Awful display had to mean Hodgson exit
ROY HODGSON had already said he had no intention of begging for a new contract and it was probably just as well. Had he stayed it would have been most undignified and probably rather fruitless.
England were shambolic here, their failure not only to defend an early lead but conceding two goals after 18 minutes to a side coached by a dentist was one of the more distressing episodes in their history.
It was extraordinary, the sight of Gary Neville waving wildly from the technical area after seeing the defence he is supposed to organise collapse being a measure of England’s desperation here in Nice.
The first goal Iceland goal was embarrassing simply because even Hodgson had noted the threat posed by Aron Gunnarsson’s long throws.
But the second? Never mind Joe Hart committing yet another major error. It was the sight of Iceland’s forwards passing their way through the England defence before Kolbeinn Sigthorsson unleashed his shot.
An Austria side unable to progress to the last 16 here managed to survive until the dying seconds of their encounter with Iceland before conceding a second goal. England were unable to show anything close to that level of solidity.
Long before Hodgson settled on a central defensive pairing of Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling we knew the back four was England’s Achilles heel. That Hodgson is unfortunate not to be calling on defenders of the quality of John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and many of those who came before them.
We also knew Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, as impressive as they can be going forward, were not in the same league as Neville and Ashley Cole. Indeed it was Walker who was at fault for the opening Iceland goal, losing Ragnar Sigurdsson and so enabling him to seize on Kari Arnason’s flick with a close-range volley. But this wasn’t France. This was not even Wales. This was the smallest country to qualify for a major tournament.
This was a team with a goalkeeper who makes TV commercials, and a governing body recruiting talent from a population equal to Leicester’s. So it came down not to the England players but to the manager who oversaw those alarming displays.
After four years and 52 games this was the best Hodgson could come up with in the first knockout stage of his third tournament. He called on 78 players in that time, using 19 of them in France after making six changes to his side in the last two games.
It was too early to judge Hodgson in 2012. But the manner in which England were outclassed by Italy was a sign of things to come, even if Hodgson’s side did only lose that quarterfinal in Kiev on penalties.
Fast forward two years to the World Cup in Brazil, and there was not a hint of progress, England losing meekly to Italy and then Uruguay and finding themselves eliminated after only two matches. Hodgson clung to the idea his players had performed with a bit of pace and fluency during the opening 45 minutes in Manaus, but overall it was dire display. At the time it was clear that a change was required. But short of alternatives, the FA chose to stick with the 66-year-old recruited from West Bromwich and the 10 straight victories he secured in qualifying for Euro 2016 left them feeling vindicated. But when the business of tournament football returns Hodgson looked bereft of ideas as well as inspiration. He arrived at the training base in Chantilly with no idea of his best team and the sheer number of changes he made illustrated as much. Having discarded Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling 45 minutes into that similarly difficult match with Wales, he recalled them last night. And after four minutes in Nice, he and Sterling enjoyed a degree of redemption.
But this quickly turned into another desperate situation demanding desperate measures, with Hodgson first hooking Eric Dier for Jack Wilshere and then Sterling for Jamie Vardy.
It was the team’s lack of fluidity and confidence that rattled Hodgson’s employers at the FA. That England came nowhere near to playing to their potential four years into his tenure finally condemned the manager.