ichabodscrane wrote:
I am a Liverpool fan and I can honestly say that Henderson should not be on that team, also how the hell does Welbeck get into that team, he does nothing apart from a nice bit of skill followed by giving the ball away. Surely Lalana would be a better option, even Milner to cover Baines. Hodgson got caught somewhere in between being different & listening to the media/public.
Based on performances in Brazil, Gerrard should certainly not be on the team. Certainly agree about Wellbeck too when it is Rooney who has been getting most of the flack for being the star player.
Defensively, they looked all over the place. Johnson and Baines are great going forward but seemed extremely lazy when having to track back or cover a player - in particular Baines for the first goal and Johnson for Cavani's chance at the start of the second half. As a West Brom fan, would have expected Hodgson to instil more defensive rigidity in the team.
Didn't think they were too bad going forward and could well be the team with most shots on goal after two rounds, but have never seen a keeper been so able to easily hold onto the ball with so many tame shots going in.
Also, if Italy win tonight, with a bit of game theory - I don't think England will not want to win too comfortably against Costa Rica - not that I think that in normal circumstances, such a result would be a foregone conclusion. If England are guaranteed a win, Italy and Uruguay could happily play out a draw. Not that it could be pre-arranged like the Sweden v Denmark 2-2, but if scores do become level, we could have a Holland v Ireland from 1990 situation if England are almost certain to win.
Whereas the potential of a result would require Uruguay to push for a win - which could knock out Italy too, so giving the Italians incentives to get a result.