With that aside, this England side came into the tournament with something different. Maybe it’s just me, but there didn’t seem to be much hype about this tournament, with more focus being put on running in circles round a track and throwing a ball or something?
The first English performance was good, the defense looked strong and it did not look like the French would break us down. We managed to knick a goal, and then sat back and soaked.
The second game was vastly more entertaining. Watching Andy Carroll and Olof Mellberg collide was like watching the planets re-align. Time after time they battered into each other in clashes that would have left your average size man doing 18 rolls into a side board….or doing ‘an Italian’ as it can also be known.
The second game was exactly what watching England should be all about. It had drama, it had a pathetic bit in the middle where we were simply the worst side in history, a side that would have let in at least 1423 against the Germans; and most of all, it had goals. Inspired by the core of the team who were rather impressive, and the substitutes, good old Roy got us a well-deserved win.
I do love Roy Hodgson; his interview he did the other day in which he said that ‘statistics do not matter, who cares’ when asked if he thought we would be outplayed by Sweden’s vastly superior ‘keep the ball’ tactic, was long overdue, and something you would never have heard from the poxy foreign managers England have had to endure over recent times.
There were down-sides to the performance, which included the ineptitude of Ashley Young, who spent most the time giving the ball away like he was part of the Italian match fixing scandal (I would investigate that one FIFA!), and once again James Milner, who turned in such an average performance that you forgot he was even on the pitch?
This game had me thinking that Walcott should start down the right.; go with Carroll, and shove Ashley Young into a ditch and play Welbeck down the left, with Rooney up top partnering Carroll. Roy really needs to get Parker and Gerrard to play more in a diamond to encourage the link between strikers and midfield as that has appeared to be lacking through the Euros.
Defend like we did against the Swedes and they may as well send us home.
But then, the final group game. England vs Ukraine. England vs a side that are apparently ranked four or five place below Wales in the world rankings. You could therefore see why everyone was so nervous against such formidable opposition. I now feel it is time for a game review, here goes:
“The game kicked off. The half time whistle went. The ball hit Shrek, Shrek got a goal. ASHYICKYCHICKYKIEV had a goal disallowed as it was too far in. The final whistle went.”
The game was reportedly so dull that several people turned over to watch Paint Dry.
But, the middle of the park looked solid once more. Scott Parker showed his passion for the game by only using his face to make tackles. Gerrard did some passing, Ashley Young even got involved with around two successful crosses and James Milner, well, James Milner did nothing.
The worry for me is the reliance on the other team to be awful at shooting. Granted, Peggy Mitchell and Stephen Hawking would have been more terrifying than the initial Ukrainian front line, (particularly as Hawking is known for his bad mouthing, cussing and general potty language), but still, it is this over reliance that will cost us. The bewildering theory of Roy that Danny ‘do nothing’ Welbeck is a better striker than Mr ‘all action’ Andy Carroll is one that I am not sure I can understand. Wayne Rooney’s inevitable re-admission was something that seemed to cause more harm than good, with an over-reliance almost being placed on him to make things happen. There was again no real link or movement in our one-attack-every-fifteen-minutes approach, with the occasional run by Ashley Cole down the left being the only real source of positivity.
Do that against the Germans and we will look like David Cameron arriving home and asking how his eight year old daughter was, before realising she was still at the pub. Embarrassed.
That seems like rather a negative spin on things when really we should be taking the positives out of the results. We did indeed end up top of the Group which means that we avoided Spain, until the final. Luckily we now only have to beat Italy, Germany and Spain to win the championships; easy as! I would bet on that not happening but who knows. What do you all think we need to do against the Italians?
Well that is it, only a couple of weeks until the Germany v Spain final, I’m off.
#PAPADOPOLOUS
Edit: tgatehouse
Links: BBC Sport, Sky Sports, Daily Mail
Written by Martin Gibson aka Papa, our resident Greek international
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