Oh England...

So, England's participation in another tournament ends at the QF stage, but probably more agonising, yet another penalty shoot out defeat.


Are we surprised? We shouldn't be, having lost quite a few over the years, and I think it would be incredibly naive to blame the loss on Ashley's Cole & Young. The fact we even manage to slog it to the penalty stage was painful to watch and really shouldn't have happened since after half time we suddenly and inexplicably stopped offering any kind of threat. We limped through extra time, and frankly, it's probably better we lost now than get battered by Germany.


We can berate the team, the manager, the tactics, sure, and we should to a certain aspect. People said James Milner 'put in a shift'. What the FUCK does that even mean!? He ran around ALOT, great, but he offered nothing! He has the worst passing statistics in the English midfield unsurprisingly. He's offered nothing in any of the games, with the idea for him to provide Johnson with extra cover - which says nothing for Johnson - but also I don't think Milner even did that!! He looked out of ideas, and hopeless in the final 1/3 of the pitch, he was frankly awful. I'm not Walcott's biggest fan but his pace should have pushed Italy for the full time, or even The Ox would have loved to run at Italy's defence which in the 1st half was put under huge pressure and was creaking on numerous occassions. However when Walcott did come on, the service to him was awful, most of the 'attacks' (and I use the term loosely) going down the left for the utterly impotent Young to squander. Walcott was crying for the ball a few times with no one near him, I remember Parker firing the ball miles in front of him hoping for the best, when given an extra touch and a bit more control, he could have played it to feet for Walcott to run at the full back, it was poor. Knowing that Chiellini wasn't fit to start, we should have really gone for it, and I stick by my saying that Rooney SHOULD NOT have started.


I know this is quite outlandish and no one I've said this to has agreed with me. But why should he walk into the team that was doing well and had a rigid formation/shape, to disrupt it considering he still doesn't quite know where to play in an England shirt. He breaks up the shape and is awful at sticking to a formation, frequently wondering to find the ball. He was clearly asked to track Pirlo to help break up Italy's play from their incredibly magical player, and I remember him doing this maybe once. Pirlo completed more successful passes than the entire England midfield. Someone needs to take the blame for letting that happen!! It was a simple plan, stifle Pirlo and you'll suffocate the Italians - but we still chose not to do this, let him roam, and play with a standard backs against the wall.


In the first half we really took the game to them, we created chances, played with vigour, ran at their back four and found space for crosses and opportunities. What happened after half time? Was it more we left our shape, ran low on energy and ideas? Or did Italy adapt, to play a slightly more pressured game, giving our midfield less time on the ball knowing that technically they aren't good enough to create chances under pressure - inevitably losing possession in key areas, pushing us back to square one?


However, can we be honest, what did we actually expect to happen in the tournament? We were without a few key members, Roy only had just over a month to prepare with the players and get his tactics/ideas/formations across, and frankly we're quite a limited team. I'm not saying he's some saviour or anything, but imagine if Wilshere was fit, his simple ability to not actually be scared to have the ball would be invaluable, creating chances from midfield, deep lying or coming forward, is something that we lacked. Apart from Milner only having the ability to run around like a twat and knock the ball to the Italians, Ashley Young was worryingly ominous, seeming unsure about where to play or willing to really take players on. On the flipside Lescott played very well, helping a section of fans/pundits/media types to forget about Rio not making it. Terry as much of a prick that he is, was exceptional. Gerrard ended on a sour note, saving his worst performance for the end, but still was a good captain in getting us through the groups. Rooney can be put down to lack of playing time recently and missing the 1st two games, taking too long to understand what was required of him. Welbeck looked solid and was nowhere near as bad as predicted, The Ox looked decent enough to be sure of a long and healthy England future. My main worry is who is going to be able to actually replace Cole to any kind of similar standard? He's world class and has been for about 8-10 years, the next in line, Baines is a long way off his standard.


I think we achieved more than people thought before the tournament, and went out at a stage befitting our level and the squad, reputations weren't tarnished and we didn't suffer any scoreline spankings. Maybe now with the young players coming through having a focus on ball retention, a calmness for passing, increased vision and more creativity, we might not end up suffocating when presented with top level teams. It might take a while to shake off the 'back against the wall' attitude, we can at least look to sort out the simple issues, and Roy I believe is the man to take us forward.


So let's not all go crazy and wild, and at this moment in time I must be honest in that I've seen hardly any tweets regarding the result and whatnot, so not sure of people's reactions. But I think we did what we aimed for, and can concentrate on 2014. Well it's that or just sit there crying eh?