Group B - England, Russia, Wales, Slovakia

[MW1304]

This has been absolutely classic tournament England. Lots of possession, absolutely nothing being done with it against a compact defense, then goalkeeping uselessness.

Bale forcing another error though, the technique behind his freekicks is pure power.

 

[Scaly piscine]

I need a drink... Will there be any changes in the English side come the second half?

On past form there will be one about 10 minutes to go and one with 5 minutes to go.

Time for Sterling and Rooney to **** off. Well it was time months ago.

 

[Compton]

Surely no Sterling second half? He loses possession almost every time he gets the ball.

Ramsey MOTM so far for me.

 

[vogue]

I thought goalkeepers were supposed to save stuff like that?

 

[Tangles]

England playing like an LVG team. All possession but no cutting edge. Walker looks the best avenue to goal.

Such a contrast with Italy who have no egos but play as a team. England with "stars" but no cohesion and little quality.

 

[Furball]

Vardy to come on and score 2.

 

[wpdavid]

Dodgy keeper come on down.

Sterling is poor but Rooney looks as clueless. His energy level and movement is so poor.

Hart's been at fault for both the goals we've conceded in the tournament so far. Useless posturing ****.
The rest seem to have been sucked into headless chickens mode today.

Hodgson's actually got to justify his position and make some decent calls at half time.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

England playing like an LVG team. All possession but no cutting edge. Walker looks the best avenue to goal.

Such a contrast with Italy who have no egos but play as a team. England with "stars" but no cohesion and little quality.

England don't really have stars, so many overhyped players in this side.

 

[Uppercut]

England don't really have stars, so many overhyped players in this side.

Man I love it when the fans turn against the team. Best part of the English meltdown.

 

[Tangles]

England don't really have stars, so many overhyped players in this side.

Called stars by media and name players given automatic selection. Agree with you 100%.

 

[Scaly piscine]

England don't really have stars, so many overhyped players in this side.

Dier the best player for me. A few others look quality in flashes.

 

[Compton]

Sterling's miss was hilarious

It's like he'd forgotten how to kick the ball so just threw his body in the general direction of the ball.

 

[Furball]

What's hilarious is that Wales have been absolute garbage so far.

 

[vogue]

Will Vardy come on now?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Man I love it when the fans turn against the team. Best part of the English meltdown.

I'm not turning against them, always thought best we would do would be a quarter final place. Doubt we will do that now. As others say, too many players hyped and certain of their place who don't deserve it.

 

[Uppercut]

Also hilarious that Ronaldo will be straight back on Real Madrid's free kicks in August despite scoring about as many in the past five seasons as Bale has in the past week.

 

[MW1304]

Problem is you can justify needing to take off three or four players. Sterling is a must for now though, feel like Sturridge will come on, would prefer Vardy.

Edit: Both then. Is a fair call.

 

[Uppercut]

I'm not turning against them, always thought best we would do would be a quarter final place. Doubt we will do that now. As others say, too many players hyped and certain of their place who don't deserve it.

Just Sterling and Rooney really? Even Sterling probably wouldn't play if it weren't for the fudge to get Rooney in the team. I know most people would drop Lallana but he gets no hype at all.

 

[wpdavid]

I'm not turning against them, always thought best we would do would be a quarter final place. Doubt we will do that now. As others say, too many players hyped and certain of their place who don't deserve it.

Beyond that, we're entitled to expect a professional keeper to save that free kick. And to expect any of our forwards to be 100% more competent than Sterling has shown.

Perhaps the bigger picture is the failure of English players to develop into something more than promising youngsters. Sterling's the obvious example, but same could be said of so many others, some of them in the squad today.

 

[Uppercut]

No one on this forum, or even any of the pundits or commentators, have ever faced a free kick hit with that technique, but they all seem to know an awful lot about how easy they are to save. Even though he's hit them against a hundred or so different keepers and they've all found them very difficult to save. Apparently Bale just has mind powers that make established keepers turn shite.