It was OK, Hodgson seems to have sorted the defence out and we look a lot more secure at the back, however I do worry about Johnson, he's the weak link. The only reason Milner is in the side is to cover Johnson when he gets caught out of position, I'll have to watch the French goal again but I was sure at the time it was him who was at fault for the goal becaue he was out of position when the ball came over to the right which allowed Ribery(?) to get the ball back into the middle. In the next game I'd bring Carrol in for Milner and move Young out wide. I'm not a Carroll fan by any means but I think having him in the side gives us more attacking options and I think him and Welbeck would work well together.

I wasn't that impressed with the Ukraine or Sweden. Both are dangerous and have 1 or 2 good attacking players, but nothing to lose any sleep over.

I thought Johnson played OK, swept up a number of times when required and did a decent job. Biggest disappointments for me were Hart who I thought looked anxious/nervous and should have done better with the goal, Milner should have scored and couldn't supply any quality ball, Parker who spent most of his time rolling around on the floor and generally looking fatigued.

I thought Parker and Gerard both looked fairly poor. Its a shame Lampard was injured because I think he'd have done well coming off the bench. People are saying Rooney's our biggest loss but for me Jack Wilshire is the player we miss the most.

I cannot believe Roddy still continues to get bites. He certainly puts on a good act. Well I assume it is an act because nobody could really be so thick and clueless without trying can they?

I dont think any England manager will get away with playing ultra defensive football for any length of time. But I think hodgson deserves to be cut some slack, at least for the time being.

Given the very short time he's had with the players and the quality available to him, I think it's reasonable for him to take a cautious approach, to concentrate on the defence and organisation. I just do not see how the current crop of England players could be successful trying to play expansive football. At least he's set out with an idea of how he wants us to play, something which his predecessors seemed to lack.


Of course it's quite possible that we'll fail to score in our next two games and end up going home early. And then he'll have to put up with the criticism. But I dont think he deserves it based on yesterday's game

I was surprised that France didn't have a bit more urgency about them, although England kept their shape quite well I thought France didn't stretch the play as much as they might. It was definitely the dullest game of the tournament so far.

It will be interesting to see how (if) Hodgson adapts the tactics for the next two games, because I don't see how we can play like that against weaker opponents.

I don't understand why many people are surprised with England's approach. We don't have anyone capable of just giving the ball and asking them to open up a defence a la Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo, Modric etc.
FWIW I thought we looked solid for the most part but could very easily crumble against a team with more pace than a very poor France side.

And not actually trying to win games worked a treat for Chelsea in Europe, why not try it at international level??

He's just turned very bitter since Liverpool's comical slide to mediocrity continued at pace under KKK.

Hopefully if Brendan Rodgers turns them around, his mood will improve.

Looks like Rangers are finished. Even more.

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18407309HMRC tell them to nick off[/url

Liquidation now seems inevitable.

Good to see the Ukrainian authorities refused to let those muppets in the England "band" take their instruments into the stadium last night.

Unfortunately it seems that they gave them back afterwards.

They're not finished, but I wonder if the other SPL will force them to start up again in Division 3 or allow them to stay in the SPL.

I'm not bothered about England or how their results go, I lost all faith in the national side a long time ago, what I can't stand is people saying "we played well" when England didn't actually 'play'. I get defending, I get surrendering possession, but, as I said with the Italians, to not go out and play is defeatist and shows a lack of faith in one's tactics and ability to coach a side. You can be hard to beat but also attack and play with some form of intent, England never had that intent and they won't win anything meaningful playing for a clean sheet. You seem to have faith that Roy will change this but this is how Roy coaches, when he was Liverpool coach, Stoke City, for the first time since promotion, never had 50% possession or more against an opposing side. I think they ended up with something like 63% against Roy's side, and we all know how negative Stoke are. Roy clearly doesn't have faith in possession, which I don't mind, but to have no faith in attacking and counter-attacking with intent, well, that's just embarrassing.

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jun/12/the-question-position-possession-tiki-takaThe Question: Position or Possession[/url.

That's nonsense. England didn't do that, we had arguably the better chances in the game. Milner missed an open goal and Oxlade-Chamberlain and Young threatened to break through them several times. Sure we sat deep, arguably too deep, when they had a couple of spells of possession, but France did absolutely nothing with it. They created absolutely nothing.

Anti-Football is as valid as pure possession football and if the techncially superior team can't break it down, they don't deserve to win. It would be an idiotic thing to attack in a major championships with the team England have. They have nothing in central midfield at all, Gerrard is finished and Parker has no creativity in him. Defending deep and using Young, Wellbeck and Chamberlain on the break is surely the right thing to do.

Webcam from the national stadium in Warsaw. I've been trying to find one that covers the route of this Russian march that's happening but haven't been able to find anything yet. Any links please post. agency.tvn.pl/pl/driver,3753.html

Webcam from the national stadium in Warsaw. I've been trying to find one that covers the route of this Russian march that's happening but haven't been able to find anything yet. Any links please post. agency.tvn.pl/pl/driver,3753.html

No messing about from Hector.

I was actually surprised how threatening England looked in the first half with Young/Welbeck/Oxlade-Chamberlain linking up well. Did seem to go into ultra defensive mode in the second half though.

Have the officials been instructed to play a standard 1 min of added time at end of the first half? Presumably the UEFA VIP's need their prawn sannies.

United have confirmed the signing of England under-18 midfielder Nick Powell on a 4-year contract, for an undisclosed fee.
Sir Alex Ferguson, “We have scouted Nick for months now. He is an exceptional talent and has been schooled well at Crewe.”


Lovely scenes in Warsaw.

Lovely scenes in Warsaw.'"

The problem for Roddy (and many other Liverpool fans) is that they are in the delicate position where Hodgson can make them, and their opinions, look very silly.

They've already been made to look stupid by the blind faith they showed in the useless Dalglish, so if a man who they turned on, because he dared to be almost un-Liverpool like when he was in the job, gets one or two half decent results and suddenly gets a bit of praise from the media, then their reaction is always going to be the typical Liverpool one, which is lashing out, followed by a dose of self pity, mainly about how Hodgson is to blame for the state they are in (conveniently forgetting how Benitez put them there in the first place, and how Dalglish has actually made them even worse).

I don't think anybody thinks Hodgson is a particularly great manager, but the way Liverpool fans go on, you would think he is a total incompetent, with little knowledge of the game.

The truth is, despite Roddy wanting us to suddenly become Real Madrid or Barcalona and to play flowing football, we simply aren't good enough and we have a stark choice - Either try to play attacking football (and fail miserably) or get used to the fact that, for the moment, stealing results by stifling more talented teams is our only option.

What a player Dzagoev looks. Expect a few big clubs will be sniffing around him. Has everything.

Class. So far off I won't even bother.

Which parts are miles off? Seems like a reasonable post to me.

Quote ="Roddy B"icon_lol.gif Class. So far off I won't even bother.'" www.streetshirts.co.uk/

Quote ="Roddy B"icon_lol.gif Class. So far off I won't even bother.'" www.streetshirts.co.uk/