What problems face England ahead of Euro 2016?

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England concluded their preparations for Euro 2016 on Thursday night with a narrow 1-0 win over a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portugal which ensured the three lions maintained their 100 per cent record before flying out to France. Although the last few results look good on paper, Roy Hodgson still has problems that seriously need addressing if he is looking to compete this summer.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hodgson held his pre-match press conference alongside Wayne Rooney and after being quizzed about what formation England are likely to play come 11th June, Roy was quoted as saying ‘systems win you nothing. Football players win you games.’ Now that may seem like an obvious thing to say, which it is, but it’s slightly worrying that he is keen to dismiss playing systems as key to winning football games, which is most often the difference in modern day football.

Hodgson may just be feeling the pressure in not knowing what his favoured formation is, having opted for a 4-3-3 formation in the last two major tournaments he has led England in. However, his decision to leave it until the last game to try Vardy and Kane up front together in a 4-4-2 diamond may have come a little too late as the pair did little to inspire on the night. Neither system that Hodgson has tried has been that effective in the warm-up games, with the build-up play looking slow and lacked any real imagination but a large part of that could be down to how Hodgson is preparing them on the training field.  Although the playing personnel at Hodgson’s disposal suggests we should be playing the diamond he may well stick with his trusted 4-3-3 which would frustrate fans as it would mean playing Leicester City man Jamie Vardy out wide.

Hodgson has tried both Tottenham star Dele Alli and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney in the role behind the striker, when opting for the diamond formation with the former providing lots of promise in the games against Germany and Turkey. However, it looks likely that it’ll be captain Wayne Rooney who plays in that role, with Hodgson favouring the Liverpudlian and pushing Alli into midfield for the final game against Portugal. The result of which didn’t provide much belief heading into the Russia game, which is only days away, as England lost their counter-attacking edge and struggled to break down the Portuguese defence.

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Rooney was dropping too deep to have any real impact up front, which meant that when he did get the ball, he wouldn’t be in the correct position to play the final ball through to Kane or Vardy and even though he proved that he can still drive at opposition defences (FA Cup final), Alli seems much better suited to that role with his pace and trickery. One of the two more advanced central midfield roles could be a position Rooney thrived in with his passing range along with his admirable work rate but it hasn’t been tested so Hodgson will probably stick him behind the striker(s).

One problem that England has had in the last few major tournaments is a stable defence. Not since World Cup 2006 have they had one of the best defences in the competition. That year the back four consisted of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Ashley Cole. That was possibly England’s best defence since the 90’s and have again struggled this year with Roy picking only three centre backs which goes to show the lack of competition for places in the position, albeit Dier who’s been taken as a centre-midfielder but can cover at centre-back. Chris Smalling, Gary Cahill and John Stones made the cut with all three of them having a season they won’t want to remember – Smalling less so.

It’s clear from the warm up games that when the centre-backs have the ball, they want to play it out on the ground but there were instances where they didn’t look like they knew where they wanted to play the ball. If they play like that against the big boys in Euro 2016, Joe Hart will be having nightmares. However, our full back positions seem as well covered as they have done for a while with Clyne, Walker, Rose and Bertrand all offering plenty of pace and attacking threat, although none of them are actually stand-out defenders, which means Hodgson has a lot of work to do on the training field to ensure we have a solid unit at the back.

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The 100 per cent record looks good going into Euro 2016, but Roy Hodgson will know that his side will have to do much better if they are to compete in France.

Featured Image – All Rights Reserved by Steve Mcmetha.