Having watched the game last night, and listened to a little bit of the punditry afterwards, and before I listen to or read anything further, here is my player by player assessment of our first game in the World Cup.
Hart - had a pretty quiet game. Wasn't really at fault for either of the goals. Did push one long range shot straight back into the danger area, and was totally bamboozled by the Pirlo free kick towards the end that hit the crossbar.
Johnson - always thought of him as more interested in attack than defence, and wasn't particularly effective yesterday at that - don't remember too many good crosses from the right. Seemed to have been pulled out of position for the second Italy goal as he was in front of Cahill when the cross came in.
Jagielka - don't remember much of him at all - solid at the back.
Cahill - backbone of the team, stepping in to Terry's shoes. Made some important challenges.
Baines - great left back and got forward well. Worrying that having Rooney in front of him just wasn't working, and a large proportion of the opposition attacking came down the Italian right flank.
Gerrard - did exactly what Gerrard does these days, playing just in front of the back four, was influential and sprayed some good long range passes around. Seemed to fade a bit towards the end. Clearly injured himself stretching to receive a pass, didn't move at all for a long time afterwards. Failed to get a promising free kick on target near the end. If he wanted a masterclass in how an ageing midfielder should boss a game, just needed to watch Pirlo.
Henderson - another one who seems to have had a bit of a quiet game. Had a fantastic shot on goal near the beginning that was well saved, but otherwise not memorable.
Rooney - England's worst player in the game, things just didn't seem to go right for him. One great moment with his cross in for the goal, but otherwise think he must be struggling to keep his place given the quality on our subs bench.
Welbeck - hard-working and positive. Kept the pressure up towards the front, and hassled the Italians into turning over the ball several times. Went down towards the end an looked like he was hobbling off when substituted.
Sturridge - great striker's goal - smashing in a cross on the half volley reminiscent of Lineker in Mexico.
Sterling - our best player by a mile. Always looking to get forward, to run at defenders, and to cause them problems. Slid a great pass through to Rooney to set up our goal.
Subs (Lallana, Berkley, Wilshire) all made positive contributions. Some good runs and a good shot by Berkley, and Lallana won us one of the promising free kicks near the end.
Overall, by England standards, actually not a bad performance at all, just a disappointing result. The group has been thrown rather into confusion by Costa Rica beating Uruguay, and if we can beat Uruguay on Thursday, then we're still in with a real chance of qualifying for the next stage.