themanupstairs

There's nothing inherently "wrong" with the English players on a phyiscal/technical level. The main issues preventing England from doing well are all mental, strategic and tactical. The role that the media plays is also unjustifiably huge. Team England should take a leaf out of MA and ban most if not all English media from the squad starting from 2 months before a major tournament.

So and so playing "up top".

Seriously? Obviously he made a great run to ghost past the defence, but the pass was so perfectly weighted and flighted all he had to do was give it direction! The second goal? latching on to a defensive error, clear of any defenders, one on one with Joe Hart? Sorry like but any top division striker worth his salt should be converting these two chances 9 times out of 10. Edit: Put it this way, if he had missed those two chances, we'd be talking about how a top striker like him should be putting those away for fun.

Uruguay are a different proposition with Suarez, ridiculous how people could think otherwise. Tbh neesy I was thinking and hoping it would be the typical case of a player being rushed back and not looking the same. Unfortunately not. Come on man, he got two chances on a f***ing plate! We didn't see anywhere near 40% of the real Suarez! Come on man yourself, he put himself in those positions and was lethal in his finishing. His all-round game wasn't the same but we still had to deal with world class movement / finishing for the goals. If Suarez wasn't playing we'd have won a thoroughly s**** game IMO. Was a reply to the "not looking the same" comment. That wasn't the same Suarez. England bottled it big time. There's no spinning it any other way. This Uruguay side was very beatable. Half the English team are his teammates, and the rest have played against him several times. If anything, England had the upper hand, with him coming back from injury on top of all that. It was a bottle job that stank of fear and shirking of responsibility by the likes of Gerrard, Baines, Jagielka, and Glen fucking Johnson who couldn;t be arsed to take a step forward to close down an advancing Cavani.

Uruguay are a different proposition with Suarez, ridiculous how people could think otherwise. Tbh neesy I was thinking and hoping it would be the typical case of a player being rushed back and not looking the same. Unfortunately not. Come on man, he got two chances on a fucking plate! We didn't see anywhere near 40% of the real Suarez!

Utter utter crap. He's brought ALL the criticism on to himself. The racism and biting are nothing compared to him diving and cheating and feigning injury week in week out. He is a theatrical cretin of the highest order who doesn't deserve any kind of admiration for a woeful attitude. He is as much a scumbag as he is a football genius. The day he leaves the premier league will be a beautiful sunny day that I will immensely enjoy.

Name a single thing he does that is world class. Oh so does it go from average, to slightly better than average, to world class? I'm not trutoon94 but the way Ronaldo keeps banging on about building the team around Rooney does my head in, he simply isn't "the best" at anything he does, even within the England setup. I don't think he's world class, but I think he's the best passer and finisher out of the lot that started tonight.

No. Because he got two chances Suarez would have easily scored no questions asked and didn't. That was tonight. Suarez had two harder chances and scored both. Ok genuine question. If Rooney got the same exact two chances that Suarez got, do you think he would have scored them or not? can't really work out your reply because of the fantastic quoting. So you're saying Rooney isn't good enough to finish two chances like Suarez had on a plate like tonight?

No. Because he got two chances Suarez would have easily scored no questions asked and didn't. That was tonight. Suarez had two harder chances and scored both. Ok genuine question. If Rooney got the same exact two chances that Suarez got, do you think he would have scored them or not?

Name a single thing he does that is world class. Oh so does it go from average, to slightly better than average, to world class?

Ok genuine question. If Rooney got the same exact two chances that Suarez got, do you think he would have scored them or not?

He's just moved to Bournemouth on a free transfer.

Gerrard getting some stern criticism from Andy Gray there: "Steven should do better". Cunts. Peter Reid has told it like it is though, saying Gerrard's attempts at tackles were worse than bad Respect.

