Bulldog spirit

I was pleasantly surprised by that. I thought England started both halves with good intent and showed a lot of industry. Often it was a little backs-to-the-wall but white shirts bravely threw themselves into shot after shot. The type of character that makes an Englishman cheer but a Spaniard or Italian whince.

There were some good performances, in particular Parker, Welbeck and Young. Oxlade Chamberlain also showed patches of fearlessness. I did think Johnson was poor though. Sadly after we took the lead we played so deep we were almost playing in Volgograd whilst the French were in Donetsk.

We did the same in the 2nd half after a bright opening but some bulldog spirit was in evidence. Let’s be honest we are better if we just play like a Premier League team than if we do like a European or South American one.

The French were good in parts, particularly Nasri and Debuchy and Les Bleus passed the ball with a lot more superiority. Happy with a draw though.

Meanwhile it was unusual to see so many empty seats in the stadium and English fans being outnumbered by the opposition. I read on Twitter that there are concerns about the number of Ukrainians walking around in England shirts. Meanwhile Poland host Russia tomorrow, who have already shown their hooligan intent. Looks like this is a shift in the focus on tournament troublemakers.

I see 62-year old Andriy Shevchenko scored twice in Ukraine’s 2-1 win over Sweden. Probably a better result for us as it means Sweden will have to be more expansive on Friday.