Euro 2016 qualifiers

[Tangled up in Blue]

We won... That's all that matters.

We don't have better defenders so the only way we can stop conceding is to stick men behind the ball and play on the counter and I for one am happy that that is not what Hodgson is trying. I'd rather play football and fail than stink out the tournament, sneak through and go out to the first decent team yet again.

We have crap defenders, we have several young, talented attacking players. Roll with it.

Not quite.Personally I thought Slovenia were a little unlucky not to get a point.Remember they're ranked 48th in the world.

Both the goals that England gave away were the result of unforced defensive errors, which doesn't exactly bode well for France,where we're likely to face a much higher quality of opposition,especially after the group stage.

That "sneak through and go out to the first decent team" that we play, rather looks like what will happen in France atm.

 

[Pubey]

Was wilshere's second one of the best England team goals of all time? Fantastic play - never seen an England move like it.

Has hodgson explained why clyne wasn't involved?

 

[Rob Noxious]

Was wilshere's second one of the best England team goals of all time? Fantastic play - never seen an England move like it.

Has hodgson explained why clyne wasn't involved?

Yes - he thought Henderson would offer more of an attacking option in the 2nd half. And yes, great move. The Lallana back heel was sweet.

 

[Pubey]

Yes - he thought Henderson would offer more of an attacking option in the 2nd half.

But why clyne didn't start?

 

[Rob Noxious]

But why clyne didn't start?

Ah - haven't heard the reason for that. It does seem odd.

 

[amsemp]

Was wilshere's second one of the best England team goals of all time? Fantastic play - never seen an England move like it.

Has hodgson explained why clyne wasn't involved?

I burst into a long fit of applause whilst repeating "that was ****ing great" about a thousand times after that.

Quality goal. Can safely say that's one of the best team goals I've ever seen from England. Henderson still looks like he's got a way to go yet, but he's going to be quite some player.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Phil Jones is the new Phil Neville. Continually picked for reasons the manager can only understand. Clyne has to be the right back looking ahead to next year. As Beefy said there simply aren't enough good defenders. We go in cycles of good players. Ten years ago we had plenty of good centre backs but few strikers now it's the other way round. Such is the low pool of talent that it's hard to see a time when we will have a high concentration of good players in all areas. Can only hope that the likes of Stones and Chambers build on their early promise.

 

[Uncle Leo]

our defence is a joke and not getting better..would we have beaten "the sprouts"???No i doubt it,but im sure we would have found some excuse

Cheer up misery guts. We won. Again.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Was wilshere's second one of the best England team goals of all time? Fantastic play - never seen an England move like it.

Has hodgson explained why clyne wasn't involved?

Shearer's second against the Netherlands in 1996 still the ultimate for me, but that Wilshere goal runs it very close.

 

[Beefy]

Not quite.Personally I thought Slovenia were a little unlucky not to get a point.Remember they're ranked 48th in the world.

We won. You can't twist it so that we didn't I'm afraid. I assume you'll change your opinion when you read that the Guardian state in their match report that England's win was "thoroughly deserved"@

We may well go out early in France but so long as we give it a go I'll be happy. I think this squad are a likeable bunch and I thought the whining and bitching all over twitter (how I had to follow the game due to a family engagement) was pretty pathetic. The players deserve support - their level of ability is outside of their control.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Unbelievable that people are moaning after that.

England came from behind to win away from home against a half decent side; we were enterprising and created loads, scored three, including a goal that was a thing of beauty. From Andros Townsend touch in his own half, Lallana's lay-off to Wilshire's finish it was sublime. That's the type of football we could only dream of.

Sure, the defending was a bit suspect but we haven't the players to be a top defensive side.

Around Europe people will be watching the highlights and saying England will be a team they'd rather avoid.

 

[Swiss Tony]

We won. You can't twist it so that we didn't I'm afraid. I assume you'll change your opinion when you read that the Guardian state in their match report that England's win was "thoroughly deserved"@

We may well go out early in France but so long as we give it a go I'll be happy. I think this squad are a likeable bunch and I thought the whining and bitching all over twitter (how I had to follow the game due to a family engagement) was pretty pathetic. The players deserve support - their level of ability is outside of their control.

Agreed,this is Roys team young and keen,keep it going lads.

In Roy we trust.

 

[Pubey]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	England	6	6	0	0	18	3	+15	18

 

[londonblue]

Not quite.Personally I thought Slovenia were a little unlucky not to get a point.Remember they're ranked 48th in the world.

Both the goals that England gave away were the result of unforced defensive errors, which doesn't exactly bode well for France,where we're likely to face a much higher quality of opposition,especially after the group stage.

That "sneak through and go out to the first decent team" that we play, rather looks like what will happen in France atm.

How do you reconcile those two comments? The goals we gave away were poor defensively but Slovenia were unlucky? That doesn't make sense to me. It's not as if they had an abundance of missed chances. They only had three shots on goal in the whole match, and scored two of them.

Personally I thought England played very well going forward. On the basis that attack is the best form of defence I think Roy did the right thing given our lack of options at the back. I think we were incisive and attacked them at every opportunity, which was refreshing to watch. We dominated possession and should really have won by more. The work rate to win the ball back when Slovenia had the ball was also very impressive. It was only the defence that let us down, and that isn't really something Roy can do a lot about because he can't just go out and buy replacements. So if he experiments once in a while with left (right!) field selections then good on him for trying something different.

Let's put this another way. Southend are playing away at Grimsby in the FA Cup, and come away with a 3-2 win. Would we be happy or not? Would we say that was a job well done, or not? Grimsby are about 33 places below Southend, as Slovenia are to England...

