England Progress but Hodgson Left with Plenty to Think About After Slovakia Draw
England will take this form of frustration. It compares pretty nicely to the downright disappointment they were experiencing around two years ago.
Back then, Roy Hodgson and his team were contemplating just what had gone wrong in their 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign. There was no way back after losing their first couple of matches to Italy and Uruguay. Save for the group-closer with Costa Rica, they were on their way home.
In the present, England have safely progressed to the knockout rounds of Euro 2016. For now, contentment of remaining a contender in the competition just about outweighs the dissatisfaction of a 0-0 draw with Slovakia that left them as runners-up in Group B and with more questions than answers around the team.
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As goalkeeper Joe Hart has pointed out, ensuring their participation in this European Championship will extend beyond the first week-and-a-half is no small thing.
This is only the fourth time England have advanced beyond this point in the tournament (albeit its size and format has varied over its history). Their difficulties getting out of their groups at the last two World Cups have shown they have no right to expect anything. No matter their history or the power of the Premier League.
Second place means they will face the runners-up in Group F next Monday.
Again, England are in no position to disrespect any team in this tournament, but it is fair to say things could have worked out worse over what comes immediately next.
From top to bottom in the Group F table, each of Hungary, Iceland, Portugal and Austria remain prospective opponents.
The top two have been among the delights of Euro 2016 so far—Hungary harking back to their glory days of decades past; Iceland creating their first such memories. Austria have the talent to still finish strongly, and so long as Portugal have Cristiano Ronaldo, they will fancy their chances of catching anyone out.
Nevertheless, with none looking entirely convincing, England can believe themselves capable of dispatching whomever they end up facing in Nice. Albeit it will require some improvement from them, too.
Hodgson and his squad are in a bit of a footballing no-man's land at the moment. Caught between the still-reasonable ambition warranted by their talent (and parts of their performances), but lacking the body of work that would persuade others (and perhaps themselves) they can go far in France.
Somehow they have managed to end up finishing behind a Wales side (table above) who looked even worse than they did in their dreadful clash at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
That 2-1 win—by way of Daniel Sturridge's stoppage-time winner—feels like an in-tournament aberration. The equivalent of pale and pasty Brits turning up amid the beautiful people on the French Riviera.
The two dragged each other's standards down in an ugly contest, style-wise and tactically. Except Wales have only felt the ramifications in that specific result.
For England, it was but one manifestation of the ongoing identity issues they are still figuring out. Either side of the direct, haphazard and somewhat-fortunate eventual dispatching of the Welsh has come two more eye-pleasing, but less successful, performances.
Indeed, the draws with Russia and Slovakia were similar, save for some of the personnel involved.
Hodgson's men dominated Jan Kozak's for most of Monday's clash at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, something very much replicated in the statistics.
The possession count finished as 61 per cent to 39 in England's favour, per BBC Sport. They had 29 shots to Slovakia's four, although only five of those hit the target.
The numbers against Russia were not quite as wide, but they reflected a similar pattern of superiority to the match.
In both matches, the opposition were content to sit deep and defend, allowing England time and space to build up from the back. Slovakia—who attacked Leonid Slutsky's side so impressively in their second match, albeit often on the counter—surprisingly even more so than the Russians who at least posed some semi-regular threat aerially.
England capitalised on it to the extent that their patient, at-times probing use of the ball resulted in their looking the more likely to score.
Both featured move-enhancing width from England's full-backs, the forays from the right (Kyle Walker in the former game, Nathaniel Clyne in the latter) particularly energising and, except for the lack of goals at the end, effective.
In between, the use of the ball was patient and largely tidy, the common denominator here in both fixtures (and the sandwiched Wales game) the impressively mature presence of 22-year-old Eric Dier.
Few Slovakia invasions into his territory went undetected and not stopped by his patrols. Aware of this, the white shirts largely stayed retreated later on, giving the defensive midfielder even more license to pitch in with England's own assault.
As was the case with his getting forward late on against Wales, Dier's involvement was testament to the failures of those nominally beyond him to get the all-important goals (of course, he notably almost rescued his team with that superb free-kick).
Arguably the pass of the Slovakia match was Dier's chipped ball behind the defence to an unmarked Sturridge, the forward somehow finding a way to miss the ball completely.
For all of the pre-match calls for him and Jamie Vardy to be included after their scoring efforts against Wales, their contributions did little to improve things. Certainly compared to the group opener nine days earlier.
Indeed, with that missed chance and Vardy blowing what should have been a simple one-on-one, Hodgson has been left with even more uncertainty in attack. Harry Kane received no such chances in his first two starts (nor of the kind Vardy got for his goal against Wales).
If we are to judge strikers (or attackers, so Adam Lallana, too) on their end product, there is little to differentiate and say conclusively who should or will be leading the line in the round of 16. Take your pick on what you like.
Going by Hodgson's general mix-and-matching of his options, it will probably end up being Marcus Rashford who starts next time at the expense of all three.
All over the pitch, his changes against Slovakia failed to reveal a direction England should definitely go in. If anything, they have confused things further, perhaps at the expense of the rhythm and familiarity those who had started the first two were battling to establish.
The England midfield were quicker and looked more balanced with Jordan Henderson and Jack Wilshere in front of Dier. Yet neither created much more than captain Wayne Rooney had done with his nice range of passing.
Would Hodgson consider keeping Dele Alli out again, even though he showed his threat with a shot that Martin Skrtel cleared off the line almost immediately after the 20-year-old came on?
Ryan Bertrand was a little nervy compared to Danny Rose at left-back, but Clyne's 90 minutes was certainly comparable to what Walker has produced.
England's results against Russia and Slovakia should not be compared negatively to Wales'. Chris Coleman's side benefited from both being far more adventurous and open to picking off. Still, Hodgson's attempts to reason for his own side's difficulties revealed more than a hint of frustration.
"As far as I’m concerned I can’t fault the effort and work the lads put in," Hodgson told the Football Association's website. "It's a little bit embarrassing that we've played three games and in each of the three games it's been attack versus defence."
For all the lingering uncertainty about what does and does not work for his team, as well as the skepticism as to just how good they are, Hodgson nonetheless believes England are primed to make a more substantial impact on the tournament.
"I'm pretty sure that sooner or later we're going to make somebody pay because if we keep dominating and creating chances like we're doing we're going to score goals one day."
Hodgson's words largely ring true, but as England progress in the tournament, the chances of them dominating possession against the better sides diminishes. That is when we will get a true gauge of where England are at in their development.
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