Danny At The Double As Roy Gets It Spot On!!

After a less than convincing 1-0 win against Norway at a half filled Wembley stadium in a friendly last week, it was crunch time for England and for their manager former docker Roy Hodgson.   Roy was under pressure and it was beginning to show after his Fucking Bollocks outburst in front of the media last Wednesday night.

Switzerland away was as every one was telling us the hardest game in these qualifiers on paper and a positive result was a must.  Before the game "Rude word" Roy threw in a curve ball that most fans and pundits alike weren't expecting.  Roy set his England side out in a Diamond formation with Jack Wilshire at the base of it and Raheem Sterling at the very tip of it.  He decided to play Danny wellbeck and captain Rooney up front and have debutant Fabian Delph and Jordan Henderson narrow in midfield.  No wide men but a left footer on the left of midfield and a right footer on the right.  Although it was not the greatest of performances it proved to be a shrewd bit of tactical thinking from the England boss, as his team were set up perfectly for counter attacking, and so it proved with two quick breakaway goals both scored by pacey new Arsenal signing Danny Wellbeck.   England had a few shaky moments and Joe Hart was called into action a few times but he did his job and a fantastic Gary Cahill clearance at 1-0 up made sure the 3 lions didn't concede.  The Swiss were adamant that Cahill handballed it in the clearance, it did hit his arm but the replay showed that the bloke who had the effort was offside anyway, so there was a bit of justice there.  To be fair the Swiss didn't really offer much and although they were billed as favourites before the game due to their lofty FIFA ranking of 9th in the world England won with a bit of a canter in the end.

I have to admit I wasn't expecting to see such a positive England set up nor was I expecting us to win without conceding, so credit where credit s due to Roy he got it spot on.

I hope he keeps the same formation in the up and coming qualifiers, because we should really be winning this group with a lot to spare especially now after defeating the group favourites in their own backyard.  With some of the games coming up we can really build up some confidence before we qualify for the Euros in France 2016.  If Roy keeps this formation it is likely that Wayne Rooney will be England's record goalscorer by the time we reach the end of the qualifiers, with 2 games against Estonia and San Marino to come Sir Bobby Charlton's long time record could eventually be up for grabs, I don't think Wayne will get a better chance, this could be his moment.

The thing is we shouldn't get carried away after a good win although it seems like a long time ago since it last happened, but as long as we arrange the right friendlies against better teams during this qualifying campaign to gauge our progress it could be a good time for English football, at last.  It is all very well qualifying from a group of 3rd world footballing nations but if you don't play against anyone with any pedigree during that time then there is no way of knowing at what level we really are, and the FIFA rankings wont help, as if we do like I think we might qualify with a 100% record then they will place us up in the top 5 of the world which to quote Roy would be Fucking Bollocks!!

FUCKING BOLLOCKS!!!

It was a good start also for some of the other home nations, Northern Ireland started with a very impressive 2-1 away win at Hungary, and although they are not technically a home nation Eire also won 2-1 away to Georgia.  Scotland  put up a brave and fighting performance against world champions Germany but unfortunately they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat.  Its a funny thing with Scotland as much as I don't really care whether they win, lose or draw when I watch them play I always feel sorry for them when they lose.  I think it is a Gordon Strachan thing, as I pundit I think he talks a load of shit but as a manager and as a player he has that fighting spirit that I really respect and for some reason I just want him and his players to do well.  I think it stems back to the 1986 world cup when yet again they didn't qualify for the latter stages and they played a game against Uruguay and Strachan was taken out by a Uraguayan within the first couple of minutes, they played against ten men for the majority of the game but couldn't get the goal that would have put them through and out they went.  I remember being really pissed off after watching that game almost taking it personally in some way yet I don't have a single bit of Scottish in me.  I felt a bit like that on Sunday night when they lost to the German's as in the second half especially, Scotland at times were the better team and if they had taken all 3 points I don't think the German's could have had any complaints but yet again they found away to win and Scotland came away with absolutely nothing.

James Morrison and Christophe Kramer playing paper,scissors, stone
some footballers are human.

With more teams qualifying for these European Championships then ever before I for one would love to see all the home nations qualify even wales, because surely players like Bale and Ramsey deserve to play at the highest international level possible, I mean the fact that Ryan Giggs never played at a major tournament and Tony Cascarino and Danny Mills did is just ridiculous.

Danny "Fucking" Mills

Portugal without the winking wanker succumbed to a shock defeat to Albania, proving without a doubt what a one man team they are, Spain beat Macedonia 5-1, Russia were 4-0 winners over Liechtenstein and Poland beat Gibraltar 7-0.

Wales travel to Andorra tonight to get their campaign underwayand it will be interesting to see if Bale is fit, because he and Ramsey are obviously key to any success that they have.  Italy start with a tough game away to Norway, Holland take on the Czech's and Count Kovac's Croatia start off with a home game against Malta.

The road to Paris 2016 has begun and lets hope England can keep up this winning habit.
Good luck to all the home nations and Eire.

Come on England!!