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| Our Robert |
Monday 4th September 2017
World Cup 2018 Qualifier
at Wembley Stadium
England (1) 2
Eric Dier 37, Marcus Rashford 59
Slovakia (1) 1
Stanislav Lobotka 3
Attendance 67,823
Hart, Walker, Cahill, Jones, Bertrand, Dier, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alli, Rashford, Kane
Subs - Butland, Smalling, Cresswell, Keane, Stones, Chalobah, Livermore, Sturridge, Welbeck, Vardy, Sterling, Heaton
Dubravka, Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Hubocan, Skriniar, Lobotka, Weiss, Hamsik, Mak, Nemec
Subs - Novota, Gyomber, Gregus, Duda, Mihalik, Rusnak, Hrosovsky, Mazan, Sabo, Kucka, Duris, Polacek
The area surrounding the stadium, illustrates pretty much, that austerity is an outer London first world problem; with the ever expanding Wembley Designer Shopping Outlet, multiple newly built high rise swanky homesteads, desirable residencies and new business premises, demonstrating a level of prevalent opulence within the capital city metropolis, that borders on disgustingly obscene.
Amidst all the unaffordable monuments to greed, avarice, acquisitiveness and materialistic neglect of the rest of the country, there is also a Sainsbury's Extra, that knocks meal deals for three quid... and on the occasion of international football matches, they have to employ an army of security staff to deal with the queues, at what is quite possibly the only eatery/provisions store, within a mile of 'the home of football' that you don't need to take out a second mortgage to be able to afford to shop at.
As I made my way towards tonight's entertainment, clutching onto the 5p carrier bag containing my poor mans feast of a BLT sandwich (containing more gunky and overly salty mayonnaise than any B, L or T), a grab sized bag packet of Balsamic Vinegar and Sea Salt crinkle cut wedges (FFS, even the crisps in London are pretentious) and a 500ml can of 'Restorative' carbonated energy drink (containing a most healthy 48% of sugars and other artery clogging chemicals), as I turned the corner, down in the High Street, somebody careered out of Boots without due care or attention. I suggest that they learn some pedestrian etiquette; i.e sidle out of the store gingerly. Embrace the margin.
I decided to devour my 'healthy option' dinner on the Wembley concourse, figuring it was wise to have mounted the stairs on the stadium approach before converting my heart into a ticking time bomb.
Amidst all the unaffordable monuments to greed, avarice, acquisitiveness and materialistic neglect of the rest of the country, there is also a Sainsbury's Extra, that knocks meal deals for three quid... and on the occasion of international football matches, they have to employ an army of security staff to deal with the queues, at what is quite possibly the only eatery/provisions store, within a mile of 'the home of football' that you don't need to take out a second mortgage to be able to afford to shop at.
I decided to devour my 'healthy option' dinner on the Wembley concourse, figuring it was wise to have mounted the stairs on the stadium approach before converting my heart into a ticking time bomb.
Upon approaching the automated turnstiles I was searched twice, you can't be too careful in this day and age, so hey ho! And I inserted my ticket into the appointed slot, but was denied entry three times. So I summoned the attention of a steward, who after insidiously enquiring if it was a 'proper ticket purchased from the FA and not from a tout near the station', suggested that I must be doing something wrong and should try the next turnstile if all else fails... which it did.
So I queued up again, was subjected to two further body searches and once again, my ticket was rejected.
I 'politely' called over another steward who suggested that I should try the next turnstile along, 'just in case there are problems with that one', thus abdicating the responsibilities, that he was being paid for, elsewhere.
Two more searches ensued, but this time I finally got through the gate and into the stadium, where I was confronted by a surly lady steward, who told me that I would need to be searched again 'properly' before going any further, but said she said that she could only search female supporters or it could constutute sexual harrasment... and I was directed to the male stewards who were stood just inside the original turnstile that I had queued up to use seemingly ages ago.
But nobody was entering the ground there now at all, because the ticket scanning equipment was malfunctioning and with just thirty minutes to go until kick off, a lot of people couldn't actually gain access to the stadium. And with no contingency plan in place for such an occurrence, they could only use their allocated entrances and were probably going to miss the kick off through no fault of their own.
