Quarter Finals

[grecian]

Did Waddle actually play for Taylor?

Euro 92 is the first tournament I can properly remember (my memory of Italia 90 is pretty foggy), I don't ever remember actually seeing Waddle play for England.

Oh, I think he did, he played about 10 minutes at the end of a friendly, and GT jocularly informed us that that was clearly all he had to know about some players, I think Robbo may have played in the same game.

In the end Taylor kept on leaving him out, using brilliant excuses all along, like he's probably in the best 23 in the country, but not the best 22, or all I want from forwards is to score goals, even though he picked Barnes ahead of him. Every press conference was a new reason why he picked the likes of andy sinton or tony daley ahead of Waddle, who was incredible with Marseille, got them to an euro final, and then came back to England to win Pfa player of the year for Sheffield ****ing Wednesday. Taylor kept on finding reasons to not put him in the squad though

[flibbertyjibber]

bollox, we were boring against france, technically deficient but interesting against sweden, poor against ukraine and outplayed by italy.

Still showed some fight considering how average we are, more fight than when we had better squads anyway

[Pothas]

bollox, we were boring against france, technically deficient but interesting against sweden, poor against ukraine and outplayed by italy.

I know, it really was just a standard England performance in a major tournament but Roy seems like a nice guy so everyone tried to convince themselves that this was a 'new' England, they were easily capable of producing those performances under Capello.

Roy is not a bad manager but I have no doubt the positivity around him will be gone by the time the World cup comes around.

Think everyone knows England got what they deserved today but no point ranting about it.

Italy were not fantastic by any means but should have won easily in normal time. Germany should dispose of them easily but it is Italy...

[social]

Still showed some fight considering how average we are, more fight than when we had better squads anyway

+1

The current squad actually put in which is something others can"t be accused of doing

Today they were totally outclassed and still got it to a lottery - nothing to be ashamed of IMO

[GIMH]

Italy win tournaments when there's a fascist government or match fixing scandal. We never had a chance.

[grecian]

Still showed some fight considering how average we are, more fight than when we had better squads anyway

When would that be then, apart from Mclaren we qualified and apart from germany we lost on pens, sometimes without being utterly outplayed.

[BoyBrumby]

Taylor had Gascoigne.

& Barnes, Shearer, Platt, etc

It would've been a travesty if we'd won on pens, but the whole game seemed to be set up for it.

Was interesting to note that Carrol won absolutely everything in the air. Somethng for Woy to think about.

[social]

I know, it really was just a standard England performance in a major tournament but Roy seems like a nice guy so everyone tried to convince themselves that this was a 'new' England, they were easily capable of producing those performances under Capello.

Roy is not a bad manager but I have no doubt the positivity around him will be gone by the time the World cup comes around.

Think everyone knows England got what they deserved today but no point ranting about it.

Italy were not fantastic by any means but should have won easily in normal time. Germany should dispose of them easily but it is Italy...

This is not about "performances in a major tournament", it is about quality

Did you see how technically superior the Italians were?

[GIMH]

& Barnes, Shearer, Platt, etc

It would've been a travesty if we'd won on pens, but the whole game seemed to be set up for it.

Was interesting to note that Carrol won absolutely everything in the air. Somethng for Woy to think about.

Carroll has been a major plus for us in this tournament. Looked motivated, energetic but also played intelligently, from a positional POV, which he didn't do most of the times I saw Liverpool last season.

[Pothas]

This is not about "performances in a major tournament", it is about quality

Did you see how technically superior the Italians were?

Yeah which is why it was a standard England tournament, they are not a very good side...

[Jono]

Wanted England to win. Laaaaaaaaaaaame result.

[Jono]

Italy win tournaments when there's a fascist government or match fixing scandal. We never had a chance.

[cpr]

Looks like mobiles arn't the only things Cole arses up....



Best team got through, though I'm not too dissapointed in how we did. We looked awful upfront, and Milner/Young had shocking tournaments - should've taken Johnson. Terry/Lescott/Gerrard were our best players by far.

One thing we didnt get was bringing on Henderson instead of Defoe. Could've dropped Rooney left (if bringing off the absent Young) or back a bit (if Parker was unable to continue), and allowed Defoe to run onto Carrolls flicks/passes - made a tired defence work.

Tonight their left back had the freedom of our half - Milner, for all his 'keeping shape', was nowhere to be seen defensively.

[Uppercut]

Why was Rooney so unfit?

He's always like that. It's been fun seeing everyone who never paid much attention to United this season slowly realise that England's One World-Class Player can trap the ball further than most players can kick it.

[TT Boy]

Luck run out. Showed less ambition than Greece and got what they deserved. Surely the last we see of Gerrard in an England shirt? Legs went at half time and unlike Pirlo, Gerrard with no legs isn’t a footballer of any note. Thought Carroll was an embarrassment, played like a pub player. Interesting that Carroll was left mostly unchallenged when he came on, I think the Italians were in the know that Carroll’s second touch is a tackle; he can’t run with the ball, he can’t pass and he can’t shoot. Presumably Hart would have taken a pen before him as well.

No chance in 2014, so building towards 2016 it is then.
Hope Italy goes on. Pirlo is a genius. Need to drop Mario Balotelli mind. Was the perfect fit against England’s centre halves but the guys on the bench can actually finish and there were shades of Marlon Harwood again tonight. Liked the Italian number 7, the AC Milan full-back, Abate, looks positively un-Italian and plays a bit like a Brazilian full-back.