Match Day Thread England vs Russia 8pm 11th June

I still expect the England fans to get the blame while nothing is done about Russia's out of control hooligan problem. Or Italy's.

 

What annoys me is that the ITV reporter suggested that Russia and England would both be in trouble. I'm fed up with our reporters being overly neutral....if it is the fault of the British/English, they will be honest, but if there is any likelihood that another country is at fault, they go all even-handed and coy.

 

England try very hard to make sure our tickets go to the right people....even making known hooligans report to police stations whilst a tournament is on, but Russia obviously makes no such attempt. Considering that until recently they had an oppressive regime, it should be easy for them to block travel for hooligans.

 

Do Italy still have a hooligan problem? I was under the impression the Italian Fa had worked extremely hard to clear that up?!

 

Have to agree that Lallana was player of the first half. Rather anonymous in the second. The problem was not the goal we conceded- it was the 2nd and 3rd goals we should have scored but didn't.
Sterling might better of the bench when defenders are tiring, but he was underwhelming tonight.

 

Maybe they have, in which case fair play to them. That extremely vicious attack on spurs fans in Italy, for instance, was four years ago now.

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1710510/marseille-violence-city-like-a-battlefield

Sky report saying Russian and French gangs were looking for England supporters. Why weren't the police dealing with these people? They must be able to identify at least some of the French criminals. Be surprised if even one French person appears in front of a judge.

 

A pretty balanced assessment.

 

We never start with a win, which is especially annoying when we played well. However, must take the performance as a positive. We will get the win or two we need in this group.

 

See, I thought Sterling & Lallana did well, because I expected so little from them. The fact they were beating people, looking bright, making runs....then having no end product, well, they won me over doing the other stuff well, because that's been a time coming.

 

Nope. They get up and walk away.

It's no coincidence that trouble happens around England supporters. It's up to them to lose their reputation.

 

Quick question... Why is it, whenever there's violence in the streets during a football tournament, there's always footage of a bloke who looks like his on holiday throwing a chair at a window? Is it the same bloke who pops up each time just as the camera rolls or has it just become another football tradition past through the generations?

 

I don't think there will be too much blame attached, and hence I don't think anyone will do anything about the Russian supporters.

 

* Cough * Jason Dodd

 

My profound apologies to Doddsy, because I forgot. Still can't believe he officially didn't score direct against Pompey. [own goal awarded]. Supporter video footage on the line shows he scored. But Saints players never get the benefit of the doubt.

 

I thought we played well tonight, Unlucky to concede the goal, But We can deffo qualify from this group.

 

I note that all the pundits [ITV and BBC] have expressed surprise that Vardy didn't get on for England around 65-70 minutes. Several of us here were scratching our heads too.

 

I've watched the two games whilst at a big party, with lots of other noise, but I did watch them. Here's my short review:

England played well. Frantic first 15 minutes and then they played better than I expected and apart form putting it in the onion bag, well done. Will win the group. Roy should have taken Lallana off for Vardy on 60 mins.

Wales I thought were bang average. Lots of effort, romance and songs but sorry, very little quality. England will beat them comfortably if they stick to their game plan. Both teams will qualify.

 

Frustrating not to come away with a win, but Roy did well in his selection tonight. Easy to say this and that after we concede a late equiliser, but he was as brave as we needed and some of the new boys were really good. Harsh picking the bones now. And I'm not a big Roy fan as some will know.

 

Roy's selection was right tonight, he then let himself down by getting the subs wrong.