by fan_of_mulligan » Tue Jun 14, 2016 9:55 am
I watched both matches in Group B On Saturday......
ENGLAND V RUSSIA
Excellent performance from England against Russia On Saturday, Chris Smalling saw his header routinely saved by Igor Akinfeev, who also done exceptionally well to tip Wayne Rooney's shot on to the post and Adam Lallana and Wayne Rooney also saw attempts on goal saved by The Russia Goalkeeper, Kyle Walker was exceptional going forward and he was one of England's best players, but Raheem Sterling was disappointing, he has the pace and ability to cause defenders problems, but Sterling's awareness and decision making in the final third leaves a lot to be desired, I would have liked to have seen Jamie Vardy come on for Sterling, I had no problem with James Milner coming on as it looked liked England were going to held on to the win, but with Russia scoring late on, Roy Hodgson is having questions being asked on why he substituted Wayne Rooney and why James Milner came on when England should have gone for the important second goal - questions that wouldn't have been asked if England just held out for another minute.
Fantastic free kick from Eric Dier to open the scoring, not a player you expect to see on the score-sheet, but Igor Akinfeev was perhaps not expecting Eric Dier to hit it, and finally we were able to beat The Russia Goalkeeper, who had made several saves to keep Russia in the game, saves that have eventually earned Russia a very important point, and that header from Vasili Berezutski was superb, could Joe Hart had done more to prevent Russia from equalising ??? possibly, but having defended the initial corner, I think if England stopped the cross, then Vasili Berezutski isn't in a position to win the aerial challenge up against Danny Rose.
There are plenty of positives to take from our 1-1 draw against Russia, even though we didn't get the result we wanted, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane give England a lot of running power and athleticism in our starting line up, I thought Adam Lallana showed his technical ability and was unlucky not to get himself on the score-sheet, and Wayne Rooney was knocking cross-field passes for fun, and with Harry Kane and Dele Alli likely to play as the Number Nine and Ten in this England Side, then dropping Wayne Rooney back into midfield isn't a bad idea, Wayne Rooney isn't the first and he won't be the last player to drop further back as he enter's the final stages of his playing career.
I don't know why Harry Kane was taking corner kicks, and our best corner kick was a short corner kick routine, You don't want your strikers to be taking corner kicks, you want to see Harry Kane in the penalty area hoping to get to the first or second ball, had England won last night then we would have been in a fantastic position to qualify.
WALES V SLOVAKIA
This match could have been very different had Marek Hamsik opened the scoring after making a sensational run and it took a remarkable goal-line clearance from Ben Davies to preserve parity, that goal-line clearance set the stage up for Gareth Bale to open the scoring with a accurate free kick, but Slovakia Goalkeeper Matúš Kozáčik dived too early and if he stayed on his feat then he would have saved that effort on target from Gareth Bale.
Wales play with three centre backs, James Chester, Ashley Williams and Ben Davies, with Chris Gunter and Neil Taylor as wing backs, both full backs really do press high up the pitch and the three centre backs really do know how to defend, and James Chester, Ashley Williams and Ben Davies were helped out by David Edwards, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey, with three centre backs and three central midfielders, then you can see why Wales only conceded four goals in qualification, Chris Coleman has set Wales up to stay in the game and remain compact and difficult to break down, and you just know that down the other end of the pitch that Gareth Bale will take his chance, because Bale scored seven of Wales eleven goals in qualification, and he delivered for Wales against Slovakia as well.
When Slovakia equalised, it was moments after Gareth Bale saw his header saved by Matúš Kozáčik, Ondrej Duda and Adam Nemec come on for Michal Duris and Patrik Hrosovsky, Slovakia gave Michal Duris no service or support and he was up against three centre back's all game, but Robert Mak goes on a fantastic run forward, cuts the ball inside to Ondrej Duda who opens up space for himself to shoot and there was nothing that Danny Ward can do about that, after that goal, Slovakia were on top and Juraj Kucka saw his effort from distance parried by Danny Ward and James Chester has to header the ball behind for A Corner Kick.
Chris Coleman makes a double substitution that changes the game in Wales favour as Hal Robson-Kanu replaces Jonathan Williams and Joe Ledley comes on for David Edwards, Hal Robson-Kanu manages to get in behind Slovakia's defence, whip in a cross and Aaron Ramsey headers the ball over the crossbar, but the striker eventually becomes Wales's hero as Ashley Williams plays the ball forward to Aaron Ramsey, who threads the ball through to Hal Robson-Kanu, and the substitute gets the faintest of touches to pass the ball past Matúš Kozáčik and Wales re-take the lead and Hal Robson-Kanu had scored that goal right in-front of The Wales Supporters.
But Slovakia came very close to equalising as Adam Nemec's header hits the post and Wales held on for the win and really Wales should have had a penalty in the first half as Martin Škrtel had elbowed Jonny Williams right in-front of the additional official behind the goal, he did nothing and you have to wonder why have the extra officials if there not going to make decisions, Slovakia picked up five yellow cards in yesterday's match, Weiss, Mak, Hrosovsky (he was unlucky to be booked as Hrosovsky won the ball first), Kucka and Skrtel, Slovakia are a combative physical side, but they have players that England need to pay a lot of attention too, like Marek Hamšík and Vladimír Weiss.
Why England can never win the opening group game of a tournament I never know, a win for England yesterday and we almost would have qualified now, the result is disappointing, but the performance was very encouraging, Wales will not be easy, and had England won against Russia, we go into The Wales Game knowing that a win would secure qualification, now a win can still do that, as Wales play Russia in the final fixture, but we have given ourselves some work to do, to secure passage into the knock-out stages.