England opened their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Italy last night, and although the performance was a good one of the whole, there were a number of players that didn’t pull their weight. Here are three of them.
1) Leighton Baines
The Everton full-back was under a bit of pressure after Roy Hodgson chose him ahead of Ashley Cole and Luke Shaw. He failed to deliver, though, and was at fault for Italy’s winner.
He looked unsure of what was being asked from him throughout the game and was caught out of positions on numerous occasions.
He bombed up the pitch with no thought of what was going on behind him and it cost England.
2) Wayne Rooney
Rooney has been below par for England for a while now and he was again the main topic of criticism from the England fans.
His assist was exquisite, but apart from that he looked out of place.
He is not a left midfielder and in my opinion takes up a space in the team when he is deployed there. Baines needed cover but Rooney didn’t look interested in doing so, while his touch and passing was off.
I would either start him in the number 10 role or leave him out vs Uruguay.
3) Jack Wilshere
He didn’t have much time to make a difference but when he came on he was nothing short of appalling. His passing was woeful, as was his positioning, and I will be disappointed if he plays any part of the next game.