England

[Sammy Chung was King]

And how lack of football intelligence in the players will cost us results. Time and again decent situations were created, and time and again players were  caught off side numerous times, not looking across to make sure they stayed onside.
 Kane and Sterling did this time and again, Kane is a good goalscorer, but game intelligence isn't his strong point, neither is it for sterling, running into the corners and being out numbered.

I thought Walker was fantastic, down the right hand side, up and down all game, and for a full back his final ball wasn't too bad. I think Hodgson made a bad error not picking townsend in the squad. Because that was an ideal situation he could have brought him on for, when substitutions needed to be made!. It would have pinned the full back in his position, and also provided a chance of him scoring on the break for us.
Though the team looked good technically, we badly missed a couple of dependable solid characters through the middle, but if you want to attack sometimes you have to sacrifice, especially since we don't have a Roy Keane type who can sit in there and break the play up.

What i did like was, the hard work at pressing up the field, the energy shown by the players, they were not struggling at all fitness wise.
Also we had five players making their tournament debuts. Rooney being the all round good footballer did his best in the role he played, but he can't hurt the opposition picking balls up from the centre halves. He hasn't got the passing range of Pirlo, so why they are trying to turn him into this i don't know?.
His position is starting upfront, and being allowed to float around behind a main striker, but also playing up there. We haven't got enough ability in the side to shunt our best player into a 'linkman role'.

The confidence at the back is really flimsy, we all saw that near the end. Most of the game we looked decent, but just a bit of serious pressure, a goal and all of a sudden, the defence were all over.
That was a very despondent and poor russia side that we drew with today. In the end experience won them the point, they stayed in the game, and took the opportunity.
I understand Roy's reasoning on bringing milner on, but i thought he was the wrong man to bring on. The full back went from worrying about somebody he couldn't catch, to somebody who can't run.
Shirikov, being the top player he is noticed a weakness, moved into that area, and exploited it, if Sterling had been on, or somebody quicker had come on, that cross doesn't get into the area.
 Once it left Shirikov's boot, it was unstoppable, and inevitable that a goal would be scored. Hart had no chance, they pulled onto rose the smaller full back, and there was nothing he could do.

He brought Wilshere on, and any pretence of solidness was lost once rooney wasn't in there, though it's not his position, rooney is more reliable than wilshere and physically stronger, the wrong substitution, if you take Rooney off, Barkley should have been the replacement!.
This game made Kane look very ordinary, and badly isolated. We had many opportunties, but either the final ball wasn't good, especially from sterling, or we had kane and sterling not concentrating on timing runs. Against the best teams, these half chances, you have to take atleast one of them.
On Dier's free kick, my comment was, ''Don't let him take it, oh what a goal''!. It's aggravating me that kane is taking the set pieces. We have Alli, Rooney, Lallana, numerous people better than him at creating goals, he turns his biggest goal threat into a provider of chances. His corners for the most part were abysmal, i thought in the friendlies, he was saving a big plan up and didn't want to give it away, little did i know Kane was THE set piece master plan!.

That was a big opportunity lost, we had good possession, but lacked final ball quality. Though we were on top in the game, we didn't get in front while that was so, because of players playing on 'auto-pilot', and just not using they're brains!.
Going through all the team one by one.
 HART had little to do, and apart from the rush of blood near the end, that he is always prone to, he did what was needed.
 WALKER was probably our best player, and for a full back his final ball was decent.
 ROSE Didn't have quite as much ball as walker, but when he did he produced good quality, two crosses he produced, were tap ins if the forwards were more alive.
SMALLING Loved his battle against a fellow 'big man', kept his striker quiet most of the night, produced a goal saving challenge.
CAHILL One fantastic block saved a certain goal, did okay.
DIER Looked assured, went to ground too much, a risk in tournament football, won his share of headers, helped cahill and smalling a lot, while also dropping in for the full backs, so they could go forward.
ALLI A little disappointing for me, a few nice touches, but it is his first appearance in a tournament, he seemed to be feeling his way into it.
LALLANA I thought had a very efficient game, played things simple, kept his position, tried to threaten goal where he could, one of his better games.
ROONEY His influence was blunted by playing too far away from the front at times, the role makes him look very slow and ordinary, which he isn't.
STERLING Had a poor game really, final ball was terrible, running into the corners,caught offside again and again, but he was nuisance value, because he kept his full back pinned into position. When milner came on this wasn't so and it led to the goal.
KANE Looked to be up there a lot on his own, he hasn't got the pace to threaten behind defenders, on his own he looks very ordinary, one of his poorer games.

THE MANAGER There wasn't a lot wrong with the original selections he made, but he got the substitutions wrong. Barkley should have come on for rooney if he had to go off.
 I understand why he put milner on for sterling. Experience to see out the game. But when you have a team that is not confident in it's defence, you have to make substitutions in a different way.
 You replace pace with pace, i would have put vardy on for sterling. I would also have put sturridge on for kane. It would have pinned they're defence back, and also the pace would have worried they're midfield. Yet again his cautiousness just about cost us a win there.
Overall a point isn't a disaster, but it puts us into the wales game, really needing to win, rather than wanting to win. He has the players that could transform how we play football, but he isn't brave enough to let them have the freedom to do it!.

[Bezza]

thought we left Kane on too long, maybe Sturridge with his skill would have caused them more problems

[Highland Rover]

 Can anyone tell me why Kane is taking corners ? Surely our main striker should be in the box ,

[grayx]

Can anyone tell me why Kane is taking corners ? Surely our main striker should be in the box ,

God knows. Everyone you speak to is asking this question.

