England v Wales, 16th June, 2pm

[JJ1532]

Well, what a contrast of emotions in the two camps going into this massive massive game.

Pressure is all on England after they put in a strong performance against Russia but could only draw it 1-1, conceding a late equaliser. How does Hodgson pick them up after that? Can they go out and play to the same levels that they did against Russia?

What team does Hodgson pick? Same again? Or do we see a couple of changes? Very interesting to see team he puts out for this game.

As for Wales, they are in dreamland and can happily take a point from this one knowing that it should be enough to see them through to the knockouts. But with the spirit and togetherness they showed against Slovakia, not to mention an inform Bale, they could easily cause an upset here.

So yeah, all match discussion in here please.

 

[Skinner]

Massive game this

 

[Destruction]

1-0 Wales, deflection via Bale's cock.

 

[Bartonyellow]

0 0 or 1 1 draw

Then we have to beat Slovakia in the last game to go through

 

[JimJams]

Comfortable England win. Their defence is worse than the Ruskies.

 

[Storzy]

It'll be interesting to see how Rooney does in the middle against this Wales team. The Welsh don't have a world class midfield, but they were quick to close the Slovakians down.

 

[Vale on Trent]

Stop Bale and we win.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

We need a win after yesterday's daft result.

Of course you can't legislate for what Bale might do but for gods sake can we defend against the basics at least.

Think we'll rise to the occasion (as will Wales of course) and our finishing should sharpern up as we go on.

 

[Vale on Trent]

Just got to take the positives from last night. We look good and a draw last night is not the end of the world. If we beat Wales we will probably go on to top the group.

Wales will be bang up for it and will feel like they have nothing to lose after getting 3 points under their belt. The pressure is on England. This is what worries me.

 

[smat]

I think we've got enough about us to cause an upset.

 

[A n d y]

We're really looking at one win from two games to see us through now so last night's result wasn't the worst in the grand scheme of things, I was pretty happy with the performance and if the Welsh want to defend as deep as they did against the Slovaks I fancy England's chances of turning them over. I'd probably keep the same team as no one really deserves getting dropped after playing like that.

 

[Vale on Trent]

We're really looking at one win from two games to see us through now so last night's result wasn't the worst in the grand scheme of things, I was pretty happy with the performance and if the Welsh want to defend as deep as they did against the Slovaks I fancy England's chances of turning them over. I'd probably keep the same team as no one really deserves getting dropped after playing like that.

Some positivity at last.

 

[SamScfc]

2-0 England win, Wales are shite, they have one player.

 

[Aaron-Bcfc]

2-0 England win, Wales are shite, they have one player.

Unfortunately that one player always delivers.

 

[Jarv]

Both Lallana and Sterling on another day would both have burried the 2 greats chances they got. we created enough against Russia just the shooting let us down. That should as someone else said sharpen up as the tournament progresses. That said I'd love to see Rashford and Vardy replace Sterling and lallana. lallana especially, he looked like he'd not slept in 2 weeks with bags under his eye and off the pace

 

[Big Bird]

Am I the only one that thought Lallana was very good first half? Only saw in parts admittedly as had a house full for my lads birthday.

Actually from what I saw we looked sharp and threatening going forward all match and I fancy us to turn it on V Wales.

I'll go 2-0 England in this one.

 

[Veggie Legs]

I think Rooney might have a harder game if he's in midfield again, I can't see him getting the same time and space that he got on Saturday. I feel confident we can get a win though, and another draw is still not a disaster.

Am I the only one that thought Lallana was very good first half? Only saw in parts admittedly as had a house full for my lads birthday.

Actually from what I saw we looked sharp and threatening going forward all match and I fancy us to turn it on V Wales.

I'll go 2-0 England in this one.

You're not the only one. If any of the front three should be dropped, it's Sterling.

 

[Benji]

I think we have a good chance of scoring against England's fallible defence. I'd be more concerned about Vardy than Kane, but both are capable scorers. I think Vardy's pace against our back line gives them a better chance though.

I'd love a win, but I'd definitely take a draw.

 

[GodsGift]

Am I the only one that thought Lallana was very good first half? Only saw in parts admittedly as had a house full for my lads birthday.

Actually from what I saw we looked sharp and threatening going forward all match and I fancy us to turn it on V Wales.

I'll go 2-0 England in this one.

Lallana played very well. He deserves to be in the starting line-up for his workrate and ability to press alone.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

I thought Sterling was dreadful and Kane anonymous however, I'd be tempted to stick with the same lineup. We were so dominant in that first half, it'd be a shame to change things.

Roy needs to change things quicker on Thursday however.

