own defenders, one of whom allowed the ball to go through his legs! I also thought he should have made a move off his line to go for the cross from which Balatelli got a free header from two yards out! That cross was Harts to go for from the moment it was struck! And that balls up when a defender headed a certain goal over the bar when Hart was stranded, what can one say?

 

[Banksy]

I have a sneaky feeling we'll still qualify after watching that.Maybe steal past in the runner's up position with three points.

 

[Alistair20000]

I didnt think Joe Hart had a particularly good game. I thought he was poor on both goals he conceeded, particularly the one from 25 yards out, which bounced a couple of times before he made a disparing dive, all too late, which was from a standing start. In fairness though, one angle of the shot suggests his vision was obstructed by his own defenders, one of whom allowed the ball to go through his legs! I also thought he should have made a move off his line to go for the cross from which Balatelli got a free header from two yards out! That cross was Harts to go for from the moment it was struck! And that balls up when a defender headed a certain goal over the bar when Hart was stranded, what can one say?

The second goal from Cote Ivoire represented a far worse goalkeeping balls up Pate. I thought you might have started a thread of its own for WC 2014 Goalkeeping Performances. A few horrors already for you to observe on.

 

[richard_portland]

We can still qualify but as usual we will have to do it the hard way. I thought despite having less possession the team was set out in a very attacking manner including the subs and it wasn't the worst finals performance I have seen. The main issue was we didn't take our chances and the final ball lacked the quality at times. The worst miss was Rooney in the second half with half the goal to aim at.

Uruguay is a huge game for both sides, hopefully we can find a win or if it's a draw hope that Italy beat Costa Rica which would still give us a chance in the third round of games.

 

[Tim Long]

Nice to see that all those years in a Bournemouth trattoria paid off for Trevor Morgan as he comes on as substitute for Italy. No, sorry, it's a centre forward called Immobile.

 

[Avening Posse]

If I may inject a bit of positive vibes, overall I thought we played very well, and the Italians were classier opposition than anticipated. If we play that well in the remaining 2 games we will win both of them.

Italy play Costa Rica next and are likely to win giving them 6 points and the Costa Ricans 3 points.

Even if we draw with Uruguay (which frankly I expect us to win), both Uruguay and England will have a point each going into the final game. We play Costa which we will win giving us 4, and even if Uruguay beat Italy I very much doubt it will be a better goal difference than we get against Costa Rica (unless those pesky Italians rest people)

Overall after witnessing both games yesterday I see 6 points coming our way .)

 

[grecIAN Harris]

I didnt think Joe Hart had a particularly good game. I thought he was poor on both goals he conceeded, particularly the one from 25 yards out, which bounced a couple of times before he made a disparing dive, all too late, which was from a standing start. In fairness though, one angle of the shot suggests his vision was obstructed by his own defenders, one of whom allowed the ball to go through his legs! I also thought he should have made a move off his line to go for the cross from which Balatelli got a free header from two yards out! That cross was Harts to go for from the moment it was struck! And that balls up when a defender headed a certain goal over the bar when Hart was stranded, what can one say?

You are talking ballaches again Pete. 25 yards out and went through or past at least three pairs of England legs if not four. How could he go for that any earlier than he did? The cross took Hart out the game not to mention the Italian movement which also took Johnson under the cross instead of mopping up at the back post where Balotelli was unmarked. Third incident I thought he did right to come in the first place but having ushered Balotelli away and defenders got around, I thought he should have retreated back to his goal line where he could have effected the second phase of the incident. He was never going to do anything once Balotelli had turned to face goal.

 

[Chuckles]

Hart was mediocre and in my opinion was slow going down to the first and flat footed for the cross for the second and beaten at the near post by a header.

Rooney is not world class and should be dropped from the squad. England were naive and still failed to learn lessons from the last game when they once again let Pirlo do what he wanted. Beaten by a much better team. Don't worry though, there is always the European Championships