Okay, this list is really on it's last legs it seems. I know it's a Leeds list and we're far away from the England International scene but England have jsut played a quarter final against Italy and lost on pens and not ONE post about it??????? Okay, well now there's one. 1. Apart from the first 10 minutes England were rubbish and if Italy hadn't left their shooting boots at home England would have and should have lost this game 4-0 at least.2. Italy decided Gerrard was the playmaker and so put at least two players on him at all times and played him right out of the game. England just let Pirlo rule the midfield, they backed off and backed off and let him walk the ball up into England's final third. Shocking.3. Positives. England tried hard and put a lot of energy in.4. Passing. Unbelievable how bad England's passing was all night, simple 5 yard balls were overhit, bad passing choices were made with passes going to marked teammates, and in addition long hopeful punts upfield were gobbled up by the Italian defence. Also, England simply didn't try and use the width of the park, even when Walcott came on they rarely tried to push down the wings.5. Woeful and should be dropped. Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Steven Gerrard, and Danny Welbeck. Utter u tter anonymity from those four.6. Deserve a grudging nod of respect. Joleon Lescott - Made a number of vital last ditch blocks. Milner - He tried and tried and tried although nothing came off. Glen Johnson - Again seemed to make a number of important blocks, and tried pushing forward. He got the ball caught under his feet for his goal attempt but nearly scored, actually a great save from Buffon. Ashley Cole - Defended well, tried to get forward, had the balls to stand up there and take that all important penalty at least even though he completely bottled it.7. Hodgson - Did the best job he could with a bunch of average players, tried to do a Greece 2004 and wasn't far off, those kind of tactics only work once in 20 odd years.8. The future - Well this tournament has yet again highlighted how technically and football "brainwise" England are years behind the four semi finalists. Pirlo tonight controlled that game, we simply haven't had a playmaker in years, since, well I don't know, since Hoddle or Gascoigne or David Platt for F*cks sake. Lampard and Gerrard are pretenders at international level. Problem tonight was Gerrard thought he was Pirlo and tried to play his game and simply got tackled every time he got the ball.9. For me Germany are the best team, Spain can bore me to death at times with their patient buildups. Germany are great at defending and reading the game and cutting out passes and turning defence into attack. They are exciting to watch and I'm actually glad we lost here and weren't subject to humiliation under the hands of Zee Germans, they would have embarrassed more than the last drubbing at the world cup.10. I'm now 47 years old and I'm at the point that I don't really give a toss anymore, 10 years ago I would have been down the pub for this and would have been gutted at the penalty loss and would have got blathered and then moped for days. Today I went to a friend's house, had some lovely barbecued flank steak, and fresh veg, went for a swim and then watched the game from the comfort of his couch. When we went out I simply didn't care, I'm done with footy at that level, means nothing anymore. Goodnight Jeremy _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org
PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate
