England - Euro 2016 Thread

[Marc Albrighton]

Well if they can't get up for the next match then we ain't going anywhere anyway. Decent-ish performance yesterday, should have won clearly, now we need to beat Wales. Who have legitimate Championship-level players in their starting line-up.

They'll be absolutely desperate to beat big bad England though.

[Sheps.]

Gutted after last night's result. Russia offered absolutely nothing all game, I hope they get knocked out in the groups. Haven't really read anything on here post-game, so I'll post a few thoughts now.

Rooney was excellent as the passing midfielder, really helped us control the play and was missed as soon as he went off. He really should have scored though. Dier was also brilliant. It makes such a difference having someone who can genuinely provide protection for the back four. He also played through some nice forward passes to Alli and Lallana, cutting straight through the Russian midfield. Shout out to Lallana as well, he was awesome with his relentless pressing.

Kane and Sterling were disappointing. For different reasons though. Sterling was just because of his poor end product, although I liked that he kept getting on the ball looking to make something happen. On the other hand, Kane was completely anonymous, I can't remember him doing anything of note. I like Kane, but to be honest this game was tailor-made for Vardy upfront. Those Russian centre backs are old and slow, they would have struggled with Vardy's pace and movement.

All in all, really good performance with a sour end. Hope the team isn't too disappointed because there were a lot of positives to take from that game. If we play like that in the next two matches I think we'll finish top.

[Bliss Seeker]

Walker was fantastic. Really made me revise my opinion of him. Always thought he was nothing but an average full back, but he brilliant in defence and attack yesterday. MOTM for me.

Rooney, was good, but I'm worried about him. He's too slow, and not quick footed enough under pressure. When he picks he ball up close to his own goal, and they put pressure on him I freak out a little. Like others have said, very effective when given space though.

I think despite getting progressively worse as the game went on, and even though he was probably the worst player on pitch, Sterling's still going start on Thursday. He's tactically important as he keeps the shape and knows where to be. Really needs to be better on Thursday though, looks shot of confidencez Can't see Vardy being as tactically disciplined in that role. I'd much rather we considered both him or Sturridge against Wales up front. They play 3 at the back, so our striker is going to be outnumbered and needs to move. I like Kane, but he was awful and looked static and is aparently bang out of form.

Shape was good, tempo was spot on (especially first half) and Russia were extremely lucky to get anything out of the game. Roy got it spot on in the first half. Looked like he told them to be more careful in the opening stages of the second half though, we sat back for some reason. That was stupid, should have just carried on where we left off.

Plenty of positives. We never start with a win anyway.

Stupid Russia.

[Bliss Seeker]

Sheps, looks like I just reworded your post there

[Sheps.]

Sheps, looks like I just reworded your post there

I think most England fans will be probably have similar opinions to be fair. We did reasonably well, so we just need to hope the players can respond to the disappointment at the end. They all looked absolutely crushed by the result.

[Razzler]

It was slightly worrying that they looked so dejected

Understandable, it does feel like a defeat and it's a git cause they were so poor, not like we hung on against a good side and they equalised, Russia were pretty bad

They got a few days though.

On paper we're better than Wales, we should beat them really despite their ranking. I think if we play close to yesterday we should win. Wales back 3 against us still?

[toon_84]

The thing that annoyed me the most last night was constantly going out wide but with nobody in the box to cross it to. It seemed that part of the game plan was let Sterling have a run and see if he can get a penalty or free kick.

That and constantly passing it back to Hart.

[Razzler]

Its a fine line though. You are either an England hater or jumping on the big tournament bandwagon. If you are in the middle (like me) you cant say England wont win without being called a hater, yet you cant say they will win without looking like a fair weather fan.

Only by idiots, it's actually a really, really, really thick line!

I am English and I want England to win

Do I think we're gonna win, no, not really but you generally don't go into tournaments with doom and gloom. Before every tournament I always say the same thing, play as well as we can, with confidence and I think results will follow. Get out the group and then take it as it comes. I am sure Portugal are thinking this, Croatia, Poland ... you have to be positive going into tournaments

I have never been a rah rah rah England gonna win type fan but people denying we had a damn good team back in '04 Euros for instance are just being stupid. We had a bloody good team and it wasn't remotely unrealistic to say 'you know what, bit of luck we can win this' - yes, we disappointed but at the time we were solid 1/4 finalist not many other nations were that consistent. Would love to translate even one 1/4 final defeat into a semi final .. 1/4 finals to semi finals is just so near but so far

It just gets embarassing when we score and threads are full of GRIT PASSION - in a 'oh, I'm being ironic' - you see if I mention that for lulz it means I totally get it about football, you see and I get tactics and things

I don't think you can say we will win or won't win I just stick with I want to damn win!!

