It's all about adapting to the situation. Nothing wrong with starting with an attacking and positive line up but when it's blatantly obvious that you've got a major problem then you have to adapt. I have serious reservations that Woy has it in his locker, as Brownie would say, to swap things when needed.
Agree with a lot of what PLT is saying. We're making progress. We have far better attacking options then we have for years. But we still need to improve our movement and patience. Defensively we definitely need to improve. But Shaw, Stones and Flanaghan look good youngsters. The biggest thing is get away from it's all about passion, energy and commitment.
As I've made clear on this thread, I completely agree about Baines being exposed. But it's not like he just ignored it did he? He moved a hard-working winger to that side with the obvious aim of giving him more protection than Rooney was doing. It didn't work because of a one-off lapse by Welbeck. He can't legislate for that. Same way you can't legislate for Chester slamming it in his own net every now and then. You wouldn't blame the manager for picking him though. **** happens, it doesn't always have to be a disgrace when it's England.
Fair point about a one off mistake, that's obvious. So why did he let Baines get ripped a new one for the whole of the first half? Also Italy's first goal? Sunday league stuff. At some point you have to look at the management when basics aren't getting done.
Yep the first goal was **** leaving just Sturridge marking the two of them - but you see it at all levels. Inexcusable but unless stuff like that is happening on a regular basis it's very rare that the manager is blamed. Hodgson has had enough success - and managed enough teams that don't concede goals like that - to know about defending set pieces. It's not like he's new to this or lacks any knowledge the likes of us have got. There's been City goals this season which were poorly defended by the likes of Elmo - Bruce has persisted with him and it's recurred, but most fans are able to accept it happens and trust Bruce to sort it out long-term. We need to afford England managers the same patience club managers get.
I think at that level having two tournaments, one of which has ended in abstract failure is being fairly patient. Let's be honest, we've hardly played great football under Hodgson and the two warm up games were shocking. We also failed to beat the teams near us in qualifying if memory serves me right. We played ok at best and failed during the tournament itself. The clock is ticking, it has to be.
Yeah I agree the results have been **** in qualifying and friendlies the majority of the time, but I'm not sure the problem is the manager. In many games the problem has been the same as the ones we've had in this tournament, defending and unlocking a deep defence. He's tried to play an attacking way, he's played Rooney down the middle most of the time and it hasn't made a difference, he's used dynamic young players where possible and given them the freedom to try and open teams up, but they've failed. The key thing for me is that most English teams have the same problem. There is a general English football issue that teams in possession struggle to break down a team who sit deep. Look at how many 'shock' results there are in the PL where a side like Palace or Stoke have a tiny amount of possession but sneak a 1-0 win by defending well and shutting the bigger side out. Compare that to Germany or Spain where the teams who have all the possession hardly ever lose. Long-winded but my point is this isn't just a national team issue, it's an English football thing.
A bold stroke I think. I'd rather not see Lamps in the team, but I understand why he is in, and can live with that. Lets hope we see a decent performance even if the result goes against us. These are our hopes for the next Euros and I would like to see a few step up and be committed.
Watching most the other teams they all get players moving near the ball and making runs and creating space. We don't seem to do that. I can't remember much of the Italia game as I was ****faced, but v Uruguay our team looked so stretched, the player on the ball was always isolated, a good distance from the next white shirt with no one nearby offering movement and an easy pass. We were 'forced' to either panic clear, go long or try some audacious pass or something. I use the term forced loosely as if there were players breaking shape slightly to help out and offer an easy alternative we wouldn't have had to. Similarly, each section is spaced too far apart too, there always seemed to be either a huge gap between defence, midfield and the forward three, or at time gerrard was practically acting as a 3rd centre half whilst the rest of midfield was pushed right up in a flat forward line. I won't question their pride in the shirt or their commitment, I know it's there. They're just too static and naive and expect too much from the man next to them. Play like a team of individuals, not in the sense that each man is just playing for himself and tries to do too much on their own, but I think the players think each other can always do more than is reasonable.
Rooney should be in there, the team should be what were looking to do going forwards. Hart Johnson Cahill Jones Shaw Henderson Wilshere Sterling Rooney Chamberlain Sturridge That's what I'd have gone with.
I agree, we should be looking to what we plan on going forward, and that is precisely why I think Rooney should be left out. He hasn't performed at all as well as he should have in the middle of his prime. Every tournament he's been at he's been a disappointment overall. 2 years time we really do not want to be depending on him and we need younger, better and more committed players in his position. I don't have a particular axe to grind about Rooney. I think he's a great player, at club level. For whatever reasons he just can't seem to replicate that at international level. That said, he's not great week in week out all season for his club either, so maybe tournaments where you need to be at your very best, and take every opportunity over 3-7 closely played games just highlights his problems and he's simply not cut out for it. If the WC was over 3 months, with 3 weeks between games, he might be better.
It's a dead rubber, but I'll probably be flicking between the 2, in the hope that Uruguay beat Italy.
As I said previously I was a little ****faced to remember much of the Italia game, but he was by far the best player on huge park against Uruguay so I'm not entirely sure what you're basing that assessment on. Also I'll definitely be watching the England game. Everything rides on the other, and I think it will be a very cagey affair between two defensive teams with not a lot of intent on show. Ours on the other hand, Costa Rica may be playing for a draw but I think we'll put in a proper shift to make sure we at least come away with something. An exciting young team and I reckon we'll go for the jugular and bag a hatful. We've nothing to lose after all.
Costa Rica manager, Jorge Luis on England: "We look forward to testing our fringe players against the weakest side in the group."
