England revert to type

England 0 v Slovakia 0

In his previous game v Wales Manager Hodgson demonstrated a cavalier spirit by introducing Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge at half time to overcome a 1-0 deficit. If for nothing else that game and England’s performance v Wales was a wake-up call. Yet you would not know that from Hodgson’s selection for tonight’s game v Slovakia. To me what it implied was that England need only turn up and qualification was theirs. Wrong.

As I said in my account of the game v Russia, England should concentrate on getting the job done before they start to think about a world beyond the group phase. By dropping Walker, Rose, Alli and Rooney, Hodgson removed his team’s most potent attacking options and as a consequence the performance against Slovakia was awful. Yes England dominated possession but it was used to such poor effect that few if any guilt edged chances were created.

Surely the purpose of competition football is to improve as you progress. That can only happen if you keep a settled side containing your most creative footballers. Hodgson chose to ignore that principal and as a consequence England are back to where they were in the 2014 World Cup.

By fiddling with his selection Hodgson no longer knows his best starting XI. Not the soundest premise on which to enter the knock out phase.

©Mark Brennand