 

[MJA]

There has been a lot of panic since we dropped 2 points on Saturday but let's put things into context, we have Wales and Slovakia left to play and neither should be deemed as worrying to us. Get 2 wins against these small nations and we will have 7 points and top the group comfortably.

As for this particular game, Wales will look to set up with a bank of 5 at the back and a bank of 4 in the midfield and have 10 men behind the ball at every opportunity, they will basically ask England 'can you break us down?'

So the big question is what formation should England set up with? The diamond didn't work against Portugal when they set up with 2 banks so surely that is out? The 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation seemed to work on Saturday in the main but I am still concerned that we don't have the players available to us to maximise this systems potential. Are we just an Andros Townsend away from having the personnel to fully utilise wide options?

I suspect Roy will keep to this system as moving to my preferred 2 up top could lead to overcrowding in the middle of the pitch as Wales will look to sap any space that we need to play to our strengths. I think I would prefer to see 3 actual strikers playing though similar to how Roy was doing when Welbeck and Sturridge were both fit. Unfortunately though, Vardy doesn't play this wider striker role well at all so would mean him missing out (or replacing Kane) and I would look to make use of Rashford and Sturridge either side of the 'No.9'.

We would then have a midfield 3 of Rooney, Dier and Alli and the defence would be the same as on Saturday with our full backs bombing on as they both did so well against Russia

 

[Skinner]

I think the worry with England fans stems from how the Russia result came about, rather than the result itself. If we had played just as well but equalised late on, then we'd be more upbeat, but the Russia goal made it feel like a loss. Hopefully the players don't have the same train of thoughts.

I am slightly worried about Wales turning us over, but that's more because of home nation rivalry rather than the quality they pose.

 

[Krazy8]

I thought Sterling was dreadful and Kane anonymous however, I'd be tempted to stick with the same lineup. We were so dominant in that first half, it'd be a shame to change things.

Roy needs to change things quicker on Thursday however.

The more I think about it the more I think Roy's made a right mess of this so far. I was happy with the players he'd picked in the squad assuming he'd be using the diamond formation. To then choose 4-3-3 seems frankly ridiculous.

Having Sterling and Lallana as the two wingers means we're heavily reliant on Kane to score as neither have goal scoring instincts. I thought Lallana played well so would be happy to see him start again but there's no alternative to Sterling. Sturridge or Vardy could come in but you may as well change to the diamond if that's the case.

There's still plenty of time to get things right but I'm not sure Roy will do it. The poor tactics against Russia were worrying, likewise letting Kane take the corners. All that does is make you question what the fuck is going on!

Hopefully Roy would've learnt a few lessons from that game (I'm a bit doubtful about that though), as there's definitely a lot of potential in this team if they get it right.

 

[MJA]

likewise letting Kane take the corners.

This just reminds me of that one kid we all knew at school who had to take everything for the school team

 

[Renegade]

Wales are a better side than Russia, another 1-1 draw for England. Wales are more organised than the Russians in defence and Bale will get opportunities in this game on the break. I expect England will beat Slovakia pretty comfortably and both nations will go through in the end.

 

[Veggie Legs]

Are people really worried that our team lacks goals? Sterling and Lallana aren't prolific, but their goalscoring records aren't that bad. Plus we have England's record goalscorer and another guy who got ten goals this season in midfield, so it's not all down to Kane.

 

[Krazy8]

Are people really worried that our team lacks goals? Sterling and Lallana aren't prolific, but their goalscoring records aren't that bad. Plus we have England's record goalscorer and another guy who got ten goals this season in midfield, so it's not all down to Kane.

Agreed there's other goal scorers in the team, but Sterling and Lallana combined have 2 in 48 for England, which isn't great when they're 2 of your front 3.

It's the tactics that worry me though. We had proven goal scorers on the bench and a bit of clinical finishing would've been enough to win that game.

Of course hindsight's a wonderful thing, but it feels like it's the same mistakes being made.

 

[Wiinotfit]

I thought Sterling was dreadful and Kane anonymous however, I'd be tempted to stick with the same lineup. We were so dominant in that first half, it'd be a shame to change things.

Roy needs to change things quicker on Thursday however.

Agree thought Lallana played well 1st half but the game seemed to pass him by in the second half and Sterling seems a little low on confidence it was crying out for a change after about 55 mins injection of pace Vardy, Sturridge or Rashford something like that.

 

[Skinner]

We'll definitely play two up top for this, as everyone knows, Wales will be 5-4-1 so it would be stupid to play one up top, even Hodgson wouldn't do that, right?

 

[Mustard]

I want us to take a leaf out of Italy's book from last night (and, you know, the last 50 years) and be cynical whenever Wales try to hit us on the break. If we control the game like against Russia I'm sure we'll be fine.