Thankfully the beeb are showing England match saving the adverts being shown.

Lets hope certain players are kept away from the starting X1. England last night were shocking!

--------------------------Sturridge---------------------------
Llalana-----------------Barkley-----------------Sterling
----------------Gerrard----------Henderson------------
Baines-----Jagielka----------Cahill--------Johnson
------------------------------Hart-------------------------------

Formation: 4 2 3 1

Is there not going to be a catch-all discussion thread for the matches rather than one for every game?

Quite like the idea of a back three but not so sure about Joe Hart up front on his own.


I prefer a thread for each match myself, or at least a thread for each days games.

unlikely

I read somewhere that England's group is the only one where 3 teams are in the Fifa top 10 . (Urugauy 7 , Italy 9th and England 10th)

0-0 would have to be the most likely scoreline if there was one. Hodgson will set England out 'not to lose' against Italy and Uruguay and then beat Costa Rica.

England and Italy are both hard to beat, defensively solid, Italy having slightly more flair. Italy are usually slow starters so I would expect this to be a turgid affair.

Italy have not won for a while. We can beat Italy. Defensively they are strong but we have a lot of attacking flair in this young England side which could definitely break through this defence. I would like to see Welbeck man marking Pirlo. If we can silence Pirlo and keep some good possession then I think we have a really good chance.

The only thing that worries me about this England side is the defence. Would have liked to see a Terry return partnering with Cahill. Baines and Johnson are good going forward but not too great defensively. Hopefully Gerrard plays that deep midfield role dictating play from the back.

I think Jones should play as he has done an excellent job in the Champions League against the like of Ronaldo, so could definitely provide some much needed cover at the back.

Sturridge

Rooney Welbeck Lallana

Gerrard Jones

Baines Jagielka Cahill Johnson

Hart

I'm sure they were giving it absolutely EVERYTHING!!!! last night.

Thats the problem, a warm up game should be treated as a walk in the park, look at the top sides and who they faced and the results they got. Its all about building confidence and 0-0 is not building anything up.

Italy drew with Luxembourg, Costa Rica drew with Ireland and lost to Japan, Uruguay beat Slovenia. Outside France and Germany pummelling Jamaica and Armenia there's not really much in the way of outlandish results that set the world on notice in this run of warmup games.

#26 Ecuador
#28 Costa Rica
#30 Honduras

Unfortunately they decide the results by playing football, not just consulting the reliable rankings.

I just saw that Italy won 5-3 in their final warm up game against Fluminense

Maybe it won't be a tactical 0-0 on Saturday

I've went for 2-1 England in my predictor.

Hart
Johnson, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines
Gerrard, Henderson
Lallana, Rooney, Welbeck
Sturridge

Is the team I think Hodgson will go for. I'd go...

Hart
Johnson, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines
Milner, Gerrard, Henderson
Sterling, Lallana
Rooney

And look to start quite defensive and then bring on the likes of Barkley and Sturridge on the hour. I'd like Ox in the team but I'm not sure if he'll be ready for the 1st game and, in any case, I think the full squad or close to it will all get minutes on the pitch with the conditions over the course of the tournament (especially should England qualify).

I'd put Milner on Pirlo and play high tempo and try to tire the older legs in the Italian midfield, then stick the dribblers on later to run at them. That would be my game plan for Italy.

However my management "experience" only goes as far as playing Football Manager on the PC so whether that would work or backfire, I'm not sure!

Kick off 11pm

It's a bad thing that Immobile took his chance and got 3 goals and 2 assists. I was hoping they'd start with Balotelli up top against us but if they go with Immobile I fear he'll cause us more problems.

The good thing (from England's point of view) is that Italy's defence looked pretty shaky, which is very uncharacteristic for them. For Italy, the masters of defensive football, to concede 3 goals was pretty bad.

The attack is very good though. Prandelli`s teams do not play the usual stereotype defensive football the heat might slow them down a little. Friendlies mean absolutely nothing results wise, Italy are as likely to beat Germany or England as they are to draw with a team like Luxembourg.

I hope Italy keep their historically immaculate defence. I don't think any other style of football would suit them. I am a huge Italy fan (as I can see you are ) and hope they show their class like they did in 2006 and 2012.

They played Perin, Abate, Ranocchia, Paletta and Darmian at the back in a warm up friendly. I'm not sure anything else needs to be said.

I don't think it's the right tactic for Italy to change their defensive style of play. A style that led them to win the World Cup 4 times. They should stick with what they are best at. They will never be the best attacking team in the world against teams like Brazil and Germany, so their defence is their main asset.

I see Mark Lawrenson has gone down the infamous Alan Hansen pre Germany game in 2010 in saying none of Italy's players will get into the England.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...ruguay-3663388

Just hope that sort of comment doesn't come back to bite him/the team!

Personally I wouldn't be surprised given the conditions and its the first match if the game is a dour 1-1/0-0.

He's right. Who needs Pirlo and De Rossi when you've got the person we're still not sure will be partnering Gerrard yet?