Tuesday 7.45pm - England v Ukraine - Preview / Match Thread

SheffieldRed

England v Ukraine – Tuesday 19 June, 7.45pm kick off

Fifa rankings:
England 6
Ukraine 52

The final game of the group stage sees England return to Donetsk, scene of their opening match in the tournament against France. This match pits England against the co-hosts, Ukraine, the forebears of both nations having fought one another in the Crimean war. It appears likely only one of these two teams can win the battle to qualify for the next round, and a draw would be sufficient for England.

Both teams come into the match having beaten Sweden. However, England drew against France, whilst the Ukrainians were comfortably beaten by the French. In addition, England will have their star player, in Wayne Rooney, returning for this fixture.

Tactics
Amid the inevitable passion and hubris that playing a host nation entails, there will be a need for calm heads. Under Roy Hodgson there will be no charge of the light brigade.

England are likely to play a modified version of the 4-5-1 used against the French and the 4-4-2 used in the game against Sweden. They will instead play something resembling a cross between the two, in essence 4-4-1-1, with a withdrawn striker. This will mean Rooney starting up front for England slightly behind Danny Wellbeck, with Andy Carroll reverting to the bench despite his goal against Sweden.

England’s back five will be unchanged from the opening fixtures of this competition. Scott Parker will continue to anchor the midfield, allowing Steven Gerrard to get forward. The occupants of the wide positions are not certain. Hodgson may start with Ashley Young and James Milner. Although it would not be a surprise to see either Theo Walcott or Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain start, they may be kept on the bench and used as substitutes.

Ukraine will line up in a similar fashion to England, Andrey Shevchenko playing in a similar role to Rooney in a 4-4-1-1 formation. Parker’s ability to negate Anatoliy Tymoshchuk will be pivotal. Whilst Ukraine can play a quick attacking game, they may under pressure resort to hitting the ball forward and hoping for the best.

One to watch:
England - Rooney
Ukraine - Tymoshchuk

Odds:
England to win 5/4
Ukraine to win 12/5
Draw 23/10
(Paddy Power)

Prediction:
The neutral will embrace the story that sees Ukraine as hosts progress to the next round via a Shevchenko winning goal. However, England’s superior ability should be enough to get them a result. England to win, with Rooney marking his return with a goal and a booking.

England 2 Ukraine 1

MattD

2-2 Rooneys return to be dissapointing

sam3110

I don't care how good Rooney apparently is, I'd start Carroll and Welbeck and bring him on as an impact sub, he needs to learn that you can't act like a complete arse. To be honest he's lucky he's even eligible for this match

Bagpuss

This is going to be a grudge match, after the Crimean War. 1 - 1.

oohaahmortimer

if we lose to ukraine then we will deserve to be out of the competition they were truly awful against france

2-0 to the in ger land

Macronate

with Rooney back we will be more potent on the counter attack which may suit us in this particular game.

the wide men (whoever they are) cannot be any worse than the Sweden game (Milner and Young were dreadful) and have to stay disciplined.

Parker's role important tonight.

1-0.

Elthamaddick

a 1-1 draw and we finish runners up and play Spain saturday night

McBobbin

2-0 England if we don't defend like we did against Sweden. Not enough to top the group as France will whoop Sweden.

charlton_hero

4-1 England

O-Randy-Hunt

I'm going for the Desmond 2-2 and Spain in the qtrs

Still I'm tempted to put another 50 on france and us but think we will draw

ValleyGary

think we will punish Ukraine tonight. They need to win and looked terrible at the back against France.

Open game which we will win 3-0. Rooney brace and Gerrard with the other.

Lincsaddick

A hostile crowd, a fired up Ukranian team, a sultry night .. perfect for England who always perform better with a backs to the wall mentality.
It will be very difficult .. but ... England 2 v Ukraine 0

barstool

3-1 to England with the dream team scousers scoring (Pele and Gerrard)

MrOneLung

nervy nervy game - England to lead, Ukraine to equalise.

Addickted4life

I don't care how good Rooney apparently is, I'd start Carroll and Welbeck and bring him on as an impact sub, he needs to learn that you can't act like a complete arse. To be honest he's lucky he's even eligible for this match

THIS. Rooney is constantly crap for England and has been a let down since Euro 04. We've been doing fine so far and Roy doesn't need to change a winning formula. The only player I might change is Walcott for Milner even though I think Walcott is better used as an impact sub.

2-0 England, we go on to face Spain in the quarters........

south london sing

I don't care how good Rooney apparently is, I'd start Carroll and Welbeck and bring him on as an impact sub, he needs to learn that you can't act like a complete arse. To be honest he's lucky he's even eligible for this match

I wouldn't be making any punishments to Rooney in the way you have suggested in our most important match in ages. If it were in a friendly, I would agree, but he would make the team better (in my opinion) and thats far more important than morals (ie. punishing him and leaving him on the reserves/bench). The same applied with Tevez and Mancini at City


England 1 Ukraine 0... We'll have our backs to the wall for last 10 minutes, but we'll hang on

cafctom

I don't care how good Rooney apparently is, I'd start Carroll and Welbeck and bring him on as an impact sub, he needs to learn that you can't act like a complete arse. To be honest he's lucky he's even eligible for this match

I wouldn't be making any punishments to Rooney in the way you have suggested in our most important match in ages. If it were in a friendly, I would agree, but he would make the team better (in my opinion) and thats far more important than morals (ie. punishing him and leaving him on the reserves/bench). The same applied with Tevez and Mancini at City

Fully agreed. All this talk of morals and lesson teaching - I have no interest in any of that if we end up winning because we have a stronger team.

