Euro 2012: France 1-1 England – Three Lions Hold France As Hodgson’s Age Of Austerity Begins (Photos & Highlights)

Alan Duffy

11th, June 2012

8 Comments

By Alan Duffy

No doubt Fabio Capello would have been torn to shreds by the media if he’d presided over such a defensive and mostly dour performance. However, under Roy Hodgson, expectations for the Three Lions have started to mirror reality and so a well-drilled draw against Group D’s top side will have pleased most of the nation.

With whippersnapper Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain given the nod on the left flank and Danny Welbeck up front, it was a fresh and youthful England side who battled and stayed firm against a technically superior French side. Indeed, England even took the lead, courtesy of a Joleon Lescott header from a Stevie G centre. However, Lescott’s Man City team-mate Samir Nasri levelled the scores before the break.

France continued to pepper Joe Hart’s goal with (mostly) long-range efforts but England, in true Hodgson style, stayed focused, disciplined and organised.

Welbeck deserves a lot of credit for his hard-working performance up front while France looked decent in attack but rather dodgy in the centre of defence. Expect both sides to get out of the group, mind.

Photos…

Highlights to follow…

Photos: PA

 

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8 Comments

  1. Les says:

    Welbeck was outstanding as were England as well with the only real mistake being not closing down Nasri for the goal. The referee was absolutely outrageous. Pretty much every decision there was went against England. In fact i dont think a single referee (maybe barring Howard Webb- yes HOWARD WEBB) has had a good game

  2. LLoyd says:

    To be fair it was a good defensive performance for some of it but how boring was it?! England playing for a draw with at times 9 players behind the ball when france were 30 yards from Harts goal. Yawnfest. Not a chance of winning. Its like Hodgson just wants to get by without losing or taking a chances. Beginning to thing the LFC fans were right. Oh and by the way no atmosphere. What the hell ffs!!!! So annoying i mean come on!!!

  3. Dave says:

    I actually thought this was one of the best England performances I’ve seen in a long time, they looked really quite competent and I thought slightly unlucky to concede.

    Welbeck, Young and Oxlade-Chamberlain looked really good and I was pleasantly surprised by the solidity of central midfield.

  4. Sage says:

    The press has been very harsh on Hodgson from the most part; now that England looks serious, disciplined and well-organized it comes the time to bemoan its defensive attitude; Hodgson is a disciplinarian blah blah blah.

    Truthfully, England has no other way to play. We have no passing conductors. Our conductors are mostly wingers, therefore shooting crosses and not passes. Our players lack the technical skill of France, Spain, Germany, etc, so I find perfectly understandable Hodgson’s philosophy of protecting space and not the ball, and attacking only when we can bring our speed and power to bear. The youngsters are getting a chance to prove their worth as are England’s best (unlike under Capello).

    If the solidity seen today is to remain, Hodgson’s pragmatic style will surely bring the Three Lions praise.

  5. Alex says:

    How blind are you Brits? Every decision went against you? Hahahaha, you’re a funny funny bunch.

  6. Andy Carroll's Ponytail says:

    Relax fellas..this is the warm-up to Brazil 2014. No pain (now), no gain (later). Hopefully.

    So defensive solidity, boring boring, non-losing football to build up a solid foundation and give em kids some experience is all there is to this tournament. Anything else is a bonus.

  7. Mr. Chopper says:

    Look up how Roy has played ever since Halmstad – it’s exactly the same as this. You have two tight banks of four, never more than 15-20 yards apart whilst defending, with a supporting striker feeding a main striker on the counter-attack. Obviously this then gets shifted around for the attack (full backs go forward, central midfielder drops into defence).

    Yes, it’s boring, but it really does work. Probably until we come up against Spain’s 1-9-0. The general consensus is the system failed at Liverpool because the egos wouldn’t follow the rigid tactics (lots of training drills made of mainly positioning exercises) and it didn’t match the club’s pass-and-move philosophy.

    Sweden looked exactly the same as England whilst defending against Ukraine’s attacks last night. The difference was that Ukraine managed to break through the banks (the lines were too widely spread), with diagonal balls through these gaps to their wide players. From then on it was just a case of running down the wing and crossing the ball in. Bosh.

    Funnily enough this type of 4-4-1-1 is thought of as being the “Swedish-style”. Even though, in reality, it was actually Bobby Houghton and Roy who first took this style of playing to Sweden, where it was pilfered by Sven-Goran Eriksson.

  8. Davy says:

    I think Johnson had a good game too, and believe me I aint his biggest fan!! In fact they all had a decent shift, I feel slightly (dare I say it) optomistic

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