NO, ENGLAND BOSS HODGSON REALLY ISN’T THE MAN TO START A PARTY:
Jamie Vardy, where’s the party?’ read the French schoolboy’s sign. and that’s the question. With the players at Roy Hodgson’s disposal in France, this really should be party time for england. it might not be a long one, certainly not an all-nighter. But what other choice is there?
england are unlikely to reach Paris by stealth, all sound organisation and tight at the back. They might as well burst through the front door with a bottle of the good stuff and hit the dancefloor early. and yet, despite the sunshine and the warmth of the hospitality at the training base in Chantilly, despite a squad selection that is said to represent a near Damascene conversion for the england manager, the doubts remain. are england really the types to cut loose?
and is Hodgson? increasingly, he gets tetchy and defensive if critics mention a reputation for conservatism but the most recent performance against Portugal suggested a man wrestling with his natural instincts.
Hodgson, like most coaches who have rarely been blessed with the best players, is at heart pragmatic. He picks teams to get a job done — like that goalless draw in Ukraine — because he has not had the opportunity to indulge in fantasy.
The manager of Barcelona can be an idealist. The boss of manchester United or arsenal, too. at West Bromwich albion, there are more earthbound realities; and with england. When Hodgson came into the job, he inherited a solid defence but very limited options in the forward line. He played andy Carroll, bored italy to a penalty shoot-out in a european Championship quarter-final and most credited him with shooting par. Now, Hodgson is expected to aim for the pin.
england are light at the back, but can pick five forwards that could happily start, even with Danny Welbeck at home injured. Yet Hodgson seems uncomfortable off the leash. He is short under questioning, bristling when asked about Wayne Rooney, and his team is positively schizophrenic.
He picked a starting Xi against Portugal that seemed all about attack — yet against 10 men for much of the game, they turned in the dullest, least effective display in recent memory. Hodgson had them playing in a way that neutered all potency. it just wasn’t his game.
Remember Gordon Brown’s Great Britain day? That is what happens when a man tries to be something that he’s not.
Brown proposed it, back in 2006, at a time when he was desperately seeking public approval, having deposed the only Labour leader to win three elections, Tony Blair. about to get what he wanted, Brown was suddenly aware of the gulf between his instincts and those of the ordinary man. He wasn’t Blair, who naturally chimed with the public on a number of the biggest issues. Blair was genuinely right wing on foreign policy, right wing on law and order, too. Brown was much more the old Labour type.
So he tried to give the British people what he thought they wanted. a crass, overweening day of nationalism. Blair would never have come up with an idea as ill-conceived as Great Britain day, because his populism was natural. Brown tried too hard. Whenever he made a clumsy grab for public affection, he came over like alf Garnett.
a little like Hodgson, stuffing his squad to the gills with forwards and crackerjack young players — out of necessity, really, considering the alternatives — only to then deploy them to contain a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portugal.
Gary Neville described Hodgson’s squad as the boldest he could remember, but it depends how the team is sent out. against Portugal, Hodgson made a forward line of Vardy, Harry Kane and Rooney appear unambitious. Vardy was never in a position to score, Kane was taking corners, Dele alli was anonymous, and the whole gameplan seemed to be structured around finding room for the captain, who is no longer england’s kingpin in his preferred positions.
Cavalier england did not seem to be a natural fit for manager or players and, deep down, Hodgson would surely prefer a balanced squad, not one top heavy with forwards. People expect things of teams with a lot of forwards. They expect forward play, for starters, and plenty of it.
THeRe are some england managers who would have been perfect for this scenario. One imagines Terry Venables making it work, maybe Sir Bobby Robson, and it would have been right up Kevin Keegan’s street. Glenn Hoddle would have solved it with three at the back, no doubt. Yet Hodgson’s methods are more conventional and measured. Once again, england are entering a tournament uncertain of the best starting Xi because this evolving side does not conform to the tried and trusted.
arriving in France, Hodgson announced he wanted his players to be fearless. it makes for a good soundbite but when have they ever really played like that?
england looked afraid in their farewell game at Wembley — even against a one-man team with the one man missing — and the reason the performance disappointed was that, once that Xi was announced, the fans were looking forward to seeing england fly.
Had Hodgson’s problems been elsewhere — a solid defence but no strikers, as in 2012 — the Chris Smalling winner would have sent everyone home happy. Finding ways through counts in those circumstances. Yet Hodgson has plenty of ways to win; the disgruntlement centred on his reluctance to utilise them. as bold as Hodgson appears, an even bolder england could be unleashed.
When he called the players to St George’s Park for a get-together earlier in the year, Hodgson surprised the group with his intensity. ‘He went nuts,’ one said, not disapprovingly. Hodgson impressed on his players what he believed could unfold in France.
it is fair to say he does not play down expectations in anything bar his public utterances. Yet Hodgson’s england are still to reflect that confidence. They are still to play with the swagger of a team that should make defences fearful.
maybe the breakthrough will come against a weak Russian team on Saturday. maybe there will be a statement of intent, a performance that converts the promise on paper to the pitch. Hodgson must get the party started. at the very least he needs to take the plastic protection off the furniture.