People mock Messi and Ronaldo for not performing on the international stage but Rooney's been generally poor for England since Euro 04. If it wasn't for a tap in (practically a deflection!) against Ukraine, it would have been 8 years since he scored in a major tournament.

I thought Hodgson made some poor decisions as well. He had us drilled well, every player knew his job, but asking Rooney - our best player - to expend any of his (clearly limited) energy trying to shackle Pirlo, instead of asking a nothing player like Welbeck or picking another midfielder for the job and leaving Rooney to try and do damage up front, is poor management in my opinion.

And it basically wrecked Rooney after 20 minutes, and gave Pirlo the freedom of the pitch.

Milner playing was a travesty too. And Young.

Roy was poor tactically and several of those players should be ashamed; primarily Rooney. Was an okay tournament overall but we won't move forward with this cowardice.

Ridiculously outclassed today, the stats are shocking. 63% possession for Italy, 31 shots with 18 on target, England with 37% possession, 8 shots with 4 on target. Many putting the Italians down but they came out and shut up a lot of doubters today, great game by them but no cutting edge up top for them. They don't have anyone who will put the half chances away

England just had nothing to them today, their midfield was non-existant and Roy should of had either Rooney or Wellbeck heckling and hassling Pirlo because he just dropped back 10 yards could see everything and played the game at the pace he wanted. You can't man mark him with a midfielder as he drops so deep but I've seen strikers drop back and that is what Rooney should of done. In the centre of the park Parker was a passenger and Gerrard just can't dictate and run a game at this level. They need to build around someone like Jack who will give that team a more concise method of play rather than what they have now because it is like the team has no purpose in play, they have been average the whole tournament really. Carrick should of been in the centre with someone like Gerrard because he can pass, hold onto the ball and could of given them some degree of control.

General Mirth wrote:

People mock Messi and Ronaldo for not performing on the international stage but Rooney's been generally poor for England since Euro 04. If it wasn't for a tap in (practically a deflection!) against Ukraine, it would have been 8 years since he scored in a major tournament.

Not even close to being in the same class as those two though, shouldn't be judged by the same standards. Very good player, but there's a tonne out there that are on his level or better.

The iconic moment of the game:

Captain wrote:

Roy was poor tactically and several of those players should be ashamed; primarily Rooney. Was an okay tournament overall but we won't move forward with this cowardice.

Thought his lack of experience at the very highest level showed.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I thought Hodgson made some poor decisions as well. He had us drilled well, every player knew his job, but asking Rooney - our best player - to expend any of his (clearly limited) energy trying to shackle Pirlo, instead of asking a nothing player likeWelbeck or picking another midfielder for the job and leaving Rooney to try and do damage up front, is poor management in my opinion.

And it basically wrecked Rooney after 20 minutes, and gave Pirlo the freedom of the pitch.

Milner playing was a travesty too. And Young.

Probably felt he had to play Milner to cover for having Johnson at RB?

Ricky1985 wrote:

General Mirth wrote:

People mock Messi and Ronaldo for not performing on the international stage but Rooney's been generally poor for England since Euro 04. If it wasn't for a tap in (practically a deflection!) against Ukraine, it would have been 8 years since he scored in a major tournament.

Not even close to being in the same class as those two though, shouldn't be judged by the same standards. Very good player, but there's a tonne out there that are on his level or better.

True, what I was getting at is there is a huge difference between Rooney's club form - which is world class - and his international form.

General Mirth wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

Not even close to being in the same class as those two though, shouldn't be judged by the same standards. Very good player, but there's a tonne out there that are on his level or better.

True, what I was getting at is there is a huge difference between Rooney's club form - which is world class - and his international form.

Not really world class in the Champions League, where the really top players tend to separate themselves from other good players.

He's just not quite as good as everyone in England makes out.

Parker vs pirlo

Henderson vs pirlo

Sums this game up.

How scott parker is on the same pitch as pirlo and buffon let alone anywhere near the england team is beyond me.

Average beyond belief, I really hope a lot of the older players retire after this and let england build for the next world cup.

Also, Carroll has done well this tournament. Not his fault that everyone wants to lump the ball up to him at every given opportunity but he has played with confidence and gusto when called upon. Will never be a world beater but fair's fair.

Klaus wrote:

The iconic moment of the game:

Yeah Pirlo won the duel that time, but he couldn't do that against me as I didn't move till the ball was kicked.

Theres a fair chance that a penalty will be mishit or the taker will just blast it hard down the middle.
If its a well struck penalty just inside a post the keeper will never get to it anyway, so it's duel alright, but the duel is in the takers head between confidence/lack of confidence.
So it's fair to say that Pirlo didn't lack confidence.

Think people are being too harsh in their judgements of England really.
Yeah Italy were technically the superior team but they failed to score in 120 minutes.
They don't score against Germany and I'd guess thatgreat they are out.
England rode their luck, and clung on, but given that key players were worn out, and that there were zero real match saving / winning options from the bench they pretty much did all that was within their range.

Biggus wrote:

Theres a fair chance that a penalty will be mishit or the taker will just blast it hard down the middle.
If its a well struck penalty just inside a post the keeper will never get to it anyway, so it's duel alright, but the duel is in the takers head between confidence/lack of confidence.
So it's fair to say that Pirlo didn't lack confidence.

Maybe, but then again if you saw a player of Pirlo's ability taking a pen you don't expect him to 'blast' it or mishit it down the middle.

On Italian TV, Pirlo allegedly said that he took that penalty to motivate his teammates and psyche England. Given the context of the pen, it was one of the best I've seen.

I felt it had exactly that affect as well. It made them all smile and reminded them they were the superior side. Big time performance from Pirlo, and the penalty was just the icing on the cake.