Finally, a performance by England that showed heart and graft. Was it exciting? No, not very. But as I have said many times England are not a great side and I felt it was a good result against a very good side that was well worked for. It doesn't alter the fact that England are going to seriously struggle to ever win a tournament and I strongly suspect that similar performances against Sweden and Ukraine are not going to go down well because they are not top sides. But that's what you get with Roy Hodgson, it's not going to be pretty and he ALWAYS plays the same way but that is undeniably quite effective against superior sides but underwhelming against worse. Anyway this blog is about this game and I salute a hard working performance. On the debit side, besides Milner's golden chance there was little in the way of goalmouth activity and the goal came from a set piece.
Ratings:
Hart - 7
Unusual error for the goal but overall a typically commanding display.
Johnson - 6
Full of running and defensively not as bad as normal but if anything lacked a bit of his usual creativity going forward.
Cole - 8
Great performance.
Lescott - 8
Terrific header for the goal and defended well.
Terry - 7
Looked solid.
Milner - 7
Tireless but missed a good chance and created relatively little.
Oxlade-Chamberlain - 6
Worked hard and handled well but looked a little short of ideas at times.
Parker - 8
Typically combative and hard working.
Gerrard - 7
Again worked very hard and did what was asked to do.
Welbeck - 7
A lot of running in a hard role.
Young - 5
I thought poor and anonymous.
Subs:
Defoe - 6
Looked lively.
Henderson - 6
Really?
Walcott - 6
Too late for any impact.
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