The game kicked off at 7.45pm and some supporters were still trying to locate their seats at 8.20pm, which was proving problematic for all concerned, including those of us who were already in place when the game started.
I hope refunds will be made available and there is some sort of redress for those who were affected and involved, but I doubt it very much.
Those that missed the opening thirty minutes of the game, won't have seen that they were, by and large, dominated by the visiting side.
And why shouldn't they have been? All the pre match talk of this being an easy home game that England should've won by three or four goals with Harry Kane 'inevitably' chipping in against "a team like Slovakia".
A team like Slovakia!?
This isn't a pub team team, or a third world nation side thrown together to expand the global brand of football. This is the same Slovakian team that England struggled to beat in Trnava exactly twelve months ago to the day, when a ninety fifth minute Adam Lallana strike, saw a Sam Allardyce led team scrape a single goal win against a home side who had played with ten men foe the last thirty three minutes. It was to be Allardyce's only game in charge of the national team, before he was shown the door with a 100% win record.
In the grand scheme of things, England are 'a team like Slovakia'.
Except that tonight the Slovak's had a more experienced team out, who had won more international caps in total between them than the host side.
To illustrate my point, after taking tonight's result into account, England are currently 13th in the FIFA world rankings, Slovakia are 19th. They're no mugs and we're 'nowt special.
Some people understand the concept of England games, know the strengths and limitations of the national team, have a decent grasp of the reality of the onerous task that Gareth Southgate has on his hands.
Others head for social media, salivating and possibly even having a wank, over their own smart arsed comments about the shortcomings of the England team.
These 'enemy within' keyboard warrior dickheads are on a par with fifth columnists in my book.
So I queued up again, was subjected to two further body searches and once again, my ticket was rejected.
I 'politely' called over another steward who suggested that I should try the next turnstile along, 'just in case there are problems with that one', thus abdicating the responsibilities, that he was being paid for, elsewhere.
But nobody was entering the ground there now at all, because the ticket scanning equipment was malfunctioning and with just thirty minutes to go until kick off, a lot of people couldn't actually gain access to the stadium. And with no contingency plan in place for such an occurrence, they could only use their allocated entrances and were probably going to miss the kick off through no fault of their own.
The game kicked off at 7.45pm and some supporters were still trying to locate their seats at 8.20pm, which was proving problematic for all concerned, including those of us who were already in place when the game started.
Those that missed the opening thirty minutes of the game, won't have seen that they were, by and large, dominated by the visiting side.
And why shouldn't they have been? All the pre match talk of this being an easy home game that England should've won by three or four goals with Harry Kane 'inevitably' chipping in against "a team like Slovakia".
A team like Slovakia!?
This isn't a pub team team, or a third world nation side thrown together to expand the global brand of football. This is the same Slovakian team that England struggled to beat in Trnava exactly twelve months ago to the day, when a ninety fifth minute Adam Lallana strike, saw a Sam Allardyce led team scrape a single goal win against a home side who had played with ten men foe the last thirty three minutes. It was to be Allardyce's only game in charge of the national team, before he was shown the door with a 100% win record.
Except that tonight the Slovak's had a more experienced team out, who had won more international caps in total between them than the host side.
To illustrate my point, after taking tonight's result into account, England are currently 13th in the FIFA world rankings, Slovakia are 19th. They're no mugs and we're 'nowt special.
Some people understand the concept of England games, know the strengths and limitations of the national team, have a decent grasp of the reality of the onerous task that Gareth Southgate has on his hands.
Others head for social media, salivating and possibly even having a wank, over their own smart arsed comments about the shortcomings of the England team.
These 'enemy within' keyboard warrior dickheads are on a par with fifth columnists in my book.
The England team is a work in progress and probably will be nothing more than that, for a long time to come.
At the top end of the game, there are seldom any really entertaining fixtures any more, in what is purely a results based industry, where an 'underwhelming' win is worth just as many points as any all out attacking and dominant victory.
It is seldom pretty to watch, but a win, any kind of win, is a win.
England are now unbeaten in 37 consecutive qualifying games. Italy lost against Spain on Saturday when their qualifying game run ended at an impressive 56 game.
