Euro 2016

[killthenet]

You could just see it coming couldn't you? Russia score with the only chance they make all game, England far too slow to start attacks not utilising the pace of Lallana or Sterling at all, Roy talked about overlapping with the fullbacks, but the 'wingers' were hardly on the wing at all.

 

England need to be far more clinical, did not have enough goalscorers on the pitch, to not use Vardy is criminal.

[pratty]

A very England-y performance and result, I think they'll do better in their next two games though.

 

Sterling's end product has turned to crap since he went to City, I haven't seen him have a good game since.

Edited June 11, 2016 by pratty

[Hero-of-Time]

A very England-y performance and result, I think they'll do better in their next two games though.

 

Sterling's end product has turned to crap since he went to City, I haven't seen him have a good game since.

 

He has zero confidence. He runs fast as hell but doesn't know what to do with the ball. He looks like a scared child once he has to stop running and make something of it.

[killthenet]

It's just astonishing that Roy Hodgson can be so clueless in such a high profile job.

[Julius]

It's just astonishing that Roy Hodgson can be so clueless in such a high profile job.

 

Agreed. You can tell the board brought him in only to allow more younger players through, as opposed to actually trying to win anything. Kane looked tired for the last 30 minutes; that would have been a time where any averagely decent manager would have taken him off and put Vardy on.

 

Typical England, am I right? I was preparing to tell my friends that if we won against Wales, we were through!

 

Anyhow, to make up for it, we get to watch a German masterclass in how to demolish a team against Ukraine tomorrow night.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Let's be honest, this is shit. Playing really well against a shit Russian team who barely got out of their own half, only scoring one past them and conceding so late on is typical England and completely crap.

 

I'm annoyed more than anything. This should have been a comfortable 3-0 victory, even 4 or 5 if we really wanted to make a statement. There were enough chances there for that to happen.

 

Yes, the football was good, but this isn't a 38 game season where you can get a run together and build on performances for the rest of the year. England could quite realistically only have 3 games to play. Seeing how both Wales and Slovakia played earlier, England have just made this group harder than it needed to be.

 

Whoever told Kane to take corners needs a lobotomy.

[killthenet]

Exactly Flink, if it had been Germany or Spain playing against Russia tonight they would have absolutely hammered them. Wales' victory earlier seems even bigger now, and I wouldn't put it past them to get a result against England now either. England will be going into Thursdays game on the back of a disappointing finish to the game, whereas Wales had periods where they dominated play, faced a set back when they conceded but got themselves back into the game and won it - the Welsh team and their fans will be riding a wave of optimism into Thursdays fixture whereas England already have that mountain of disappointment to climb.

 

ITV's pundits were positively raving about England's play in the first half and after the game were speaking as if we'd been really unlucky to concede, but we simply didn't finish Russia off when we had the chance. Roy's substitutions were bizarre to boot, bringing on Wilshire just to give him some game time and taking off one of our better performers was idiotic.

 

Why do England always have to play in such a frustrating and stilted manner? I think Dier scoring the opener was actually a negative as far as the performance was concerned, if it had remained goal less for a little longer Roy may have been forced to change things, but the goal sort of vindicated him. Why is he playing the Premier League's top scorer out of position and leaving the second top scorer on the bench? How many goals was Stirling involved in over the last year? 5?

 

I watched the game with my Dad and we were just consistently frustrated. Hopefully there's an improvement against Wales. Knowing Roy though he'll probably drop Alli and Dier and have Joe Hart start taking set pieces.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Exactly Flink, if it had been Germany or Spain playing against Russia tonight they would have absolutely hammered them. Wales' victory earlier seems even bigger now, and I wouldn't put it past them to get a result against England now either. England will be going into Thursdays game on the back of a disappointing finish to the game, whereas Wales had periods where they dominated play, faced a set back when they conceded but got themselves back into the game and won it - the Welsh team and their fans will be riding a wave of optimism into Thursdays fixture whereas England already have that mountain of disappointment to climb.

 

ITV's pundits were positively raving about England's play in the first half and after the game were speaking as if we'd been really unlucky to concede, but we simply didn't finish Russia off when we had the chance. Roy's substitutions were bizarre to boot, bringing on Wilshire just to give him some game time and taking off one of our better performers was idiotic.

 

Why do England always have to play in such a frustrating and stilted manner? I think Dier scoring the opener was actually a negative as far as the performance was concerned, if it had remained goal less for a little longer Roy may have been forced to change things, but the goal sort of vindicated him. Why is he playing the Premier League's top scorer out of position and leaving the second top scorer on the bench? How many goals was Stirling involved in over the last year? 5?

 

I watched the game with my Dad and we were just consistently frustrated. Hopefully there's an improvement against Wales. Knowing Roy though he'll probably drop Alli and Dier and have Joe Hart start taking set pieces.

 

I don't think the subs were great and I agree with your criticism of Sterling. I feel that we've got a great chance here with a great squad and we've got to make the most of it.

 

Vardy just had to come on. Or even someone like Sturridge or Rashford. Someone who's lucky to get a tap-in inside the box, because that was really all that was missing.

