Having read some of the comments from fans and so-called pundits who watched England’s draw with Ukraine in last night’s World Cup Qualifier, I’m almost certain that the 90 minutes beamed through my TV screen must have been different to what everyone else saw, because I thought England played much better than a lot of people are implying.
When you look at the clear goal scoring opportunities created by both sides England should really have come away from Wembley with all three points, the only thing they were guilty off was wastefulness, I mean we had a goal ruled out and hit the post twice, not to mention Cleverley missing from six yards.
I was pleased to see that Hodgson has implemented a new style of play, which consists of keeping the ball and being patient, rather than just lumping the ball into an area where an England player has a 50/50 chance of getting to it at every given opportunity.
I certainly agree with a few of the points being made, starting with the fact that Lampard and Gerrard were paired in midfield again, it has been proven many times that this pairing can’t work and while I thought it was ok last night compared to previous matches, one of them needs to go and for me it has to be Lampard.
For starters Gerrard is captain, and last night was the only one who ever looked like getting an England attack going, plus he is the only England player in the squad who can pass a ball more than 30 yards without it going to an opponent or out of play.
He’s also the best crosser of a ball in the squad, and isn’t afraid to get stuck in and never shirks his defensive responsibilities. (I know he was sent off last night but he only misses next month’s game against San Marino so I’m sure we’ll cope)
I’ll start by admitting that I’ve never really rated Lampard, for me he has never done it against the very best for Chelsea or England, I’ve never watched a game he’s been in against real top-class opposition and said he won that game on his own, or he was the difference between the two sides, he only seems to be able to do it against lesser opponents when the pressure’s off.
In addition I think he’s too slow and that really showed last night, he can’t defend, his passing is sloppy and now he’s 34 I think it’s time he was let go, I admit he’s a brilliant penalty taker but you need to contribute much more to a team than that.
I also agree with the point that James Milner’s England career needs to be re-assessed, he’s doesn’t have the pace or trickery needed to be a real threat down the wing, and unlike David Beckham he doesn’t have the crossing ability or dead-ball prowess to make up for it, and I’m sick of hearing people say, oh he works hard, so what, so do the rest of the team, what’s the point of working hard to win the ball back if you can’t do anything with it.
Another point worth making is that it a lot of people seem to have forgotten that we were playing Ukraine, who are a good team, with some talented players, and lets also remember that their goal was a wonder strike that nobody could have done anything about, and things like that aren’t going to happen every game.
Yes dropping two points at home will make it harder to qualify but if we get all our injured players back, and continue to play like we did last night, I see no reason why we can’t make it to Rio as group winners.
Remember all those who have criticised England’s performance, a 1-1 draw shouldn’t be the catalyst for you to say were s**t and we have no hope, let’s just calm down and realise that we’ve got eight more games to play, and there’s also a chance that the likes of Ukraine and Poland could slip up to.
One final point if England were to have a fully fit squad to choose from this is the starting XI and subs I would pick:
Hart
Richards Cahill Terry Cole
Gerrard (c) Carrick
Johnson Rooney Young
Defoe
Subs
Green
Jones
Jagielka
Parker
Oxlade-Chamberlin
Walcott
Welbeck
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