Match Day Thread Slovakia vs England 8pm 20 June

So Roy's great masterplan for the match was to play three semi fit players (Wilshere, Henderson and Sturridge), one returning from injury (Bertrand) and one who can only last 60 mins (Lallana). 5 potential areas requiring subs with only 3 allowed. Winning tournaments is about game management - this is the only role of the manager. His decisions were brilliant against Wales, but were hopeless yesterday. I think the display was not too bad, but the lack of energy and ideas in the second half, coupled with lack of flexibility available due to non match fit players meant we ended up being so narrow and trying to pass the ball into the net against a well organised defence packing out the penalty area. His team selection came back and bit him on the bum because he had nowhere to go to change the way we were playing in a positive way.

 

I know that several people and TV pundits said exactly that, but I am so pleased we didn't have that option. That would be like a relapse of the English Disease. We just need a little more craft and intelligence on the pitch. Bilic said last night that the last 15 minutes was down to the players. You need someone to be a little clever one v one to beat a man get a telling cross in or a telling shot.

Plan B (personnel-wise) worked against Wales.

Talk of lacking width is way off the mark for me. Now if you said we didn't have enough wide forward players, then I'd agree, however we have played three games with full backs pushed so high up the pitch (and wide) that we have not had a lack of width. I'm not quite sure how much wider a team can be when they have a player high up the pitch on each touchline.

I may be being too simplistic, but we just missed goals. That was all. Sterling v Wales goes in, I would have said we'd have gone on and scored a lot more. Vardy scores early last night, I would think the same thing.

I am not worried. We qualified from the group. We should have won the group, but you know I didn't see Wales get given any medals last night. We aren't in the top tier of European national teams and so, I am not expecting us to win this tournament. We are one win away from the quarter finals and that is about par for my expectations. From then on (including the next round obviously) it is a knockout and anything can happen. I think we would struggle defensively against the best, but you never know. Those teams will have more possession than us and then the roles are reversed for England and that may just suit our personnel better.

 

Christ Fran, what had someone done that to your Jose...

 

So, replacing Wilshire with Rooney was not positive? He could have replaced Henderson with Dele Ali which would have been positive (he didn't, but my point is that the team selection did not prevent positive moves). Bringing on Kane isn't positive? The three substitutes he brought on were Rooney, Ali and Kane. Hardly nowhere to go from the team selection.

I am not a big fan of Roy, however I thought he hit the nail on the head last night straight after the game. We just didn't stick it in the net and soon, we will.

I actually felt sorry for Roy last night for a change. He gambled (not a massive one) and it so nearly came off brilliantly. At half time, how many people were moaning? I wasn't. We dominated created lots of chances and it looked just a matter of time before we scored. With ten minutes to go, I found myself moaning at the team and players, but this was wrapped in the emotion of wanting that ball to go in. If he had started the same team as the other night it would probably have been the same outcome (we won't know) and he would have been slaughtered for not mixing it up, playing weary players who had played 3 games in 9 days and what was the point of talking 23 players.

 

I think we are saving all our luck for the knock out stages.

 

We can't rely on the full backs to provide the width when we play against half decent opposition. We have played 3 mediocre teams who more than likely wouldn't even be in the compitition if the numbers hadn't been increased, our back 4 have had it very easy which has allowed our lb and rb to play far more advanced than normal.

 

Agreed, but we are talking about the three games that we have just played and they were against those opposition. When we play the better teams, we may actually want to play narrow and break out. What you have just posted above, backs my view. We played with enough width. Let's moan about how we play and who we select against a better team, when we play a batter team.

It's a bit doomsday approach to be moaning about tomorrow when we haven't finished moaning about today

 

Let's be fair no team has really had an outstanding performance so far this Euro's, and had people thinking " **** me, I hope we avoid that lot".

Even the the teams that have played half decent, Spain, France etc... haven't really scared me as such, I'd be confident we could beat anyone if everything clicked into place and a bit of luck went our way for once.

