The big problem with Roy’s England is that nothing ever changes
FOR England, the game ended in defeat but at the Rico Perez Stadium in Alicante, in the early hours of Saturday morning, it naturally all felt like an irrelevance as news filtered through about the bombings close to the Stade De France and the unfolding atrocities in Paris.
David De Gea and Juan Mata stood around, checking phones, as England players boarded the coach for their hotel; meanwhile some of their club team-mates with France and Germany would spend the night trapped in the Stade de France, as terror unfolded outside the stadium.
As a consequence, the second test Roy Hodgson had planned for his players, at Wembley against France on Tuesday, will be overshadowed by the deaths in Paris and will have largely symbolic value.
But normal life, including football, will eventually resume. England will spend their summer just 26 miles from where the terrorist attacks took place, in Chantilly, outside Paris. Europe’s focus will be on France this summer when it hosts Euro 2016. Security will be reviewed but essentially the level of threat has not changed.
After a necessary time for grief and reflection, France and the majority of the world will then hope for a celebration of sport and humanity to overwhelm their nation. Hodgson’s job is to ensure England are a part of that and make a significant contribution, unlike at the World Cup in Brazil two years ago.
Joe Hart acknowledged that candidly but spoke positively about the summer when asked whether there had been a discernible improvement in the past 18 months.
‘Brazil’s gone,’ he said. ‘But we went into that saying exactly what we’re saying this time. I’m well aware of that. I’m not stupid.’
Therein lies the problem. Little has changed since Brazil. A few more of the younger players in Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere and Chris Smalling have a couple of years more experience; Wayne Rooney is a couple of years older; Harry Kane has emerged; Daniel Sturridge has, for now, fallen by the wayside and Steven Gerrard retired. But, as Friday night demonstrated, essentially England have not changed. Faced with a top-class side, they concede possession until, tired of chasing, they eventually lose the game.
They hadn’t done that since that ignominious exit in Sao Paulo, when they lost 2-1 to Uruguay. Since then they hadn’t lost and a smooth Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and creditable friendly performances had created that familiar and utterly superficial sense of quiet confidence, a feeling wholly untested in the crucible of serious competition.
Friday night wasn’t quite that but it was an indicator that England are unable to keep the ball for long periods and that, for all the cheerleaders for Barkley, he is still awfully raw against world-class players, as are Sterling (right), Kane and Adam Lallana.
Hodgson may be a flawed England boss, but the charge that he was unambitious in Spain is misplaced. Pep Guardiola could have managed England on Friday night and would have ended up playing on the counter. In every single position Spain had bet- ter players in terms of technique, experience and the mentality of winning big games. You could argue Hart might push Iker Casillas at present, that Sterling might shade Paco Alcacar. Of course, England should aspire to compete on equal terms with the best but at present they will not. As Hart says, all they can do is absorb the lessons and as many positives as possible. ‘We can’t lick our wounds, we can’t be upset, we’ve got to take what we can out of it,’ he added. ‘I was an old man out there and I’m 28. Maybe we all needed the experience. We’ve had a very, very good run. We’ve come to Spain who haven’t lost (in Spain) in nine years.
‘They’re the reigning champions of the tournament we’re about to go into, but they’re going to be tired after that game. They had to work damned hard and come up with something out of the ordinary to breach us.
‘I certainly didn’t have a busy night and the game-changer was down to quite a special acrobatic goal. I’d say we could have played another 50 games and he could have tried that and it wouldn’t have gone in. But big teams change games when they need to find a way.’
Phil Jones and Chris Smalling played well for much of the match, which was pleasing, and left Jones insisting England will make good the gap on Europe’s best.
‘I think for 70 minutes we pretty much matched them, carved out the better opportunities. We have to be ruthless in front of goal. And then they score a wonder goal and it kills us a bit.
‘We couldn’t get to grips with their movement, especially when the lads were tired, and they scored the second. Then it was game over.’
Yet in terms of possession, these were the failings of Brazil writ large. In seven months, England must show they have improved. Otherwise, Brazil may not have been the nadir of Hodgson’s career.