England 5-0 Moldova (Lampard 3(pen), 29 Defoe 32, Milner 74, Baines 83)
I'm not doing a full report for this game because, well, there really isn't much to say. Quite simply, England were brilliant, Moldova were awful, but we cant really read too much into the game because of the (lack of) strength of the opposition. Nonetheless, it was nice to see Gerrard and Lampard work well together and the emerging talent of Oxlade Chamberlain come to the fore again. Line up: (4-2-3-1)
Hart; Johnson 8, Terry 7, Lescott 7, Baines 7; Gerrard (Carrick 45, 6)7, Lampard 8; Milner 6, Cleverley 7, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Walcott 58, 6)8; Defoe 7 (Welbeck 68, 6).
England 1-1 Ukraine (Lampard 87 (pen)) (Konoplianka 39)
It was a game in which England didn't play particularly well but still controlled various stages of the match, and also were terrific and atrocious in equal measure. The visitors impressive performance against Hodgson's men in the Euros, where they dominated possession and were unlucky not to draw (after a shot that went past the line wasn't spotted by the linesman), should've given England a clue this would be a tough game and so it proved. Indeed, Hodgson said afterwards that there was a sense of relief that England managed to come away with a point. In the first period, far too much time was spent with the ball with our centre halves. However, our second half performance was great to see as we threw off the shackles and Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard bombed on to great effect. The impact substitutes, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge, both contributed to a higher tempo that inevitably caused Ukraine to crack and Yevgen Khacherdi handled in the area when Welbeck tried to flick the ball over him. Lampard is an incredibly efficient penalty taker, having already scored 3 this season against Wigan, Reading and Moldova. Only a minute later, and skipper Gerrard was sent off after a late challenge. It was his first red card in his 98 appearances for England, but he cant really have any complaints as it was clumsy and not necessary. But he will miss the clash with San Marino, as will Glen Johnson, and the card happy ref also gave bookings too Lescott, Milner, Defoe and 3 Ukrainians. Talking of the referee, many were unhappy at him disallowing a superb Defoe strike early on due to a hand off on Andriy Yarmolenko. Although there was contact, he certainly went down easily. So it was amusing to see that after he was smashed in the face by Gerrard later in the second half, even drawing blood, his team mate Rotan just brushed it off and got on with it straight away. The ref certainly was average but did well to not cave into the pressure late on when Welbeck went over under a challenge. The biggest thing that I noticed was the abject non performance of Tom Cleverley, who was well below par in the advanced midfield role. He gave away possession frequently(including one terrible piece of control leading to Gerrard having to clear off the line from Rotan) and generally was off the pace. Ukraine began to asset themselves in the game and Germash missed a chance before the goal. Cleverley missed from 2 yards after good play from Gerrard and Defoe, and at the other end Konoplianka scored a top goal, curling a shot high in the top corner from outside the area after cutting inside Gerrard. It was just one of many examples in the first half of Ukraine exhibiting superior technique. There was no blame attached to Joe Hart for the goal as England reacted well, and Cleverley missed two more excellent chances in his mission to make every single member of the press who built him up after the Moldova game look stupid (including Hodgson, who compared him to Cesc Fabregas.). Konoplianka was the constant threat, testing Johnson for pace consistently on the break. England got better though, Welbeck and Strurridge came on, and Glen Johnson went close with a left foot shot before Welbeck hit the post when he should have been celebrating his third England goal. However after England went a man down they acknowledged a draw would be a decent result, so no further efforts on goal were made.
