Against Italy, we looked threatening, and maybe if we had a few less long range shots and maybe if we had played Rooney central then we could have scored more goals but that is neither here nor there; the fact that we looked threatening is a good sign. Defensively however, we were a mess. Set piece marking was comical, to the extent that Pirlo had the opportunity to dummy a corner through his legs and the ball rolled to the edge of the D, where it was nicely lashed home without an England defender within 5 yards. Then came the back post cross that Balotelli rose for as elegantly as a salmon before nodding the ball past a helpless Joe Hart. Had Rooney tracked his man or Baines closed Rooney's man down, then the cross wouldn't have come in. Had Jones or Smalling marked their man, then they could have dealt with the cross. Had Joe Hart been on his toes, he probably could've come an collected a high, looping ball that took an age to reach the back post. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda... Then there was Uruguay. Another set piece, another goal, another player not marked properly. Then we have the Gerrard paradigm appearing once again. He lost the Premiership by not dealing with a long ball and we were eliminated from the World Cup because he failed to deal with a long ball. The centre backs looked like they were waiting for a bus and Suarez only needs a glimpse at the goal. Bread and butter for most defences - except maybe Brazil - but for England even the basics seemed alien to our defenders.
I have been described as a sportsman with the brain of an athlete and the body of a scientist. Since it was established that playing wouldn't work out for me I have taken to writing.
