England vs Wales

[DaveWHU1964]

Reminded me of an awful game between us and the Republic at another championships years ago that finished one one. We were pedestrian, scrappy and lacking in creativity and quality. There to make up the numbers

[Beavis Danzig]

like to see bertrand given a start against slovakia. walker is frustrating me with his lack of end product too, but clyne has about one assist all season.

don't think much of wilshere but alli has barely turned up, never rated lallana either though and he's been decent. rooney is playing the noble role well, not as well as nobes himself would but that ship's long sailed.

think sturridge is a greedy and often brainless player but always has a goal in him. vardy was invisible apart from stabbing in a goal from 2 yards offside and i'd loathe to read too much into that. kane needs a rest.

dier has had it fairly easy so far and as long as he stops trying to make things happen is worth a place in the squad.

don't feel like we're going to get past a decent team playing like we do but i'm going to enjoy it while i can. had a great afternoon and plan to enjoy it until the curtain comes down. just hope i have a few more happy memories and roy gets a handshake, a painting of a spitfire and is send packing after it.

[Glory Hunter]

Was Vardy offside though? It looked to me like the ball came forward off a Wales defenders head.

[smuts]

Was Vardy offside though? It looked to me like the ball came forward off a Wales defenders head.

It did. Williams headed it towards his own goal.

[simon1982]

Got to get Wilshere in that side. I think Rooney is a massive problem. He looks pretty on the eye but it's not affecting the game. All it does is confuse the hell out of other midfielders, some of the positions he found himself in today were unnecessary! He man marked dier! For me it's either Rooney or Ali to start.
hopefully we won't see sterling but I think we need to persevere with Kane. He hasn't had any service.
Out of all the wide players in England we are now relying on the wand of a right foot that is Kyle walker....what a joke!

Sturridge and Kane up top. Rooney in behind. Midfield 3 of Wilshere, lallana/Henderson and dier.

Such a shame as Antonio would have had an absolute field day in this setup

[De Niro]

Despite my reservations about Walker, he has been one of our stand out players so far. Granted he may be exposed against better teams, but he's been one of the few consistently good players imo.

The lack of width in Hodgson's squad is already becoming a weakness. The only wingers are Sterling and Milner at a push..not good enough for an international tournament.

I thought Sturridge was overall quite poor today but he still managed to do a lot more than Kane. He has to start the next game.

He won't be dropped, but Joe Hart should be replaced. Over excited and over rated. All goalkeeper's make the odd mistake, but even in the Russia game he looked shaky.

[Boo Boo]

Richard Keys on the Vardy goal.
"Somehow the officials have got that right - but surely the lino should still flag?"

Be careful what you flag for Dick.

[ludo22]

Dress it up how you like,but England are ****ing useless. Russia are awful and Wales were abysmal today with zero ambition.I think Sterling is potentially the worst performing England player since Carlton Palmer closely followed by Delle Alli.

[OFT]

Carlton Palmer closely followed by Delle Alli.

That's man to man marking for you

[bowltorious]

-----------------------forster

walker----------smalling----cahill------bertrand

----------------------------dier

------------------lallana--------wilshere

---------------------------rooney

------------------vardy-------------sturridge

Judging by the first two games that would be my Slovakia team. Rose, Alli, Sterling and Kane have all done nothing of note. Hart is overrated but roy obviously wont make that change. I think that team would cause problems.

[carnage]

really?

we have played two poorish teams, Slovakia look better then anyone we have played so far.

Slovakia who lost to Wales?

f*** me.

[carnage]

Kane and Sterling back for the next game Roy?

You lucky know nothing wotsit

Roy makes a change and brings on 2 strikers to win a game and it's lucky. Slaven does it and it's genius.

[RichieRiv]

In fairness Carnage you can't really compare club and international football.

Bilic has 38 games to tinker with the team, so he can keep faith in certain players or make inspirational substitutions or replace them completely.

Woy has 3 games to win as many points as he can. I don't think you can muck about. If a player fails to perform, you have to decide whether there is anyone else in the squad that can do better.

I think the second half today was far more positive. Yes it was left a little late, but I'll take that. It's not the manner you win it, its a case of toy win. Especially at this stage.

