A Look At ‘New’ England

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Guest blogger Lee Clarke runs the rule over Wednesday night’s friendly victory over an experimental Italian side.

England 2 Italy 1 – If only this was a result from a certain major tournament two months ago.

The Three Lions defeat to The Azzuri in Kiev back in June was still fresh in the memory as England took to the pitch to face the team that had caused national heartbreak only 52 days ago.

Even if you are more interested in Premier League betting, you would have noticed that the two sides looked completely different from the Euro 2012 quarter-final in which England were denied a last four berth thanks to a penalty shootout.

Roy Hodgson handed debuts to no fewer than five players in Berne, with the stand out performance of the debutants being second half substitute John Ruddy. The Norwich custodian looked like a 50 cap player when he took to the stage for the second half.

What was really refreshing about Wednesday night’s game was that Hodgson was not afraid to try youth. Albeit mixed with some experience, but we can cope with that.

Jack Butland began in goal becoming the youngest goalkeeper to play for England by some margin. What a summer the young Birmingham goalkeeper has had. League Two with Cheltenham, to third choice England keeper, Olympics and now this. Talk about Roy of the Rovers stuff!

Everyone following Manchester united news will agree that Michael Carrick was a pleasing addition to the starting line-up for the strangely timed friendly in Berne. Carrick played in the position so often occupied for England by the much over-rated Gareth Barry.

Barry is, for me, not fit to lace Carrick’s boots, certainly on the last season and a halves form anyway.

The former West Ham and Spurs man was incredibly easy on the eye during Wednesday night’s game and rarely looks like losing possession when in control of the ball.

Indeed England certainly look to be getting to grips with the new three man midfield which Hodgson likes to employ. Tom Cleverley was the man sitting just behind Andy Carroll against Italy and with more game time at Manchester United he will only continue to improve. You half expect this season could be make or break for the youngster however.

Kyle Walker was a cert for the right-back berth at the Euros before injury ruled out the Tottenham star, he again proved his worth with a solid display, so too did Phil Jagielka. Always a steady performer it was nice to see him step up to the plate on the international stage and cap a fine performance with a first half goal.

One thing is certain about England under Roy Hodgson is that we are now much more difficult to beat and opponents are no longer easily able to grasp our bland style which was so blatantly obvious under Fabio Capello.

With more game time for the Three Lions mix of youthful exuberance and experienced steel we will only continue to get better. Only time will tell just how far the ‘new’ England can go.

Hodgson Names Puzzling Squad for Italy Friendly

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It’s still very disconcerting to have to play friendlies before the domestic season has begun, especially when the game is against a team that knocked us out of Euro 2012 and when some of the squad have just returned from Olympic Games duty with Team GB. Nonetheless, the campaign to qualify for the next World Cup in Brazil is underway: guest blogger Richard Smith of www.englandbettingodds.com takes a look at what might best be described as a developmental squad.

With two 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine coming up next month, England manager, Roy Hodgson, has named a rather puzzling squad to face Italy in a friendly in Switzerland this week that would appear to be more about players proving their England futures rather than a group of new and young players becoming the nucleus of the team that will form the team’s future and World Cup aspirations.

Hodgson has recalled both Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick and both look like starting in central midfield againstItaly, despite both being in their 30s. Lampard in fact has been named as captain, which would appear to confirm the long standing fear of most England fans that the manager finds it almost impossible to select a side that does not include both Lampard and the officially appointed captain Steven Gerrard.

It seemed that Hodgson, now having got Euro 2012 out of the way, would set his stall out with a squad that had a youthful bias, interspersed with experienced players such as Gerrard who remain at an age to make it all the way through to the World Cup of 2014. However, the inclusion of Lampard and Carrick suggests that the “old guard” still feature prominently in current thinking although he has left out, somewhat mysteriously, John Terry.

