Sterling and Sturridge gave it a go, and breifly so did Lallana & Barkley, running directly at them, but as for the old stalwarts its still the negative, safe back passing and patient possession stuff. And before long they will have the new boys doing exactly the same.
All of those boys who went in 2010 ( Rooney, Gerrard, etc) and came back to make a public apology for lack of effort, should not have been on the plane this time. They had their chance.
Sadly, I now watch these games with a sense of amusement, to the point that I am actually willing on the opponents, for the satisfaction factor of being right about the difference between the media hype and the actual predictable results.
I even put a couple of quid on Italy and Uruguay to qualify yesterday. Shame Costa Rica hammered them, but if you watched Costa Rica yesterday, they were just direct. The hoofed it anywhere out of the back and their midfield chased or slotted through balls to the strikers. Their free kicks all got put into the six yard box to cause trouble, not blasted over the bar like Gerrards. Easy stuff ! None of this wide, patient build up nonsense !
Then to add insult to injury, Super Woy comes on the box with the predictable quotes like ' we can take a lot of Positives' and then says " Thats the best we ever played but the Italians were better" and " We dominated the play overall "...
Yeah but Woy, did you notice... WE LOST and have NO points on the board !