Oh well
Sunday, June 24, 2012 at 10:36PM I own a pair of Adidas Beckenbauer so that technically makes me German. I'll take that.
We had plenty of desire and heart but lacked quality. Can't really hate on them for that. Italy had more possession than Pete Doherty and managed to blow it all. We could have nicked it but we really should have been well beaten before extra-time. Hodgson can't do much with the likes of < pick any three players at random > and when our supposedly best player is completely off key we're hardly going to ignite and set the night on fire.
Got schooled, justice done for the Italians. Another QF heartbreak for us. It's just not in our mindset to win penalties so let's not pretend we believed we could. Look on the bright side, we're not going to lose 4-0 to the Germans now.
Viva two banks of four. Onwards to Brazil then.
Reader Comments (44)
Got as far as we could. Gerrard shot after 70 mins,u can't get thru with your best player dead on his feet. The man u trio could and should have done so much better imho.
I agree England really didn't deserve to win and if I was completely honest England/Chelsea becoming synonymous with negative ugly football. Playing scared.
Hi fellow spurs. Did England miss Azza? Did England miss Walker? Did DEFOE miss England? Enough all ready when does the premier league start? Whos coming to the lane? Does anyone know if Rasmus Elm signed for us back in Jan ready to join up in July.
Tactically inept by Hodgson.
Premiership football is about power and pace, pressing in the opponents half and high-tempo.
That display tonight was treating Italy as Spain and letting them have the ball to do what they want.
When they play Germany I expect them to be destroyed by a national team that plays in the Premiership style.
Pathetic Hodgson.
After watching France and Blanc last night and England and Hodgson tonight, the thought occurred to me that what Levy actually said about the new manager is that he wanted someone with the "Woy" factor.
Blanc fits the bill.
the sad thing is Chelscum managed to win the CL playing like that.
odd to go with 442, especially as Italy are good, and rooney only half fit, and pirlo their danger man. Chasing shadows for most of the game. can you magine what the krauts would have done to England tonight. cricket score. we have seen no change under Roy whatever the media say,s it is just same old same old.
Ciriola,I agree - 433 was clearly the way to go. Even a blind man could see that Pirlo ran the show so is it not obvious u put a man on him rather than stick to ur principles. We have to adapt to different scenarios not stubbornly keep to the same game in game out,its just prehistoric.
Have to disagree ciriola, I think England played well tonight with the players at their disposal (Young and Johnson excepted, they had bad games).
I think under Roy they play like a team. An average team, but a team. And I think that is a step in the right direction.
Roys substitutions were good too. I thought the Carroll one was a bad call initially, but he had much more impact on the game than wellbeck had managed, and if the passing had been better walcott would have posed a threat. Italy are probably the 3rd best side at the tournament, so it is no disgrace. Also Downing didn't play. Much as I hate to say it, Wilshere was a key man to be missing for this tournament - we completely lacked someone setting a rhythm where we kept the ball. Also I think Lennon would have offered everything Milner offered at RM, and a lot more besides. I hope if his fitness holds he will be in the side again.
< pick any three players at random >?????
Ashley Young......um.....Ashley Young.......and.....um....Ashley Young.
Not for the penalty miss, but for constantly falling on the ground, moaning constantly and getting tackled the whole tournament.
Why the hell young wasn't taken off in every game I don't know. Awful tournament. And rooney was terrible too. Dunno where JC is coming from,I thought johnson was one of the best players. And milner did nothing wrong yet walked when young should have taken himself off he was that shite
Sack Hodgson, get Rednap in the England set up NOW"
Might not have got any further but would have played better style of attacking football.
Charlie (Bucket Boy)
Glen Johnson was England's best player along with cole
Out of the hundreds of professional footballers available for Roy to choose from, why did we end up with Jordan Henderson on the park in a European Championship quarter-final match? The mind boggles.
If he's still in charge of England at Brazil 2014, then there needs to be a f*cking revolution. It'll be an embarrassment to play those tactics in the country that created the likes of Socrates, Pele, Zico, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Sandro, and Gilberto da Silva Melo et al.
You can say he had little time to prepare etc, but his squad selection was utterly shocking. No wonder the players were knackered by the end, he kept the same eleven on the pitch throughout the whole tournament. Once Parker was gone we had not one single defensive midfielder to call upon.
Roy chose a team and tactics with no pace, no guile, no skill , no nothing. He's a cultural dinosaur.
Unfortunately our World Cup qualifying group is so easy that we'll make it to Brazil even with Hodgson in charge. And the FA will carry on making money, making mistakes and ultimately ripping off the supporters, seemingly without a care in the world.
