Roy Hodgson will be nervous ahead of England vs Wales – the Dragons are the last side he would want to face after opening game draw
Wales enter the game full of confidence and with untouchable Gareth Bale... England should be scared ahead of vital game
I'VE been to some great games in my time and played in some amazing matches.
But Wales’ 2-1 win over Slovakia on Saturday tops the lot for me.
I was standing close to the likes of Craig Bellamy, Kevin Ratcliffe, Tony Pulis and Robbie Savage and it was almost surreal.
But now it is time to take on England and I cannot wait.
THE MANAGERS
I heard people say Roy Hodgson should have got a new contract before the tournament kicked off. Do me a favour.
He’s lucky to be in the job at all given the way England performed at the World Cup in Brazil two years ago. They were awful and right now are not much better.
They have good players and I have a lot of respect for Wayne Rooney. But Hodgson is not getting the best out of that group.
Then look at Chris Coleman and the job he’s done with Wales. Gareth Bale is the obvious exception but, in terms of the overall squad, England are on another level.
We have players from the Championship for crying out loud. But which manager will be worrying more? There’s no doubt it will be Hodgson.
Did you see him with 25 minutes to go against Russia? He was the most nervous man in the stadium.
That’s not good enough for England.
THE PLAYERS
Gareth Bale is on a different level to anyone else playing on Thursday.
His goal was just incredible the other night, the way he got the dip on the ball. England have better players overall but are they in their right positions?
I’ll be thrilled from a Wales point of view if Jamie Vardy is overlooked again.
Look at the chances England had against Russia — there was no one on the end of them. But Vardy would have scored.
Hodgson will now be thinking of playing him against Wales but you wouldn’t put money on it, would you?
If he does he’ll need to change his system, pushing Rooney further forward.
PRIDE
Wales were bursting with the stuff in their first game but were England as hyped up? I’m not so sure.
The unity and togetherness within the Wales group is night and day from what it’s like within the England camp.
Joe Ledley broke his leg a few weeks ago but did everything to get fit for this tournament as it means so much to him.
I don’t see that in the England team and it’s one of the reasons they have the problems they have.
CONFIDENCE
Teams with a win in their first game have an 82% chance of getting through.
Wales won’t think the job is done but the stats prove we’re in the box seat.
England, on the other hand, are right up against it and they’ll know that.
Wales would probably take a point but England cannot afford to sit back and wait for things to happen.
I suspect Wales are the last team they’d want to face right now.
