Don’t worry, England will be just fine
THIS might be my last ever chance to criticise or defend Roy Hodgson.
If England lose to Iceland tomorrow night, he will no longer have a job.
His contract would be finished and the FA would be searching for a new manager. But I don’t think England will lose. Despite the negativity that has surrounded them at Euro 2016, I believe they’ve had a decent tournament and are capable of going much deeper into it.
In a week in which Britain declared that it doesn’t want to be associated with anything European, it’s ironic that at long last England seem to have decided to copy the Germans!
We’ve been told for years that good teams grow into tournaments and Germany are always cited as having the perfect tournament mentality.
They don’t worry how they negotiate the early matches just as long as they do. They feel their way in, establish a solid base and build round by round. If only we could be more like the Germans, we’re constantly told.
In France, England have been doing just what the Germans always do. They’ve taken few risks, made sure they’re still alive in the competition, kept their powder dry for sterner tests ahead.
It’s not been perfect because they’ve ended up in the wrong half of the draw by not winning the group.
And I’m not saying that Hodgson hasn’t made mistakes. Resting Wayne Rooney against Slovakia was one, though the other five changes he was pilloried for making were all legitimate.
He may still be undecided on his best team, too, but that’s mainly because the area everyone thought to be the strongest – up front – has yet to fire properly.
But most other things have worked – his eve-of-tournament gamble to use Rooney as a midfielder and his faith in the inexperienced Eric Dier as the holding player, for instance.
In terms of possession, England dominated all their group games by a big margin, something they’ve rarely done in tournaments.
Everyone was worried about the defence but so far, the back four have been fine. All four full-backs have impressed and the centre-backs have been sound.
If those two sections of the side continue to do their jobs, the goals will come.
We all know that Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge can put the ball in the net because they do it every week.
If everybody holds their nerve, it will happen.