England stoop to an all time low

England 1 v Iceland 2

When was the last time an England football team lost to a side where half its population were actually in the stadium? Monday 27th June 2016. Nice. European Championships. Opponents; Iceland

It is 50 years since England won the World Cup and if tonight’s performance is indicative of our ongoing failings since 1966 then we will never feature in the final stages of a major football championship ever again. Blame and there will be plenty of it must rest with Roy Hodgson. He is the first England manager to find a side and then set out to systematically destroy it. Forgive me repeating myself but the team that defeated Germany in March played fluid incisive football, the kind of football the English supporter has been hankering after for years. Hodgson clearly recognised that and for his starting eleven v Russia he used the German template for his side. The only true flop on that night was Raheem Sterling whose control and decision making was poor. The rest played well and with a bit more luck in front of goal the side should have won 3-0. We drew 1-1 but it was a more than promising start.

Next came Wales against whom he started with a similar line up. But when it was clear that Harry Kane was struggling up front he brought on Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge. Neither is really a cultured footballer, in the sense that Marcus Rashford is, but their introduction caused problems and a late if somewhat fortunate win.

At this stage qualification into the knockout phase was still far from a given so one might think that you would want to ensure you qualified by picking your strongest XI. You might think that but you are not Roy Hodgson. Somewhat bizarrely he sidelined six players, four of them (Walker, Rose, Alli and Rooney) who are potentially his most creative. It therefore came as no surprise that England were woeful against Slovakia, slow in possession unable to create anything by way of an opening and as a consequence the game was drawn in excruciating style. We had qualified but all sense of momentum had been lost.

And so to Iceland a team formed from a population the size of Leicester. Hodgson now had no idea was his best XI were because he’d tinkered too much in the previous three games. Thus did we find the return of Sterling (who cannot play) and Sturridge who is greedy and cannot play either. To understand that you have to look at Marcus Rashford who did more in the five minutes that he spent on the pitch than either Sterling or Sturridge achieved in their combined 150. And where was Adam Lallana? So much a positive influence in the games v Germany and Russia he’d been dropped. Thus did Hodgson destroy what he had created and as a lesson in how not to manage a side at a major international tournament this was up there with the best. He should resign immediately and refuse any pay off.

Anyone know Eddie Jones’ telephone number?

©Mark Brennand