England v Russia, 11th June, 8pm

JJ1532

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England get their Euros underway with a tricky but winnable game against Russia. Hard to know what to make of the team going into the tournament. There isn't supposed to be much expectation on them, but then there probably is a fair bit. Roy Hodgson has a young and exciting group, but they stuttered through the warm up games, looking somewhat unconvincing in all 3 as he searches for his best starting XI and formation. These Euros have all the feel of the last World Cup, where England really should have done better but came up badly short against 3 tricky teams.

Think Hodgson is fighting for his job here. A poor showing and an early exit(in the groups I mean) and I think he's gone. If he gets us to the Quarters in style, then he might get 2 more years. A lot of expectation on this group to perform as well. Got a squad packed with young, exciting talents who could go far if they get used properly.

Russia though are no pushovers, pipping Sweden to 2nd place in their qualfying group. They are missing attacking livewire Alan Dzagoev to a broken foot, but have giant striker Artyom Dzyuba upfront and a group of wily, experienced players in their squad. They'll be a tricky first opponent for England.

So, who starts for England and in what formation? 1 upfront? 2? Does Rooney start and if so, in what position? Does Vardy start? What plays in midfield and in what shape? Rose or Bertrand, Clyne or Walker? Lots of difficult decisions for Hodgson, with an expectant nation once again watching the teams every move.

So, enough waffling, here we go. All match discussion in here please.
 

mente captus

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i think Russia will edge it by sitting deep and hit them on counter attack, twice. 1:2
 

CFC91

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Honestly can't wait for this. Flying out Thursday. Looking it'll be 30 degrees. Fancy us to sneak it 2-1. Really hope for ocne we can turn up at a major tournament.
 

SamScfc

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I was under the impression Russia were quite a decent side but apparently they've lost their 2 first choice CM's and they're CB's are ancient which would be perfect for Vardy, but considering we have Roy Hodgson he'll probably go 1 upfront.

I think we'll win though.
 

Big Bird

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3-0 England. It'll be alright on the night.

:dk:
 

Jackinky

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1-0 to us, I think we will sneak a victory.
 

Dazza

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1-1. We don't have the best record in our opening games of major competitions.
 

JimJams

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England to have a blinder and things to actually look promising.
 

leedsvaliant

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Because we are still unsure of the best way of playing and we historically get off to a slow start, I can see a draw here. I think as the players become comfortable in a system, we'll get better as the tournament progresses.
 

EricSabin

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We'll win this one, 2-0. Come on England!!
 

Pagnell

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Should take maximum points here and put the bad memories of 2014 to bed.
 

Art Morte

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Any team seriously hoping to win the tournament should beat this Russia side pretty comfortably.
 

Big Bird

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3-0 Kane first goalscorer at 50-1.
 

Jockney

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I know we fell at the first hurdle in Brazil, but think people are misremembering our performances. They weren't that bad, in fact we played some good stuff. We didn't deserve to lose to Italy and Suarez beat us almost single-handedly in the 2nd game.
 

Super_horns

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Papers reckon its 433 with Lallana/Sterling supporting Kane.
 

silkyman

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Macclesfield Town/Manchester City. It's complicated.
Rooney 'in the hole'?
 

PDS

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First games are normally cagey. Add to that our frankly poor defence I'll go for a 1-1 and mass hysteria in the papers on Sunday.
 

JJH

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Papers reckon its 433 with Lallana/Sterling supporting Kane.
Will be hilarious if Hodgson opts to play a formation with wingers after only selecting one in his squad.
 

Big Bird

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Funny because at times it looked as though Roy was thinking 'I wish I'd taken Andros' as we struggled to create against Portugal and Ross Barkley got caught on the ball time and again.
 

Blitzballer

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:lol: captain obvious strikes again

13415391_1053221764714718_3923693082374371000_o.jpg
 

JJ1532

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If we do badly against Russia playing 4-3-3, Hodgson will rightly get crucified. I hope he knows what he's doing.
 

Max

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I know we fell at the first hurdle in Brazil, but think people are misremembering our performances. They weren't that bad, in fact we played some good stuff. We didn't deserve to lose to Italy and Suarez beat us almost single-handedly in the 2nd game.
I would agree with this. People are always overly critical of England in retrospect.

Also, Russia are no Italy.

I reckon 3-1 England.
 

JimJams

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Italy were no Italy then either. They went out with a whimper as well. Not as bad as ours though. In 2012 Hodgson got a free pass, he was drafted into a job far too late to make any impression and expectations were justifiably low. In 2014 we were shite. The poor result against Italy wasn't in itself all that bad but when you remember back to the fact that thanks to being taken out by Italy in the last Euros all Roy talked about before the game was the importance of stopping Pirlo, that he's the engine room, that he is the man that makes them tick, effectively stop Pirlo stop Italy and when it came to the game he absolutely ran things. And then, like now, he didn't seem to know how to set the team up to get the best out of them.
Hopefully he does now, and the changes in the friendlies were to give him more information on little details rather than the personnel and formation, but I'm not convinced.
 

Pagnell

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I've not been convinced by Hodgson from day one, and nothing has changed my view on that. He's got the job because, suddenly, it was decided after Sven and Capello that we would go back to English England managers. He was considered the best out of a bad bunch. That's no way to choose the right manager to take any club forward. The attributes he brings to the table are enough. No more, no less. But we're never going to do much with him at the helm, no matter who's on the team sheet.
 

smat

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I've not been convinced by Hodgson from day one, and nothing has changed my view on that. He's got the job because, suddenly, it was decided after Sven and Capello that we would go back to English England managers. He was considered the best out of a bad bunch. That's no way to choose the right manager to take any club forward. The attributes he brings to the table are enough. No more, no less. But we're never going to do much with him at the helm, no matter who's on the team sheet.
mcclaren?
 

Jockney

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Italy were no Italy then either. They went out with a whimper as well. Not as bad as ours though. In 2012 Hodgson got a free pass, he was drafted into a job far too late to make any impression and expectations were justifiably low. In 2014 we were shite. The poor result against Italy wasn't in itself all that bad but when you remember back to the fact that thanks to being taken out by Italy in the last Euros all Roy talked about before the game was the importance of stopping Pirlo, that he's the engine room, that he is the man that makes them tick, effectively stop Pirlo stop Italy and when it came to the game he absolutely ran things. And then, like now, he didn't seem to know how to set the team up to get the best out of them.
Hopefully he does now, and the changes in the friendlies were to give him more information on little details rather than the personnel and formation, but I'm not convinced.

Even then he was making fucking nonsensical calls: didn't he push Rooney wide for that game? Our performance deserved more, though. Italy didn't dictate the play at all. We had most of the pressure but our finishing let us down in the first half and our final ball was poor in the 2nd. We were more positive in those first two games than we had been in a decade before that. I blame Hodgson for a lot of things but his options were limited in that tournament. The approach was correct but we lacked quality overall. This year he has no excuses. We have good players in every department (if no genuinely world class players) and we should be looking at QFs at least, IMO.
 

JimJams

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I was going to say something mightily offensive there about who he's riding, but I won't. You don't deserve it Salts. You might be a dirty ABE but as a Scotland fan you've suffered enough.
 

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