Also included in Hodgson’s squad are Jermaine Defoe and Andy Carroll, neither of whom look likely to be playing first team football this season as it stands. Carroll is clearly out of favour at Anfield after the club accepted an approach from West Ham to loan the striker only for the player to turn down the move and Defoe is being linked with a move away from White Hart Lane. It is interesting to note that Daniel Sturridge is included after missing Euro 2012, yet Danny Welbeck, one of his Euro 2012 preferred front men as been ignored.

There is no Rio Ferdinand and Scott Parker is out due to injury. Stewart Downing and Joleon Lescott are also missing .

On the positive side,  Hodgson has included Tom Cleverley, has recalled Adam Johnson of Manchester City, Kyle Walker of Spurs and has kept the faith with young Arsenal pair Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott. He also found a place for Ashley Young who disappointed at the Euros.

In fairness to Hodgson, the last game he would have wanted would have been a “friendly” againstItaly, who of course knocked Englandout of Euro 2012 via the penalty shoot-out just a matter of weeks ago.

However, World Cup qualification comes around very quickly and for Hodgson and England, a good start to the campaign is essential. Moldova and Ukraine should be a six point start, however, England fans witnessed what Ukraine almost did to England at Euro 2012. We all know that they were cheated out of an equaliser in Kiev and as such, will come to Wembley on September 11th looking for some sort of retribution. Moldova of course are somewhat of an unknown entity although Holland struggled to beat them in a Euro 2012 qualifier in Moldova last year winning only 1-0.

It will be very interesting to see how England perform against Italy but it will be even more interesting to see what squad Hodgson opts for come the World Cup qualifiers? The real test for Hodgson begins now…

 

England fixtures in 2012

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Team GB get off to a mixed start at the London Olympics and although the football is a bit of a sideshow to the other events, to teams like Brazil it’s not only a vital warm up to their home World Cup, but a frustration as Olympic gold is the only major title they’ve yet to win.

Let’s take a brief look at the England games for the rest of 2012.

The rest of the England fixture this year starts, as it finished in Euro 2012 with a game against Italy in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, Berne in Switzerland.

Needless to say it isn’t a very popular fixture with league managers, just 3 days before the start of the domestic season, who no doubt will be watching their players going through the motions in Berne with gritted teeth.

Hodgson has stated that he will use the friendly in Berne to look at some of the players that did not take part in the Euro games.

Players that spring to mind include; Jack Wilshere, Kyle Walker and Tom Cleverley as well as Daniel Sturridge, Ross Barkley and Jack Rodwell.

Then the road to Brazil begins and England play Moldova on September 7th and then Ukraine on the 11th. San Marino and Poland follow in October.

Brazil will no doubt be one big party, like a session on partycasino.com, but nothing can be taken for granted in reaching the World Cup. England need to improve and deliver where it matters.

There are certainly lessons to be learned from the European championships; wasting possession and counter-attacking opportunities perhaps a core reason England struggled in that last game, although not many will deny the hard work most players put in. Technical players like Lampard and Barry were also certainly missed but improving the quality in the team is now high on Hodgson’s list.

It’s Like Deja Vu All Over Again

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The question I’d just asked my friend Andy hung in the air. Who was going to be David Batty this time?

‘Ashley Young’ he replied.

The biggest problem that Roy Hodgson faces after last night is not that most of the team are either too old or not good enough or both, but that as soon as Sweden and Ukraine had been beaten, the so-called ‘lowered expectations’ went out of the window: they’re on they’re way down to Rio de Janeiro for eighteen months rest and recuperation.

All of a sudden we found ourselves confronted with the usual heady combination of more or less uncritical pride and an irrational feeling that somehow England would prevail. Last night’s BBC coverage exemplified all that: Gaby Logan’s ‘interview’ with Ashley Cole couldn’t have been any blander and should have been shown again after the match. Immediately before kick off, a random Shakespeare quote, an anonymous rapper that none of us at Andy’s house could identify and Gary Lineker doing his special ‘serious’ stare into the camera – the one that actually meant something a few months ago following Patrice Muamba’s collapse at White Hart Lane – were all dragged out of the cliché cupboard to get the BBC audience geed up before the kick off.