Let's say we don't play Rooney and we end up getting beat. Are we all going to turn round and say "Oh well, doesn't matter, maybe Rooney has been converted now."

No.

LawrieAbrahams

To progress to the semis or final we would need Rooney playing at his best, so he has to come in now - I think it's a no-brainer.

colthe3rd

I don't care how good Rooney apparently is, I'd start Carroll and Welbeck and bring him on as an impact sub, he needs to learn that you can't act like a complete arse. To be honest he's lucky he's even eligible for this match

I wouldn't be making any punishments to Rooney in the way you have suggested in our most important match in ages. If it were in a friendly, I would agree, but he would make the team better (in my opinion) and thats far more important than morals (ie. punishing him and leaving him on the reserves/bench). The same applied with Tevez and Mancini at City

Fully agreed. All this talk of morals and lesson teaching - I have no interest in any of that if we end up winning because we have a stronger team.

Let's say we don't play Rooney and we end up getting beat. Are we all going to turn round and say "Oh well, doesn't matter, maybe Rooney has been converted now."

No.

Even though statistically we win a higher percentage of games without Rooney in the side, of course there can be no correlation between that and England's superstar can there?

Wheresmeticket

Yeh, Rooney needs the match time. Impact sub at 60 mins if we are less than 2 goals up, or getting him up to speed sub at half time if we are 2 or more.

Having said that I haven't the faintest idea how this would work and don't actually know what I am talking about, unlike everyone else on this forum.




;0)

Wheresmeticket

Argh, so good he posted it twice.

Not.

south london sing

I don't care how good Rooney apparently is, I'd start Carroll and Welbeck and bring him on as an impact sub, he needs to learn that you can't act like a complete arse. To be honest he's lucky he's even eligible for this match

I wouldn't be making any punishments to Rooney in the way you have suggested in our most important match in ages. If it were in a friendly, I would agree, but he would make the team better (in my opinion) and thats far more important than morals (ie. punishing him and leaving him on the reserves/bench). The same applied with Tevez and Mancini at City

Fully agreed. All this talk of morals and lesson teaching - I have no interest in any of that if we end up winning because we have a stronger team.

Let's say we don't play Rooney and we end up getting beat. Are we all going to turn round and say "Oh well, doesn't matter, maybe Rooney has been converted now."

No.

Even though statistically we win a higher percentage of games without Rooney in the side, of course there can be no correlation between that and England's superstar can there?

True- there is some correlation, but you cant put the blame on Rooney. Even though we've lost plenty of games with Rooney in the team, we would of probably still lost them if he had been replaced by another striker (ie. Defoe, Carroll, Welbeck..take your pick)

MrOneLung

I don't care how good Rooney apparently is, I'd start Carroll and Welbeck and bring him on as an impact sub, he needs to learn that you can't act like a complete arse. To be honest he's lucky he's even eligible for this match

I wouldn't be making any punishments to Rooney in the way you have suggested in our most important match in ages. If it were in a friendly, I would agree, but he would make the team better (in my opinion) and thats far more important than morals (ie. punishing him and leaving him on the reserves/bench). The same applied with Tevez and Mancini at City

Fully agreed. All this talk of morals and lesson teaching - I have no interest in any of that if we end up winning because we have a stronger team.

Let's say we don't play Rooney and we end up getting beat. Are we all going to turn round and say "Oh well, doesn't matter, maybe Rooney has been converted now."

No.

Even though statistically we win a higher percentage of games without Rooney in the side, of course there can be no correlation between that and England's superstar can there?

Well maybe it is because he plays in all the games against the higher rated teams whereas he is probably rested in the meaningless friendlies against poor opposition.

ShootersHillGuru

1 - 1

McBobbin

is it cause or just correlation? Rooney is one of our best players, but if he improves the team, then he has to play

Miserableoldgit

A thug, a footballer, a racist and an adulterer walk into a bar.
The barman asks, "what would you like Mr Terry?"
Despite that....COME ON ENGLAND!

Webby

We never do things the easy way so despite a one nil lead at half time, Ukraine will equalize soon after half time to make a frantic and sloppy second half ending in a very relieved one all draw ......

Karim_myBagheri

pretty funny article about ukraine fans supporting england.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eeeengland-will-win-euro-2012-with-rooney--a-real-gentleman-declares-ukraines-barmy-army-7857334.html?origin=internalSearch

se9addick

pretty funny article about ukraine fans supporting england.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eeeengland-will-win-euro-2012-with-rooney--a-real-gentleman-declares-ukraines-barmy-army-7857334.html?origin=internalSearch

The girls comments about Rooney ate fantastic. Unfortunately she's 19, so far too young for him !

Robbo on the wing

I am hoping that whatever happens we finish second rather than first, thereby playing Spain in quarters.
This would allow a route to final without having to play the Germans (who I think are the strongest looking team so far)

Stig

If I could have one bet it would be that England will be in red tonight. I can't see those marketing boys missing the chance to wear three colours in three games.