Match Day Thread Slovakia vs England 8pm 20 June

That would make quite a statement if we battered Iceland or Hungary.

 

We played Italy and Uruguay at the World Cup though, teams you'd actually expect to provide tough opposition. I think this tournament has been a bigger let down for us, the worst since Euro 2000.

 

I just think teams know how to play against England they sit back and we struggle to play through them, Vardy them becomes ineffective, only Sturridge, Wilshere, Alli and perhaps Lallana have any ability to do that. We had plenty of shots and possession but we did not take our chances.

 

And is also always when you really need to wait until the knockout games before the real picture emerges.

 

Like ours against Sunderland and Newcastle? We seemed chuffed about that.

 

I just think you are either too hard to please, have too high expectations or just think we're better than we are.

 

Yes, you are correct, which is why it was important to be in the other half of the draw by winning the group. Now we just have to beat, Austria/Portugal, France, Germany/Italy and Spain to win. What a great idea it was resting so many players!!

 

They must be as miserable as you then

 

Worst tournament since 2000? The last two WC's were both worse!

We could still likely make the quarters, what the hell are you expecting from this team?

 

Spain haven't got Sturridge, Sterling and Alli who think they have to get the glory and do it all themselves nor the hinderance of Henderson who can barely pass the ball

England's problem is an exaggerated version of Portugal. Portugal's problem is that everything has to go through Ronaldo and Ronaldo is not a team player. We have people that feel they have to get the glory for themselves.

Bright lights so far in this tournament for us have been Clyne, Dier, Rooney and Lallana who are team players and try to get goals for England and not goals for themselves whilst playing for England. Has been this way for a few years now and that can only be down to the manager not telling these players that this is a team and they have to stop playing for their own personal triumph.

 

I agree with you, England expect to do better than they should and we have been fairly bright, however we just are not clinical enough and revamping our midfield was a mistake, but if Vardy had taken his presentable early chance we would have won. I just feel that we should not have rotated so much tonight as winning the group was important.

 

Ok let's look at this resting of players;

Ryan didn't play as he normally can, so maybe Rose should have played.

Clyne was so much better than Walker was I find it hard to put a measure on it.

Kane was berated last two games. Vardy wasn't really any better or worse.

Sterling ... Well, anyone was going to be better. Sturbridge was (just)

Dele Ali was pretty average by his standards on earlier games, but I'd have still preferred him to Wilshire.

Rooney is better than Henderson.

Overall, there wasn't much difference and we weren't exactly great against Russia and Wales, so all in all, the mentioning of the 6 chances makes zero difference to me.

 

All set up for an heroic loss in the quarters. Nothing (new) to see here. I think we're more capable than we might seem. We'll be a lot, lot better against better teams. Blimey, it's like some of you haven't watched Saints recently!

 

The Euros are usually more cagey, so wins are harder to come by than in, say, the World Cup, as we all know. But it does say a lot that we can't put one in the net past Slovakia when genuine success in our group is in our own hands. People say that its hard against ten men behind the ball and a team going for a draw, but our chances weren't too limited - we just didn't take the ones we had. Both Russia and Slovakia had it all to play for when playing Wales, and they still lost. The qualifying setup means there are generally no dead rubbers in the group games, so no one can angle this any other way than a slight embarrassment.

It was an understrength side, though. But truth remains that England are decent at avoiding defeat - but quite bad at winning. That much possession against, say, Belgium, Italy, or France might be worthy of a pat on the back; but we shouldn't act like it is anything worth mentioning here. Wales don't play possession football, but won two of their games with less possession. It was limp, and I agree - it should be viewed as that. We would have won that 1-0 or 2-0 if it was in qualifiers, and marched 'bravely' on, hailed in the press as lions and a potential tournament threat.

Not angry or annoyed - just keen (as you say) that it be seen for what it is: an average performance where it counted - not like we didn't have some great players upfront today.

 

As I stated, I think it was the changes to the midfield that were the issue. I thought Clyne was excellent and Bertrand poor and I can see why Sturridge and Vardy started but our midfield was more pedestrian with Henderson and our midfield was bypassed in the first half. The longer the game went on the deeper Slovakia got and then they were always going to be harder to break down.

 

I'd actually be far more concerned meeting Hungary or Iceland (love) more than Portugak next round for precisely the reasons we saw today. They'd try and frustrate us and hit us on the break.

Portugak would come at us.

 

For me, as you'd be able to see from my past posts, I have no expectations; but do think two draws against Russia and Slovakia is slightly underperforming. Happy enough to go through, though. We should really have done what everyone else did and beat Russia too, and we'd be top. Could very easily have been three draws and third place too (and as easily have been a win against Russia, I know).

 

Neither of those made a statement exactly, which is what I was suggesting. Being chuffed never came into it.

EDIT: realised you meant the high scoreline wins. Statements then, yes, but still, not sure England will be putting more than about 2 or 3 past anyone on their best day. Which isn't a criticism.

 

Oh look, I was right... which is more than I can say about my predictions for these two games!

 

100% agree