Over the next few hours, England found themselves two missed spot kicks away from a semi final against the Germans but let’s not kid ourselves. The Azzuri had almost four times as many shots on goal, over twice as many corners and 66% of the possession. And that was far from the best Italian side I’ve ever seen: at times the game was like watching England against a slightly better version of England. We matched their lack of creativity, poor first touch and excruciating inability in front of goal last night, and we never once looked as if we could nick a goal on the break. Arguably our best chance came from Wayne Rooney’s attempt at a bicycle kick at the end of normal time: if he hadn’t been worried about his toupee falling off, he might have made a better connection.

During the game – in fact during every England game in either the World Cup or the European Championships – it’s always worth remembering that since 1954 we’ve failed to progress to the semi finals in ten of the 21 major tournaments we’ve qualified for. The inevitable penalty shootout was not only predictable but also great fun for trivia fans: I suppose there might be another instance of two players with the same forename missing penalties in a shootout, but I can’t think of one right now.

The plain truth is that we’re not as good as we think we are. None of the players or the staff will come out and say that, even though I suspect they realise it. There were some positives: the idea of attempting to recreate Manchester United’s attacking structure by using Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck looked better on paper than on the pitch, but the introduction of Jordan Henderson towards the end of extra time really caught my eye and could be a decision of Hodgson’s that may have an impact over time.

To close their programming, the BBC showed one of those nice slo-mo montages that probably produced quivering lips in pubs and living rooms across the country. Presumably one of the editors had been instructed to compile two endings: somewhere there must be a laptop that contains all of the montages that were edited together to be shown if England had won a few of the quarter finals we’ve lost over the years – which is more or less the same idea ITV had for their ridiculous pre-tournament trailer.

They’ll actually need to the ‘winning’ montage one day,  but at this rate it won’t be any time soon.

England Thrashed 0-0 By Italy

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Not one, but two retrospective posts today: mine is still ‘under construction’  and will be posted later, but here’s regular contributor Richard Smith’s take on what happened last night.

Picking Out The Positives From England’s 0-0 Thrashing At The Hands of Italy

England’s story at the Euro 2012 football championship had a familiar and extremely typical ending, defeat on penalties! Mercifully, it never came against Germany this time, but against a hugely superior Italy, who can rightfully be accused of thrashing the Three Lions despite the 0-0 score line after 90 minutes in what was arguably one of the most one sided draws anyone is likely to see.

The statistics tell the complete story; Italy had 68% of the play, from which that had 33 shots on goal with 18 on target against England’s pitiful eight shots with four on target. The completed pass rate was even more emphatic;Italy making 833 compared to England’s 364. Of course, the most vital statistic came in the penalty shoot-out with Italy finding the net four times against England’™s two successful spot kicks. With stats like these,Englandcan have no sense of injustice, there was no excuses, beaten by a far better team and only acts to highlight the gulf between where Roy Hodgson’s men sit now to where they will need to be in two years time at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

In real terms, England justified their final standing in the competition, they were beaten in the Quarter Final, which makes them a top eight European side but nothing more. They have no reason to feel ashamed of themselves; they achieved what most predicted pre-tournament and provided a number of moments that excited fans. Captain Steven Gerard played well enough to suggest that he could lead the team in the World Cup qualifiers which begin in September, whilst  Ashley Cole and Joe Hart emerged with some credit but the performances of the remainder of the squad who saw playing time during the tournament often flattered to deceive with Wayne Rooney in particularly very poor in the two he played. Glimpses of promise were shown by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain,  Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck and Andy Carroll but ultimately, massive improvement must be made on all fronts over the next two years but the core of the next generation could well be in place.

