As Michael Ballack said in the post match interview, England parked the bus in front of Joe Hart's goal. Although boring to watch, Hodgson's men set out to stop the French attack and they did just that.
Roy Hodgson had a difficult task at hand before today's match which was to put together a competitive team in a short amount of time. Having to deal with the absences of Darren Bent, Frank Lampard and Gary Cahill made things a little more difficult. Now you throw in the fact that England tend to under achieve on the big stage leaves you with an incredible amount of pressure.
For the amount of talent on the pitch in today's match, one would have expected a more entertaining match. Hodgson's inclusion of Arsenal's young winger Oxlad-Chamberlain in the starting squad surprised a few fans. With Chamberlain, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck, England had the pace needed to try and hit France on the counter-attack.
Many fan's will have expected Hodgson to play so defensive just for the fact that France could be realistically looked at as the stronger team in the group. While England fan's could argue that, a point against France could be beneficial considering the Three Lions now face a weaker but moralized Ukraine, and a very offensive Sweden.
England and France should make it out of their group, but the key factor will likely be who drops points against Ukraine. Hodgson will have to take on a different approach in his next match against Sweden.
Although very defensive and cautious, England can take a few positive notes from today's performance. They looked organized at the back and trusted each other on the field. With a less defensive-minded midfield, and with more help going forward, Welbeck, Young and Chamberlain could cause serious problems for Sweden.
The English back-line looked very solid considering many fan's questioned the English defense heading into the tournament. Lescott and Terry look to be on the same page, and have helped to forget the exclusion of Rio Ferdinand, at least for now.
Ashley Young had a few runs today that with a better final pass could have caused some problems for Hugo Lloris. One of Young's passes met James Milner who was unable to find the back of the net from a tight angle after making his way around Lloris.
One question many will ask is why did James Milner start on the wing instead of someone with more pace if England was looking to play on the counter attack? Milner's lack of pace in comparison to England's other options made Chamberlain their biggest threat out wide, with the exception of when Young made his way to the sidelines. Why not Theo Walcott instead of the Manchester City midfielder?
It will be interesting to see Hodgson's approach in England's next match. Will he play a more balanced philosophy, allowing his midfield to offer more support to their front-men? Or will he continue to play defensive hoping to use their pace and creativity on the break?
For the amount of talent on the pitch in today's match, one would have expected a more entertaining match. Hodgson's inclusion of Arsenal's young winger Oxlad-Chamberlain in the starting squad surprised a few fans. With Chamberlain, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck, England had the pace needed to try and hit France on the counter-attack.
Many fan's will have expected Hodgson to play so defensive just for the fact that France could be realistically looked at as the stronger team in the group. While England fan's could argue that, a point against France could be beneficial considering the Three Lions now face a weaker but moralized Ukraine, and a very offensive Sweden.
England and France should make it out of their group, but the key factor will likely be who drops points against Ukraine. Hodgson will have to take on a different approach in his next match against Sweden.
Although very defensive and cautious, England can take a few positive notes from today's performance. They looked organized at the back and trusted each other on the field. With a less defensive-minded midfield, and with more help going forward, Welbeck, Young and Chamberlain could cause serious problems for Sweden.
The English back-line looked very solid considering many fan's questioned the English defense heading into the tournament. Lescott and Terry look to be on the same page, and have helped to forget the exclusion of Rio Ferdinand, at least for now.
Ashley Young had a few runs today that with a better final pass could have caused some problems for Hugo Lloris. One of Young's passes met James Milner who was unable to find the back of the net from a tight angle after making his way around Lloris.
One question many will ask is why did James Milner start on the wing instead of someone with more pace if England was looking to play on the counter attack? Milner's lack of pace in comparison to England's other options made Chamberlain their biggest threat out wide, with the exception of when Young made his way to the sidelines. Why not Theo Walcott instead of the Manchester City midfielder?
It will be interesting to see Hodgson's approach in England's next match. Will he play a more balanced philosophy, allowing his midfield to offer more support to their front-men? Or will he continue to play defensive hoping to use their pace and creativity on the break?
