My impression is that the media - and perhaps England fans - are way, way over-estimating yesterday's England performance.
Straight after the game, Gabrial Clarke asked Gerrard "Can this team just get better and better?" This is exactly the kind of question that was asked of the "Golden Generation" time and time again after sluggish starts to championships. It seems Clarke was falling back into the same old clich?®s, and many commentators seem to be going down the same road today. It's once again the triumph of hope over reality (and as noble and natural as that attitude is in sport, it can also be negative if there's nothing to back it up).
One really cannot ignore that for most the second half it was like an away game for England. Why was this? It's a Euro's game packed full of England fans in the stands. And yet England got pushed back and back as though they were playing in Paris and really were in self-preservation mode for the last half hour. The stats:
France England
Goal attempts 21 - 5
Shots on target 7 - 1
Corners 11 - 4
Possession 65% - 35%
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/match/2012/jun/11/france-v-england
I thought England were ok yesterday, and with Rooney back they'll improve. But if I were an England fan I'd think long and hard about yesterday's game before getting too hyped up. England were second best by quite a distance as the stats show.
I wouldn't read too much into the post match interview. Nothing of any real note was said and it was ITV after all.
I think what might be telling is the positive reaction to the England display, which was as you say rather poor. This tells me the expectation levels are certainly not as high seeing how positive the reaction was to a rather dull draw with a superior French team. England were happy with the draw.
My impression is that the media - and perhaps England fans - are way, way over-estimating yesterday's England performance.
Straight after the game, Gabrial Clarke asked Gerrard "Can this team just get better and better?" This is exactly the kind of question that was asked of the "Golden Generation" time and time again after sluggish starts to championships. It seems Clarke was falling back into the same old clich?®s, and many commentators seem to be going down the same road today. It's once again the triumph of hope over reality (and as noble and natural as that attitude is in sport, it can also be negative if there's nothing to back it up).
One really cannot ignore that for most the second half it was like an away game for England. Why was this? It's a Euro's game packed full of England fans in the stands. And yet England got pushed back and back as though they were playing in Paris and really were in self-preservation mode for the last half hour. The stats:
France England
Goal attempts 21 - 5
Shots on target 7 - 1
Corners 11 - 4
Possession 65% - 35%
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/match/2012/jun/11/france-v-england
I thought England were ok yesterday, and with Rooney back they'll improve. But if I were an England fan I'd think long and hard about yesterday's game before getting too hyped up. England were second best by quite a distance as the stats show.
My impression is that the media - and perhaps England fans - are way, way over-estimating yesterday's England performance.
Straight after the game, Gabrial Clarke asked Gerrard "Can this team just get better and better?" This is exactly the kind of question that was asked of the "Golden Generation" time and time again after sluggish starts to championships. It seems Clarke was falling back into the same old clich?®s, and many commentators seem to be going down the same road today. It's once again the triumph of hope over reality (and as noble and natural as that attitude is in sport, it can also be negative if there's nothing to back it up).
One really cannot ignore that for most the second half it was like an away game for England. Why was this? It's a Euro's game packed full of England fans in the stands. And yet England got pushed back and back as though they were playing in Paris and really were in self-preservation mode for the last half hour. The stats:
France England
Goal attempts 21 - 5
Shots on target 7 - 1
Corners 11 - 4
Possession 65% - 35%
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/match/2012/jun/11/france-v-england
I thought England were ok yesterday, and with Rooney back they'll improve. But if I were an England fan I'd think long and hard about yesterday's game before getting too hyped up. England were second best by quite a distance as the stats show.
The way i see the england team.
Very good goalkeeper
Solid organised defence with as much protection as you need from parker/gerrard
Good chance at scoring from set plays
Goodish chance with goodish players to score counter-attacking goals. Maybe one player will step up?
Greece won it with probably only a set play threat.
We will probably come up short but its nice to have an easy picture of what we are, rather than the superstar expectations of the past.
CzechRep team: Cech; Gebre Selassie, Sivok, Kadlec, Limbersky; Plasil, Hubschman; Jiracek, Rosicky, Pilar; Baros.
Greece: Chalkias; Torosidis, K Papadopoulos, Katsouranis, Holebas; Fotakis, Maniatis, Karagounis; Salpigidis, Samaras, Fortounis
Gonna be an ugly game.
Gonna be an ugly game.
Its all kicking off big style in Warsaw apparently.