Englanddid not have a player with the technical ability of Itlay’s, Andrea Pirlo, whose exquisite contribution oozed class and spelt despair forEngland. He pulled England to pieces from a position deep in midfield where the combined efforts of Gerrard, Parker and Rooney could not reach him. He was only defied a match winning performance in normal time by England’s brave defending and his own side’s poor finishing. His audacious penalty in the shoot-out was a microcosm of his overall contribution that was richly deserved.

Sadly for England, Italy’s dominant performance has put on hold the increased optimism that was evident after they qualified as Group D winners. Hodgson has much to be pleased about, he knows that he has a squad of players that have great integrity, that now has a unity that will stand them in good stead as when they begin their preparations for the World Cup qualifiers which start on 7th September with a trip to Moldova, before taking on Ukraine at Wembley four days later. Before that and somewhat ironically, they play Italy in a friendly on 15th August.

Hodgson will have a lot to contemplate between now and that Italy game, knowing that one or two of the “old guard” will need to be stood down, namely John Terry, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand, the later two of which didn’t make it to the finals but by and large, he has a youthful squad, which does not need to change too dramatically. He will also know that tactically and technically, England are a long way behind the top nations and it is in this area where he will need to concentrate his greatest efforts.

All in all a disappointing exit for the Three Lions but there are reasons to be optimistic and whilst there’s plenty of room for improvement, the question has to be asked has the team done any worse than it would have under Fabio Capello. Onwards and upwards…next stop Brazil!

 

A Game We Can Win

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Unexpectedly given pre-tournament expectations, England have reached the quarter finals of the European Championships for the first time since 2004.

Or to put it another way, we’ve reached the quarter finals for only the third time since the competition started just over half a century ago.

If that seems a rare feat, consider this. We’ve not played a competitive game against the Italians since the epic goalless draw in the Olympic Stadium in Rome which ensured qualification for the 1998 World Cup. Even more surprising is that fact that we’ve never played the Italians at a neutral site in a major tournament. Considering we first played them in 1933 and between us we’ve qualified for almost every World Cup and European Championships, it almost looks like we’ve gone out of our way to avoid each other. Ironically, we next them in a friendly in August.

Before I continue, it’s worth chucking in some facts about the quarter finals in the recent Euro tournaments, basically so you can start planning what to say when you turn up bleary eyed for work tomorrow morning. In the European Championships Since 1996:

* On average, at least one quarter final per tournament has gone to extra time, although none did in 2000.

* In the games that went to extra time, all but one were eventually decided on penalties

* Most of the quarter finals have been won by countries that won their groups: victories for Spain and Germany over the last two days took those numbers to eleven wins in 19 games for group winners in quarter finals

If we apply those statistics to today’s game there’s the possibility that England might actually win a penalty shoot out in the latter stages of the European Championship since Stuart Pearce dramatically made amends for his miss in the 1990 World Cup Semi Final when he scored in the shoot out against Spain in 1996.

However, before getting carried away there are some numbers that you should be aware of. We’ve only beaten Italy twice in our last ten meetings – the last win was at Le Tournoi in 1997 – and we’ve failed to score in half of those games. Not only that, the fact that we’re currently ranked higher in the FIFA rankings could count against us. Since 1996, at least one quarter final has seen a lower ranked side beat a higher ranked team – that hasn’t happened yet in Euro 2012.

Overall, these statistics point to something that we’ve all been expecting. This is going to be a tight, low scoring game – there may only be one goal in it – that could easily go to extra time and penalties. And whoever wins will probably be beaten by Germany in the semi finals.

