So, we are a week into the Euros, and it hasn't been without this
controversies; Greece have been conned by referees, Holland have had an
absolute shocker, Spain prefer to play with no strikers whatsoever and now
there's one hell of a thunderstorm underway.
Thankfully,
England are going to be able to play once that France game is finished, which
is always a positive. This game has so much hinging on it because no-one wants
to go into the final game - especially against the hosts - needing a result.
It's just as well, then, that we have possibly the weakest opposition in the
most important fixture - judging by the first game anyway.
It's
difficult to think where Sweden's threat comes from apart from the obvious
Ibrahimovic - one man can't carry a whole team forward - not on the
international stage. Just think how many superstars Holland have and how awful
they're doing. Their centre forward is Bolton reject Johan Elmander, not really
known for his prolific ability in this country or indeed in his current one, Turkey,
where he only scores every 3 games. Unsurprisingly, he is overdue for a goal,
but it does mean that compared to France, England should have less of a
defensive job to do this evening.
As
far as this game is concerned the expectation and therefore the pressure should
be firmly on English shoulders - that's despite the fans being outnumbered
4-to-1 by yellow and blue Scandinavians. We are better than Sweden. There is no
reason that, even with the injuries we have, we should have no problem slicing
the Swedish defence open. Mellberg is nowhere near as good as he used to be
(wasn't amazing in the first place), and all our players have vast experience
of getting past Blackburn's Martin Olsson.
Despite
England's seemingly clear superiority over the Swedes, they do feel very
confident about this game, almost arrogant. It's as if all Swedes have come
together to become one huge version of Ibrahimovic and thinking that they are
the best team in the world and they can beat anyone, and although you can admire
their attitude, sorry Sweden, it's incredibly unrealistic.
It
seems unthinkable that we can lose this game. We had a brilliant defensive
display against France and we can be full of confidence from it, whereas Sweden
lost the game and although they'll need and want it more, they'll be low on
confidence. They conceded twice from crosses with some shocking defending -
maybe this is the perfect time for Roy to start Big Andy up front - even if he
is in place of the Ox. Milner somehow still looks set to start despite his
unforgivable howler against France – and the fact he almost gifted Nasri an
empty net to score in the second half.
Now
it is time for England to deliver. The quality of France didn’t allow England
to show us what they can really do, and you can bet your life we can show it
against Sweden. A win here tonight and we might even top the group going into
the final game – and how good would that be. Let’s back Roy’s Boys to get the
job done. This is England’s time to shine.
Come
On England!
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