Group B - Wales (Q), England (Q), Slovakia (Q), Russia

[Hanshithispantz]

Caught that "finding his range" after his 2nd overhit cross

 

Nee bother, we'll just give him the ball another couple of times until he can pick Sketel's head out.

[joeyt]

Rewatching the Wales game last night, Joe Allen was really impressive. Russia seemed to be playing a kamikaze defensive line

[Cronky]

Had that been Italy or Germany in the last 20 min they would have spent the whole time running at the back line at pace and diving. We still seem to be tournament naive.

 

Over the course of the game, I'm sure that we missed out on at least half a dozen free kicks by trying to stay on our feet or not going over with that just-been-shot attitude. I do think that young players on the continent are taught techniques for buying free kicks.

 

NB y'all - I'm not talking about going over when you haven't been touched. I'm talking about taking the contact and making sure it looks like a foul.

[Cronky]

Had that been Italy or Germany in the last 20 min they would have spent the whole time running at the back line at pace and diving. We still seem to be tournament naive.

The squad is big game naive. Not sure how much that matters however.  Nearly every player of Beckham's generation would win European competitions and appear in multiple finals at club level then look naive for England. In this whole squad only Rooney and Joe Hart have been in CL semi finals or better.

 

The Germans I watched the game with were saying that these have been the best overall Eng performances they have seen for ages and that I was being too critical.

 

I'd agree in the sense that this England team is far more comfortable on the ball as a unit than any other that I've seen.

[beardsleymagic]

ITV's a fucking jinx.

 

That is all.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Rooney a 6? He played like Peter Kay in a John Smiths' commercial. Came on, belted it out of play twice, then slalomed forward with the agility of a steamroller to get dispossessed twice. The commentators said he was "finding his range" and taking the game by the scruff of the neck, so that's okay though.

 

He was fucking awful.

 

Someone said that he looked like Neil Ruddock and had it spot on. He reverted to the Rooney we knew in that match. Lallana's a player that I've disliked for no real reason for ages, but he's performed well in all 3 of the matches so far.

[Marmoset]

Was trying a bit too hard when he came on to be the matchwinner, works much better as a starter.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

England again are a misjointed team. The defence is actually OK, nothing spectacular, but the centre-backs are a decent pairing and the full-backs get forward well and have enough pace and energy to defend the flank. Attack is very good too. But that midfield is s***, Dier and Ali aside. Lallana plays for England like he did pre Klopp for Liverpool. I'd play Kane and Vardy up front and play with wingers. Townsend should have went. Rooney and Henderson lack energy and Wilshire is unfit and Milner is bang average. That and Roy's tactics will harm England which is a shame because we have some good players and can cause teams problems.

[Ndegwa]

Rooney a 6? He played like Peter Kay in a John Smiths' commercial. Came on, belted it out of play twice, then slalomed forward with the agility of a steamroller to get dispossessed twice. The commentators said he was "finding his range" and taking the game by the scruff of the neck, so that's okay though.

 

He was f***ing awful.

 

Someone said that he looked like Neil Ruddock and had it spot on. He reverted to the Rooney we knew in that match. Lallana's a player that I've disliked for no real reason for ages, but he's performed well in all 3 of the matches so far.

 

If Lallana had a pace and maybe a bit more strength he'd be awesome imo. His touch is beautiful.

[The College Dropout]

Lallana reminds me of a shit Ozil that works harder.  Final ball often isn't there with him.  Poor finisher.  But gracefully controls the ball and has elegant ball control. 

[jollof rice and pea]

Slightly quicker Hleb

[HawK]

I think Milner could offer a lot more to this team than most will want to admit, because he's James Milner.

[Incognito]

ITV's a fucking jinx.

 

That is all.

 

Always have been

[Marmoset]

Defence hasn't really been tested yet.

[Nobody]

Defence hasn't really been tested yet.

And that's where it'll all fall apart once it is tested. Can't see us coming back into a game against a decent side, unfortunately.

[Dave]

Well done Roy. We're now in the same half of the draw as Spain, Germany, France and probably Italy.

 

Well fucking done.

[Stifler]

Well done Roy. We're now in the same half of the draw as Spain, Germany, France and probably Italy.

 

Well fucking done.

Don't forget Portugal.

[Wullie]

Well done Roy. We're now in the same half of the draw as Spain, Germany, France and probably Italy.

 

Well fucking done.

 

Definitely Italy, they're already through, though one of Italy/Spain will go out in the next round.

[Interpolic]

It's fucking infuriating like, it really is. England seem to do this a lot, iirc when Brazil knocked us out in 2002 we'd have had a far easier route if we'd won the group but fucked up the last group game with a draw against Nigeria or someone.

[triggs]

Tournament should be class from here on in

[Wullie]

It's fucking infuriating like, it really is. England seem to do this a lot, iirc when Brazil knocked us out in 2002 we'd have had a far easier route if we'd won the group but fucked up the last group game with a draw against Nigeria or someone.

 

Yep we'd have played Senegal followed by Turkey.

[Interpolic]

In that short feature on itv just now they said England had 79 shots in 3 games

 

[Yorkie]

It's fucking infuriating like, it really is. England seem to do this a lot, iirc when Brazil knocked us out in 2002 we'd have had a far easier route if we'd won the group but fucked up the last group game with a draw against Nigeria or someone.

 

Yep we'd have played Senegal followed by Turkey.

