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| Welbeck celebrates (image: mirror.co.uk) |
England’s warm-up games are over, but are England ready to
step up to the European Stage?
Yesterday marked another win for Roy Hodgson as England overcame
a Belgian side brimming with young promising prospects at Wembley thanks to a
delectable chip from Danny Welbeck to score his first senior England goal on 36
minutes to secure a 1-0 win. However, though England may have won, many are
questioning whether England will be able to compete with the ‘top’ sides in
Europe on the back of two dull pre-tournament match performances.
Yesterday’s victory was of a similar essence to the victory in
Oslo and as I was sitting high up in the gods, it soon became clear that
exciting and attacking flair would be amiss in England’s performance; in fact,
possession of the ball looked potentially hard to come-by. This was epitomised
by the throwing of paper aeroplanes onto the Wembley turf; though mine didn’t
quite reached the lower tier. Some perhaps forgot that a match was even taking
place below them. This, accompanied by a premature Mexican wave early in the
first half, epitomised England’s new style of play and the lacklustre approach
England look set to take to Poland and Ukraine.
Nonetheless, credit should not be taken away from Belgium.
They took control of possession and often the game, playing the ball around at
will, however without any real purpose. The rotation of the front three,
varying from Hazard to Witsel, to Mertens to Fellaini, proved both effective
and detrimental to their attacking ambitions; confusing the ease to be marked by
England however with no one to lead the line at times their attacks came to
nothing. Belgium, who narrowly missed out on Euro qualification, are and have
been beginning to look more of a side capable of reaching international
tournaments, and it would be no surprise should they qualify for the World Cup
in Brazil in 2014.
England however approached the game in a different manner,
two rigid lines of four providing a barricade for Joe Hart’s goal, a clear
preference of Hodgson to defence rather than attack. Roy Hodgson’s sides have
been notorious for being difficult to beat, with Fulham and West Brom being
prime examples. England too look set to be heading in that direction, though at
what cost?
Going forward England never really posed a serious continued
threat. Sporadic counter-attacks and occasional surges forward from first-time
starter Chamberlain on the left and Milner on the right looked the Three Lions
best hopes, with the goal ultimately originating from Dembele being caught in
possession to allowed Young to thread a neat ball to Welbeck who dually applied
the finish.
Nevertheless, the focus on ensuring Belgium didn’t score
prevented England from searching for more to add to their tally, accompanied by
an abundance of sloppy, slow and often unimaginative passing, with a lack of
movement to match. However, the game plan worked, a second 1-0 win against two
good sides ensuring two clean sheets – a lean defence is emerging; if only it
had the forward play to accompany it.
As good as Norway and Belgium are, they are not amongst
Europe’s elite. Should England want to compete amongst the very best then potency
going forward has to improve, as well as ball retention.
It is becoming evident that England’s style is not going to
be match dominating or samba football, instead reverting to gritty performances
to grind out results, often not to the desire of the fans who want England to
attack at will. But would those same fans complain if these resolute
performances brought home the European Championships? I think not.
Do not get me wrong however; I don’t see England as real contenders
– yet. The biggest test will come first, against a renewed 2010 World Cup-forgotten
France. Should England emerge from that, though the omens aren’t great and it
may require a bucket full of good fortune, with a positive result, then there
is no reason why England can’t go all the way in a similar style to how Chelsea
won the Champions League. The France match on the 10th June will
decide whether England can be deemed as the Dark Horse of the competition, or
not.
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