I thought we looked assured, confident and a match for France. It was a classic modern international game with lots of patience and few chances, and if Milner had taken his then it could have been a different result. France started to get on top for periods at the end of the game but up to that point we had our share of the ball. In terms of individuals, I thought Alex got a lot of joy against the full back and Johnson answered a lot of critics. The defence dealt with pretty much everything in the box except one Diarra header. So Sweden are up next, and in some ways it's a harder game because a win is expected. They played poorly yesterday and got wound up by the Ukraine team. So I'm confident that we can do it. Hopefully we will see the same team but it's a fitness question, I wonder if Oxo will be ready to start after 80 minutes v France for example. Roy has impressed me and it's a lot easier to take what he says at face value. Not many of the big teams have started strongly and there's been a lot of worse performances in the tournament so far, I'm confident we can do well.
England vs France, at Euro 2012, you? Oh wait you don't actually watch games you make blind judgements based on the team the player plays for and their reputation.
Johnson was alright, but he's certainly one of our weaker players, and definitely not England's best right-back.
Who is actually getting England to play a European style of game. Plus, it's the first time I've seen an England team look comfortable doing it too.
I agree with on the Bus. Second half Johnson improved, but he was absolutely woeful in the first. His positioning is absolutely terrible, and he is so slow to get back. He is really good at crossing it to the opposite corner flag though
He did stay upfield a few times. I suspect he was given licence to get well forward. It's part of the modern full-back's job. They are almost not straight defenders anymore.
I know, I agree that full-backs should get forward, but every time he did he gave it away! I know I am being a bit harsh on him as I don't rate him, but he was literally walking back. Cole busts a gut every time to get back into position if he loses the ball. So did Debuchy and Evra. I think Johnson's lack of pace could be what annoys me so much about him actually. He is slower than bloody John Terry for god sake
That's funny, because I think he's quick..! When I say quick, I mean he can run quite fast with those long strides. I know that isn't necessarily the same pacey thing as you mean, i.e. quickly being in position; running down a forward so they have nowhere to go; etc... I suppose I should say that I don't think he's anything brilliant either, but there he was on the field, and so I gave my appraisal of his performance. Based on what I know of him I thought he was OK. He got forward, was admittedly slow to get back [I think his concentration isn't upto much..?], but when he did, he defended quite well, I thought. Thing is, are there better modern English RB's around..?
I agree he didn't exactly strain himself to get back most of the time, but Milner dropped back to cover and I think that was part of the plan. We were certainly never caught out because of it, all the problems were on the other side of the pitch. Cole, with Oxo ahead of him, didn't have the luxury of a defensively sound winger to rely on so couldn't get forward with quite as much freedom. Debuchy had a fair bit of joy exploiting that.
I am gutted that Kyle Walker is injured. He looks class, one for the future and has the pace to terrify anyone. His pace can make up for any positional errors, which a lot of other full backs use to their advantage. If Johnson is pacey, then it makes his lack of effort to defend even worse. Like I said, he did a lot better in the second half, and his block arguably earnt us a point so I am not hating on him TOO much. But I still think Richards, or maybe even James Perch/Danny Simpson from newcastle, they have both been great whenever I have seen them.
As it happens I agree, Johnson is just so much worse than Cole. I didn't think he was particularly bad vs France but the difference in quality is easy to see.
I found it interesting Parker said he doesn't think you can win the tournament playing like this. Chelsea won the CL playing like this over 2 legs against Barca and the final against Bayern. Evra said if you play like this and win the tournament why not and Malouda said it reminded him of how Chelsea played in the CL and it's very difficult to play against. So this is how England must play against the top sides and through out knockout stages unless we happen to run into a side we think we can dominate. The key is I think that in the next 2 games are the 2 in the tournament we need to play slightly more aggressive and it will be interesting how we do
Have a look @ Jonanthon Wilson in the Guardian today.. Excellent analysis of this tournaments tactics..
I thought Johnson, Gerrard, Parker and Cole were all equally outstanding. I am usually hyper critical of Johnson because I prefer Richards and I think he's look awful at Liverpool this season. His positional sense is at times questionable but he makes up for it with his athleticism and attacking endeavour which I would prefer to see in our ultra defensive outlook of a team.
I just thought On The Bus said the gulf in class between GJ and AC is very clear. It is. Johnson played well but Cole is an absolutely massively better player.
