Euro 2012 Quarter-final: England v Italy 24/06/2012, 19:45, Olympic Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine [R]

... but without the midfield mobility

 

anyone know if italy are looking at going back to the 3-5-2 from the first games or sticking with the 4-4-2 from the ireland match? i know chielini is out but i don't think this is the end of the world for them, he is a thug. they will be strong on the wings defensively, with the legs to exploit spaces that open up, but not the talent to create space, like playing with 2 milners. they, like us, bring on the late 'attacker', for us its been walcott, for them giovinco.

one of the biggest fears is pirlo. his link up play in mf, plus his shots , dead balls and crosses. he must be worth a goal or two against our static lines. plus if we defend like we did v sweden he will create a few. i would like to see him get a few kicks if it is possible. can we not create a situation where the ball is played high towards him allowing us to go into a 50/50 challenge or 2 with him. one decent kick and his game is over.

balotelli and casano i am happy to be facing. yes, they can go crazy and score something special, but generally they are poor mans zlatans, and we have a very real chance of keeping both silent for the night.

as karloski said on the other thread, a win v a 'big' side would be the most welcome of refreshments to come out of a tournament for a long time, and its not like getting one over on this italy team is asking for the earth. as i have said elswhere, we have 1 defeat in 15, and that was under mong pearce, italy has 3 defeats in their last 6, including 3-0 at home to russia, 1 or 2 nil at home to usa, and a lone win v already defeated ireland (popn 4.4m).

finally, i am once again over the fking moon that we have roy in the job. he has managed in italy at the top level, he knows their methods and approach, he also has ample, and i mean ample, of previous when it comes to successfully planning and executing the demise of a variety of italies biggest sides over his 40 year managerial career. none of this a guarantee of progression but i am hopefull.

 

I was reading on another forum a comment from an italian fan who thinks england are the favorites in this game. Apparently italy do well against technical teams but become unstuck against physical/athletic teams. Even compared it to how arsenal fare against stoke

 

It's perfectly obvious that BOTH sides are trying to portray themselves as the underdog to a quite ludicrous extent. To me that says that we both think the other side can do them some damage, (and vice versa), and are unsure what will happen. Frankly that seems a fair assessment.

If our defence and keeper are solid, the midfield tick over without making too many mistakes and Rooney, Young and Welbeck play like they can play we'll be difficult to handle but you can say the same for Italy as well.

In all honesty I think we've all accepted that we've done well as far as it's gone. I don't think ANY England supporter was expecting too much so, as long as we give a reasonable account of ourselves in the Italy game, even if we lose, that's fair enough.

What we don't want to see is another anaemic showing like we had against, say, Algeria in 2010 because that was plain embarrassing. If we get beaten by an Italian team that plays well on the day, so be it.

 

I remember a line from the 1966 movie "Goal" "And the Italians went home to tomatoes"

This is a winable match for us, probably the best chance out of the bunch.
But I won't be too disappointed if we lose, (You know slash my wrists) unless we make complete turds of ourselves and lose badly. (then I might)

 

He looks like the guy who comes runninng into the office and says "There's trubble at th'mill!

 

Flaming for this? No, when Juve play Arsenal in the CL, you may see me again, and then, I may flame. That's where the heart really is.

 

I'm on the pessimistic side because the only Italy game I've seen was Spain, and I was very impressed with the way they matched an elite team. I guess Del Bosque's no striker experiment made the job easier. Also with a tight tactical game likely, I think they have more individuals capable of a bit of magic that could decide the game. If that is what decides it though, it's a roll of the dice and could just as easily come from say Walcott as from Cassano.

 

I hear Hodgson is basing his plans around stopping Pirlo .

 

yeah unchanged team and looking to tuck in the wingers and squeeze the middle. Will be a very congested game.

 

I disagree with an unchanged team !
I would have brought in Carroll and Walcott in exchange for Young and Welbeck .

 

Battering ram up top y'mean? Yeah, that could work. We probably need to unsettle their back line, particularly if they go with a back 3.

Walcott I'm not sure about, he's sometimes so ineffective it's like being down to 10 men but, then again, so has Young in the past few matches, less so the last one tbf where he did some decent work. Rooney should have taken that early chance he was presented with.

 

My team would be

4-3-3

------------Hart

Johnson---Terry---Lescott---Cole

--milner--parker----gerrard

---Walcott--Carroll--Rooney


Keep it compact in midfield to cover Pirlo and go with 3 up front .

 

It's argued by the pundits that Rooney is "rusty" but my concern is he's just carrying on in the same "stage fright" way he did in South Africa. Young has run out of credit (Milner didn't have any to start with) and the failure on the flanks only confirms my view Lennon should have gone.

 

I'm not sure Rooney had 'stage fright'; he's just a streaky player.

 

Then how do we explain how the man with the "sublime touch" starts to resemble Norman Wisdom on a bad day, rather than our only "world class player" as the pundits call him?

 

Walcott is a sub. Just doesn't have the game for a start. Rooney, well he's had a match and has been training since the start, so he has to start. Carroll, dunno, might be the man to upset the Ities. If he doesn't start and we're not scoring...then get him on sooner that later.

 

but he's like that in the league for long stretches

 

Are yellow cards cancelled a the end of the group stage? Because Gerrard is on a yellow at the moment and if we win then we can't afford to lose him

 

Nope, after the quarters.

 

Can't see our boys doing much in this game. We don't offer much compared to Germany, Italy and Spain. Probably even worse than Portugal!

 

I see us winning 2-0.

 

Ah damn, that really is a stupid rule.

I don't know why, but for some reason I am actually feeling confident about this quarter final.. usually I feel optimistic, but I think if we can play well and Rooney can step up a bit, then we have a good chance.

 

No, it's very good. It means a booking in the semi will not rule you out of the final.