comment by Genius_AppleCart_Space_Dude_Featuring_Zorak (U19099)
posted 18 seconds ago
I dont want to be critical of England too much other than possibly starting the game with a quicker incentive.

We definetly lack that real world class individual talent though,but it would be unjust to put too much pressure on alot of these players in this tournament.

Still,we're through.
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Where is that playmaker though? We haven't produced one in decades and so we cant break teams down. Where is the english iniesta?

it's all very well using teams parking the bus as an excuse but as we saw with Russia, all it takes is one chance and they could score, we need to make territorial advantage count because when it comes to the knockouts there's no second chances

Through indeed but messed up the group by making too many unneccesary changes.

When a team like Slovakia will obviously set up their stall to defend, do you really need Henderson Wilshere and Dier in MF. I would like to have seen us try a more direct 4-4-2.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 8 minutes ago
I thought the subs were wrong. Vardy should have gone off and Sturridge and Lallana kept on.

Vardy really doesn't do much when the opponents are that deep.
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Exactly. At no point in the game did we have attacking width other than from the fullbacks.

Hodgson actually made us narrower with his subs and it was clear as day there was space to exploit out wide. Given how much joy we had with Clyne going forward, we should have stretched their defence with Rashford wide left and got in two v ones in the wide areas.

Vardy not the right striker in this kind of game either, as you say. Before the game I said the front three should have been:

Lallana---Sturridge---Rashford

comment by TBlockLoftusRoad (U19195)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Genius_AppleCart_Space_Dude_Featuring_Zorak (U19099)
posted 18 seconds ago
I dont want to be critical of England too much other than possibly starting the game with a quicker incentive.

We definetly lack that real world class individual talent though,but it would be unjust to put too much pressure on alot of these players in this tournament.

Still,we're through.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Where is that playmaker though? We haven't produced one in decades and so we cant break teams down. Where is the english iniesta?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dont know but Iniesta type talents dont grow on trees.Look how long it took Spain to get where they've been in the past few years.
The FA and clubs just need to continually try to develop players and once in a while you can land upon a real top,top talent.

It's difficult to score against any team that isn't trying to do anything other than keep a clean sheet. Bilic made a great point about us being more likely to have some joy against the more positive teams we're likely to encounter in the latter stages.

Roy Hodgson comes across as a stupid old man in interviews

comment by Genius_AppleCart_Space_Dude_Featuring_Zorak (U19099)
posted 33 seconds ago
comment by TBlockLoftusRoad (U19195)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Genius_AppleCart_Space_Dude_Featuring_Zorak (U19099)
posted 18 seconds ago
I dont want to be critical of England too much other than possibly starting the game with a quicker incentive.

We definetly lack that real world class individual talent though,but it would be unjust to put too much pressure on alot of these players in this tournament.

Still,we're through.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Where is that playmaker though? We haven't produced one in decades and so we cant break teams down. Where is the english iniesta?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dont know but Iniesta type talents dont grow on trees.Look how long it took Spain to get where they've been in the past few years.
The FA and clubs just need to continually try to develop players and once in a while you can land upon a real top,top talent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fair enough. You are right I suppose. However I don't even see the david silva type talent coming out of england. Same problem in Italy too so its not just england. The country that once had pirlo, totti and del peiro now have nobody in that role. Maybe football is changing?

Without being Captain Hindsight I still think it was a mistake in not bringing Townsend or another wide player.
The squad,as mentioned,is very narrow looking.

How slow was the tempo tonight? It was worse than United under LVG, we were just passing the ball about in front of their defence. We are such a poor side it's unreal.

comment by The Lambeau Leap (U21050)
posted 32 seconds ago
It's difficult to score against any team that isn't trying to do anything other than keep a clean sheet. Bilic made a great point about us being more likely to have some joy against the more positive teams we're likely to encounter in the latter stages.
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but we'd also have less of the ball, like he said, slovakia let us play in front of them, we didn't have the nous to break them down

Remember how great Euro 2004 and 08 were,even if Greece did win one of them.
The games were largey end-to-end.

It had very little to with Slovakia putting in a defensive performance which is their prerogative. We created many dangerous situations and had more than enough possession and chances to win the game but once again on the big stage English players don't seem to have the clinical edge, composure or mental fortitude to see the game through.

comment by Better Call Martial - Football taught by Matt Busby (U11781)
posted 4 minutes ago
How slow was the tempo tonight? It was worse than United under LVG, we were just passing the ball about in front of their defence. We are such a poor side it's unreal.
---------------------

I actually feel a bit sorry for the players Arab. I think there was good intensity and tempo up until a point.

What we really needed was an out ball to the flanks to stretch the game. Because we didn't have any width we got bogged down playing through a congested middle and the tempo dropped and dropped.

Rashford coming on wide left would have made a big difference I'm sure of it.

comment by Better Call Martial - Football taught by Matt Busby (U11781)
posted 5 minutes ago
How slow was the tempo tonight? It was worse than United under LVG, we were just passing the ball about in front of their defence. We are such a poor side it's unreal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Agree Arab. Especially near the end. We slowed it down in midfield just strolling forwards, whether that was due to tiredness, but we should have brought on some quick players at the end to speed things up.

Strangely enough, I thought Sturridge slowed our play down a lot when he got it out wide and Lallana actually looked our brightest player but was somehow brought off.

comment by Better Call Martial - Football taught by Matt Busby (U11781)
posted 6 minutes ago
How slow was the tempo tonight? It was worse than United under LVG, we were just passing the ball about in front of their defence. We are such a poor side it's unreal

----------------------

Sigh. You really didnt watch the same game as most sensible people

Robb, I think Arab makes a valid point. Wr did start to get very pedestrian in the last 20 when we were crying out for some pace and width.

We will have less of the ball, but more space to play into when we get it, was his point.

I watched the last 20-25 mins of the midfield players just passing it backwards and sideways, we barely tried getting in behind the Slav defence. It was so so pedestrian, I wish we had a prime Scholes in this side. Someone that can up the tempo and ping the ball about wonderfully to the forwards.

I don't think a quicker tempo would've mattered much. Slovakia weren't advancing more than 10 years out of their area in the last 20 minutes.

Never thought I'd see the day when England DONT revert to a 442.
We really could have done with it tonight.

Slovakia took off their attacking players and put 11 men behind the ball. Hence why it was so pedestrian. Before that the game was played at a good tempo.

England played well tonight and can take loads of positives forward. Annoys me that some people take the lazy, cliched view and think England are bad just because of a 0-0

comment by Robb Hodgson (U20351)
posted 2 minutes ago
Slovakia took off their attacking players and put 11 men behind the ball. Hence why it was so pedestrian. Before that the game was played at a good tempo.

England played well tonight and can take loads of positives forward. Annoys me that some people take the lazy, cliched view and think England are bad just because of a 0-0
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No ones saying England are bad, just our attacking play is pretty toothless, and it will need to improve drastically if we want to do well in France

comment by Robb Hodgson (U20351)
posted 1 minute ago
Slovakia took off their attacking players and put 11 men behind the ball. Hence why it was so pedestrian. Before that the game was played at a good tempo.

England played well tonight and can take loads of positives forward. Annoys me that some people take the lazy, cliched view and think England are bad just because of a 0-0
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Robb, if Utd played like that for the last 20 mins would you be satisfied?

We could have made the last part of that game a lot more uncomfortable for them vut our subs and tactics were hardly a risk.

Roy made some brave ones against Wales and it paid off, but tonight's were shocking.

Agree Robb. In fact I think we've played pretty well in all three games. I believe we will go quite a long way.