With respect, you are twisting the stats/facts, England's first game in the 2014 World Cup against Italy featured six players who actually started the game and another three came on as subs check the team sheet !! Included in the other two games, a totalpricey5 wrote:I do agree with most of what you have said, however the bolded is not true. Of the starting 11 that played against Italy 2 years ago, only 4 players can consider themselves regulars now (Hart, Cahill, Rooney, Strurridge).redandwhitemike wrote:At the end of the day, England have managed to win one game, with a goal in the last minute of added time.
But Wales - yes Wales FFS - have topped the group, how embarrassing is that, unless you're Welsh !!!
Hodgson bangs on about dominating games and looking good in possession, - he still doesn't understand how predictable his game plan is and how frustrating his style of football is to watch.
England will continue to struggle to break down organised sides with better players than Slovakia.
Hodgson's insistence on carrying his favourites around with him will be his down fall. Wilshire - Henderson - Sturridge none of them match fit for footy at this level, Milner ( proven failure) and Rashford (unproven kid) are others who shouldn't be there.
Yet the likes of Drinkwater, Carroll, Townsend & Noble who were all in superb form at the end of the season in the Premier League are left behind - ridiculous and a perfect illustration of the man's limitations as a manager.
Tournament football is all about creating momentum and confidence and winning games and to do that you have score goals, under Hodgson in the 2014 World Cup - England finished bottom of their group and managed to score TWO goals, Italy also failed to qualify in the same group. I think it is clear that Italy have progressed with Conte as manager and look a real force in the 2016 Euros, they might even win it, but England under Hodgson have stood still, if you look at the 2014 World Cup squad it is littered with the same faces that failed then, and they are still playing now. A little known trivia fact is that England have the record in World Cup history as the team with most 0-0 results !!!
Good luck to Wales - they could easily progress a lot further than England in the competition, which would be the final insult to English football.
The one positive going forward to the knockout rounds is that teams do actually have to press and attack us now. Russia, Wales and Slovakia have all set out to try and get a point. We look better on the counter attack and with players like Vardy, Alli, Sturridge and Rooney we can still be effective against the better teams.
Very few teams in this tournament have stood out above the rest and nobody looks unbeatable.
of eleven players who played in that competition are in the squad for the 2016 Euros, twelve if you add Welbeck who Hodgson would have taken if had not been injured. The only real exceptions from then to now are Gerrard, Baines, Johnson & Jagielka. As for being regulars as you put, that's part of the problem - Hodgson doesn't know what a regular is - Sterling & Kane both started the first two games, yet Rooney is rested - is he not a regular player ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,???
I think you will see his random, haphazard thinking illustrated in England's next game - can't wait to see what he comes up with.
As for no team being unbeatable - well Wales managed to beat Slovakia AND Russia,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Which ever you cut it, the squad Hodgson has put together and the way he has them playing frustrates the hell out of me, and I'm as patriotic as you can get - even have a large cross of St George flying at home.
I fear not for much longer,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,