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.
DaSpoon
Guest
I've noticed that too. Fadida is a real Anglo-phobe. Lighten up Faddy, life's too short for petty grudges.
Freddie
Guest
He absolutely has a problem with the British Welshman. Spends his whole life on here whinging about the English (in particular). Chip the size of a potato on his shoulder.
Fadida
Guest
Such as? The only 2 "average" teams winning anything in my lifetime are Greece and Leicester. Look at recent winners of major international tournaments; Spain (one of the great sides), Germany (ditto), Italy (Totti,Cannevaro, ADP, Buffon). Top quality teams with world class players. Care to give a few examples of "average" winners, and as you do look at their defences compared to England's, whether they have shoehorned in a once fine striker into midfield where is pales totally compared to the midfielders of the teams I mentioned above
Andy
Guest
which would be a wonderful argument if average teams didnt win things all the time.
Fadida
Guest
Mum is Scottish, dad English,so no. I have however had a lifetime of "England can win it". They quite clearly can't, and after 30 years still have the same faults. This squad is so average
Welshman
Guest
Wales and England are the class of the group. Russia going home.
Welshman
Guest
Do you have a problem with the British fadida?
Kaks
Roar Guru
I agree. Drinkwater wasnt even that great for Leicester, it was Kante that was amazing.
Hughster
Guest
+1 Kaks
Pet er Cotton
Guest
England are making hard work of this. They are not even guaranteed of progressing out of the Group stage. If Slovakia and Russia win the last two games, England and Wales will be eliminated. Hodgson's decision not to start Vardy in either match was puzzling. A player who could quite possibly (probably) have won the EPL Golden Boot if it were not for a two match suspension at the rear end of the EPL season. A proven goalscorer! And then, in the first game, we had Golden Boot Harry taking the corners! What? Thankfully this task was handed to Rooney for the second match. Apart from strange coaching decisions, England's players appear to be lacking the skills necessary to succeed. As individuals, they appear to be out of their depth when compared with their Continental opponents. They will need to rely on teamwork to succeed, and to do this, the teamwork needs to improve very very quickly.
Geoff Foley
Roar Rookie
Also, Drinkwater was absolutely played off the park by Mooy and Rogic. he amount of times that Rogic would receive a ball from Jedi, Mooy or the backline and easily turn past Drinkwater was embarrassing. Drinkwater isn't good enough yet.
Fadida
Guest
I suspect England have no chance of winning, hence the point is moot
Fadida
Guest
They're neither that good or promising. Average
aladdin sane
Guest
good response kaks. my thoughts exactly. England's whole problem is their squad is unbalanced and they really lack quality out wide. If you added two quality wingers they'd be a very good side.
aladdin sane
Guest
if he had decent wide players to pass to it'd make things far easier. If there can be any criticism it's that he probably plays too often to feet, but given Sterling gave the thing away every time he touched it last night, can you blame rooney for slowing it down and going back the other way? What's the alternative?
Fadida
Guest
Agrre totally Janek. Both opponents so far have sat off. Rooney struggles when he is under pressure and needs to make quick decisions. His choice of passes leaves plenty to be desired
illya mclellan
Roar Rookie
I am going to defend Roy Hodgson, because I almost always defend coaches. The thing about being an international coach is that you have very little time together with the squad. A lot of what an international coach does is fairly haphazard, even when it doesn't appear to be. They have a few weeks to gel sides together, frequently with players from several different sides. The thing about successful tournament teams is that they frequently have groups of players from one or two clubs, or in certain other circumstances two or three truly world class players. This makes a coaches job a hell of a lot easier than it could be. Hodgson doesn't really have either. Gone are the days of Manchester United and Arsenal providing five players each. I think Hodgson has done better than a lot of the past England coaches would do with this group of players in the last few years. He has players from several different sides and he has to try to make decisions based around player familiarity and intuition. This is difficult when they are all playing under different managers in different systems with different team mates. The most obvious reason I can see as to why he has tried to play Sterling and Lallana in a front three with Kane is that the two wide men are closer to being traditional wingers than Vardy and Sturridge are. Rooney in the midfield works well. Kane looks tired, Sterling is not confident. You would have to think that Hodgson has seen something in training from Lallana and Sterling that he thought might work. While it was seemingly obvious move to throw on two extra strikers at the break, other managers have done this before and it has exploded in their face. I admire Hodgson as a methodical coach who has a proven success rate. I think his reputation was tarnished by the Liverpool debacle, which was not really his fault. Internationally he is revered in Switzerland as a legend and for England apart from the miserable showing in Brazil, which was compounded by some questionable refereeing, he has done pretty well. They could still do very well in the tournament as most of the traditional big sides are looking a bit tired. The top players just play too many games now, and are generally almost burnt out by the time they get to these things. I really think you've been to hard on him, but I always defend coaches, because I think their job is a lot harder than many people will ever realise.
Janek Speight
Expert
Rooney has been good against ordinary opposition, or at least opposition happy to concede possession. His passing % was superb, yet he's making the wrong decisions. Often he misses the chance for a better ball, which is the problem. It slows down the attack. Second half he was much better, but the chances he created mostly came from free-kicks, not open play. Will be interesting to see him against better opposition. He has the goods, but should have been moved to midfield earlier.
Andy
Guest
what were 5 strikers doing on the field for the last 20 minutes when they were looking for a win? i have no idea. was this article mostly written before the game because he doesnt like england? england didnt play great but had more than twice as many shots on target 5 to 2, completed passes 510 to 223, better passing average 85% to 62%, three times as many corners 9 to 3 and had 69% of possession. Rooney had 91% pass success, created 5 chances had 3 shots himself and made 10 crosses. obviously stats are only helpful as a guide but as a guide they look damn good.
Waz
Guest
:) it says 6 "shot assists" so Hart must have been feeling lucky ...