England were lucky to get where they did which they managed on luck and resilience, the latter of which I admire a great deal.
Hodgson missed a golden opportunity to make a statement and start the playing revolution by picking a youthful squad. It was obvious that England would never win this tournament so it should have been about one eye on the World Cup in 2014.
Defensively England are very good, it's helped weirdly by having a piss poor midfield as they instinctively drop deep under pressure and make it very difficult to get a single goal against them. No shame in that.
Midfield are awful, Gerrard as captain too, seriously have a word. I've been reading loads of media articles about Gerrard having a great tournament when apart from his dead balls he's been utter tripe.
Rooney wasn't fit enough, Wellbeck is still too inexperienced and Carroll is a grock which can be found out by competent international defences.
There shouldn't be too much heart taken from this tournament as ultimately England are in the class of Greece, the Czechs and the also rans on the second tier of European football. They need a revolution in how they approach the game but apart from the predictable scapegoating about to occur in the media it won't happen.
And here's the truth, you'll be discussing these same failures in two, four, six, eight, fourteen and forty years.
Hodgson missed a golden opportunity to make a statement and start the playing revolution by picking a youthful squad. It was obvious that England would never win this tournament so it should have been about one eye on the World Cup in 2014.
Defensively England are very good, it's helped weirdly by having a piss poor midfield as they instinctively drop deep under pressure and make it very difficult to get a single goal against them. No shame in that.
Midfield are awful, Gerrard as captain too, seriously have a word. I've been reading loads of media articles about Gerrard having a great tournament when apart from his dead balls he's been utter tripe.
Rooney wasn't fit enough, Wellbeck is still too inexperienced and Carroll is a grock which can be found out by competent international defences.
There shouldn't be too much heart taken from this tournament as ultimately England are in the class of Greece, the Czechs and the also rans on the second tier of European football. They need a revolution in how they approach the game but apart from the predictable scapegoating about to occur in the media it won't happen.
And here's the truth, you'll be discussing these same failures in two, four, six, eight, fourteen and forty years.