Player ratings
Joe Hart Couldn't have done much about the goal, and overall a decent game but was troubled when Ukraine hit the post in the opening minutes when Gusev's cross was deflected. Still the undisputed first choice for Man City and England. Rating 6/10
Glen Johnson Another good performance to shout down the pro-Richards and pro-Walker lobbies. Was effective in possession and can beat a man. Yes, defensively he remains suspect to good wingers, but Konoplianka never really had him on the ropes, despite being skinned a couple of times. Also links well with Milner in a partnership that is getting better with every game. Rating 7/10
Phil Jagielka Struggled in possession, given the ball away too often, and didn't impose himself. Is the Everton man maybe out of his depth at this level? I personally don't think so, but at the same time don't want him to be first choice. By the time the World Cup in Brazil rolls around, expect Gary Cahill to have overtaken him. Rating 6/10
Joleon Lescott Gave the ball away for the goal and generally wasn't as solid as he was last season. Hodgson thought that by picking three members of the defence who had played well together at Everton communication wouldn't be a problem, but too often Lescott was out of position or had limited options to pass too. To be fair, none of the defenders were helped by the unwillingness of Gerrard or Cleverley to come deep and start attacks(especially in the first half). Perhaps more importantly no holding midfielder meant the defence could be exposed. Rating 6/10
Leighton Baines (Bertrand 73) Unspectacular performance from Baines, but at the same time made few mistakes and showed for the ball often. Replaced by Bertrand as England looked for more of a direct attacking threat. Rating 6/10
Steven Gerrard A real captain's performance form Gerrard, who led by example and in the second half was back to his commanding self. Playing in Brendan Rodgers possession based Liverpool 4-3-3 stifles Gerrard's strengths, and you get the sense that he relishes playing and leading England as it is an escape as his team are in as poor a state as they have been in living memory. You could see the anguish on his face as the ref gave his second booking- he would only miss the last few minutes and San Marino, but Gerrard must know this current qualifying cycle will probably be his last, so he wants to grasp every game. Broke forward well in the second half, and linked up well with Lampard. Did however get beaten for the goal too easily. Rating 8/10
Frank Lampard Was great in his use of the ball and was the one England player willing to receive the ball deep, turn, and start an attack. Lampard's transformation in the last year to a deep lying passer has been a resounding success for Chelsea and England. And although he doesn't get into the box as much as he used to, he still scores goals- he now has 26 goals for England. Was influential right til the death. Rating 8/10 (my man of the match)
James Milner Effectively covers when Johnson goes on a run, but can play a bit too himself. One particular instance when he turned the Ukraine left back inside out before playing in Cleverley who contrived to hit the post. He has his critics but is always willing to run for the cause and is also one of the best crossers in the Premier League. Indeed, Defoe should really have got on the end of one of them. Also needed because the non selection of Carrick meant he was the defensive midfielder when Ukraine broke. Rating 7/10
Tom Cleverley(Welbeck 62) Awful. Simply, awful. Admittedly he was played in role that was still unfamiliar to him, but really, the folly of the anointing him as our new saviour was shown up to be premature. He gave possession away almost every time he had it, ran into traffic, missed three excellent chances, and committed fouls in odd situations. Cleverley has a long way to go before he can claim to be in the same class as Ukrainian captain Tymoschuk, something illustrated by the sad fact that he has only started 8 games for Manchester United. As Ben Smith put it in his article for the BBC on the subject, "the arrival of Cleverley as a international player remains a theory, rather than a reality... Cleverley was shackled by the disciplined obduracy of Anatoly Timoschuk during a chastening 61 minutes at Wembley" He shouldn't be starting in a role for England that he has never played for his club. Let him first play some games for Utd. It cant get much worse. Rating 4/10
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain(Sturridge 69) Frustrating, Looked good when he was on the ball but too often ran into traffic and was poor without the ball, and his inexperiecne showed when Ukraine were dominating. Still, he has a bright future, and looked okay in the number 10 role briefly. But Hodgson was correct in taking off the player, who has much talent to offer but needs to learn the trade a bit more. Rating 6/10
Jermain Defoe The great thing about Defoe being up front is that his lack of aerial ability means that England look to play the long ball less, and all the best moves came from short quick passing. Defoe himself didn't have that many chances, was disallowed a goal probably correctly, and only really got into the game after Strurridge was sent on to play as his foil. He was always sharp though, and his presence helped win the penalty. Rating 7/10
Subs
Danny Welbeck Was really bright when he came on. Started off on the wing and showed a willingness to pick up the ball from the defence and attack from there. True enough, he was often hovering around the halfway line offering an option. When he was moved into the centre after the Strurrdge substitution, he was effective and offered the defence a different threat. He should have scored the chance he got when he hit the post from about 10 yards out, but made up for it by winning the penalty. Rating 7/10
Daniel Sturridge His movement and pace made England more direct in the final moments, and was creating chances often as he is a player who is hard to keep quiet. Should have done better with a couple of crosses, but overall, did the job Hodgson told him to: go out an make an impact. Rating 7/10
Ryan Bertrand Replaced Baines because of his attacking ability- has played on the wing for Chelsea before- and the dearth of options available to Hodgson (Lallana andSterling were the only real other attacking alternatives.) Was involved crucially in the goal. Rating 6/10
Subs not used:Ruddy, Butland, Walker, Cahill, Carrick, Livermore, Lallana ,Sterling.
Considering the host of players unavailable to him,(Terry, Rooney, Young, Cole, Parker to name just a few) Hodgson should be pleased with the result. Ukraine deserved to draw and maybe in the grand scheme of things a draw at home to the next best side in the group is not the be all and end all, after all, in Euro 2012 qualifying, England drew with Montenegro twice and Switzerland came to wembley and got a point, but we still won the group easily.
Team Rating : 7/10
Thanks for reading, Adam.
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