It's a shame JC didn't watch the game tonight, then he'd have noticed Johnson was one of our best players. You knew the game was up the moment Henderson set foot on the pitch. Bad sub that, the right call would have been Defoe on for Rooney, I can see him playing well off Carroll.
The squad had too many players who are not international class - Henderson, Downing, Milner and (currently) Oxlade-Chamberlain.
England are poor and a tactically naive manager in Hodgson doesn't help.
Do you reckon he saw his knighthood evaporate in the warm Kiev night air as Youngs spotkick cannoned off the bar?
The game played out as I suspected. England have never been a good shootout team against one of the best had to win it in real time. They just didn't make enough chances, Rooney's bicycle kick would have been a miracle but not to be. Still for those complaining about ugly ball Hodgson still got England to the QFs which is more than you can say if you're Dutch or Swedish...
The Best team won & that`s not saying much,awful game for an European Quarter final!! Negative tactics,Limp(awful) Display from
Rooney,Young.Milner,Johnson, Parker&Gerrard 2nd.Half non existent,Back four okay,Joe Hart not bad,Subs okay,Skills,Ball Control,
Style,Game Plan,Defend Defend,ETC!! Midfield generals,do you remember them ? Alan Shearer Or Heskey Type C/F,I could go on.
Poor Roy it`s a Poison Challis,even Harry Or Whoever,we just Ain`t got it!!
Its like reading my arguments on GGTH and WATFTL. We *did not* deserve to win. And frankly I don't get the arguments some of our fans are saying. Carroll actually played pretty decent, as and I hate to say it did Milner and Ashley Cole, and Johnson. Hart was immense. I thought Wellbeck did well also.
How can we blame Hodgson either, he's been in charge 1 month, if that. Ok, Downing and Walcott should not of gone, Johnson and Lennon should of. But really, did we have better players, who were not injured?
We simply lost to a better side on penalties.
Well done lads. We got to a quarter-final when and proved so many doubters wrong. The normal fickle fans will now come out and moan, moan, moan. Until players are taught about ball retention we won't win a tournament. England took their pens like Spurs.
Every one is being so nice.But the fact remains England were outplayed,and Italy were worthy winners.Every one keeps patting Hodgson on the back.And yes he did bring some organisation to the team.But come on.he kept Ashley Young on the field.When he had been,well to put it politely "bloody useless."It was a need to win game,and once agin,we went out there,with Behind the ball mentality.Then he brings on Carroll,so that means big high balls,not exactly science.With Walcott/Chamberlain/defore on the bench,surely we should have really injected pace into going forward.Carroll,yes a good headed of the ball,but to expect guile and pace.Not exactly his best weapons.Its was unfortunately so predictable.But credit to Italy,they throughtly deserved thee win
I supose Roy at least made sure we played with pride and the players gave their all, BUT the harsh truth is England are just simply not good enough. Whether the FA's lack of a credible development program, or the financial model that means that clubs must have immediate results and as a consequence young English players are not given time to develop as foreign talent is bought to get maximum impact straight away, or for whatever reason, there is a real need to have an impartial inquiry to look at the game in England. It really is time for Benstein and his board on the FA to be swept away, given the role football plays in the culture of the country the game's future must nor rest in their hands.
without space to run into, england cannot play football! our closing down and passing is not on a level of the top 10 teams in the world! ......and no shearer, were not 6th or 7th, behave and wake up
England played as good as could be expected from that group of players. The international game is just continuing to pass us by, I honestly don't think you can blame hodgson or the 442. England can't play possession football of any kind in any shape, I mean every single game in E2012 England had less than 50% of possession. So many moments of kicking the ball up the field to no one in particular.
Someone mentioned that germany plays like a premier league team which gave me a good laugh. Perhaps an EPL team with no English players.....but they play more like borussia dortmund.
The simple truth is, England players are not good enough without foreign players in their team.
How many England players play in foreign leagues? Answer: None.
David's comments are spot on. The 25 man squad rule was supposed to help with developing young English players, but their are so many loopholes, no team really has a problem complying with the rules and favoring English players over Carlos Kick-a-Balls.
Wow. Weird to post on this blog as a neutral. Makes me feel somewhat dirty.
But I have to say, England did all they could. I think Roy got the tactics right. You have no creativity in the midfield and serious limitations. You almost mugged a superior team.
The defense were solid and organized.
The match was actually--in my mind--the most enjoyable of all the quarterfinals.
Italy were fantastic but ultimately they struggled to break down your catenaccio.