So, splitting hairs.... England's unbeaten sequence is the current longest such run in Europe.
So there!
As clutching goes, that may well constitute two whopping great handfuls of straws, but they must be getting something right. At the foreplay stage least-ways, even though their is no magic wand or blue tablets to enhance their performances when they reach the tournament stage.
Friendly games aside, England have lost only once in their last twenty three competitive matches, against Aldi, whoops! I meant Iceland, at the Euro 2016 tournament in France.
They drew 0-0 against Slovakia in the game prior to that.
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| 'Tis my blog, therefore I can edit the photos to suit ;-) |
Which eventually brings us on to tonight's game.
Stanislav Lobotka was gifted a goal by England's sloppy defending after just three minutes, after Marcus Radford had given the ball away to him. just outside the England area in the build up, meaning that by the end of the night, he could probably claim he had a hand in all three goals, but he probably won't be doing!
Lobotka quickly played the ball to Adam Nemec and continued his run, meeting Nemec's lob over the hosts defence in a one against one shoot out with Joe Hart, who seemed to be caught in two minds as the Slovakia number twenty two placed the ball past him.
Thirty year old Hart, is currently on loan at West Ham United from Manchester City. More than any other England keeper I can ever remember, Hart's performances come under circumspect criticism to the nth degree and given that kind of microscopic evaluation, any player in the world would give their haters a certain amount of ammunition to use against them.
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You lot can pipe dow, you've 'nowt to come.
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In recent living memory, England have never had a dearth of goalkeeping talent challenging for the number one shirt and snapping at the heels of the mainstays in that particular position. So there are and always have been other options too.
Without wanting to appear to be overly critical of Hart, who I have seen put in some great shifts, both for club and country, the current stats pertaining to Premier League goalkeeper's are fairly damning; click HERE for further details.
On and off the pitch, the first half was frustrating for the home support.
The inevitable disruption caused by people getting into Wembley late, meant that you needed to be up and down, in and out of your seat, letting people past and standing to see over the rows of people in front who were 'enjoying' the same experience.
With both teams setting out to play exactly the same formation, 4-4-1-1, it was proving to be a frustrating and lacklustre affair at times (most of the time) with two good, but nothing like brilliant teams cancelling each other our all over the park. But, that said, the Slovakians were making better use of the ball and were making England look second best... and their supporters seemed to be enjoying it too.
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| If you like it then you better put a bra on it! |
To be honest, if people were rubbishing Hart and even Rashford at this point, I hadn't even noticed that Dier was on the pitch until he scored.
Rashford is only nineteen for crying out loud, he was at fault in the opening couple of minutes, but beyond that he was England's man of the match by a considerable margin.
Traditionally a section of the Wembley crowd, like to get on the back of Manchester United players, in fact I have even heard booing when Paul Scholes name was announced at the national stadium... how cretinous is that?
Anybody who is doing their best for their country and representing the 'Three Lions' deserves exactly the same level of support as those who represent your own club, regardless of who they play for.
This is why there are certain sections of the ground that I prefer to use for England games, which are in the main, reularly populated by fans from teams like Cambridge United, Coventry City, Doncaster Rovers, Luton Town, Mansfield Town and a few non league sides.
There are no club issues, politics, biases or prejudices here... just England fans!
Rashford had plenty of further decisions to make in the game and didn't seem unduly fazed as he kept his focus along with the rest of his teammates, to firstly dig themselves out of a hole and salvage the game before working hard to ultimately clinch the win.
What England lack in guile and a bit of flair and ingenuity, they make up for in shed loads of heart, guts and application.
There are no outstanding world class individuals in this England side, no, not even your Dele Alli's and Harry Kane's, but they all are playing to their strengths, together, as a team... and if you're looking to England to give the world the next Pele, Cruyff, Ronaldo, Messi or even Charlton, Moore or Ormonroyd, then you are sadly misguided and need to take a little more water with your favourite tipple or get yourself off the crystal meth and crack rocks as a matter of some urgency.
England top group F by five points and need just a point from their next two games to guarantee qualification for the World Cup in Russia, because they are a set of grafters who don't fanny about doing things that are outwith the scope of their capabilities.
