England should have learnt from the Euro 2012 competition and better planned their strategy to stop Italy’s captain Andrea Pirlo in last weekend’s World Cup fixture, according to former Chelsea playmaker Alan Hudson.
Hudson, who is retired from a football career spanning two decades and is now a football pundit, said Italian superstar Pirlo won the game for Italy against England almost single-handedly.
He told Football Express News: “Pirlo beat us on his own. He dictated the pace of the game, he created everything the Italians did, he was behind every single movement they made and the whole world and his dog could see this man was hurting us and we had to shut him down.”
Captain Pirlo, who is 35, was simply not marked in the eyes of Hudson, and he said England’s captain Steven Gerrard should have been the one to roll up his sleeves and deal with him.
“Gerrard should have been the one put in charge of marking Pirlo and trying to stop him getting the ball, but nobody in particular seemed to be marking him and that’s why he was let loose to cause damage.”
Hudson made reference to the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, remembering the clash between the Three Lions and the Italians back then, which he said Pirlo controlled in a similar fashion.
“He totally outplayed us in the European games in 2012 and he did it again the other night, we should have learnt from last time, and we didn’t. “
During Saturday’s World Cup fixture in Brazil, Pirlo completed 103 successful passes out of 108 but was not the scorer on either occasion for Italy. The opening goal of the match came in the 35th minute and Claudio Marchisio was the scorer. England equalised just two minutes later courtesy of Daniel Sturridge, and the winning goal was netted by Mario Ballotelli in the 50th minute, sealing the victory at 2-1 tp the Italians.