So who have we got to look out for? Remarkably, Cesare Prandelli has already used 20 players in three games although the midfield of De Rossi, Marchisio, Pirlo and Thiago Motta played in all three group games: it should be remembered that Pirlo and De Rossi are also more than capable of getting on the scoresheet. Antonio Cassano of Milan normally starts up front but hasn’t finished a game yet and it wouldn’t come as a huge surprise if he wasn’t on the pitch after 70 minutes today: it’ll be interesting to see who plays up front with him. Mario Balotelli started against both Spain and Croatia but was substituted in both games; although he came off the bench to score in the last minute against Ireland I’m wondering if he might be used to replace Cassano and the more experienced- and potentially more lethal – Antonio Di Natale will be alongside Cassano for Italy. The other question is which formation the Italians could use – they lined up in 3-5-2 against Spain and Croatia but changed to a 4-1-3-2 against Ireland and could use that again against us, largely because we don’t really play Mediterranean style football.

Apart from the enforced changes upfront due to Wayne Rooney’s suspension, Roy Hodgson has been fairly consistent in his team selection. Nine players started all three group games and both Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have made cameo appearances in all of the games so far: arguably the biggest surprise has been Danny Welbeck. However if you’re going to base your attacking options around making Wayne Rooney comfortable then attempting to copy Manchester United’s style puts selecting Welbeck and Ashley Young ahead of arguably better players into context. Much has been made of the lack of Young’s defensive qualities at this level and if he starts today he needs to have the game of his life in that respect.

If we beat Italy, the old nemesis lies in wait in the semi finals. Germany took a while to get going against the Greeks on Friday night but once they hit their stride they look fantastic. I ‘watched’ Spain v France last night but my wife and I saw ‘The Woman In Black’ before it and that was more tense and dramatic than the game: my opinion is that ‘tiki taka’ is about as thrilling as ‘catenaccio’ used to be in so far as it’ll bore you into submission before striking when you probably expect it. Croatia and France learned that lesson the hard way.

Let’s not get too carried away if we win tonight. A bit carried away will be perfectly acceptable though.

Tips-Free-Bets.com Euro 2012 Betting Tips: Germany To Lift The Trophy, Spain To Disappoint

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Spain are missing key men upfront and Germany look a real force ahead of Euro 2012 tournament. Ethan Rowe, Tips-Free-Bets.com tipster, explains why you shouldn’t put your money elsewhere.

All attention is now on the knockout stages of Euro 2012. After the group stage at Tips-Free-Bets.com we looked at the form of key players that are still in the tournament to try to understand earlier than bookmakers which side will lift the trophy 1st July in Kiev. If you expect yet another Spanish victory than you may be disappointed as this tournament may be more of an end of season siesta for the reigning champions.

Vicente Del Bosque’s will take on France in the quarter final and I have the feeling this could be the end of their campaign. With a few exceptions, such as Juan Mata and Torres the bulk of Spain’s squad is made of players from Barcelona and Real Madrid. Both teams have been battling on a multitude of fronts this season and those players have been involved on average on 60 official games since last August. They didn’t perform brilliantly in the group stage and although they finished first they struggled with both Italy and Croatia.

Laurent Blanc’s France have what it takes to beat them and progress to the semi-finals. I must admit their last match against Sweden wasn’t great viewing but they had already qualified and the feeling was that they were too relaxed. I don’t think that was the French side that will play against Spain: they came into this tournament with a 21 game unbeaten run and they will be keen to prove that they are up with the big boys again. Compared with the last World Cup they are a rejuvenated team that can also count on a few elements that have the necessary experience to help the squad in difficult moments.

The main weakness for France is in defence but considering that Spain will probably play without a striker, this may not have such an impact in the game.

Del Bosque’s have a series of selection issues that will be keeping him awake at night: the absence of Spain’s all-time goalscorer David Villa who broke his leg back in December is having a massive impact on the squad that have struggle to score in the two most challenging group stage encounters. Strangely, the experienced coach made a huge mistake by not including Roberto Soldado in the squad and they may pay the consequences of this in the next match.

So even with injuries Spain still remain a threatening team but the reason why I think they will fail is that they are tired and key players have already won everything and the feeling is that they would rather be on holiday than play yet another tournament.

Meanwhile, second favourites Germany look a real value to me at 4.30. They were in impressive in South Africa and since then they have only grown in experience and quality.

