England’s Performance in Euro 2016 – An Experiment that Proved to be Bad

It is a hard time for England’s manager Roy Hodgson as his team couldn’t beat even the worst teams like Slovakia and Russia in Euro 2016. England needed to win over Slovakia to top the group to make it more comfortable to reach the tournament’s knockout phase.

Hodgson did something weird at this crucial stage – he made six changes in the team. This is one of the strangest things to do by an England manager.

Without Captain Wayne Rooney, England could draw only 0-0 to make Wales as the beneficiaries since a 3-0 victory over Russia gave them the top spot in the group.

Why did Hodgson and England get that so wrong?

When Hodgson took the surprising decision to make six of the players rest that beat Wales, two things should have happened – they should have won over Slovakia and they had to end up to top their group. However, neither of these happened.

The reason behind Hodgson’s decision to dismantle England’s side that had finally given some energy to the team with that striking victory of 2-1 over Wales is known only to him and perhaps his coaching staff.

It is said to be an experiment, which managers do – resting players during the final games for groups; but they do it when the job is done, points are secured and there is nothing to be changed due to their decision. They don’t do that when results can still be different than victory. Hodgson did it without any solemn acknowledgement of the situation. So, with his decision, England missed the chance to go forward into Euro 2016.

It is obviously seen as a strange thing to do for a manager like Hodgson with such an experience – an absolutely unnecessary strategy carrying high risk.

It is considered highly arrogant that England, and especially Hodgson, assumed that such a drastic change can take them to the top position in the group. It was not the time to take such a risk and he shouldn’t have also taken Slovakia so lightly, a mistake a manager of his level mustn’t have made.

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