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Well, on the positive side, England played some attacking football but their performance was generally worse than the one against Italy.

The bottom line is that the England team were undone by Suarez who had a knee operation about a month ago and hadn't played a game since. The fact that the Uruguay first goal resulted from a short lobbed pass which bypassed the 5 England players between the passer and Suarez who headed in and the second goal resulted from a goal kick punted into the England defence, just about sums it all up.

Nowhere near good enough in defence but anyone who had watched the England qualifiers would know that this was a team that was unlikely to go very far.

England have been shit at the back. Jagielka was caught under the ball for Balotelli's winner, caught under the ball for Suarez's opener and didn't drop off for Suarez's winner. He's a decent mid-table defender. Not an international player.

In midfield Gerrard was partly at fault for both goals tonight. Weak in the tackle for the first goal, which led the ball getting to Cavani, and then that ever so sweet flick on to his team mate Suarez for the winner. (His second international assist to the opposition in a big tournament. The first being a sublime backpass to Thierry Henry vs France in Euro 2004). If Carrick, Lampard, Barry or Cleverley had handed the opposition two goals like Gerrard did tonight, they'd have been slaughtered. He's a liability and his mistakes are continually ignored.

I'd say, in the space of 4 years, we've gone from a team that are good at the back but can't break teams down, to being ok in creating chances but shit at the back. For years we had centrehalves that would walk into other national teams......Walker, Butcher, Adams, Cambell, Ferdinand, Terry. Now......no one.

And we're still shit at keeping the ball. We always suffer against teams that press us. Uruguay have a population less than half the size of London. Why we can't find players half as good as Cavani or Suarez from a much larger pool is down to coaching.

Harsh comments...some of these "superstars" are struggling to make ?100k a week and only have 3 Range Rovers. Take a look at the elite of the Premier League then take out the English players...same list. We don't have a single truly world class player yet some higher paid more in a week than a surgeon gets a year.

Sam Slater wrote:



>
> And we're still shit at keeping the ball. We always suffer
> against teams that press us. Uruguay have a population less
> than half the size of London. Why we can't find players half as
> good as Cavani or Suarez from a much larger pool is down to
> coaching.
>
Or is down to the fact that most Premier League teams are packed with foreigners like er Suarez?

Is it time to limit the number of foreign players allowed in a side like cricket does?

Cream always rises to the top. Premiership is full of foreigners because the foreigners are better and cheaper.

It's all about coaching the kids.

Number of coaches with Uefa A, B or Pro coaching badges:

England: 2,769
Spain: 23,995
Germany: 37,790
Italy: 29,420
France: 17,588

We're a nation that still applauds a sliding tackle more than a piece of skill. Roundhead mentality for a game made to be played by cavaliers.

Most players in International teams can understand some English so they can work out the instructions our players are shouting to each other, but turn it around how many England players can speak Portuguese, Spanish or Italian etc, this would give other teams a slight advantage over England and at this level a slight advantage is all you need..

Rooney and Gerrard eer errr eeeerrrrr Colleen errrrrrr Alex eeeerrrr also struggle with English.

The England football team are caught in a 'causality loop of failure' in the main football tournaments. The main reasons are:
1) The players aren't good enough.
2) Our players can't take enough good penalties when the pressure is on.
3) Our club sides are more important than the national team.

From and including 1966 England have got to 4 semi finals. That's one semi final every 12 years and about as good as it gets.

How many English players are wanted by Spanish teams? None!

We can't pass, can't control a football. The defence panic and hoof it when put under pressure. We just don't have players who can master the ball. How often do we hear the excuse for a weak shot. "Oh it was on his wrong foot" Even talented young lads like Barkley only has one foot FFS!

Take a look at Chile. Defenders under pressure can thread the ball through the eye of a needle to their teammate using either foot. Total confidence.

And why is Joe Hart is becoming COCO the clown?

cockneygeezer2009 wrote:

> From and including 1966 England have got to 4 semi finals.
> That's one semi final every 12 years and about as good as it
> gets.

That's including the Euros.
The corresponding figure for Germany for the same period is 17 semifinals (or if you are very picky and literal: 16, as WC1974 did not have semifinals), and for all time: 20.