UEFA: World Cup Qualifier:Slovenia- England
Twelve months ago I wrote about England's Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and how it had played out ahead of a home game with Estonia ..........
England have dominated this group and are a perfect 8 from 8 so far, scoring 26 goals, at least two in each of seven, only coming up short in the reverse fixture between these two in Tallinn, when they had to wait a long time to score the winning goal. That is par for the course for England in this group stage, with just three of those 26 goals coming inside the first 30 minutes, with nine in the middle third of the game and 14 in the final half hour. Under Roy Hodgson they have looked to play themselves into games before really pushing on, big gulf in class of course and whilst England have already qualified, they will get crucified in the media if they do not beat "little old" Estonia and I am sure that they would like to finish with a 10/10 record. The match is not a sell out, but a crowd of 75,000 is expected and will be demanding of a result, offensively the visitors do not offer much and they have not scored on the road in a group game and only twice in nine competitive away starts.However, they are tight at the back (just six goals conceded in qualification) and will come very much with damage limitation in mind and looking to keep England at bay for as long as possible. Home win of course and they should be up to definitely a second and probably a third goal, but let's wait and hold out for a better quote, if England score before that , no damage done ! Pitch might also be a bit of a leveller, as there have been rugby and NFL games played on the hallowed turf in recent weeks, but in the end it should not matter too much.
England won 2-0 scoring in the 45th and 85th minute(s) and a few days later went to Lithuania and I added ......that is what we have come to expect from them and we seem likely to see more of the same today They have the opportunity to be the team to finish with a perfect qualifying record and whist they are going to rotate the squad today, that will still be a motivation and it will be a rare opportunity for some of the fringe players (Butland. Alli, Shelvey, Townsend, Vardy ) to impress in a "competitive" fixture.
They took that 3-0 , again, with the opener coming after 30 minutes.
One thing I never expected to be writing today, is that England have had three head coaches in those 12 months, with the interim appointment coming after the permanent one ! Anyway Big Sam left with a 100% record (!) and Gareth Southgate opened with a 2-0 win over Malta, opposition only had damage limitation in mind, England played well and moved the ball quickly for 45 minutes or so, but were a bit clueless after the break and all the old issues resurfaced.
Wayne Rooney (pictured) was named as the scapegoat and has been dropped, he has been played out of position and his time has been and gone (perhaps it never truly arrived like we thought it might have when he was a teen) and it is true and no one could argue otherwise, that he looks a liabilty in midfield and everything slooooowed right down when he was involved. It looked and felt like playing with your dad in the park, who is no longer as good as you, but you feel you have to give him the ball ! If England want to play him, it should be in his old position and for 15 minutes from the bench. We have seen it before, especially with Brazilians, they play from 16-17 and are mostly knackered at 26 and Rooney was in the Everton first team at 16, made his international debut at 17 and I think he is worn out ! But I digress !
England will probably win today, they almost always do in qualifying (won last 14), but it is highly likely that it will take time once again to edge ahead and Slovenia have not conceded inside 56 minutes at home in a competitive start for 12 games, including a 3-2 loss to England, where they led .
1.5 units England -0.75 ball as soon as the in running line hits 2.05 (currently 1.84) as long as they are not already leading and we are playing 11 v 11.
Good Luck.
