Euro 2016: Slovakia 0 - 0 England: Hodgson's Changes Halts England's Momentum

Euro 2016: Slovakia 0 - 0 England: Hodgson's Changes Halts England's Momentum 

 

It didn't take long before the Media turned on Roy Hodgson and his 'genius' substitutes that had won England three points against Wales in Lens. As Roy made six changes to the Starting XI for their final group game against Slovakia in Saint-Etienne, (Jordan Henderson, Jack Wilshere, Nathaniel Clyne, Ryan Bertrand, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge in for Dele Alli, Wayne Rooney, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling), England's momentum was halted to such a degree that it left fans with a sense of disappointment and that we had gone backward in our selection of players.

 

Not that everyone played that came in played bad though.

 

Nathaniel Clyne created seven chances from the right-hand side, Jamie Vardy was alert to an opportunity to run in behind and exploit space (which unfortunately didn't happen often due to Liverpool's Martin Skrtel) and Ryan Bertrand did a decent job of creating space down the left-hand side. However, the players that didn't play well, Henderson, Sturridge and Wilshere, symbolise the controversial nature of Roy's Starting XI and one player's inclusion really gets me annoyed. That's right, Jack Wilshere. This argument is getting slightly boring to write but how can you expect a player to play well in an important international game when he's only played 144 minutes of Premier League Football over three games for Arsenal at the end of the season?? This only furthers my belief in the 'big club' bias within the England management structure.

 

Although the game was littered with chances, England having 29 shots and Slovakia having four, England couldn't get the job done and finished second in the group after Wales beat Russia 3-0 to top the group and thus cementing the hosts of the 2018 World Cup to the bottom of Group B. Credit to Slovakia for the countless frustrating blocks that they put in over the course of the 95 minutes but conclusively it's actually a shame that the selection of the team is once again the main topic of conversation following a very good performance by England but ultimately they didn't win and top the group like they really should have done.

 

What's next for both teams?

 

Slovakia will wait to find out if they have advanced as one of the four best third-placed teams in the tournament and England will play their last-16 tie against the runner-up of Group F on Monday 27th June.