[Razzler]

The thing that annoyed me the most last night was constantly going out wide but with nobody in the box to cross it to. It seemed that part of the game plan was let Sterling have a run and see if he can get a penalty or free kick.

That and constantly passing it back to Hart.

I am thinking a bit more space against Wales, I can't see them tolerating sitting back or being deep against us

2pm, Lens, is it? How hot is it atm? Are we getting into our favourite 'the conditions' yet?

[dafuge]

2pm, Lens, is it? How hot is it atm? Are we getting into our favourite 'the conditions' yet?

Likely to be about 20°C, so not that different to here.

[Bliss Seeker]

I am thinking a bit more space against Wales, I can't see them tolerating sitting back or being deep against us

2pm, Lens, is it? How hot is it atm? Are we getting into our favourite 'the conditions' yet?

Wales know all they need is a point to almost guarantee progress to the next stage. Coleman is a defence first coach and will set up the team to defend first. Onus is completely on England to win the game, and attack, Wales will be looking to counter.

Have no idea if that actually helps us. But we need to do what we did in that first half. Problem now is, we're up against a team that plays wing backs with 3 at the back. Not sure if the diamond system works better, in terms of going a bit narrower and playing 2 up front verses the 3, but I'm guessing that's in Roy's mind.

Hodgson's surprised me already with his set up against Russia. He messed up in the second half but I've got complete faith in him getting it right against Wales.

[Razzler]

I think they can afford to be more cautious but not an out and out sit back deep, that would surprise me

[VamPook]

England the only team where I can name all the players so would be nice to support them... but not while Hodgson is in charge

[Kenco]

They'll be absolutely desperate to beat big bad England though.

And we should be desperate to beat them. There is a lot of pride at stake, as well as a place in the next round.

Wales know all they need is a point to almost guarantee progress to the next stage. Coleman is a defence first coach and will set up the team to defend first. Onus is completely on England to win the game, and attack, Wales will be looking to counter.

Have no idea if that actually helps us. But we need to do what we did in that first half. Problem now is, we're up against a team that plays wing backs with 3 at the back. Not sure if the diamond system works better, in terms of going a bit narrower and playing 2 up front verses the 3, but I'm guessing that's in Roy's mind.

Hodgson's surprised me already with his set up against Russia. He messed up in the second half but I've got complete faith in him getting it right against Wales.

I think he will switch to the diamond for this one. Certainly 2 up front against 3 at the back is better than 1 striker, who would get isolated. Vardy to come in for Sterling and maybe Lallana benched for Wilshere/Milner with Rooney at the tip? That's my guess, not necessarily what I would do though.

[themadsheep2001]

And we should be desperate to beat them. There is a lot of pride at stake, as well as a place in the next round.

I think he will switch to the diamond for this one. Certainly 2 up front against 3 at the back is better than 1 striker, who would get isolated. Vardy to come in for Sterling and maybe Lallana benched for Wilshere/Milner with Rooney at the tip? That's my guess, not necessarily what I would do though.

Agree with diamond, hope you are wrong about Rooney at tip. Lallana to the tip, Kane and Vardy up front. Died holding being Rooney and Alli. Want us to use Rooneys passing and Vardy's pace to stop Wales from trying to push up and press, giving Alli room to attacking from deep and making it hard for players to close Lallana down outside the box.

[Kenco]

I agree on the midfield - I think Rooney's performance on Saturday showed he is better off deeper, but I still think Roy will play it the way he did against Portugal.

Personally I'd be playing Sturridge up front. Wales will most likely defend deep and we need a striker who can produce something out of nothing and actually score if he gets half a chance. Our problem against Russia was never having players in the box when needed (Kane didn't have a touch in the opposition box in the entire match). Sturridge will give us this.

[themadsheep2001]

I agree on the midfield - I think Rooney's performance on Saturday showed he is better off deeper, but I still think Roy will play it the way he did against Portugal.

Personally I'd be playing Sturridge up front. Wales will most likely defend deep and we need a striker who can produce something out of nothing and actually score if he gets half a chance. Our problem against Russia was never having players in the box when needed (Kane didn't have a touch in the opposition box in the entire match). Sturridge will give us this.