I haven't met many people who have said Sterling deserves his spot or Kane for that matter.

[Bend it like Repka]

Roy will always get bashed by some, but I might point out that for many many years the accusation was that England never played with passion, they didn't play like a Premiership side, were full of big time Charlie's and cliques.

Can you make that case against this current team?

[carnage]

In fairness Carnage you can't really compare club and international football.

Bilic has 38 games to tinker with the team, so he can keep faith in certain players or make inspirational substitutions or replace them completely.

Woy has 3 games to win as many points as he can. I don't think you can muck about. If a player fails to perform, you have to decide whether there is anyone else in the squad that can do better.

I think the second half today was far more positive. Yes it was left a little late, but I'll take that. It's not the manner you win it, its a case of toy win. Especially at this stage.

I haven't met many people who have said Sterling deserves his spot or Kane for that matter.

My point was he ca t select a squad based on form every 6 weeks. He has to build a team and you can't do that by picking the form players of the moment.

[il_martello_di_genovesi]

Carnage,

Slovakia lost to Wales, who England beat, but beat Russia who England didn't.

I'm not sure why you keep just using a result as an argument all the time. It just constantly goes around in circles. You've already used this argument on Slovakia without even seeing them over the last 2 years pre tournament.

Slovakia put in a poor performance against Wales yet still shouldn't have lost. They tore Russia apart in the first half and scored 2 great goals from open play, which England couldn't do.

They are a good side and it will be a tough game.

I don't think you give any other team any respect

[Hot Bot]

I'm not going to give number ratings, but my opinion on everyone today:

Hart: Poor. At fault for the goal and flapped at a cross. Distribution was better than against Russia though.

Walker: Unsure. Fine defensively (hard not to be) and got into loads of great positions. Then insisted on taking half an hour to put in a terrible cross.

Cahill and Smalling: Both fine. Not amazing defensively - both struggled too much against Robson-Kanu for my liking. Can't be replaced though, as there are no options.

Rose: Meh. Bombs forward, but with less end product than Walker and seemingly no touch. Fine defensively.

Dier: Unsure. Very solid defensively and probably the reason Bale did nothing in open play. Needs to remember he isn't Pirlo. May benefit with a real midfielder next to him as an option to pass to.

Rooney: Unsure. Pretty on the ball, but so slow to do anything with it. Suspect defensively, worryingly so if we meet a good team.

Lallana: Impressive. Didn't rate him but has played quite well. Nice link up play.

Alli: Underwhelmed. A few good touches, but never looked like being involved with a good move. Seemed to brighten after Sturridge and Vardy came on and provided movement.

Sterling: Nothing needs saying.

Kane: Poor. Can this Harry Kane turn up next Prem season please?

Sturridge: Decent. Crucial goal, and at least willing to do stuff - as long as that doesn't involve passing. Should start regardless.

Vardy: Unsure. Didn't notice him, except for the fact he scored! In his defence best in behind - no chance of doing that today.

Rashford: Underwhelmed. Confident and ambitious, but over hit every pass and didn't ever actually look like doing anything - might beat his man, but will then lose it.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

So many people on this thread must have been gutted when sturridge scored. All that vitriol gone to waste. First, people moaned qualification was too easy and we wouldn't get out of the group, now we have done that (pretty much) people are saying we won't beat anyone decent. Who knows? We arent the best in Europe but the team is giving it all and we are in a stong position. You never know we may stumble our way into the semis, although for some that will still be not good enough/ only down to luck/. Great to see such a great spirit. Long may it continye ( even if I am not a fan of hodgson)

If noble had got in the squad and was playing the Barkley role of water carrier/ squad gimp positive opinion on here would be much higher. It would be good if people could put their club allegiances aside for a couple of weeks and get behind England

[James P]

So many people on this thread must have been gutted when sturridge scored. All that vitriol gone to waste.

Spot on!

[giantsteps]

Roy makes a change and brings on 2 strikers to win a game and it's lucky. Slaven does it and it's genius.

Why go with the formation that doesn't work in the first place though?

He tried it out against Portugal, we were poor, but he persisted with it in the tournament.

It's obviously to accomindate Rooney.

We need to be hitting teams from the off, for me he's got it set up too cautiously.