 

I wasn't moaning about how we played, i've said before we have played pretty well and that was my concern. Playing well and not beating poor opposition imo is a concern, especially when we don't have much scope for a tactical change.

 

Bloody hell, it hasn't gone away has it? The childish sense of entitlement of the England fan, I mean? We should be "blowing away" teams like Slovakia should we? Fuxake, no wonder our country is on the brink of saying "**** you" to the EU and storming off in a self defeating huff, if all this whingeing is how we react when we don't get our own way.

 

Blimey glad to see your full of good cheer, and yes i do believe we should beat teams like slovakia, i never said blowing them away, you made that bit up to exaggerate your point because basically you want to cause a bit of confrontation, oh well i like it when people get all angry on a forum kind of makes me smile.

 

And so is one CR7!!! On no, not another penalty shoot out should the two meet in the next round!!!

 

Not a lot wrong with Roy's selections or tactics IMO. The players are good enough however Roy is not strong enough to tell some of them that this is not about personal glory it is a team thing.

Sturridge, Kane and Sterling have annoyed me a lot for the last month (including the friendlies) because they only pass if they are in trouble. We do have width through the full backs and we rarely use it.

I hope the next England manager we get is strong enough to stand up to these egos and tell each of them "You are not the team."

Sturridge got let off against Wales because he scored but the first 5 minutes after he came on he didn't pass. He picked the ball up in midfield and ran the ball every time to try and get a shot off with 3+ men to beat first.

I agree with Bilic's comments that we need someone to take players on but, and it is a big but, that means like Clyne beating one man to make an opportunity for the team. It doesn't mean taking on a wall of players on your own.

We suffer because everybody wants that Michael Owen moment.

 

It was a like for like replacement. By positive I meant change the system in a way which could have led to a more positive outcome. Going for a diamond which had failed to break down a 10 man understrength Portuguese team in a friendly, was not inspiring for me. I agreed with his changes, but he had actually cornered himself into two of the three he made were the only ones he could make due to tiring players. Realistically it was at best optimistic to play 2 non match fit players in the centre of midfield and expect them to last the whole match. We know Lallana goes off after an hour, so in essence he had gambled on at least one of the non match fit players playing the whole 90, which I could support if the player was a world beater, but it was Henderson ffs.

 

On another day we'd have won that 3-0;

1. Vardy's half chance when through on goal from a Wilshire pass.
2. Dele Ali's first touch after coming on.
3. Sturridge not quite connecting to an inch perfect pass (not sure who from).

 

I can buy into the "wait and see when we play a team that doesn't park the bus" idea, but I can't get over excited at the way we have played against 2 teams that did park the bus (I'm not sure Russia did).
Yes we have had plenty of possession, but then it was gifted too us. Our build up play, generally, has been far too slow, giving teams time to organise and get behind the ball and our inability to pick holes in tight defences highlights our limitations as an attacking force.
So, bring on the better teams, that may leave more space for us to exploit, then we can start worrying about the defence.

 

I have never had a sense of entitlement and don't think England have a right to beat anyone. As we have seen throughout the past 50 years, and more recently this season, teams beat individuals. However, the amount of money which has been dumped into the English game compared to every other nation in Europe we should be expecting to beat teams like Slovakia. I appreciate the money goes to the Premier League and not the FA, but it was our clubs which sold their souls in the 1990s to create this situation. I actually think, like other posters on this board, this is has the potential to be a very good England squad and that 2020 and 2022 may be their peak so I am not overly upset by what happens in this tournament, between the matches. However, I cannot help getting involved during and immediately after each match - if I didn't I wouldn't bother to watch. Not a sense of entitlement or throwing toys out of the pram, just deep frustration at underachievement (A bit like the feeling the Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea fans when Saints beat them last year!)

 

Thats if you expect us to convert 100% of chances created.

 

They weren't the only 3 chances!!!

 

i know that, he listed 3 chances and said it could have been 3-0. to be honest i'm struggling to remember more apart from Lallana's shot. I'm sure you will put me right on that though.