You have to admit this Garth Brooks story has everything

By that I mean everything that's wrong about Ireland:

- Half the country desperate to see a rubbish music act
- Cunt businessmen ignoring the rules and pretending it's for everyone's benefit
- Corrupt, incompetent sporting administrators bending over backwards for money
- Nimby locals ruining it for everyone
- Feckless politicians hijacking a populist issue when they know all too well they haven't a leg to stand on

It's just the perfect storm.

What Went Wrong With England's World Cup

Firstly it seems obvious to me that England tried to play like Liverpool did this season. They played a 4-2-3-1 with fast, fluid, roaming attackers attempting to create space by moving the ball quickly in front of the defense and then beating players with skill around the penalty area. This particular style carries with it certain advantages and disadvantages. I could go into a huge amount of detail here, but the final takehome is twofold:

1. You expose your centre-backs. In order to create the space required to be effective, fullbacks and midfielders need to push forward and make late runs into space created by forwards, and to give forwards options to make a safe pass when they find space, rather than run into a dead end.

2. When it works, it looks really stylish, and when it doesn't, it looks terrible. A team playing this style of football can be on the verge of scoring a brilliant goal at any time, when to the untrained eye it looks like they are ineffectually shifting the ball in front of the opponent's defense without any penetration.

If you're an England fan who's used to seeing wingers run down the sidelines and put in crosses for big center forwards to attack, it would definitely have looked like England were toothless in attack. They weren't. They were mostly let down by some poor finishing, a little bit of bad luck, and some questionable refereeing. Daniel Sturridge could have had a hat trick in every game of this World Cup. Wayne Rooney missed a clear cut chance against Italy and another against Uruguay, and England were denied four clear penalty appeals in three games. If even one of those penalty appeals was awarded and scored, it would have completely changed the course of their competition.

That's not to say that there weren't obvious problems with England's tactics. The primary issue, which led to all of the 4 goals they conceded, is No 1 above - exposing their centre backs. Liverpool this season played much better when Lucas was fit and available. This is because they were able to play a three man midfield with a dedicated defensive midfielder. It meant that Gerrard and Henderson could wander into the gaps they instinctively find without worrying too much about their defensive positioning. It also meant that fullbacks could push forward without worrying about exposing their centre backs too much - with Lucas sitting behind it was much easier for centre backs to roam wide without leaving huge gaps down the middle.

Overall, Liverpool's style of play worked best when they played a 4-3-3 with a dedicated defensive midfielder. When they played 4-2-3-1 they were potent going forward but exposed at the back, because their attacking trio and midfield pair were not defensively-minded enough. This was exploited quite ruthlessly by both Chelsea (at home and away) and Man City(away). It was this same tactical problem that let England down at the World Cup.