[Donnywolf]

Can anyone tell me why Kane is taking corners ? Surely our main striker should be in the box ,

Just what I asked somewhere else on here ! Why oh why is there a 6 foot odd striker taking corners when we have Shrek (I am trying to stay focussed) who allegedly is a "master" footballer - and a dead ball specialist and he is in the 18 yard box while Kane is taking the Corner ?????????

IMO and I am 60 odd there is nothing too onerous about Corner Kick taking and I would take the rest that are awarded to England or Rovers ever.

Skill set required :

a) put the ball in the marked quadrant / area - or better still don't - sneak it just outside cos its alleged there is an advantage to be gained !
b) clear the first man (Rovers players please note)
c) put it somewhere in the danger area without clearing the LAST man (Kane please note)

[normal rules]

 Matters not. England will get kicked out of the tournament before the group stages are over.

[silent majority]

Matters not. England will get kicked out of the tournament before the group stages are over.

No they won't.

[normal rules]

Let's see what happens in Lens and Lille on Wed and Thursday and revisit this.

[The Red Baron]

Let's see what happens in Lens and Lille on Wed and Thursday and revisit this.

If the Russian ultras have scarpered then nothing much may happen. Let's hope so.

[Bessie Red]

I believe the reason we didn't win the game was down to the Manager.

As soon as we scored he should have put Vardy on & instructed the midfield to send balls over the top into the channels for him to run onto. The Russians have the two oldest centre halves in the tournament (37 & 35 I think) & would have hated having to run back towards their own goal. What Hodgson did was invite pressure from the Russians which they eventually took advantage of.

With Vardy on they would have had to either gamble on leaving gaps behind the back four which I believe Vardy would have exploited or sit deeper to try and counter his pace. Either way they wouldn't have been able to build up as much pressure on our back four.

Bad mistake by Hodgson & those kind of mistakes mean it is unlikely that we will progress past the last 16.

[Colemans Left Hook]

we all seem to forget deli ali is hopeless at defending

since he has been at spurs for a year he should have noticed danny Rose is vertically challenged -- and he needs to be taught to be more defensively aware and not be "nesh" 
yes all defenders are scared of giving a penalty away

 -- there was an incident in the first half when the ball went over his head from the right and fortunately the Russian missed

just look what real madrid have done to gareth bale's heading ability before he went there I couldn't even remember him scoring with his head now he is incredible

yes the giant Russian was pretty smart the way he did a u turn taking up his position but ali was simply going through the motions defensive wise -- yes he has an attitude problem

[swintonrover]

I was saying it all game. Russia have got a 6'8" striker. Surely the one thing you do is make sure they can't cross it. Not exactly rocket science.

[Superspy]

I was saying it all game. Russia have got a 6'8" striker. Surely the one thing you do is make sure they can't cross it. Not exactly rocket science.

This is what I don't get about football, all of us armchair managers seem to be able to spot the simplest of things so why do managers time and time again either not seem to see it, or not do anything about it.

The obviously ones from the England performance, that have probably been mentioned on this board already:

- Letting them get crosses in too often, as per Swinton's comment above.
- Our tall centre forward taking corners.
- Our shortest players being in the box waiting for those corners.
- Our centre forward hardly ever getting in their box to get on the end of anything, often sitting behind Alli or Stirling (what the hell was this about?).
- Our fastest striker sitting on the bench against a centre-back paring aged 70+.
- Stirling having pace, yet somehow managing to slow the game down every time he got the ball.

I just don't get it. It wasn't at all what I expected having watched us in qualifying.

[The Red Baron]

I've had that feeling with every Rovers manager at some time. I do wonder if sometimes they are so close to the team that they can't see the wood for the trees.

[Sammy Chung was King]

I was saying it all game. Russia have got a 6'8" striker. Surely the one thing you do is make sure they can't cross it. Not exactly rocket science.

This is what I don't get about football, all of us armchair managers seem to be able to spot the simplest of things so why do managers time and time again either not seem to see it, or not do anything about it.

The obviously ones from the England performance, that have probably been mentioned on this board already:

- Letting them get crosses in too often, as per Swinton's comment above.
- Our tall centre forward taking corners.
- Our shortest players being in the box waiting for those corners.
- Our centre forward hardly ever getting in their box to get on the end of anything, often sitting behind Alli or Stirling (what the hell was this about?).
- Our fastest striker sitting on the bench against a centre-back paring aged 70+.
- Stirling having pace, yet somehow managing to slow the game down every time he got the ball.

I just don't get it. It wasn't at all what I expected having watched us in qualifying.

Because they are pigheaded!. The last time we had a manager who used the strengths in the team he had was Terry Venables.
There is a lot of ability in that squad, but we have a manager who is fearful. He hasn't the guts to drop certain one's, a proper manager puts the team first.
Sterling i have nothing against him, he gets a lot of stick, but his performances aren't good enough. Put Barkley in for him, get rooney in a floating striker role behind vardy and kane, and also get stones in to replace cahill. We need somebody who is confident at bringing the ball into midfield. I would go with this team against wales.

                             Hart

                     Smalling   Stones

               Walker                       Rose

                                 Dier

                      Barkley          Alli

                                Rooney

                        Kane             Vardy

The squad he has picked suits playing a narrow free flowing midfield, the wingers he has produce no threat, this team would give wales serious problems.

[Donnywolf]

Matters not. England will get kicked out of the tournament before the group stages are over.

No they won't.

According to David Davies on BBC there is the "highest chance ever" that this will be the first Tournament EVER where a team (not necessarily England) will be expelled for their Fans behaviour

UEFA are (he said) under extreme pressure from the French Government to ACT to defuse the whole situation. I don't know whether he is right but it must surely be an option - and perhaps a shot to nothing if we or Russia do badly in our next games and are effectively "out" which would soften the blow(s)