Hodgson: England will attack Ukraine Roy Hodgson has said England will attack Ukraine in this eveningâs fight to reach the Euro 2012 quarter-finals. Hodgson came under fire in some quarters for the Three Lionsâ negative approach in securing an opening 1-1 draw against France, but a pulsating 3-2 win over Sweden showed another side to Englandâs gameplan at the finals. And despite only needing a draw in Donetsk, Hodgson â unbeaten after four games in charge â will send out a side to go for a win. "Our aim is to take the initiative like I thought we did for a very long period against Sweden,â he said. "If you sit back and give the initiative to the opposition then you can't be surprised when they take it. "There is the obvious pitfall that you could be tempted into trying to shut up shop and drop deeper and deeper only to find that in the last minutes of the game your opponents get a lucky goal, get given a penalty or a wide free-kick gets deflected into your goal. "We will be trying to make sure we take the initiative but Ukraine will be trying to do the [same] and that is what makes this a fascinating game of football." France simultaneously face Sweden, who are already eliminated, in Kiev. With Les Bleus joining England on four points and the head-to-head being a draw, should both sides win â or draw â this evening goal difference could be crucial in deciding who wins Group D. World and defending European champions Spain topped Group C last night, meaning whoever finishes second will face them in the last eight, with the other side playing Italy. Hodgson does not appear to be fazed by the challenges ahead â or the heightened expectations of the fans. "It's not just England who haven't always performed when the expectations were heightened,â he said in reference to the national teamâs failures at recent tournaments. âThere's quite a few teams that have failed. It's a fact of life... We believe in ourselves and we want to do well. "In some ways it's rather nice that people back home are hoping and even believing we can do well, and we're giving them something to dream about and cling on to.â After confirming Theo Walcott had shrugged off his hamstring complaint, Hodgson appeared to be veering towards selecting the Arsenal winger. It was Walcott's introduction that turned what looked like becoming a defeat to Sweden into a victory â and his additional pace may be utilised ahead of James Milner after he did so much running in Kiev. "The technical staff have done such a good job helping the players recover," said Hodgson. "We've been very anxious to make sure we use the training sessions, and in particular, the recovery sessions wisely. "I get the feeling at the moment that the players are as fit and ready for this third game as they were for the first. I don't necessarily feel the need to change people because I'm worried about their legs or their ability to see the game through. "The team that's been doing so well is ready to go. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who are out of the team, as you saw with Walcott when he came on the other night, who are very anxious to make a statement as well."
he better make an effort....I'm off to Farflungs for bacon and egg sandwhiches at 5am and to watch this game.....Then off to work Gonna have the hump if we lose !!!
England to beat Ukraina 3-1. You heard it from here first. Rooney 2, Gerrard. In the same time France beats Sweden 2-1. So England meets Italy in the quarterfinals and France play against Spain.
Got a feeling we'll get beat, detecting overconfidence, & they did us last time. [video=youtube;0R0vl9Q8OHY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R0vl9Q8OHY[/video]
The Ukrainians won't be a pushover, that's for sure. Having said that, they lack strike power (except for the evergreen Shevchenko) and aren't all that defensively. However, at home with the fans behind them, more than a sniff of the quarters and the chance of outdoing the Poles, they'll be well up for it imho. England on the other hand, still avoiding too much expectation, will draw confidence from recent results and expand on Woy's solid defensive game plan to add even more forward momentum than we saw against Sweden. If I'm expecting anything, it'll be both sides going for it in a huge contest for the initiative from the outset. Question is how will Rooney impact on the outcome? Hero, villain or also-ran? Who knows - but good or bad, it'll probably be the difference between these sides.
Permutations (as I understand them): A draw or a win will put us through and definately put Ukraine out - Ukraine need to win, because they lost against France, and even if France lose and Ukraine draw, the head to head puts France ahead. A win or draw for us, and a win or draw for Sweden, puts us top of the group above France, with a quarter final against the Italians. To definately top the group, we have to better France's result by 2 goals (if they win by 1, we need to win by 3). That way it comes down to goal difference, as our head to head was a draw. If we only better their result by one goal, we need to have scored more goals than them (currently we have 4, they have 3). So a 2-0 win for us, and a 4-3 win for France, and France win the group on goals scored. Don't you just love these Champions League rules? I reckon we will win, especially after the Ukranians had to play on that very claggy pitch the other day after the storm. They could easily flag in the second half, which I guess is an argument for starting Milner and bringing on Walcott after 60 minutes.
Whether it's us or the Ukrainians, the thought of wanting to avoid Spain in favour of a QF against Italy is a bit novel...
From what I have seen this tournament I'm not sure that we should be prefering to avoid Spain this time either! A lot of there players are looking stale to me after a long season, while some of ours perhaps because they been out a lot, seem fresh.
Really dont get the idea of playing without a striker...Spain seem to be trying to accomodate the massive amount of midfield talent they have, but surely you need to play a striker at all times? I think we'll beat Ukraine 2-1, but would settle for 1-1. Not bothered who we get in the next round, as didnt expect us to be there!
No Fear for the French if they win tonight Italy or Spain .. I think they just nick both of these scenarios ...maybe SEMIS: FRANCE V GERMANY PORTUGAL V ENGLAND (I think they will beat Spain)
Interesting take on tonights games: IF we win 3-1, and France win 4-3, both the French and English go through. However, the group winners would be determioned by the relative positions on the UEFA ranking scale based on Euro 2008 (for which we didn't qualify), WC2010 (at which the French were even worse than we were) and Euro 2012 qualifying. Let's hope we don't get Spain, simply because we didn't get to Switzerland 4 years ago....
Some guy rang up 5 live this morning to say he was worried Rooney would miss an open goal when his hair fell in this eyes...
