England World Cup Thread

[PorkChop]

Apparently Honduras were kicking lumps out of England players.

England will struggle if they can't find a striker to put the ball into the back of the net consistently. Strurridge should be that guy as he's been in form but don't think he'll replicate his form with England in the WC.

Honduras were a pretty nasty team, but it annoys me that people have used their physicality as an excuse for last night's game. We should have beaten them, full stop. We're going into the World Cup with no momentum

[prophet]

I was too hammered to pay attention to the gamer but again I don't see why there's such a negativity around England. We may not have played well and we should absolutely have beaten them but they were dirty as fuck and it was a choppy game. I'm not too worried about anything, we're hardly the only team to be lacking momentum heading into the world cup and at least the two teams we've drawn against are both in the cup themselves. We do need Sterling on the wing though and I can't figure out why Woy doesn't trust Barkley to do the business.

I honestly have no idea how this group is gonna go. Realistically, you would expect England, Italy and Uruguay to go through to the next round but of course, only two can. I am kinda hoping these teams are just taking easy in these friendlies and not taking them too seriously, because you really would expect England to beat Honduras. Italy haven't been doing too well either. Who knows how it's gonna go. However, I have a feeling either Italy or England won't be going through.

You belong on Match of the Day I reckon.

[prophet]

talkSPORT were on about the line-up for the Italy game and came up with this.

Hart
Johnson Cahill Jagielka Baines
Gerrard
Sterling Barkley Lallana
Rooney Sturridge

LOVE that line-up. I'm one of those that thinks Ross Barkley should absolutely be starting, his pace and power coupled with how fearless he is on the ball are just what we need. Sterling and Lallana on the wing give us pace, composure and quality to provide for the already proven twosome of Rooney and Sturridge. Say what you will about Rooney but he's world class and his work-rate is second to none - he slows the game down and gets in the way of things when he's playing number 10 or on the wing but when he's up top he's lethal and the fact of the matter is foreign teams are genuinely scared of him.

They were saying that if Sterling, Barkley and Lallana hit Italy with an onslaught of forward movement and pace how on earth is Pirlo going to be able to keep up with them? The best way to neutralize Pirlo is to have our young guns run him ragged so that by the time he gets the ball he's looking to get rid of it to compose himself. I'd rather go out all guns blazing than with a wimper.

What do you think the line-up should be?

[Daz]

talkSPORT were on about the line-up for the Italy game and came up with this.

Hart
Johnson Cahill Jagielka Baines
Gerrard
Sterling Barkley Lallana
Rooney Sturridge

LOVE that line-up. I'm one of those that thinks Ross Barkley should absolutely be starting, his pace and power coupled with how fearless he is on the ball are just what we need. Sterling and Lallana on the wing give us pace, composure and quality to provide for the already proven twosome of Rooney and Sturridge. Say what you will about Rooney but he's world class and his work-rate is second to none - he slows the game down and gets in the way of things when he's playing number 10 or on the wing but when he's up top he's lethal and the fact of the matter is foreign teams are genuinely scared of him.

They were saying that if Sterling, Barkley and Lallana hit Italy with an onslaught of forward movement and pace how on earth is Pirlo going to be able to keep up with them? The best way to neutralize Pirlo is to have our young guns run him ragged so that by the time he gets the ball he's looking to get rid of it to compose himself. I'd rather go out all guns blazing than with a wimper.

What do you think the line-up should be?

I'd be fine with that to be honest. Barkley is a must for me. And no Welbeck makes it instantly better.

[PorkChop]

That's a good line up, yeah. Hopefully Rooney finds his scoring boots and Sturridge doesn't have a mare like he did against Honduras.

[AkydefGoldberg]

Problem with that line up is that you're asking Gerrard to sit on his own in front of the defence and I don't think he can do that. He needs someone like Henderson with him to help. Barkley, Lallana and Sterling are not overly defensive players but have got desire and work-rate. They should have tried this formation out but as much as Barkley is brilliant, he's best to have on the bench if we need something special.