England will probably face Germany in the semi-finals if they can beat the Azzurri. Following England’s qualification for the quarter-finals there has been the usual wave of patriotic punting in support of the team. I am a tipster and although I’m the same as everyone else in wanting an England win, I also need to objectively analyse the real chances of success. As always the England fans and media have been too quick to applaud Roy Hodgson’s men. Let’s be honest: they have been lucky to get this far and I don’t think they are equipped to get past Germany. I think a semi-final will be a good result considering the circumstances before this tournament: I’d like to be wrong but Germany are much stronger.

Having said that, I don’t think we will get hammered the same way as we did two years ago, but we cannot simply rely on Gerrard crossing the ball upfront hoping that Rooney’s new hair will be ruined! The Germans could have an easy route to the final, where they could meet either France or Portugal. The Portuguese cannot be underestimated – they kept the Germans at bay for nearly 90 minutes – and should reach the next round easily and they should have a decent chance against the French or Spanish.

At Tips-Free-Bets.com we provide the best football betting tips on every Euro 2012 quarter-final match. We use a mixture of experience and data and this is the reason why our winning rate is around 75% – much higher than any other serious tipping site on internet.  We also have a close relationship with top bookmakers and we are able to negotiate exclusive free bets and money back promotions so make sure you visit us daily during the tournament.

Insert Headline About Wayne Rooney

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We don’t have to compete against other blogs in newsagents, supermarkets and convenience stores, so I’ve not been up all night thinking of a terrible pun about the return of The Messiah.

There are only ten teams left in the tournament: tonight we’ll find out the last of the quarter finalists but as long as England don’t lose we’ll be through to face Spain or Italy at the weekend.

First of all, the game last Friday was the first time for a while that I’ve seen England play in a game that reminded me of domestic football for a long time. On the one hand, that’s a good thing: after a very ropey opening to the second half and having realised what could be at stake, the team dug deep and managed to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory. So far so good: after having had a few ciders at the house of a friend, I walked home feeling very pleased that I’d seen such a spirited fight back.

However, the reality of the situation hit home as I walked past the local stadium. For those of you that don’t know, I am a season ticket holder at an nPower Championship club who haven’t been doing particularly well over the last couple of seasons: and that’s where the reality hit me. What we saw last Friday was a Football League game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: the league system in England is almost unique these days and I’m reasonably certain that the Championship is still one of the best supported competitions in Europe. Andy Carroll’s goal was a classic English centre forward’s header that Dixie Dean, Ted Drake or Tommy Lawton would’ve been proud of.

That being said, the Championship is a second tier competition. At times on Friday, England were extremely poor – the old cliche about ‘poor first touch’ was much in evidence once again – against a team that is amongst the top 20 in the world without having ever really done anything at international level for almost two decades. Of the six teams that have qualified for the quarter finals, only the Czechs are ranked lower by FIFA than the Swedes but only Spain and Germany are ranked higher than us. We’re good…but we’re not that good.

On to tonight’s game. Today’s slightly worrying fact is that England have never beaten the hosts of a European Championship tournament: the last three games saw defeats to Italy (1968) and Sweden (1992) as well as a 2-2 draw with Portugal in 2004 before being beaten on penalties after extra time. The situation is made slightly easier by not having to beat Ukraine to qualify for the knockout rounds: the only other time we’ve played against the Ukrainians away from England was the 1-0 defeat in the World Cup qualifiers when Robert Green was sent off.

A draw would be good enough, but we have our less than secret weapon available for tonight’s game. Wayne Rooney returns, although it’s never a good idea to change a winning team, as both my wife and my mother have pointed out over the last couple of days. I wouldn’t want to do Roy Hodgson’s job so I’m going to keep away from having an opinion, but let’s just say that I can see the arguments for and against changing the starting eleven to incorporate Rooney. If selecting him means a major change of tactics – and I don’t think it does – then there’s a case to be made for him to start on the bench.

