England vs Wales

[QuintonNimoy]

Would have been more of the same without the subs. Hopefully we make some more permanent changes to reflect it

[BillericayDickie]

As long as we don't see Sterling again, we have half a chance of doing OK.

Sterling's stock is falling as fast as Payet's is rising. He had another shocker yesterday. I'd be amazed if we see him again.

[Joey00]

Which part of Wales do you live in , where did you watch the match and how did you behave afterwards ?

Still sorry to hear that - I think Football can sometimes bring out the worst in a lot of people.

Watched it with my English pal in Cardiff but some of my West Wales acquaintances weren't very happy with me laughing on social media at Bale unable to back-up his big talk.

It's pretty much considered acceptable to be anti-English in West Wales

[steveherts66]

Completely agree, in Italia 90 the media and public did not realise how good our manager was and seemed to hope we would do badly-the rest of the world respect both of them though. Bobby Robson an old fool

He didn't even know the names of half his players

[DDHammer]

But let's have it right, there was some awful passing from us yesterday, no players willing to take on their defenders at pace, and some dreadful 'row z' efforts.'

70% possession, 61% Aerial Duels won to their 39%, 550 passes (85% completion) to their 240 passes (65% completion), fair enough our conversion rate of 10% was fairly low but then they only managed 2 shots on target all game and one of them was from a Bale free kick and Joe Hart howler.

It was a solid performance overall.

[sendô]

I didn't have a great view of the TV in the pub I was in. A bit far away, at an angle, partially obscured at the beginning, and by the end I was a few pints worse for wear.

Nonetheless, whilst it wasn't a vintage smoothe performance, on the whole England were good value. We dominated possession, territory and chances. There were some errant passes and sloppy play, and Hart will look back on Bales goal with disgust, but there are plenty of positives.

The two main ones being, we managed to grind out a win from a losing position, and when plan A didn't work, the manager actually had the guts to make bold changes and go for a plan B that did work.

Rooney looked very good, as did Kyle Walker. Lallana was lively if he did have little end product. Sturridge and Vardy looked dangerous when they came on. Alli didn't do much, I'd have took him off for Rashford.

[swash]

Hopefully Plan A is in the shredder and we'll stick with Plan B now!

[Xabbu]

Hopefully Plan A is in the shredder and we'll stick with Plan B now!

But this is where we go wrong mate. The assumption that one system and personnel in one game suits the next. It's classic England and shows reactive rather than proactive management. I think employed correctly we have the ammo to do well but I have little faith that we will, judging by how he has approached things up to now.

We go gung ho at Slovakia with that finishing line up and they have more than enough quality to pick us off

[mumbles87]

Sterling's stock is falling as fast as Payet's is rising. He had another shocker yesterday. I'd be amazed if we see him again.

the only england game ive ever been to sturridge scored the winner.. friendly match against demark.. was Luke shaws debut and Sterlings home debut..

sterling got man of the match to please the sponsors.. tbh he was average as always.. shaw on other hand looked decent

[Scratchy]

The disdain for our national team is embarassing.

[giantsteps]

The disdain for our national team is embarassing.

Bet it's all high 5s and fist pumps on the Spurs forum though.

[Xabbu]

The disdain for our national team is embarassing.

This is caused by years of frustration and mismanagement creating a feeling of apathy. The FA are the ones who should be embarrassed

[westham,eggyandchips]

Hopefully Joe Hart has got the howlers out of his system now. Looked very shaky the first 2 games.

[Jumby]

That was the worst way to lose a game of football, and one of the most unlikeable players of todays game, in Sturridge, getting the winner made it all the more unbearable!

It's amazing that if that ball is saved Hodgson is a donkey but it goes in and he's now a tactical genius. He just threw all his attackers on and after the equalizer. Fair play to Hodgson for going for it but he was up against a side with players that have been released by Reading starting for them, sides with international class all over the pitch are going to be a lot harder to deal with.

[James P]

Fair play to Hodgson for going for it but he was up against a side with players that have been released by Reading starting for them, sides with international class all over the pitch are going to be a lot harder to deal with.

Sides with international class might meet us halfway and actually try to make a game of it.

[Jumby]

Because taking the lead isn't making a game of it.

Wales knew they weren't going to be able to go all out with the pace on the counter that Engkand had, they boxed clever and it very nearly paid off. Most of that England squad plays in Europe every season, half of the Welsh squad have been playing at a level below the Premiership.

[Josie112002]

Bale is the best player on either side which has to be factored in. Also if you stick everyone behind the ball it does make it difficult to concede-regardless of the league players come from

[James P]

Because taking the lead isn't making a game of it.

Wales knew they weren't going to be able to go all out with the pace on the counter that Engkand had, they boxed clever and it very nearly paid off. Most of that England squad plays in Europe every season, half of the Welsh squad have been playing at a level below the Premiership.

You won a free kick and Bale stuck it in the middle of the goal (again) and the goalkeeper fluffed it (again). If that is your tactic for the whole tournament I don't think it's England who have to concern themselves with worrying about better opponents.

You're right. England are superior to Wales. I have no problem with Wales trying to counter their inferiority with anti-football. Our manager was right to go all guns blazing to get through the parked bus. He wasn't a tactical genius. He did what was necessary to beat a ten man defence.

[Jumby]

You said Wales didn't try and give England a game, if attacking, winning a free kick and scoring from it isn't trying to give you a game I must be missing something. Once we scored we tried to defend our lead, before we scored we tried to counter attack as that was our best possible chance, as it proved. And your earlier comment suggests that you did have a problem with Wales trying to defend their lead and then hold on for a point. Like Iceland against Portugal, sides who know they can't attack at will with the players they have will defend for large periods of the game.

[Jumby]

You said Wales didn't try and give England a game, if attacking, winning a free kick and scoring from it isn't trying to give you a game I must be missing something. Once we scored we tried to defend our lead, before we scored we tried to counter attack as that was our best possible chance, as it proved. And your earlier comment suggests that you did have a problem with Wales trying to defend their lead and then hold on for a point. Like Iceland against Portugal, sides who know they can't attack at will with the players they have will defend for large periods of the game.