This. Gerrard literally contributed NOTHING in two matches apart from giving goals away. Diabolical decision to start him in both games. He's a heartless t*** who is no longer the leader he was years ago. You're talking about the bloke who's just captained Liverpool to a 2nd place finish in the Premiership though. Starting Barkley or Wilshere ahead of him changes nothing, England still don't control either of the opening games. Captaining Liverpool to 2nd place is a bit misleading. Liverpool had a whole squad around Gerrard who were good enough to win with or without him. In my opinion you could have taken Gerrard out of last seasons team and they still would have achieved just as much as they did with him. With Henderson playing there is no really need for Gerrard. What a a load of f*cking bollocks aside from Yaya and Ramsey he was probably the best midfielder in the league this year. Who they gonna play instead of him? Joe f*cking Allen. Chill man. He was good early on. He was utter garbage in the last set of fixtures leading up to the home stretch in the season. Scoring a bunch of penalties aside.

Problem is we can't cheat properly. Tonight couldn't have been a better example. Uruguay saw the ref early on for what he was (poor) and played him a dream. Same happens in the CL when big English refs are told to keep to the narrative. Fair enough, were some absolute horrendous attempts from the Liverpool players. They have Suarez to learn from

This. Gerrard literally contributed NOTHING in two matches apart from giving goals away. Diabolical decision to start him in both games. He's a heartless t*** who is no longer the leader he was years ago. You're talking about the bloke who's just captained Liverpool to a 2nd place finish in the Premiership though. Starting Barkley or Wilshere ahead of him changes nothing, England still don't control either of the opening games. Captaining Liverpool to 2nd place is a bit misleading. Liverpool had a whole squad around Gerrard who were good enough to win with or without him. In my opinion you could have taken Gerrard out of last seasons team and they still would have achieved just as much as they did with him. With Henderson playing there is no really need for Gerrard. Yup. You could also look at it in another way, in that he actually LOST Liverpool the title with a few bottling performances towards the end of the season, brilliantly and beautifully culminating in the slip.

Rooney was the least of the problems on the pitch tonight, or against Italy. The problem is in central midfield. It's bright as fucking day to see. The bigger problems are psychological and related to the manager and the press, but that's another story. England play with so much fear it's horrible.

This. Gerrard literally contributed NOTHING in two matches apart from giving goals away. Diabolical decision to start him in both games. He's a heartless t*** who is no longer the leader he was years ago. You're talking about the bloke who's just captained Liverpool to a 2nd place finish in the Premiership though. Starting Barkley or Wilshere ahead of him changes nothing, England still don't control either of the opening games. I would have played Barry (on this season's form) ahead of him. As in, in his place. Barkley would play further forward. Barry is a bit more mobile, and is a much better tackler. Henderson's distribution and link up play was very good, and with Barkley driving at defences, it would have given the forwards a chance at being involved in dangerous attacking situations.

This. Gerrard literally contributed NOTHING in two matches apart from giving goals away. Diabolical decision to start him in both games. He's a heartless twat who is no longer the leader he was years ago. He's getting an easy ride as we speak from all the pundits, as they focus on how Cahill's body shape should have been defending Cavani's ball. Fuck off and tell it like it is. Gareth Barry should have been in that midfield along with Henderson, with Barkley central, Sterling and Sturridge either side of Rooney. One player, picked on sentimental media bollocks has wasted yet another year for a nation with so much potential. Rubbish. And I'm not even English

Ronaldo?, Diouf? Ronaldo? nowhere near this cunt. At least he's not a full on cheat. Diouf? Aye. But he doesn't play anymore so forgotten about him

Suarez is such an over-the-top camp wanker. Never hated a footballer more.

Blame squarely at the feet of Hodgson who again falls for the media bollocks. Gerrard is finished and had no place starting in this team. You have a player like Barkley in your squad and you sit him on the bench, you get what you deserve.....which is fuck all. Utter stupidity from England yet again.

Gerrard is IMO. Or the lack thereof. Waste of a shirt.

Only slightly giggs. But well worth the wait kiss my ass

Slightly giggs but....Tiki kaka bollocks finally down the toilet where it belongs. Thank fuck for that. Now fuck off and let us actually enjoy the football.