 

I've got to say that I have no idea what Joe Hart was doing with the goal. He's a player that could do with some competition at both club and international level. I remember watching Barcelona played United in the Champions League Semi-Final (second leg in particular) in 2008, where we were under constant pressure. Van Der Sar was heroic in the box and he calmed things down immensely. We needed Hart to do that when it really mattered tonight.

 

I could see Wales getting a result on Thursday. I can see this group getting messy now with England having to keep an eye on how the other games are going.

[killthenet]

I could see Wales getting a result on Thursday. I can see this group getting messy now with England having to keep an eye on how the other games are going.

 

It could very well happen that Wales beat us and Russia win against Slovakia meaning a draw between Wales and Russia in the final group game would mean us having to rely on being one of the best 4 third placed teams, which could very well see us facing Spain in the last 16.

 

Hart definitely seemed to have switched off when it came to the end of the game, should have been more commanding of his area.

[WackerJr]

It's just astonishing that Roy Hodgson can be so clueless in such a high profile job.

 

I disagree with this. I don't think we lost tactically. We controlled the majority of the game and it's great to finally see an England team with an attacking line-up. I'm not saying I agree with every one of his decisions, but I don't think we failed to win due to Roy's tactics.

 

It's frustrating to not have one, and that while we had a fair few chances, I'm struggling to recall any that actually came to our strikers. They all fell to our midfielders (yes I'm including Rooney as that was his position today) so I'd like to see our strikers more involved against Wales and Slovakia.

 

Whoever told Kane to take corners needs a lobotomy.

 

They were shocking tonight!

[killthenet]

I disagree with this. I don't think we lost tactically. We controlled the majority of the game and it's great to finally see an England team with an attacking line-up. I'm not saying I agree with every one of his decisions, but I don't think we failed to win due to Roy's tactics.

 

When your first choice striker is always playing out of position then you've got your tactics wrong. The presence of Sterling & Lallana playing more centrally than expected caused Kane to have to move out wide to get some space to play in, if they had been deployed as actual wingers then the centre of the pitch would have been freed up for Alli and Kane. If you get the ball to Kane in and around the box, he will score goals.

 

Not playing to the strengths of your first choice striker is pretty much the dictionary definition of tactical ineptitude.

Edited June 11, 2016 by killthenet

[nekunando]

I just saw the Skrtel challenge from the Wales game and it's ridiculous

 

As a Liverpool fan, I've been witnessing these sorts of things from him for years, including a huge appetite for pulling shirts. I don't think he'll still be with us next season!

[flameboy]

England just outright made no sense. Playing 433 with two midfielders in the front 3 and rooney a striker in midfield. Lalla name just flat out does not score enough to be in a front 3 and sterling just runs.

[Mr-Paul]

I like Roy but stupid team selection anf stupid subs yesterday. The fact Vardy never got on yesterday was disgraceful.

 

Starting 5 Spurs players is practically asking to bottle it in a high pressure situation! Would've liked to see Rushford come on.

[Phube]

Regular-ish Spurs team English players - 7; in the England Squad - 5, in the starting line up - 5.

 

Regular-ish Leicester team English players - 5; in the Squad - 1, in the starting line up - 0.

 

Quick reminder: one team won the league 10 points clear of their nearest rivals, one team bottled it with 4 games left and finished third!

 

And this is why Roy pees me off!! Even if he'd have chucked on that one with 60 mins to go to really stretch Russia...

[Goron_3]

I think people are being a bit OTT here. That was a very good England display from a young side. It's a shame it finished 1-1 but hey, that's football. The starting XI was spot on I reckon, however what let us down was Hodgson's game management.

 

Sterling should have come off earlier, probably for Sturridge or Rashford (or even Vardy if he's capable of playing on the left) and I'm not sure if Rooney should have come off.

 

Either way, it's promising. Let's see what we do against Wales - it's a game that we can't afford to lose and I think the team will do well against a more open and attack minded team.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I don't necessarily think that the formation or system or players were wrong. England created chances and already the football is better than the shit we've played in the last tournament.

 

But, they weren't clinical enough. Kane and Sterling were disappointing last night. There's just some odd things going on that perhaps a better manager would have sorted out quickly. I can't understand why another striker wasn't thrown on when we needed a goal. We bought Vardy, Sturridge and Rashford for situations such as this, where we'd be chasing a goal and would need somebody to come on and add some spark to the game.

 

The problem is that when Roy subbed off Milner, he tried to consolidate the lead with a defence that isn't particularly great and in a game where we should have been 3 or 4 up by then. Had he taken Sterling off and maybe found a way to get Vardy or Sturridge on, we could have got that second goal. Did we really need to wait until the 78th minute before making our first change?

 

However, they had the ball, they looked great with it and the chances were there. Maybe starting the next game with Vardy up top would be beneficial, or even finding a way to get the two on. There are options there.

[dazzybee]

Regular-ish Spurs team English players - 7; in the England Squad - 5, in the starting line up - 5.

 

Regular-ish Leicester team English players - 5; in the Squad - 1, in the starting line up - 0.

 

Quick reminder: one team won the league 10 points clear of their nearest rivals, one team bottled it with 4 games left and finished third!

