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World Cup Group D - Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy

Which two teams will progress from the group?

  • Uruguay and England

    Votes: 1 4.5%

  • Uruguay and Italy

    Votes: 7 31.8%

  • Uruguay and Costa Rica

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • England and Italy

    Votes: 12 54.5%

  • England and Costa Rica

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Italy and Costa Rica

    Votes: 2 9.1%
  • Total voters
    22
  • Poll closed .
indianspur said:
Massively overrated? Oh dear

Yes he plays plenty of simple balls in order to retain possession, but he also plays the dangerous incisive forward balls, long or short, plus he is devastating at set pieces.

If only every team had a player with only half of Pirlo's ability to dictate the play, would make football much more enjoyable

Massively overatted :)
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i just want to emphasise that i do not think pirlo is overrated because of his "simple passes". this is actually an aspect of pirlo's game that i wish more english players would adopt.
 
Neymar said:
no. i think xavi is/was genuinely a great. i don't think pirlo is overrated because of his passing ability (or sidewards passes). its more to do with the fact that i think he gets overrun too easily. i also happen to think that xavi is better at retaining the ball than pirlo is, and uses the ball better. fwiw, i do think pirlo is a good player. but just one that is overrated by some.
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Pirlo is better than Xavi in my view. I don't understand the 'overrun' sentence. It's not his or Xavis game. That is why Pirlo is partnered with the likes of de Rossi, Vidal, Pogba etc. or the likes of Gattuso at AC Milan - Xavi has always been a solid footballer but he was never hailed as a great up until Guardiola took over at Barcelona in my view when he had the likes of Busquets become a more important the Barcelona team and help Xavi out.

Pirlo is much more adventurous with his passing than Xavi too in my view.
 
i agree that pirlo is arguably more adventurous in his passing. but i think thats just a result of the tactics employed by his teams. and both juventus and italy are built around pirlo. this inevitably makes pirlo look good. although i do accept that one of the reasons that they are built around him is because he is good. but xavi has managed to shine is a team where he is not the focal point. we often see players struggle when they move clubs and no longer become the main man. ie. torres, shevchenko, t.henry, fabregas, berbatov etc. i think to do what xavi has done in a barcelona team with multiple stars is very special.

both xavi and pirlo are not th fittest, fastest or strongest. so they can both get overrun at times. i just think pirlo relies on his teammates to sacrifice themselves for him a bit more than xavi.
 
Holland, Brazil Italy, Cost Rica, Ivory Coast, England. We have been in the top half dozen sides I have seen so far. Played well, just failed to take a couple of key chances. Good first up performance against a team that should make the last four.
 
scaramanga said:
Are all sideways passes bad?

Also, I think you need to look at some passing maps of last night - Pirlo completed a large proportion of his passes in all directions. He was good defensively too.
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Far to much Pirlo love on this forum. He was ok last night, he was no match winner though was he?
 
I think Hodgson also has to make sure he does not play with Henderson and Gerrard next match. Not sure why, in such heat, we had them both out there. At the very least, one of them off after 45 mins. I think the dippers will find the CL a very big ask BTW...
 
My concern is that Roy will now look at "defending the left" as a problem and bring in Milner and Lampard to shore up the midfield and play Rooney at # 9 rather than playing to our strengths which are Sterling, Sturridge and Welbeck.
 
galeforce said:
32 teams in this World Cup yet itv can't go 10 mins without checking in on England
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I dont mind it infact - it should be, it is the home nation afterall no? Personally (and just a personal perspective) im not too bothered about other nations... or rather obsessed lets say as not too bothered would be a lie.

ps - theyve spoken today about Netherlands, Spain, Uruguay and of course a couple of others including both teams playing
 
Why constantly keep reporting about a story that isn't developing? There's not that much new stuff to talk about every day.
 
I'd rather they were impartial and gave equal coverage to all teams

if they are gonna report from a hotel with some team injury news then why not Germany/Portugal as that's their next game

right now I'm more concerned about Ronaldo than Sturridge
 
Yiddo said:
Far to much Pirlo love on this forum. He was ok last night, he was no match winner though was he?
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That just shows the very high standards he's set for himself. He dictated the tempo of the match, had a pass accuracy of 95%, had a key pass, a very good dummy for the first goal, should have had a pen and very, very nearly scored a worldy free kick.

The fact that you can describe that as "OK" shows how good he really is.
 
camspur said:
My concern is that Roy will now look at "defending the left" as a problem and bring in Milner and Lampard to shore up the midfield and play Rooney at # 9 rather than playing to our strengths which are Sterling, Sturridge and Welbeck.
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I think Rooney HAS to play but that means playing him either behind the striker or as the main front man. Id play him in either of those positions and if Woy chooses not to then you dont play him. Its a big decision
 
Yiddo said:
Far to much Pirlo love on this forum. He was ok last night, he was no match winner though was he?
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[video=youtube;o3cogc-fYBk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3cogc-fYBk[/video]

Some of those passes are just sublime. Those one and two touch passes through pressure in tight areas are magnificent. Sure, some of his passes are simple, they should be. But 108 passes with a 95% accuracy when trying the kinds of passes he quite often tries through tight spaces and through pressure is special for sure.

So much class, such a joy to watch him play football, will be missed when he retires.
 
Daniel Sturridge England goal v Italy in Subbuteo form...

[video]https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/D0248786B91089919593797087232_1466f069cfb.3.2.mp4? versionId=tivheDsSERWkTPJdN2y5Hyivo6Vjnqsm[/video]
 
-------------Sturridge-----------
Oxlade--------Lallana-----Sterling
-------Gerrard----Barkley--------
Baines - Cahill - Jagielka - Johnson
------------Hart-----------------

But I think the starting XI will be the same as against Italy (Rooney at #10)
 
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