For the record those two remaining games are: Thursday 5th October v Slovenia at Wembley (7.45pm) and Sunday 8th October v Lithuania at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius (5pm).
Will England win the World Cup in Russia?
Well, they haven't qualified yet, but the answer to that question is: No!
Categorically no!
Today's pretty much like the rest of their, thus far, unbeaten campaign trail was pretty much a case of 'job done', without any frills or thrills... and it even did Scotland a favour, so potentially, England won't be the worst team at the World Cup, if (two letters but a bloody great big word), both teams qualify. Northern Ireland and Wales are in with a shout too.
Vladimir Weiss almost undid England again just before half time but Kyle Walker clattered into him and flattened him. I winced and pondered if that would only be a yellow card for the England right back or was the French referee, Clement Turpin, actually going to produce a red. Curiously he just waved play on.
I wonder how many 'Turpin and robbery' one liners there were on social media tonight at that precise moment.
Punny ha, ha!
HT: 1-1
There are no club issues, politics, biases or prejudices here... just England fans!
What England lack in guile and a bit of flair and ingenuity, they make up for in shed loads of heart, guts and application.
There are no outstanding world class individuals in this England side, no, not even your Dele Alli's and Harry Kane's, but they all are playing to their strengths, together, as a team... and if you're looking to England to give the world the next Pele, Cruyff, Ronaldo, Messi or even Charlton, Moore or Ormonroyd, then you are sadly misguided and need to take a little more water with your favourite tipple or get yourself off the crystal meth and crack rocks as a matter of some urgency.
England top group F by five points and need just a point from their next two games to guarantee qualification for the World Cup in Russia, because they are a set of grafters who don't fanny about doing things that are outwith the scope of their capabilities.
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| "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! It was the D.N.A!" |
Will England win the World Cup in Russia?
Well, they haven't qualified yet, but the answer to that question is: No!
Categorically no!
Today's pretty much like the rest of their, thus far, unbeaten campaign trail was pretty much a case of 'job done', without any frills or thrills... and it even did Scotland a favour, so potentially, England won't be the worst team at the World Cup, if (two letters but a bloody great big word), both teams qualify. Northern Ireland and Wales are in with a shout too.
Vladimir Weiss almost undid England again just before half time but Kyle Walker clattered into him and flattened him. I winced and pondered if that would only be a yellow card for the England right back or was the French referee, Clement Turpin, actually going to produce a red. Curiously he just waved play on.
I wonder how many 'Turpin and robbery' one liners there were on social media tonight at that precise moment.
Punny ha, ha!
HT: 1-1
It was fitting that Rashford scored the winning goal. He'd made a big, if not immense impact on the game and when Jordan Hendrson played the ball into his path after Alli and Dier and combined to win the ball in midfield, you could have put your whole Peaky Blinders DVD box set on him finishing with aplomb.
Not that England didn't have plenty of other shots on/at/towards the visitors goal over the night, but they seemed to be operating a shoot on sight from anywhere policy, as a series of goal attempts crashed off of Slovakian defenders, when perhaps, England had players who were better placed to provide the finishing touches that would have given this hard won result a more flattering look.
But, 2-1 will do me... and the group table makes for very healthy reading tonight.
Back at King's Cross station, some real chaos was brewing for later on, with train delays and even cancellations by the score, but the lady on the information desk advised me that I could jump on any train heading towards my destination under the circumstances, and as one was waiting to go at that very moment, I bagged a double table seat in a near empty carriage and was home a wrinkle in time after midnight. Another satisfactory result.
FT: England 2 v Slovakia 1
On my way home, I deleted and blocked five people on Twitter for posting shit about the game I had just watched.
If they want to hate their own national team and it's supporters so much (although I am well aware myself of the England side's shortcomings), I have no interest whatsoever in clogging up my timeline with their anti-English 'hate speak' and bile.
Well done to both Northern Ireland and even (at a very big push) Scotland tonight.
I have friends who follow both of these national teams and I have more respect for them and their opinions than the arseholes who get off on their own nation's international side not being anything special. Among the online bullshit, there was a very salient point made: "To say you don't care about the England team, you go on about it a lot!" Good call, that man.
