ONE DOWN TWO TO GO….
Which sees England in deep trouble despite what the panels of ITV and BBC think, and then there’s Glenn Hoddle. We have played the worst team in the Group, and all of this hype given by the so-called football experts from Alan Shearer to Gary Lineker and back, saying about the “many positives” and then there’s the Manchester Lip Joe Hart.
After watching a great tussle between Wales and Slovakia the evidence to me shows that both these two teams will be fancying their chances against Hodgson’s Heroes (although I prefer the original with Hogan playing lead role).
My Man of the Matches was young MK Dons midfielder Johnny Williams, an unknown kid amongst the multi-millionaires “superstar” on show, from Rooney to Bale.
Williams reminded me of a young Alan Ball in ’66, a player who ran miles for his country and on top of that played the kind of football that England don’t have, for playing against a Russian team who let us have not only the ball but more as in that 60s show Lost in Space which happened to England. That was what actually happened with Rooney picking up the ball in acres of space and knocking balls around like it was a practice match, and there were all the pundits screaming that he was outstanding.
I’m disabled these days but I think I might have created more in such surroundings!
And in Raheen Sterling picking the ball up only to get into such dangerous areas only to deliver ‘nothing balls’ into the Russian box, again, I am lost for words not space.
I don’t think Russia could believe their luck to still be in the game and given the opportunity to have one last shout and they took it, when England thought that they’d done enough.
Over the two matches we saw the spirit of Wales getting them the three points when Slovakia outplayed them in the second half, and only a scuffed shot beat them. Slovakia will be vey dangerous having absolutely nothing to lose in that vital match against England, and Wales could be through by then.
But the weekend belongs to a player who might have been unheard of in the Hudson household before the two opening matches, but not now. He reminds me of a young Danny Murphy an all-action footballer of real creativity on top of that Alan Ball like performance of ’66.
Williams was the star of two shows and that says something with so many big names around, but he took it upon himself to grab the moment, something that his manager asked of his players.
In a week that the great Mohammed Ali left us, a man of huge presence, it was great, like with Leicester City, to see the underdog come to the fore. Not that young Williams is an underdog, merely an unknown, but not any longer, for his manager, unlike Hodgson has no problem bringing in and giving an opportunity to a player with only loan Premier League experience to fall back on, but no, he didn’t take no prisoners.
Talking of prisoners former Liverpool centre-back should have been locked up for completely bullying him on the touchline right in front of the 4th officials eyes. Skrtel is a bully full stop. Williams was the smallest and frailest player on show and the centre-backs attempt to “take him out” was not only out of order but disgraceful and should have seen him sent off.
I remember as young player at Chelsea playing against the legendary Dave Mackay at Stamford Bridge and the ball running onto our Dog Track. As I went to pick it up, he grabbed it from me telling me that “You should not even be on the same field as me” and he was far tougher than Skrtel. Years later when I was having a drink with him and Tommy Docherty at Haydock Park Races, I reminded him and, he replied “Don’t worry Alan, I said that to everyone”.
That’s class, what Skrtel did was a complete lack of it!
I cannot wait to see young Williams against England and Rooney in particular because it just might show what we are lacking in both youth and energy in a team that lacked not only energy but imagination.
I was disappointed with young Ali for he had several opportunities to stamp his authority on a game that Russia could not believe their luck to still be in.
Before going I must give full marks to Eric Dier for both his goal and performance. How important a player has he become?
Don’t forget Wales will play Russia in a very different way and with no real attacking threat, I believe Chris Coleman will sleep a lot tighter than Hodgson, because his team only need a point against Hodgson.
As for Slovakia they are a dangerous outfit who will take great heart out of this performance, knowing it is still the Year of the Underdog, and they will go into this match with England as just that.
So, once again England promised so much yet never produced, okay they had lots of the ball, but that was Russia’s game plan, because with the centre-back partnership totalling 70 years, they are not going to start attacking teams and leaving themselves open at the back, are they Roy?
I really don’t think that you completed your homework, that is, if you began it?
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.