Should've instructed his defenders to test Suarez's knee. "I'm not putting any weapons down" - gung ho &v naive Roy, apart from the player in form, Lallana, who's had 30 mins max. Gotta go I'm afraid.
totally agree.... when I saw Suarez was in the side ... I thought, if we take him out a couple of times and hurt the knee a little., then he would not have been a threat. Two or three robust tackles the sort Norman Hunter or Chopper Harris may have made... and he woulda been hiding the rest of the game.
Absolutely agree. I think that Hodgson is a very two dimensional manager, he doesn't read the game in the way that superior managers do and he doesn't respond tactically to what is happening in play. We haven't conceded wonder goals from out of nowhere. We have conceded basic goals from very obvious danger players indicating that a) we're not good at the basics and b) we're not good at eliminating opponent's basic strengths. What did we do about Pirlo and Balotelli? Nothing. Did anyone think that Mario Balotelli was not going to score against us? The same with Suarez. Two free headers in the box to the back post, and one ball over the top. Absolute ****.
And thats the problem our defence is very poor - we all know its very poor but its a bit unfair to pin the blame for that on Roy. Arguably he should have taken Ashley Cole but apart from that there were no obvious better replacements and to be honest although Baines had a mare against Italy he was OK last night. 3 of the 4 goals we have conceded have been directly down to bad defending and even Italys first - though a well worked set piece you have to think we could have done better. I think had we been able to take the defence from a few years ago with Cole Ferdinand and Terry we might still have been unbeaten at least lets just hope Stones comes good over the next couple of years and we find a decent right back from somewhere
You can't blame the manager for only being able to pick from 40% of the Premier League. The two central defenders are just not up to the task.
Definitely an argument for being more cautious versus the Italians and perhaps we were a bit naïve and mismatched, aggression wise against the Uruguayans. But I still maintain that had Hodgson adopted a more patient, defensive approach and we'd still gone out he'd have been hammered in the press. In fact whatever he does he'll be hammered, that's what happens when you're England manager. Suppose they're well paid for all the hassle so my sympathy is somewhat limited but I do think it's an impossible job. I just think we go round in circles, appointing what we believe to be the best man for the job...and it's difficult to knock the club credentials of Taylor, Keegan, Sven, McClaren, Capello, Hodgson and then dispense with them based on a couple of poor tournament results. Obviously, some deserved the bullet...Capello, Keegan and McClaren woefully underachieved but it can't always be bad management. A couple of minor tweaks in formation and maybe one player difference, what would anyone have done differently versus Italy and Uruguay? You can only work with what you have and I think the back 4 is as weak as we've had in my England watching lifetime.
I agree and Ive been watching England since around 1970. Stuggling to think of a worse first choice centre half than Jagelka but cant think of anyone better who is availlable for Roy to pick
That's because there isn't anyone better. Possible that Terry could have done a job but then he'd be picking the old guard, which most agree was something to avoid. I suspect it factored in Hodgson's tactical planning as well. He must know we were suspect at the back which probably explains the surprisingly open and attacking line ups he went for. He's certainly not renowned for that at club level but he's usually had a pretty solid back line to rely on. Again, I'm labouring the point but I'm struggling to pick holes in Hodgsons selection of formation. Perhaps there were tactical errors made in preparation for the game with regards to coping with threat of Suarez and set pieces etc. But we're not privy to that so it's speculative. Or perhaps Gerrard dropped a couple of ******** and Jagielka didn't pick up the goofy little scum bag and we lost.