Also folks, Hodgson has got amazing tekkers:

[prophet]

Geniuses like Seedorf and Henry defend Rooney and would start him in a more central role on Thursday (as would I). Idiot couch pundits would bench him. Telling.

[AkydefGoldberg]

It's harsh on Sterling but luckily, he's shown this season he can handle playing on the right or left so it's not a massive issue and Roy's not brave enough to put Rooney on the left again I feel. But if he plays there, he has to deliver. Otherwise, it's back to square one with the focus he's getting atm and rightly so tbh. He's shown he wants to do well by training before the WC, but all that is irrelevant to the on-the-pitch business he has to do.

[PorkChop]

Well... shit went down.

England were okay again, but this is embarrassing. Back to back losses in a World Cup group stage.

[AkydefGoldberg]

It was a better second half performance but not majorly convincing for the whole game I felt.

Rooney breaks his goal scoring duck at a WC - something worth celebrating (not).

Was it just me - maybe I'm picky - that Hart could have taken a hit in the face for the second goal? Seems he slanted out of way, probably thinking about his Head and Shoulders commercials.

[PorkChop]

It was a better second half performance but not majorly convincing for the whole game I felt.

Rooney breaks his goal scoring duck at a WC - something worth celebrating (not).

Was it just me - maybe I'm picky - that Hart could have taken a hit in the face for the second goal? Seems he slanted out of way, probably thinking about his Head and Shoulders commercials.

I'm not sure whether Hart could've saved it, the shot was an absolute rocket.

At the end of the day though, we got dismantled by Suarez who isn't even fully fit, and we should've beaten Uruguay. No excuses.

[SortaCreative]

[SKS]

I still think Italy will beat us. I'm pretty sure Uruguay will beat us as well.

On a positive note, we have one of the youngest teams in the tournament and this will be a good experience for them.

We'll beat Uruguay. Also Italy haven't won a match since last September.

[SlightlyJames]

I still think Italy will beat us. I'm pretty sure Uruguay will beat us as well.

On a positive note, we have one of the youngest teams in the tournament and this will be a good experience for them.

We'll beat Uruguay. Also Italy haven't won a match since last September.

I don't see Bad News being very happy about that.

[PorkChop]

Well, that's our World Cup over.

Great stuff lads, did us proud.

[prophet]

Prior to the World Cup I liked to think of myself as the only optimist when it came to England.

Those days are now over.

Welcum 2 h3ll.

[PorkChop]

Prior to the World Cup I liked to think of myself as the only optimist when it came to England.

Those days are now over.

Welcum 2 h3ll.

We tried to tell you...

[SlightlyJames]

So many people up my neck of the woods getting all smug about this and trying to twist the knife. Lots of "they're shite" being thrown around, hurts to have to be the straight man here and remind them that we never qualified.

[PorkChop]

So many people up my neck of the woods getting all smug about this and trying to twist the knife. Lots of "they're shite" being thrown around, hurts to have to be the straight man here and remind them that we never qualified.

I'd expect nothing less from the Scottish I always get the feeling though that the Scottish hate the English a hell of a lot more than the English hate the Scottish.

Is anyone else actually embarrassed that England have been dumped out the competition so soon?

[SlightlyJames]

So many people up my neck of the woods getting all smug about this and trying to twist the knife. Lots of "they're shite" being thrown around, hurts to have to be the straight man here and remind them that we never qualified.

I'd expect nothing less from the Scottish I always get the feeling though that the Scottish hate the English a hell of a lot more than the English hate the Scottish.

Is anyone else actually embarrassed that England have been dumped out the competition so soon?

Exactly what I tweeted about 10 minutes ago in reply to one of the aforementioned smug bastards, "This is such a one-sided rivalry, Scotland won't fucking let go and England don't even give a fuck."