Overall, so far the tournament has been a good one with the Dutch being a major disappointment whilst the Germans look the pick of the bunch – and before you start wondering, I have put my money where my mouth is. I’m not going to wax lyrical about the Spanish: they were kept in check by the Italians and Croatians but had a field day against an Irish side who were described as a ‘pub team’ by a friend of mine who has Irish ancestry and as a typical British team by commentators in both Belgium and Hungary. The biggest surprise is that Russia were knocked out – although to be fair they didn’t have to go far to get home – and how ridiculously fussy UEFA have been about non-issues like German fans throwing screwed up bits of paper and Nicholas Bendtner’s sponsored underpants.

The most predictable aspect of the tournament: Clive Tyldesley and Mark Lawrenson – although I must admit that ITV’s coverage has been far more entertaining with the tableaux of Polish street life going on behind them. So far we’ve had a balloon seller smoking a fag, a man with a ferret on a lead and some drunken Polish teenagers being cleared out of the square by the riot squad. As far as I know, there aren’t any charity muggers operating there…yet.

Plenty Of Positives To Be Taken From England’s Draw With France

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Looks like my doom and gloom about the Euro 2012 campaign was based almost entirely on my dental requirements. Yesterday we saw a different type of England performance: more conservative and defensively minded than we’ve seen for a while, but apart from Samir Nasri’s goal, the French threat was dealt with effectively.

Anyway, enough from me. Richard Smith takes a look at last night’s game and gives his ratings. Next up: Sweden on Friday.

Roy Hodgson and his England team can come away from their opening game at Euro 2012 against France pleased with themselves having earned a very creditable draw. France looked like a good all round team and one which will pose problems for any side in the tournament.

If France do have a weakness, it is in the central defensive partnership of Adil Rami and Philippe Mexes, which was exploited, firstly when James Milner ran on to a superb through ball into the box from Ashley Young but fluffed his lines by putting the ball into the side netting after rounding the keeper. Not long afterwards Joleon Lescott made amends for Milner’s miss after he rose highest to head England into a 1-0 lead from a well flighted Steven Gerrard free kick. It was exactly the start England had been looking for but it was also a goal that prompted the French into a more positive and direct mood.

France began to exert themselves after going behind, putting England under plenty of pressure with a number of clever runs from the often irksome, Frank Ribery, Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema. However, England fought them off manfully with Gerrard and Scott Parker becoming increasingly busy in front of their own back four. They had Joe hart’s reflexes to thank for keeping the score at 1-0 after Diarra’s header from a free kick looked a certain goal. There was little that anyone could do however about Nasri’s goal that levelled the match after 39 minutes. His shot was a quick-fire accurately struck effort that found the bottom right hand corner of Joe Hart’s net and although disappointing for the England defenders, it was the reward for France’s positive attitude shown after going a goal behind.

In an overall sense, the second half belonged to France although England still created a number of counter attacks that showed promise. French efforts came in from Benzema who looked a class act up front; Ribery continued his trickery from both flanks and as is his trait, continued to fall over spectacularly every time he was fairly tackled. Cabaye was a constant thorn in the midfield and although Nasri tired, he still produced some of the best individual football seen on the night.

For England, there was no one that could be described as the outstanding man of the match, but there was no-one who played poorly. The entire team put in a good solid shift and they were well led by Gerrard. Scott Parker as is his hallmark put his body on the line, charging down at least two shots that were otherwise goal bound, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain justified his selection with a couple of lively touches when going forwards and he showed plenty of maturity when it came to defending. His naiveté at this level did cost him a booking however but apart from that, England fans should be pleased with his contribution.

Overall, England probably surprised a few people with their performance and it was one which certainly offers encouragement ahead of the remaining two group games and hopefully beyond! The odds about England winning Euro 2012 were cut from 14/1 to 12/1 on the back of the this result and Hodgson’s men are 4/7 to make the Quarter Finals and are 2/1 chance to win the group.

