Euro-Trash: Roy Hodgson Resigns After Dismal England Lose 2-1 To Iceland (Video)

Alan Duffy

27th, June 2016

4 Comments

England exited Europe for the second time in a week (that’s the only Brexit joke we’ll do here) after the Three Lions produced a performance of utter ineptitude against minnows Iceland.

After the embarrassing loss, manager Roy Hodgson announced that he wouldn’t be looking to extend his England contract (which expires in three days), with his departure immediate after a low-achieving tenure.

England got off to a perfect start, with Wayne Rooney converting a spot-kick on four minutes after Raheem Sterling was felled in the box.

However, just two minutes later Iceland scored courtesy of a trademark long-throw routine, with Ragnar Sigurdsson firing home after inept defending.

12 minutes later, the nation of just 330,000 people were 2-1 up, with Joe Hart failing miserably to deal with Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s shot.

Hodgson sent on Jack Wilshere after the break for Eric Dier, but Iceland continued to look just as dangerous as England, who struggled to threaten the opposition goal.

Jamie Vardy was next to come off the bench, before Marcus Rashford got a ridiculously short run-out at the end. However, Iceland deserved their win against an England side devoid of, well, pretty much everything needed to win a football match.

With Hodgson gone, U21 boss Gareth Southgate is now favourite to take over the senior team. However, in an historic and traumatic week for the country, this turgid display will go down in history. Let the inquest commence!

As for the incredible Iceland, they now face an unprecedented quarter-final clash with hosts France. And good luck to them!

Highlights…

(Highlights: Footytube)

Posted in Euro 2016, Newsnow, Videos

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4 Comments

  1. Jarren says:

    Yes, congratulations to Iceland! What a result.

    Just heard Shearer say he’s up for the England job.

    And you know, I don’t think many would argue against it.

    Why not?

  2. sloth says:

    Hodgson’s fingerprints are all over this loss. The formation/tactics, player selection/substitutions, and set plays were all dreadful. They players seemed ill-prepared, and then shell-shocked when their poor preparation was exposed.

    My biggest peeve was the use of Rooney. I would never have picked him to start and I was shocked when he was left on at the half. He was dreadful (the penalty goal shouldn’t hide his shortcomings in open play), and only got worse as the game wore on. He had several brutal passing interceptions, was easily dispossessed repeatedly, and even his successful passes were often difficult for teammates to control because they were off line or overhit.

    He was picked in the team for sentimentality and not football (now he’s the country’s most-capped outfield player), and everyone seems to overlook or accept this… it drives me nuts. I don’t understand this extreme loyalty shown to players who have really accomplished so little at the international level. “He’s the captain,” but what great triumphs has he presided over for England? What has he actually done that earns him the right to be shoehorned into the XI, playing out of position because he’s no longer first-choice (or 2nd or 3rd) in his natural role? Surely England can field a better centre midfielder than a converted forward whose best days up front are long past? I can agree that his transition to midfield does look promising, and he could see a late career renaissance in the position, but that’s not something that just happens over the course of half a season. He’s clearly not up to snuff as the midfield engine on the highest stage (against Iceland). Barkley or Wilshere would have been better from the start, and I’d be truly baffled as to how Rooney stayed on the pitch until after the 85th minute, if it wasn’t so obvious how terribly England has been managed since the moment Hodgson was appointed.

    And since I’m already ranting and raving…

    Why on earth was Harry Kane taking all the dead balls? Admittedly the deliveries from the rest of the squad were consistently terrible, but nobody could have done worse if they had tried. And at least you have a better chance of scoring off a terrible delivery if your lone striker is in the box…

    I thought Alli and Rose were the least disappointing starters, and Wilshere and especially Vardy were decent additions. Rashford should have been introduced 10 minutes earlier at least. If the squad that finished the night had started, they would have had a much greater chance of coming out on top, but even that seems doubtful.

    Iceland were marvellous. They defended ferociously. Their hunger for every contested ball was palpable, and their marking and tackling showed wonderful poise. The highlight of the night was Sigurdsson’s tackle on Vardy in the box.

  3. Paul says:

    @Sloth – Spot on, I agree with pretty much everything you wrote, but don’t forget how much hype Rooney was getting in the first few games (especially against Russia) at his seemingly perfect transition to a midfielder. Rooney was abysmal last night, but so were the rest of the team.

    It’s obvious to see that the England team play as individuals rather than a cohesive unit, many of which have been selected because of the team they play for (and their displays in the past) rather than the current form they are in, and this a fundamental fault of the English management setup. Wilshire shouldn’t have been on the plane, if you play 140 minutes in an entire season then (regardless of ability) you don’t deserve to be selected.

    With the likes of Sturridge thinking he can take on as many men as he wants before getting dispossessed, instead of picking out a teammate, and Harry Kane thinking he can take a free kick (like Bale or Ronaldo) and ballooning it high and wide, along with the mentality that he can just shoot on sight. Let’s not get started on Sterling.

    Joe Hart has taken responsibility and quite rightly, but I do feel sorry for him as he seemed like the one player who had as much passion as the fans. However his short comings have well and truly been exposed in this tournament and indeed in international football. It’s fine when he’s playing at City and has a great defensive setup, but when he gets tested with a weakened defence he crumbles. We’ve seen with the Republic and Northern Ireland how fantastic their goalkeeping has been despite not having arguably as “strong as defence” as England.

    We as England fans are extremely critical (please see above), but this time it has been a number of different reasons. Severe mismanagement in terms of the team selection and formation, how many players did Hodgson have out of position during this entire tournament? The only out and out winger he brought was Sterling…

    I understand we were never going to win Euro 2016 or progress further than the quarter final against France, but when you lose in the manner in which England did, and to a team like Iceland questions need to be seriously raised.

    However all credit to Iceland, they played amazing, always quick to close down the ball and played clever passes. Iceland had a structure, they knew their best 11 and played in a formation which would compliment them and England simply didn’t.

  4. Nick says:

    Chris Waddle has it spot on! basically overrated spoilt individuals with no mental toughness – as soon as they go behind they lose their shape, any sort of cohesion and confidence was clearly shot last night! Glen Hoddle is an intelligent clever thinking football man who at least had England playing with some courage and no mean skill – he would be the best choice.

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