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Its wide roads are lined by drab Soviet apartment blocks while in the main square a giant statue of Lenin provides a jolting reminder of this country's past. This city was once known as Stalino.
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Could it be any worse than places like Middlesborough, Burnley, Blackburn and the like.

David you must stop mentioning the panorama programme its tiring.

COM'ON ENGLAND

oh, yawn on Rob04 with your comments regarding Middlesbrough.

you are the one who is tiring.

"If things go really badly there will be few places for his players to hide".

Dear Oh Dear. This really is an upbeat piece. I know expectations are rock bottom with Roy Hodgson steering the ship safely towards the rocks, but this whole blog reads like it was written by Eeyore.

Bernstein picked Hodgson because he's a 'yes-man' and will tow the uninspiring line. If England fail miserably there must be nowhere to hide for the current FA administrators who do not have the sense to pick a manager with originality.
But of course, if England seem to succeed then they will be looking good. Which begs the question; how is success measured for the England camp at this years Euros? Are we happy just to qualify out if our group? It seems so. And doesn't that just show exactly how ambitious the FA is?
If there is a massive dissappintment in Ukraine the FA must be reorganised with wiser heads, especially considering the poor handling of the Terry racism affair.
There will definitely be no place to hide!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

1. At 13:48 11th Jun 2012, Rob04 wrote:

Give it a rest mate.

Was there any point to this tediously downbeat tosh. For gods sake give it a rest and concentrate on the actual football.

'First the most important member of the team, Wayne Rooney, got himself suspended with a badly judged tackle in the final qualifier against Montenegro.'

Come on David, that is just pathetic. He kicked out at someone, it wasn't in any way, shape or form a tackle. He's an idiot, don't try and cover for him.

Could it be any worse than places like Middlesborough, Burnley, Blackburn and the like.

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Do you see Euro games being played in any of these town in the future/past?

There will be places to hide. How about the heat, the cold, the rain, the dry conditions, boredom, the base camp, tiredness, or no Joe Cole? I wonder what the weather was like on that evening in 1966 when England won the forst, the last, and the only trophy?

9.
At 14:28 11th Jun 2012, Boundaries wrote:

'First the most important member of the team, Wayne Rooney, got himself suspended with a badly judged tackle in the final qualifier against Montenegro.'

Come on David, that is just pathetic. He kicked out at someone, it wasn't in any way, shape or form a tackle. He's an idiot, don't try and cover for him.
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to be honest if i were an england player i'd be getting banned for most major comps. the players come back to hostile fans and headlines that are capable of destroying someones career. if england were to get rid of that maybe then the players could prefer to the level most do at club level.

Fed up of all the 'upbeat' lets look at the positives views. We need to be realistic England have arguably the best league in Europe - but has that helped us to have the best national team in europe? Not in my opinion.

Evra, Ben Arfa, Cabye, Mouluda, nasri all play in the prem - so we should be confident of at least having a fair chance against them - not all this come on look on the bright side - Look at the facts the oppositions top players play in our league - we should at least be able to match them.

the Donbass Arena was designed by Arup Sport, a British company, mainly out of their manchester office

2-1 England

Surely RH is more formerley the WBA manager? I am sure he's had a job since being sacked/leaving Liverpool?

Lokacious - - Well pointed out.

Take no notice of the often wrong, normally excrutiating author.

Enjoy the football.

Hodgson's getting pigeon-holed as a conservative, boring manager before he's even started... let's just see what he actually does on the day shall we?

The international teams he has managed in the past only offered scope for an anti-football strategy, whereas I'd argue that he is setting England up as a counter-attacking team which, for me, is exactly what he should be doing.

Come on People - some match predictions please...................

20.
At 15:04 11th Jun 2012, the_diego wrote:

Come on People - some match predictions please...................
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0-0. Can there be any other result really?

5-1 England.

Gerrard x 2, Young, Carroll x 2 when he's brought on in place of the powderpuff Welbeck.

10. Disco, I'm assuming he means Middlesbrough and although it has never hosted a Euros there was quite a bif match in 1966 where the North Koreans sprang a surprise.

2-2, error strewn high tempo game with loads of chances (we can dream)

and the olympic warm up games coming up next month.
the u21's played there a few months back.
oh, and hosted a full england game a few years back too.

so, yeah. nothing at all.

I agree that this tournament should be viewed as nothing more than an opportunity to "blood" some of the younger squad members and to give some of the older heads a chance at one final hurrah but i'm sceptical as to whether that was ever the FA or Hodgson's plan, let alone as to whether he's the right man for the job.

Had injuries not forced his hand and had a certain defender not allegedly insulted another certain defenders brother, then i'm fairly confident that Hodgson would have picked a nigh on identical squad to that which Capello had in mind.

Hart is the obvious choice in goal but every other position, bar maybe Rooney, there are a number of options that should have made the tournament aside from the tried and (un)trusted veterans of the International scene. How for instance is Glen Johnson in ahead of Micah Richards? what football has Hodsgon been watching? Certainly not Man City or Liverpool games judging by that choice. Stewart Downing ahead of Adam Johnson is another choice i find baffling, one with absolutely no assists or goals next to his name despite playing the entire season and the other with a handful of the same after only fleeting appearances.