Pirlo's penalty was the single classiest moment of the entire tournament.
Kudos to you and Italy for actually playing some football as opposed to the crap I had to endure yesterday in the Spain-France match.
You do still suck at penos.
I think Hodgson sould be sacked and the FA commitee who employed him should all stand down, we were rubbish as usual.
Let the kneejerks begin!
Easy for me to say--if this were Spurs I'd have bruised my forehead with my kneecap by now ...
Was there one English player who played today who can actually beat a man? Walcott can with his pace but he has to be given the right pass, but that is about it. We are so lacking in technical skills. Thank God we do not have to face Germany or Spain, we would have to have played a 10-0-0 formation.
I'm not sure I watched the same game as everyone else? For a goodly part of the first half I thought England mixed it up pretty well with the Eyties and it could easily have been 2-1 or 2-0 for us at halftime. Unfortunately, something happened at half-time. I don't know whether Hodgeson told everyone to stay back or we were just too knackered to keep-up the attacking football, but our commitment to go forward became weak and sporadic. And the Italians started defending like a bloody swarm of hornets. Every time one of ours went forward he was surrounded by three or four of theirs, while most just stayed back for the inevitable counter. Rooney looked exhausted. Young frustrated; and Gerrard no better than 70% fit.
I think that the back four plus Parker/Gerrard and Hart defended like Trojans. They shut Balotelli and Pierlo down for most of the game. Had we scored I think they would have gained in strength and confidence, and sealed the deal.
But it must be soul-destroying to play that kind of football!? I honestly feel sorry for the lads. They must have known how ugly and negative they were becoming in the second half especially. I think the frustration was almost palpable towards the end, when the will to attack was almost gone...and we still almost stole it at the end. I agree that Defoe should have come on for Parker, it would have changed the dynamic and energized the team, but...he doesn't defend and that's all Roy cared about tonight. Banking on Joe to beat the Buffoon was always a crazy longshot and we really do suck at pens.
I for one am gutted not only by the loss but by the way we were forced to play. I think we lived with Italy in the first half and could have taken them fair and square. There IS a solid core of good players on the squad and we have the quality to give anyone a game. But where are the the exciting new English players going to come from if they see displays like that second half from their idols? And why would they want to come?
"Audere est Facere", is our motto brothers. Not "Defendere est Perdere."
We could have been so much better, if only....(fill in the blank)...just like bloody Spurs after all....
There is no glory playing how we did last night. It would have been an embarrassment if Pirlo was on the losing team.
What's the opposite to evolving? Whatever it is, we've done it. Never felt so disconnected from England in me life, when Bufon finally put us out of our misery, I looked over at my bewildered (facepainted) kids and shouted - 'see, aren't you glad we supported Italy' ?
I have to be honest, for the first time ever with England, I did not even make it to extra time, I knew the outcome pretty much after 45 minutes on Monday 11th June against France.......predictable tactics, same old routines, mostly same players.... SAME RESULT...... if it is meant to be a higher quality product as per the pundits say.. then I aint interested anymore.......
I have totally lost it with international(small 'i' intentional) football, it is lack lustre and lacks excitement. I suppose I know how Stoke fans must feel every August..... a whole season of dross awaiting.............
Just look at most Spurs games last season, there was at least some sparkle and flair..... even if 'Arry tried to snuff it out, perhaps he was practicing for international footy? we will never know! bring on a new season, new manager and some new signings.... COYS!
All this nonsense England started to believe in that they could win playing the Chelsea way. The reality is that Chelsea were incredibly lucky, and 19 times out of 20, they would not win it. BTW I fully expected Cole to hit on that side (he hit that way in the Champs league final) Yesterday was a victory for football. It also showed the England were a bit lucky to be in the group they were in. The 2 groups now make up 4 semifinals so the likes of Netherlands and Croatia will feel a bit hard done by. After all, Croatia gave Spain and Italy a much tougher time. it also shows how someone like Parker is overrated. I was wondering recently if our better results in the last 3 games were down to him missing those games. England needed to have the likes of Carrick (and Huddlestone when fit) playing - and should have played with 3 central midfielders.
The problem is that most of the premiership is made up of non- English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh players and then we wonder why none of the home countries can challenge at major tournaments.