On another note, I said that under Roy I have thought every friendly was boring and that we had played badly, but when the competitive fixture came around we played much better. I think the same is true again: last week was awful, yesterday was very very good.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

How do you reconcile those two comments? The goals we gave away were poor defensively but Slovenia were unlucky? That doesn't make sense to me. It's not as if they had an abundance of missed chances. They only had three shots on goal in the whole match, and scored two of them.

Personally I thought England played very well going forward. On the basis that attack is the best form of defence I think Roy did the right thing given our lack of options at the back. I think we were incisive and attacked them at every opportunity, which was refreshing to watch. We dominated possession and should really have won by more. The work rate to win the ball back when Slovenia had the ball was also very impressive. It was only the defence that let us down, and that isn't really something Roy can do a lot about because he can't just go out and buy replacements. So if he experiments once in a while with left (right!) field selections then good on him for trying something different.

Let's put this another way. Southend are playing away at Grimsby in the FA Cup, and come away with a 3-2 win. Would we be happy or not? Would we say that was a job well done, or not? Grimsby are about 33 places below Southend, as Slovenia are to England...

On another note, I said that under Roy I have thought every friendly was boring and that we had played badly, but when the competitive fixture came around we played much better. I think the same is true again: last week was awful, yesterday was very very good.

On the balance of overall play I thought Slovenia just about deserved a point.A team with more international nous would have squeezed the life out of the game to hold onto a draw after they'd equalised.A better team than them would have held onto that 1-0 lead.

That's not to take anything away from England's attacking display.All three England goals were well taken and Wilshire's second was superb.

This England team will do nothing however in France against the best in Europe.The back 4 is a walking disaster area.They'll probably qualify from their group but that's about it.Same old...

 

[Uncle Leo]

While the England haters continue to find fault, the Netherlands are third in their group and potentially facing the playoffs while Greece - last 16 in the 2014 World Cup - are rock bottom of their group. Russia are up against it too.

I'm happy enough with where we are right now.

That said, I'd really like John Stones to start playing regularly for Everton - with a bit more experience, he could help bolster our defence which isn't looking great to be fair.

 

[EastStandBlue]

On the balance of overall play I thought Slovenia just about deserved a point.

Absolute nonsense. Slovenia capitalised on two **** poor defensive errors – Cahill for pressing too high and Gibbs for getting caught under the ball – to score against the run of play, but offered very little else. England, however, controlled large swathes of the game.

The defence is indeed an issue, but it’s one Hodgson is obviously trying to secure a workaround for. That midfield three is designed to absorb pressure and spring the ball wide at the first chance to counter (a system which, seemingly, would be perfect for Ashley Young given his form). The thing is there’s not an awful lot else Hodgson can do but to try and improve on our weaknesses and accentuate our strengths. The Switzerland game was a brilliant example of that; a perfectly executed plan that effectively saw us qualified there and then.

You can dispute the fact we’re not in the same position France, Germany and Spain are with the talent pool till you’re blue in the face, it won’t make Hodgson’s job any easier.

Oh, and it just so happens that I’d consider this current crop of U21s to be as good as any we’ve fielded in the last 10/15 years. I fancy us to make the final, where we’ll give Germany as good a game as any other side there.

 

[londonblue]

On the balance of overall play I thought Slovenia just about deserved a point.

Surely to deserve a point they need to actually touch the ball. Most of the time they had the ball (which wasn't very often) they were in their own half, playing passes as quick as they could because they were under pressure. I thought they were poor, and that we made them look poor. On the balance of play they deserved nothing.

A team with more international nous would have squeezed the life out of the game to hold onto a draw after they'd equalised.A better team than them would have held onto that 1-0 lead.

So, on the balance of play they deserved a point even though you think they didn't have the nous to do anything with a very undeserved lead?

That's not to take anything away from England's attacking display.All three England goals were well taken and Wilshire's second was superb.

At least we agree on something. But for me their defensive display (in terms of working hard to win the ball back) was even better. It was this that meant that the balance of play was well and truly in England's favour.

It's very rare I defend the England national team like this was as it is very rare they deserve it. However, yesterday was a very professional and very expansive display that deserves far more than our own supporters saying we were lucky to win.

This England team will do nothing however in France against the best in Europe.The back 4 is a walking disaster area.They'll probably qualify from their group but that's about it.Same old...

That may well turn out to be true, and on last night's evidence if they do nothing it will be down to the defence. However, we'll wait and see. Saying we will do nothing at this stage when there is still a whole season of football to be played is a very bold statement to make, and we know where the majority of your bold statements have got you in the past.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

On the balance of overall play I thought Slovenia just about deserved a point.A team with more international nous would have squeezed the life out of the game to hold onto a draw after they'd equalised.A better team than them would have held onto that 1-0 lead.

LOL

While the England haters continue to find fault, the Netherlands are third in their group and potentially facing the playoffs while Greece - last 16 in the 2014 World Cup - are rock bottom of their group. Russia are up against it too.

I'm happy enough with where we are right now.

That said, I'd really like John Stones to start playing regularly for Everton - with a bit more experience, he could help bolster our defence which isn't looking great to be fair.

Exactly.

People are quick to see the flaws in England but are blind to the flaws in all the other teams. England with a young, developing team, are one of just two teams with a hundred percent record.

Who are the teams England should be frightened of?

In addition to the examples you mention above Italy, Spain, Germany all lie second. Everyone's dark horses from the last World Cup, Belgian are behind Wales(!).

 

[EastStandBlue]

Belgium's so-called "Golden Generation" are doing a sterling job of aping our own. A feted squad largely tipped to go all the way in Brazil stunk the place out before a marvellouslly mediocre quarter final exit at the hands of one of the big boys, and are now making hard work of a group whose sternest opponents are Chris Coleman's One Man Band.