Hodgson has made a name for himself in the sport with his ability to make teams solid. Nothing more, nothing less. He drills a team into a solid and hard to beat side, his teams will never trouble the best of teams but you stand little to no chance of scrapping for survival either. He's also not best known for discovering new talent, his ability to do so has to be seen as sketchy as best.

A manager that still uses a rigid 442 formation, that trusts more in the experience of certain players than the unpredictability of a younger generation and who is best known for making average players good than good players great is, i would suggest, precisely the wrong sort of manager for what should be a couple of years of experimentation and innovation. A young manager without the burden of expectation should have been given the job to mould a new generation in a new style.

Instead we get an English version of Capello with only half his ability. But he's a nice bloke though so thats ok, apparently.

The Jury's rightly still out on Hodgson.
It's the inept FA, led by a blustering Bernstein and poor decision making that should take some responsibility.
Handling the Terry situation should have been left in the hands of Capello.
Then having a shortlist of one was absurd.
You also feel that Hodgson was pressurised by the FA into not picking Ferdinand.
However it would be good to see England prove everybody wrong and turn in an impressive display.
However there are some excuse with injuries and Rooney not be available for selection.
However why is Downing there?
He's not the real deal.
Hodgson can approach this game two ways.
Here's hoping.
1. Damage limitation - park the Bus
2. Pick an attacking line-up/formation and try and win in style
It could well be damage limitation as Hodgson knows this only too well.
But he could surprise us.

2-1 England...

The Ox feeds Young for a goal in the first 5 mins, then we sit back until Benzema claws one back for the French just before half-time.

A cagey second half is laborious to watch until Milner, having put in a lot of hard miles, is replaced by Walcott at around 70mins... who then proceeds to tear apart the French defence again and again whilst in the process missing loads of easy chances (as per normal)

Luckily, one of the lumbering French Centre-backs brings him down for a penalty at 88mins which Gerrard bangs in (although he was lucky because t was straight down the middle)

Or something like that...

why is everyone complaining about Hodgsons 'boring and safe' approach to this tournament? England are a solid but boring and unspectacular team. No manager is ever going to turn England into a team like Spain.

I do not know what the author of this article means when he refers to Rustenburg as "an isolated territory in the South African Highveld ..." This is very much incorrect and quite misleading as it only takes 1 hour and some few minutes to get there using the N4, a major highway to Botswana.

3-1 England
Then we'll lost to Sweden and Ukraine

Three tiresome negative cynical articles in a row from Bond.

What a fantastic contribution to the human race.

This is more like it - COME on ENGLAND - Victory is there to be taken,.

28 - 15 to England!

I don't think anybody can have a go at the appointment of Hodgson until he has proven he is rubbish, or congratulate him when he has been successful.

Only time will tell, but the main issue over the last 16 years has been the performance or lack of performance of the so called top class players who are so highly regarded in the club game. In the past Managers have kept faith with these names instead of dropping them and giving others an opportunity. Sven had a go but then got stuck in the rut.

Players such as Cole, Lampard, Terry and Rooney have failed to shine on the international stage but have glittered in the highest of the club competitions - why? How come they look good in the Champions League but cannot reproduce for Queen & Country. Lampard you could argue has been for many years played with Gerrard and they are two much the same, but the others are usually played in their natural positions?

Unfortunately for Hodgson he has been dropped in at the deep end by the FA, and is being treated as a national joke, although it does not help when he chose the idiot Neville to be his coach, a man he described as having great tactical nouse. For any of those who know anything about football and have seen his in depth analysis on MNF will probably have started rolling around laughing. Top that with the Ferdinand situation (how little has he played this year - why should he be picked?) no wonder the press are on attack mode.

@29 - Brendan Rodgers or Ian Holloway? They have taken average players and turned them into decent football players.

dive like young @11
I wonder what the weather was like on that evening in 1966 when England won the forst, the last, and the only trophy?
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I'll tell you what it was like, it was warm but it could of been snowing for all we cared at the time.

I went to a couple of the early round games [dad had the book of tickets] but I watched the final on the box. Watching the match itself, it was unlike any other I'd watched before, it was so tense, club football does not compare when a whole nation is united and willing it's national side on. I went outside at half time to see what was going on, the street was empty and you could hear a pin drop, it was that quiet on a normally busy street.

The final whistle, was like being given the kiss of life, all I felt was drained.

That Saturday afternoon is as clear today as it was back then, i actually believe it mattered more back then. Afterall we had a manager that seemed like Roy is today [old school] but with a difference, he had stated that we would win the World Cup two years before. No maybe's, just WE WOULD WIN.

After the final whistle went and they interviewed Sir Alf [he was the only calm man in England] all I felt was relief that it was all over.

Overwhelming favourites or doomed to defeat, either way I'll be passionately cheering on my country. Come on England!!!

why do these journalist place so much stock in their own coverage?

who honestly cares what they write and say about this match before, during or after it?

if england by some miracle win the thing then the pictures of it will sell papers. aside from that nobody really cares what they print or say do they?

The ignorance of Brits abroad never ceases to amuse me. One of you on here actually compares Donetz with "places like Middlesborough, Burnley, Blackburn and the like"...HA! HA! HA...!!! YOU WISH...!!!

Take a look at and see what a magnificent city Donetz really is - and THEN try to talk about miserable places like Middlesborough or Blackburn in the pouring rain...!!! HA! HA! HA!...!!!

40: Bit like the ignorance of not knowing how to spell the names of towns.