England Player Ratings

Joe Hart – 7: A couple of good saves but handling a little unsure at times.

Glen Johnson – 7: A good all round game who joined the attack whenever match prudence allowed.

John Terry – 7: Made a couple of significant tackles on Benzema and cleared his lines well when necessary.

Joleon Lescott – 8: Formed a solid partnership with Terry but gets an extra point for scoring England’s goal.

Ashley Cole – 8: Played to his usual high standard and always offering his support to the attack. Combined well with Oxlade-Chamberlain, both in defence and attack.

James Milner – 7: Not always able to make the crosses that Hodgson had hoped for, but played with a great industry and was always reliable when needing to defend.

Steven Gerrard – 7: Led by example, but finding himself defending more than he was attacking. He and Parker formed what must have appeared to be a brick wall at times in the deep midfield, which regularly succeeded in breaking up French play.

Scott Parker – 7: Put in a typical performance, full of effort, unflinching tackles and great desire to succeed.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 7: A very encouraging start to the tournament who fully justified his selection. He dazzled in one movement in the first half which saw him skilfully go past two French defenders in the blink of an eye.

Ashley Young – 7: Not always the most prominent but Young showed that he was up to the task of filling Wayne Rooney’s boots. He combined well with Danny Welbeck and although never really getting close to scoring, he showed enough deftness to fill the same role against Sweden later this week.

Danny Welbeck – 7: A very encouraging display which should be enough to give him the nod over Andy Carroll for the next match. He put in plenty of endeavour although the threat that he posed in the first half an hour slowly diminished as the game developed.

Euro 2012: A Trip To The Dentist?

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This morning as I was brushing my teeth I came up with an metaphor. This tournament is going to be like a trip to the dentist. Even if everything goes reasonably well, I’ll probably still need a scale and polish.

However, on this morning’s evidence there seems to be a hole that needs filling at the back, which could turn into something painful if it encounters anything harder or sharper than it was expecting over the next couple of days.

England’s European Championship campaigns have – on the whole – been worse than those in the World Cup. The main reason for this is that the group stages are much tougher due to the absence of the type of teams we’re normally drawn against (and subsequently draw with) in the World Cup. Euro 2012 features seven of the top ten national teams in the world – all the teams in Group B are in that classification – so these days the European Championships are reminiscent of the second group stages in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. It’s vital to remember that: just by qualifying for this tournament we’re amongst the elite national sides of world football.

The downside is exactly how unsuccessful we’ve been in this tournament over the years. The best we’ve done is beaten semi finalists (1968 and 1996) but in three of the last five competitions we’ve failed to get out of the group stage: after beating Spain in Naples on 18th June 1980, it was almost exactly sixteen years until we won another game in the finals within 90 minutes. To make you even more depressed, it’s nearly eight years since we last played a game in the finals – the 2-2 draw against Portugal that we ultimately lost on penalties.

Here are some other stats to cheer you up:

We’ve not beaten France since Le Tournoi (June 1997)

We’ve not beaten Sweden outside England since May 1937. Eleven days after this happened.

We lost the only other time we played Ukraine outside England and Robert Green was sent off.

However…here are the silver linings:

England actually went up a place in the revised FIFA rankings that were released on Wednesday: this is the highest ranked England team to take part in the European Championships since the FIFA rankings were introduced in 1994.

Including 1996, our recent record in the Euros is as good as Italy’s and better than Russia

Roy Hodgson’s record with both the Swiss and Finnish national teams has been referred to – but not necessarily understood – by the media. He has a proven track record of doing far better than expected with modest players: although the current England side is better than the sides I just mentioned, it’ll be interesting to see what he can do with better players at international level.

Personally, I think it’ll be enough to qualify from the group: then the adventure really begins but first of all we have to avoid defeat against the French in a couple of hours time. Let’s see what happens: I’ll be back tomorrow with my analysis of what happened this afternoon.