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Roy Hodgson’s half-time substitutions against Wales may have appeared brave at the time, but it only served to show just how little idea the England coach has.
His thinking is extremely muddled.
After experimenting with Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane together, with Wayne Rooney in behind, in the final warm-up against Portugal, Hodgson then eschewed this for a 4-3-3 formation against Russia.
Last night at the Euros:
» England vs Wales
» Ukraine vs Northern Ireland
» Germany vs Poland
Rooney played as a bona fide midfielder for the first time in his international career. No doubt, he can play there, but he’d play in goal too, if he was asked to. But it doesn’t mean he should.
He looked at home against the Russians, the poorest side in the group, spraying passes for fun and getting up and down the pitch.
But with the score at 1-1 with five minutes to go against Wales, the sight of England’s leading goalscorer of all time, 70 yards from the goal in which they were trying to score, collecting a throw from Joe Hart, was unedifying in the extreme.
England’s starting side was unchanged from the first to second game. Horses for courses demanded a change to push Rooney further forward against a Wales side which set out its stall to defend strongly from the outset. This was a Wales side with a whole lot more ticker than Russia and with a bloke called Gareth Bale possessing enough ability to make things tricky for England on his own. Like he did.
Horses for courses would have seen Danny Drinkwater in this squad, drafted in for occasions like this, releasing Rooney. But Drinkwater was on the sofa, while Jack Wilshere, upon whom Hodgson has staked so much, has to be content with 20 odd minutes from two games. And he wasn’t deemed the player to change the course of the second one.
Vardy’s goals fired Leicester to Premier League glory, but Hodgson didn’t see fit to give him a single minute against Russia when England needed a second goal. So let’s not go hailing Hodgson as the messiah for throwing him on at half-time after a woeful first half, even by England’s chequered major tournament history.
Five strikers made the journey to France. Five.
One, Rooney, is playing closer to his own goal than the attacking one. Kane started both games to little effect.
And yet in the final 20 minutes against Wales, Rooney (still in midfield), Vardy, Sturridge and 18-year-old Marcus Rashford were all on the park. It paid dividends in the end, but it begs the question, what on earth was Hodgson doing before? And even with all that attacking firepower on the park, did he really have a plan?
It seemed a case of throwing on another striker and hoping for the best, much like park football, or a game of FIFA.
Questions abound.
Why hasn’t Vardy started the last two games? Why is Rooney playing so deep? Why is Drinkwater sitting at home? Why isn’t Wilshere good enough to make the difference with England really on the rack?
England came into this tournament with renewed optimism, engendered by the form and energy of Vardy, Kane and Delle Ali.
But Hodgson has had plenty of time to work things out and still seems to be inventing it up as he goes along.
Throwing on Vardy and Sturridge, and then Rashford, wasn’t brave – it was obvious. And it only goes some way to rectifying the problems Hodgson and England have created for themselves.
The final group game against Slovakia will be the truest test of Hodgson’s acumen – but even he doesn’t seem to know what he’ll do.
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