 

I'd forgotten about that. I was only wee but I can remember really thinking we had a hand on the trophy after that Argentina win.

 

This time is also seriously fucking frustrating. We won't get past the quarters, like.

[sbnufc]

In that short feature on itv just now they said England had 79 shots in 3 games

 

 

Only 20 short of Ronaldo in two games

[Wullie]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jun/21/england-roy-hodgson-euro-2016

 

England’s reaction to a goalless draw and the runners-up berth in Group B felt stage-managed. Players trooped away from Stade Geoffroy-Guichard late on Monday night offering up well-rehearsed soundbites. Jordan Henderson spoke of how “fresh” a radically altered team had been and echoed his manager’s post-match comments that, at some point, this side will thrash someone. Joe Hart focused on his own unswerving belief in the collective and an eagerness “to build on three good performances”.

 

It was all very on-message, a public show of conviction in underlying qualities and an attempt to offer reassurance of better times in store: the frustration will pass; the results will come; whoever comes up against England next is in for a hiding. It is only right that a team cling to the positives, particularly when braced for criticism. There had been promise aplenty in their play against Russia, Wales and Slovakia and rarely have England monopolised possession to such an extent in three fixtures running at a major tournament. Yet the upbeat PR was a little too polished in the context of the campaign.

 

Three games into Euro 2016 the suspicion nags that everything else is being done on the hoof. England do seem to have a remarkable propensity to overcomplicate just as everything would appear to be going swimmingly. One need only recall Fabio Capello’s unnecessary and, ultimately, costly brain-freeze on the eve of the 2010 World Cup.

 

The current team enjoyed a pristine record in what was admittedly a stroll of a qualification campaign and had 40 weeks between booking their place at Euro 2016 – with a victory in San Marino in early September – and their first match in France to experiment, plan and prepare. They took a young team to Berlin in March and beat the world champions and, just to be on the safe side, organised a trio of pre-tournament friendlies to conduct their final tactical tweaks.

 

Yet, even with more than nine months and 10 fixtures after the win in Serravalle, England still seem as perplexed as ever as to their best starting lineup. They employed Wayne Rooney in a new midfield brief against Russia, albeit with success, having never used him there before and Roy Hodgson later admitted that his captain’s second-half withdrawal, much to the Manchester United player’s frustration, had partly been born of the stresses of adapting to the demands of a relatively fresh role.

 

“There’s an element of work with him to be done in that position,” the England manager had said, “and he has to concentrate and think very hard about his positional play.” Russia’s equaliser was shipped without the captain on the pitch. Rooney was the only outfield player to start in Marseille who had also begun in San Marino back in the autumn and he is now being used in a completely new position.

 

Hodgson would rightly argue circumstance has played a part in the radical metamorphosis, with players’ form and fitness fluctuating and others, particularly from Tottenham Hotspur, forcing themselves into contention. He would point to the attacking nature of all three displays in Group B, to the 65 shots his team have had and to their dominance over opponents intent only on blunting. But was there not an opportunity to give the system a trial run against Turkey, Australia or Portugal in the final friendlies?

 

The decision to make six changes on Monday and then to send on Rooney, Dele Alli and Harry Kane in search of a winner, merely promoted a sense of chaos. Similarly, might not an out-and-out winger – an Andros Townsend, for example – have been an asset in unlocking Slovakia in Saint-Étienne? Even with his eagerness to cut inside and fire shots at goal, Townsend might have stretched opponents whose ambition did not extend beyond blanket defence. At present this England team rely heavily on their full-backs to provide width and, even though all four have been impressive in their own way, there seems a lack of variety in the squad. Ross Barkley, a playmaker happier in central positions, has yet to kick a ball in the tournament.

 

Jack Wilshere, for all his undoubted ability, looks a player who had managed only 141 minutes of first-team football for Arsenal all season. It is over a year since he last saw out a whole game. Instead Hodgson chose to bring a quintet of strikers – of whom the most experienced has since been converted into a midfielder – to France and, while Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy turned the game against Wales, the profligacy over the three games has still left the management baffled as to who should be considered first choice.

 

“That could also be a headache we have to deal with,” Hodgson said. “All of them have shown a lot of qualities in the games but none of them as yet has really shown he is able to score the goals we need. We have a clear idea of the players we think we would like to play and we will have to wait and see in Nice. If I had bedded down a partnership and one of them had got injured, you would have been saying I should have tried others.”

 

That much is true and it should not be forgotten that, had they benefited from slightly better fortune, England would have won all three games and, on paper, suddenly appear one of the tournament favourites. There are plenty of sides at Euro 2016 who have yet to find their rhythm. Yet is it a surprise they have struggled in front of goal when the supply-line is constantly changing and the only constant across the front is Adam Lallana, a forward-thinker who has not scored a goal at international level after 26 caps?

 

Many of that impressive sum of shots have been rather hopeful and indicative of a team running out of ideas or guile in the final third, where it is required most of all. In many ways the composition and shape of the front six still seems a work in progress with Hodgson suggesting “we will have to decide what our best system is” as he contemplated the knockout tie to come. He was being opponent-specific but both Hungary and Iceland, who might await in Nice, will seek to stifle just as Slovakia did. Another exercise in patience probably awaits unless the forward line, presumably with Kane restored, finds its teeth once again. The manager would argue all this constant chopping and changing reflects his overall faith in a young and promising group, returning to the message of the moment. The problem is that too often everything else appears more like an exercise in improvisation.