Everyone here has said it all really. Biggest thing for me was the lack of technique from England and Rooney has to be the most overrated footballer on the planet no wonder the big teams in Europe never try to poach him. I have never seen a team give the ball away so much. Tiredness played a big part also, he took 25 players for gods sake and used the same 11 every starting lineup pretty much in fact he used a total of 16 in the whole tournament including subs. Crazy!! Jagielka could have been used against Ukraine for example thereby resting Lescott or Terry. But no, same old stuff from England why bother taking them if you dont trust them?? All the Rio stuff beforehand - HE would have got a game Kelly did not and was never going to get near it. Carrick left behind but Henderson got on in the 1/4final?? Crazy stuff. He turned England into Stoke fgs why the hell didnt the FA just give the job to Pulis who would at least have done in properly.. Like everyone else I am fed up of international football but somehow England still tugs the heartstrings but not to the same degree as Spurs do I noticed during the England matches my feet werent trying to kick the ball so that says to me that it just didnt matter anywhere near as much. Bring on the new season COYS!!!!
'coughs'
Sorry to bring this lads, but 'pushes thumb onto desk and nervously twists' reports are suggesting that Ventonkonmonkey from Ajax is even closer to signing for us, app-ar-ent-ly talks continue!
Begining to think we should have sent a fcuking interpreter, surly Levy's not doing this deal using a phrase book........
We where rubbish and bringing Henderson on and Playing Young Milner showed Woy is what he always was a West Brom Fulham Manager with five tongues he sounded better in Italian and i could not understand a word. One foot note Harry Hotspurs has stopped Davspurs from telling the truth about Harry and i tried an hostile takover of his blog site he silenced me free speech is not dead Mr Levey thanks for allowing me freedom.
As long as the likes of Allardyce, Pulis and the FA dominate, English soccer will simply be an upgrade of 'kick and run'. Our strengths are pace and energy --so what do we do? We leave out players with real pace and try to bore the opponents (and the spectators ) to death. Surely it would have been better to lose 4-3 than play the game the way England played it in this tournament.
Funny how when Spurs failed it was all down to tactics and when England fail it's all down to poor players..
Someone on another site was suggesting that because Pirlo doesn't have any pace but played a great game Huddlestone shouldn't be criticised either. Let's see Pirlo be that influential in an EPL league match.
We could have performed much a better with roughly the same players if the tactics had been different. We played as if Italy were Barcelona but the big difference is Barcelona have Messi, a player that defences do have to worry about if he gets one-on-one but Italy do not have anyone in that class and neither do Spain. Gerrard should have spent his time making sure Pirlo didn't have time to play and we should have defended from the front instead of standing around and letting Italy play.
It was abject and if Harry had been in charge we would at least have tried to take the game to Italy, whose defence looked decidedly dodgy on the few occasions that England were near their goal.
I like Hodgson for his dignity but I fear that this tournament has shown why he was manager at West Brom and not Liverpool.
After watching the likes of England and France, all I can say is thank God Spurs have a manager who is willing to actually play football..
Oh wait.. nevermind.
"Funny how when Spurs failed it was all down to tactics and when England fail it's all down to poor players.."
It's probably a bit of both, would have been interesting to see us go gung-ho for entertainment and lose every game 6-3.
We did well for the first 20 minutes, however, I'm not too sure what happened after that. An extremly lack lustre performance which made the Italians appear to be a much better side than they actually are..... "Italy had more possession than Pete Doherty and managed to blow it all." Great line there Spooky (excuse the pun!!) that sums it up in one.
I have a pair of those Spooky, love em. We were very poor in that game and it is time for roy to be brave and give the youngtsers a chance. Look at Germany, they are reaping the rewards from playing the youngsters from last world cup. Time for a change, there is enough English talent out there/
I spent the whole game shouting at the Telly. Pirlo is a superb passer of the ball but was allowed so much time and space to control the game; switching play and picking searching passes - it was almost like watching a Quarterback in the NFL. Why somebody wasn't given the job to close him down I will never know. Roy chose to play the bung merchants at their own game - far too negative for me, although the players really grafted for each other and deserve credit for that. We rode our luck in the second half - but stood firm. If the team were dead on their feet, what are they are going to be like in the Brazilian heat when they're two years older? All that said we nearly pulled off the great escape. If Joe Hart would had stood still for Pirlo's penalty - the italian would have looked a prize pillock. Unluckily he is now some kind of cool genius. The two Ashley's won entries into the next Pizza Hut commercial - but at least they stood up to take them.
So that's our lot, nobody was expecting anything from Euro 2012, so this has come as no big suprise. I just hope that Roy uses the positives from this experience to develop a more offensive style of play for the World Cup qualifiers. Maybe he can draft Harry in as an Assistant. Brazil 2014 is probably the last tournament where we will be selecting our team from the Premier League - so please make it a good un.