England must keep a clean sheet against Slovakia after leaking goals in first two Euro 2016 games
Roy Hodgson's side conceded against both Russia and Wales in their first two Group B matches
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EVERYONE will hope for a 3-0 win over Slovakia tonight but you have to be realistic.
I would settle for a boring 0-0 draw because, for once, we need to keep things nice and solid.
Slovakia are a better team than some people give them credit for despite the defeat to Wales. They beat Germany before the Euros and also saw off Spain in qualifying.
That is why it is so vitally important that, after conceding silly goals against Russia and Wales, Roy Hodgson’s England need to keep a clean sheet.
Against the Welsh, we got away with it due to the offensive talent we have in the team.
We deserved the win but there were still some worries.
Joe Hart has made the mistake and got pulled all over the place while I believe the man of the match was not wearing an England shirt but was actually Aaron Ramsey.
But this defence in particular has more work to do. That is why Hodgson needs to play the same back four of Kyle Walker, Chris Smalling, Gary Cahill and Danny Rose.
Hopefully, they can improve their consistency. Another game together can only be good for them.
I still do not think it is coming together defensively but we have to keep them together as we do not have anything else. This must be a major frustration for the manager.
Maybe the familiarity of playing alongside each other for a fourth successive game will help but I do not think it will make any difference.
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This is about as good as it gets for our defence.
So, for once let’s keep that clean sheet as that will build confidence.
Unfortunately, I just do not think we are capable of not conceding.
Slovakia will score but I still think we will get more goals than them because this is the feature of this England team.
We have so much talent up front, I would once again start with Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling, even though Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge made an impact. You need to make sure the team has a balance.
Vardy and Sturridge were lucky that the Wales defence, under so much pressure in the first half, started to tire.
These guys are on fire for us at the moment and we have to make sure we do not over-complicate things or the formation.
Now we have four points, we should go through.
Euro 2016 is like the Europa League when it is more difficult to get knocked out.
There is no doubt that there are some real tests around the corner but particularly for Hodgson’s defence.
Tonight, the game is in Saint-Etienne, the place where England suffered a penalty shootout loss to Argentina in the 1998 World Cup.
Michael Owen scored a great goal but I thought the defending was poor.
Equally, people remember David Beckham getting sent off which meant we had to play for virtually all the second half — and extra-time — with ten men.
Then there was David Batty’s missed penalty.
I remember the fans, who were amazing.
I went into the dressing room afterwards and said to Becks: ‘Thanks mate. That’s my last chance and you blew it for me. You’re a young man and you f**ked it up’.”
I was not being serious. We have all been there.
It was at that moment I knew that Beckham had what it would take to enjoy a fantastic career, which was certainly the case.
I was blown away by how emotional Beckham was, crying his eyes out.
He was being human and was not afraid to show his emotions.
I had been sober for two years but before then, I would just have run off with a bottle.
The game against Slovakia is different for many reasons — not least because, potentially, we could lose and still go through.
But I fear there could be a few more tears over our defence.