Sturridge is a fair shout. Not quite as quick as Vardy, but still with the pace to threaten in behind, keeping their back line honest. Whatever we start with, the subs need to be far mor decisive than against Russia, where all we need was impede ourselves

[Bliss Seeker]

I'm not sure what we're going to do about Kane. It's one position we thought we were comfortable with going into the tournament, now it's probably our biggest worry. He's been poor in the build up, and was terrible on Saturday.

Vardy and Sturridge together is an option, might be just too different to just try against Wales.

[themadsheep2001]

I'm not sure what we're going to do about Kane. It's one position we thought we were comfortable with going into the tournament, now it's probably our biggest worry. He's been poor in the build up, and was terrible on Saturday.

Vardy and Sturridge together is an option, might be just too different to just try against Wales.

Start him, take him off set pieces, and be ready to sub if it's not working. We have 4 forwards, 5 if we count Rooney. We shouldn't be afraid to make changes.

[Anti Spiral]

He got no service, that's the fault of Sterling/Lallana not Kane. Of course he would have had more service if he hadn't been taking the damn corners...

[Barry Cartman]

Bliss

He'll defend Rooney to death but Kane doesn't score in 1 game due to absolutely no service and suddenly he's a worry

[Bliss Seeker]

Bliss

He'll defend Rooney to death but Kane doesn't score in 1 game due to absolutely no service and suddenly he's a worry

He's been poor in the build up games too. I'm just worried. I was confident he was the man, not so sure now.

And Rooney has so far justified me backing him.

[Razzler]

After Bale's comments about England not having the same pride and passion as them then maybe the PASSION and GRIT lols should be for Wales now

Win the game England so I can enjoy the bloody weekend

[SOStriker]

Bliss

He'll defend Rooney to death but Kane doesn't score in 1 game due to absolutely no service and suddenly he's a worry

Bliss is right though, he didn't look in form during the friendlies or the Russia game, and he didn't look as good towards the tail end of the season either. He should be dropped for Wales, but that's unlikely since he's apparently our best set-piece taker, according to Hodgson anyway.

[themadsheep2001]

He got no service, that's the fault of Sterling/Lallana not Kane. Of course he would have had more service if he hadn't been taking the damn corners...

He got a fair bit of service, he wasn't in the box enough though. He was picking the ball up deep, rather than attacking the box

[ajw10]

It's hard for the likes of Sterling and Lallana to give Kane service when he spent most of the game standing outside of the box.

I'd drop him for Sturridge or Vardy personally.

[m_fenton]

He's been poor in the build up games too. I'm just worried. I was confident he was the man, not so sure now.

And Rooney has so far justified me backing him.

You're holding the Portugal game against him where he was played on the right wing yeah? He's just finished top scorer in the Premier League, and scored as many goals from open play during qualifying as Rooney did, from far fewer appearances. He's far from our biggest worry, he's one of the first names on the teamsheet!

Defence remains our biggest worry, closely followed by Lallana/Sterling.

[Anti Spiral]

Has anyone actually come up for a good reason why Hodgson would put Kane on corner duty?

[Razzler]

No but I fancy a quesion along those lines incoming at the next press conference cause it's an utter waste of corners right now

[Bliss Seeker]

It's hard for the likes of Sterling and Lallana to give Kane service when he spent most of the game standing outside of the box.

I'd drop him for Sturridge or Vardy personally.

There was one bit of the game that really wound me up. Sterling had the ball on the counter and ran towards the byline and Kane just stopped hoping for cut back rather than giving Sterling something to aim for. That's the bit where the commentator mentioned Walker was 'busting a gut' to get forward before Sterling lost the ball and fell over. I'd expect Kane to be positioning himself for a header on goal, not a pass to feet, he's a 6ft 2 striker.

Maybe that says something about Kane's belief in his heading ability. Just how many goals has he actually scored with his head during the past 2 years? Also, ready earlier that he's only scored twice in 10 starts to date.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the Kane, he's one of our own after all, just not confident he's the right man at the moment. Good job I don't have to make that decision

[m_fenton]

The stats I've found appear to exclude international friendlies, but show:

Harry Kane: For England 3 goals (1 header, 33%). For Tottenham 62 goals (11 headers, 18%). https://www.statbunker.com/players/getPlayerStats?player_id=32301

Daniel Sturridge: For England 5 goals (2 headers, 40%). For Liverpool 53 goals (8 headers, 15%). https://www.statbunker.com/players/getPlayerStats?player_id=19056

Jamie Vardy: For England: 0 goals. For Leicester 50 goals (3 headers, 6%). https://www.statbunker.com/players/getPlayerStats?player_id=40373

Wayne Rooney: For England 40 goals (7 headers, 18%). For Man Utd 240 goals (27 headers, 11%). https://www.statbunker.com/players/getPlayerStats?player_id=17518

Marcus Rashford: For England 0 goals. For Man Utd 8 goals (1 header, 13%). https://www.statbunker.com/players/getPlayerStats?player_id=52719

Peter Crouch: For England 11 goals (1 header, 9%). For Stoke 44 goals (21 headers, 48%). https://www.statbunker.com/players/getPlayerStats?player_id=4703

Make of that what you will.

