Against Russia in Marseilles, Roy did exactly what I hoped he would do.
He got England to play in the high-energy pressing style, with loads of width and tempo and quick passes and passion and crosses and passes infield from raiding full backs Walker and Rose
I was convinced that England’s best option was to play like Tottenham and start the five Spurs boys and that’s what he chose to do.That style worked and we dominated the first half.
But we couldn’t hit a barn door.
We had 10 chances and hit 5 wide and 5 straight at the keeper!
That is the main thing that I remember about Friday night’s game in Marseilles.
The second thing is that my frustration became unbearable.
Watching Raheem Sterling dithering and fiddling around was so stressful that I walked out after 68 minutes and came up here to my office. Sometimes you have to protect your sanity and health.
There is never a final ball by Sterling, never any end product.
I’d emailed a friend about England before kick-off and he’d replied, so I read his comments, and replied to them, and then I heard a shout from Jan downstairs.
“What?” I shouted.
“Goal!”
By us? By them?
“Goal!” she shouted, even louder
So I went backstairs and saw a replay of a free-kick in the D, which had been won by Dele Alli.
It looked as if Rooney was going to take it but Eric Dier smashed the ball past the wall and into the net in 73 minutes.
Since I had never seen Dier take a direct free-kick, or any free-kick, I was amazed by the unveiling of this secret weapon.
One nil to Engerland with less than 20 minutes to go!
But we didn’t win. Our energy and pride had been commendable but we don’t have the technicians, or the composure to score in open play. We just don’t have the collective fluency or rhythm to play each other into scoring positions and then stick it in the onion bag.
Maybe we should just spend all our training sessions practising set-pieces. Hodgson took off Rooney and replaced him with Jack Wilshere, who is the same kind of player, in a left-half role.
Jack did OK against a very experienced Russian side who had been outplayed in the first half but came back with some tidy passing in the second. Their offside trap was excellent.
After 87, Milner replaced Sterling, and since England are a workmanlike, energetic side, bringing on our most versatile and reliable journeymen almost made sense.
But only if we could see the game out.
Then big Berezutski moved forward and connected with a phenomenal cross at the far post and the centreback scored with a towering header that gave Joe Hart no chance.
Engerland had been floored by a sucker punch in stoppage time.
When the final whistle went, I immediately said, “We can beat Wales and Slovakia.”
But I don’t know why I said that because it looks as if we can’t score in in open play.
This is Hodgson’s third tournament. If hes 1-0 up again, he has to attack in the last 20 minutes, has to bring on pace, bring on Vardy or Rashford
Looking back, we took 73 minutes to score from a set-piece and we didn’t score in open play in the 20 minutes after Dyer’s thunderous free-kick either.
ITV pundit Lee Dixon said, “It was perfect, apart from the result.”
That was true. But we had more energy than fluency, more fire than finesse. Like Spurs on a bad day, always stretching for balls, always snatching at chances. Pressure footballs tends to create half-chances.
That is why Arsene Wenger plays the five-a-side swarm football that he does, aiming to pass the ball into the net half the time.
Will England pass the ball into the net against Wales or Slovakia?
I wonder.What do you think?