Last night was the brought back down to earth moment we perhaps needed. Nothing wrong with being aware of our weaknesses before a tournament. Frankly can't understand how Aaron Cresswell wasn't given a debut at Left Back It's clear our issues are in the centre of defence, we don't have an outstanding candidate although I believe Stones can be that player in the future as he develops and learns when to play and when not to. He's certainly the most comfortable defender on the ball we've had in quite some time, and that's invaluable at the highest level. Nice for Hodgson to have a selection conundrum in midfield and attack, he's got plenty of options to choose from. Throwing in Sterling and Oxlade-Chamberlain in to the mix deepens the pool further.
If you are going to play as a centre back, there are times when putting your foot through the ball is entirely appropriate. Stones doesn't appear to understand that, and last night showed this flaw in his game. By all means play the ball out if you can, but be able to stick it as far away as possible when you can't. He needs to learn this as soon as possible, otherwise he will continue to be exposed as he was for considerable periods of the game last night. We also showed that we're actually not that good at tiki-taka when sides are set up to counter it. The Germans were not expecting it, and in the last 30 minutes couldn't keep up. The Dutch were a far younger side and were able to nullify a lot of this, so that the majority of our passes were immediately put under pressure. Our plan B (or C ) can always be hitting the target man up front if playing it on the floor doesn't work. Kane can do the target man role well, so it remains an option. I just hope that Roy will pick teams on form and ability, and not just on reputation. There were a few there last night whose place should not be taken for granted just because of their names, and whose form for club is hardly setting the world alight. There were some real positives, for sure. But some lessons that I hope Roy will learn, otherwise we're probably going to have a lean summer.
I'm not sure Tooting. I got those odds off www.paddypower.com. Not sure if they have separate markets by country. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. I don't bet much so this is not my area really.
Just back from London after being extremely bored watching a quite awful game in the Library. The atmosphere was nothing remotely like OBZ Day, but then again I wasn't expecting it to be, but then again (again) it really was tediously quiet. Beating Germany was good, though!
