How negative were England in the second half and how second rate were we made to look? True France created very few chances and had Milner shown more composure after rounding the keeper, we could have won the game, but we clearly played for the draw and were petrified of France.
Who played well? Well Parker did for the most part, though he and Gerrard got it wrong between them for the Nasri goal - both dropped deep and one needed to hold the line on the edge of the box. Lescott scored but had a couple of all too typical defensive aberrations. Welbeck was good first half. And?
Gerrard is now a yard too slow and he gives away the ball far too often. Young, that slipped pass to Milner apart, was poor. Oxlade-Chamberlain made a number of bad decisions. Milner was crap. Johnson was poorer. Terry was Terry. Cole was isolated too often. Hart missed a cross badly and was arguably slow to react to Nasri's goal.
In a way it was a good result but, looked at another way, if either the Ukraine or Sweden win, we are up against it as the winners of that fixture will be in the box seat. I don't fancy us to win both of the remaining fixtures; in fact I wouldn't be surprised if we drew both. Should we draw against Sweden, surely the favourite bet, it could come down to having to beat the Ukraine on their own radio active dung heap. Even with Rooney, that would be a big ask.
I am glad you noticed that Parker was man of the match! Otherwise, England was totally flat, unimaginative and couldn't connect in attack. The usual really...
ReplyDeleteWe played like England what else did you expect hf mate ? Attractive football
ReplyDeleteYour expectations are too high HF. This was a very good result for what the team is.
ReplyDeleteapart from their goal how many other decent chances did france create?..a team unbeaten in 21 games,not a mug team,compare tonights display with the dreck we served up in south africa,playing like we didnt give a shit what the result was..its a big improvement,agree with you about milner though..
ReplyDeleteNot a bad result at the end of the day, especially when you consider some of the players we have in the squad (Downing, Henderson etc). Think we'll do well if we keep going like that!
ReplyDeleteAnony-mouse says,
ReplyDeleteNo need to be depressed HF. You're right- Milner was indeed rubbish. Young disappointed me too. I think you're a bit harsh on Johnson- for me Cole was our poorest full back. Time and time again the French worked space for their right back behind Cole. Despite all that, England without threatening still did well enough. Not spectacular but a solid, decent start.
By the way HF- hope you remember we've got a bet on Scott Parker which is still alive after today's game. I'd bloody hate to have to hand over a tenner to you :)
ENGERLAND!!!!! FCUK you pussy - we eat people like you for breakfast COYI
ReplyDeleteNot a bad result considering France's unbeaten run.
ReplyDeleteThe game changed once we scored and we sat back way too much, shame because could of got more from the game. But so far so good,
In Roy we Trust :)
HF I like your site mate. As a West Ham & England fan I ask you to check out my England 2012 song & video. It's highly inspired by our West Ham Heroes of 1966. I hope you don't consider this as spamming, I don't cos I have been a Hammer for 33 years and English a little bit longer.
It's called Good Times Again 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkJudgHr1Cg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Cheers man
england played well considering the number ofd players out injured and the ref clearly didn't have a clue what he was doing, france are a strong team.
ReplyDeletehow well did spain play with a 4-6-0 formation, how well did holland do loosing to denmark, how well did portugal do playing anti-football for 75 minutes, how well did germany do? not much better than us, they were one deflected cross away from being underwhelming. croatia and russia played nobody teams, other than us and france only italy went for it and got a good result, we tired towards the end and a draw is a good result after the last 2 or 3 times we have played france
I agree with Mouse in regards to Johnson. I think he had a decent game and showed some welcome, aggressive runs at the French. And Nasri's strike was quality. I don't think Hart was at fault.
ReplyDeleteIf you expected more than what you got, HF, then you can be disappointed. But Id say most people expected a French win. You can beat Sweden, and if a point will do against Ukraine I think you can manage it.