Edit: The Crouch stats appear to have an error in (only details how 2 of his goals were scored), take with a pinch of salt.

[noikeee]

I think he will switch to the diamond for this one. Certainly 2 up front against 3 at the back is better than 1 striker, who would get isolated.

It's usually the other way around. 3 at the back was created back in the 4-4-2 days to counter a 4-4-2, so that you would have 2 CBs to pick up the strikers and 1 extra CB to cover them. But if you play against only 1 striker, then 2 CBs remain free which is too much cover, as they'll be sitting doing nothing. This is good for the attacking team because it means there's other players free elsewhere on the pitch!

But to use those free players and the space they're given, you need a highly mobile team to pull the defence out of shape. I'm not so sure England fit that mould. Also these days everyone plays a single striker, so a trio of CBs will already be used to it rather than confused by how to mark him properly.

[Astafjevs]

The last thing you do against a back three is play a narrow 4-3-1-2. Just watch the Belgium game from last night.

He'll stick with 4-3-3. Wales will have problems if Rose and Walker play like they did on Saturday.

[Vynal Seven]

After Bale's comments about England not having the same pride and passion as them then maybe the PASSION and GRIT lols should be for Wales now

Win the game England so I can enjoy the bloody weekend

We'll see how much passion and grit they've got when we beat the **** out of them after the game.

[SOStriker]

No but I fancy a quesion along those lines incoming at the next press conference cause it's an utter waste of corners right now

He was already asked the question:

"I don't need to apologise for Kane taking a corner," Hodgson said at the time. "Especially if you've got a player with his quality striking a ball and no one else in the team who comes up to that level of striking a ball."

[Razzler]

Oh no

[given1legend]

Deluded old fool is Hodgson.

[Bliss Seeker]

Pick your combined Wales/England XI: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36516979

Only Welshies I had was Williams and Bale.

[Anti Spiral]

I picked the whole Welsh team.

[Bliss Seeker]

I picked the whole Welsh team.

Loser

[scott MUFC]

England with Bale as a winger because Lallana is useless

http://bbc.in/1YpuDh6

[Roy Race 9]

its pretty bad out there tonight in Lille reports on radio stating its touch and go ENGLAND will be going home soon at this rate

the reports stated a load of extra English ''fans'' had come over to sort out the Russians etc, I hope this is not true or we will get thrown out

[Coulthard's Jaw]

Calm down, no one is getting sent home.

[Roy Race 9]

hope not

but cant blame Uefa if they act

in the current climate policing events like this is hard enough, especially for France after what they to go through recently

they will be putting pressure on Uefa

lets hope the idiots get kicked out and tomorrow we see Wales vEngland with no issues and the fans behave and we are talking about the game only

[VamPook]

Like England being disqualified would solve anything hahaha

[scott MUFC]

but they can't do anything for outside stadiums.

french Police just make everything worse.

[Razzler]

French police don't exactly seem to be handling this well. Isn't this about the time we send British police over to handle these things properly?

[Baptista_8]

When you think about it, how harsh is it threatening to kick out the football team? They have nothing to do with these 'fans' whatsoever.

[daylight]

Their a bloody disgrace, seeing people that kissed the wife and kids goodbye saying they were of to the football and fighting and running around like a bunch of kids.

It's alright some people blaming the police but come on, how hard is it for some people just to go and enjoy the football?

The sooner these teams get put out and these so called fans lose interest and go home the better.

[Wiggins Top Boys]

French police don't exactly seem to be handling this well. Isn't this about the time we send British police over to handle these things properly?

they just need police that engage with the fans, be helpful etc. and it needs to start from as soon as people arrive in the cities. Even now you can see that there is absolutely no communication between police and fans nor does there seem to be any form of planning or co-ordination. going back to the Russia game, the fact the police presence inside the stadium was minimal and there being no proper police segregation between the fans speaks volumes.

The most worrying part is that the police seem to think that inflicting physical harm comes before ensuring the safety of people in the city, it's just a bizzare approach.