 

And this is why Roy pees me off!! Even if he'd have chucked on that one with 60 mins to go to really stretch Russia...

 

What utter drivel. Small team does amazing and fans think they're all world beaters. The spurs players are pretty much the only thing England has going for it. It has one hell of an inept manager to battle against though.

 

The problem with England, aside from their average defence, is they don't create enough, there isn't a strong enough link from midfield to attack. How many chances did Kane have? None. Roy needs to stop being such a cunt, the fact he still doesn't know the formation is embarrassing. Kane up top, Alli directly behind. Rooney wide left, erm.... Erm..... Lallana. Another problem is we have an appalling squad... Then I'd play Dier and I guess wilshere, but again not a great option.

[drahkon]

I don't know much about the Englad team, but what I've seen yesterday was a solid performance but too many missed chances.

 

That equalizer is the perfect example of "that's football".

 

The match against Wales will determine who'll end up in first place in the group. Wales and England are sure to proceed directly to the last 16.

 

 

Anyway, tonight it's our first game. Ukraine, with all due respect, shouldn't be much trouble, but so far in the Euro the "smaller" teams have been really good.

 

We'll see.

[Phube]

What utter drivel. Small team does amazing and fans think they're all world beaters. The spurs players are pretty much the only thing England has going for it. It has one hell of an inept manager to battle against though.

 

The problem with England, aside from their average defence, is they don't create enough, there isn't a strong enough link from midfield to attack. How many chances did Kane have? None. Roy needs to stop being such a cunt, the fact he still doesn't know the formation is embarrassing. Kane up top, Alli directly behind. Rooney wide left, erm.... Erm..... Lallana. Another problem is we have an appalling squad... Then I'd play Dier and I guess wilshere, but again not a great option.

 

 

Happen to notice who starred in the game for France (upstaging Pogba et al) small club boys Payet and Kante... You know form players!

[Iun]

Just saw the Russian goal - what in the hell was the goalkeeper doing?

[pratty]

I didn't agree with Roy's decisions but on a wider point I do think there is a lot of happenstance in football, and despite this people too often put every occurrence down the pitch to the manager.

 

If the Russian header hits the top of the bar and it finishes 1-0 we call it a professional performance, we took the lead and closed the game out - job done, Roy's tactics were good enough. Instead the ball drops under the bar and so Roy got it all wrong.

 

It happens all the time, a player wins the game with a 30 yard strike out of nowhere, and the manager gets the credit for his tactics, or the team are robbed of victory by a barmy penalty decision by the ref and the manager's same tactics are now at fault.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I didn't agree with Roy's decisions but on a wider point I do think there is a lot of happenstance in football, and despite this people too often put every occurrence down the pitch to the manager.

 

If the Russian header hits the top of the bar and it finishes 1-0 we call it a professional performance, we took the lead and closed the game out - job done, Roy's tactics were good enough. Instead the ball drops under the bar and so Roy got it all wrong.

 

It happens all the time, a player wins the game with a 30 yard strike out of nowhere, and the manager gets the credit for his tactics, or the team are robbed of victory by a barmy penalty decision by the ref and the manager's same tactics are now at fault.

 

The point is that it should never have come to that. The changes should have been made sooner to prevent this sort of occurrence from happening. England are not that strong defensively, so trying to close out a game 1-0 in such a way was never going to work. The truth is that Roy's game management cost England the maximum points and now we don't know how England are going to be mentally when going into the next game.

 

The changes were far too late, imo. Not even necessarily the right changes either. That's what cost England the 3 points. Wales made the right changes yesterday, as did France the day before and they all finished with 3 points.

[pratty]

As I say I'm not defending Roy's decisions, just saying had the game finished 1-0 we wouldn't be so bothered about them.

 

I think the issue was the team was all wrong to begin with and it took a set late-ish piece to finally score a single goal.

 

If you're going to play 4-3-3 you need at least two proper centre-mids, Rooney doesn't cut it for me, he's a "in the hole" player at best, But Ali was playing there. Sterling on either wing is fine, except for the fact he's out of form, Lallana can do a job in a wide-ish position but he's not a winger, Townsend on the right would be more ideal as he'd stay out wide where he's most effective.

 

You have either Rooney or Ali in the hole (or even Lallana) but you can't really have both, it felt like England wanted to shoe horn both into the team, the only way that works is if you have a beast of a def-mid, which we don't. Roy should should have picked one or the other, if that means dropping Rooney then so be it. Alternatively Ali coming off the bench is a great option.

 

That leaves up front where we're spoilt for choice, I don't mind which of Sturridge, Kane or Vardy Roy prefers as they all make a good case, it's probably a horses for courses thing as they're all a little bit different. If needed Sturridge doing a job on the right cutting is in an acceptable use of him but not ideal, and I don't want to see Vardy or even Rashford forced to play as a winger to shoehorn them in. Unless we're playing two upfront as proper centre forwards then Roy needs to make some difficult decisions about who to play and who to leave out, but that still means we have great striking options off the bench.

Edited June 12, 2016 by pratty

[Hero-of-Time]

Northern Ireland have been on the back foot for the best part of the match. That goal was always coming.