The Swiss sadly can't finish (might have something to do with not enough people running into the box). And England can't finish either (although Welbeck did well). But Sterling missed two sitters and Rooney's attempts were poor. So had England been playing a top team, they'd probably have lost again. I'm obviously quite conflicted watching a Switzerland - England game. Both teams played pretty well until the final quarter of the pitch. It's OK for England to win on the break but that assumes that your opponent is going to make mistakes you can capitalise on. Really good teams don't, so then where are you?
Top Tip for England footballers: Fool your fans into thinking that you can win the European Championship by beating a mediocre team that knows more about chocolate than it does about football.
England were a young and youthful inexperienced team and they beat the Swiss in their own backyard. For all the swiss possession and pressure they lacked any real edge and these are experienced bundesligue players etc. Behrami again is just another mediocre dirty player with no real talent. Whilst I would not get over excited by last nights performance, they still played more attractive football than the experienced swiss team at home. If i was Swiss i'd be more worried. If I was English I'd be mildly satisfied that a bunch of kids rolled over the hapless swiss and will look forward to their progression. Its promising but temper any excitement with the view that whilst the talent is there, it still has a long way to go. As for the Swiss, well they will only get worse as thats the best they can do.
I think that is a fairly uninformed comment. For a start, the Swiss are well above England in the FIFA rankings. And that is not the best they can do by any means. I've seen them play much better; in fact they normally play much better. The problem with the Swiss is that they don't believe. They are obsessed by being a small nation that doesn't deserve to win football matches. Some years ago, there were few Swiss players playing for major clubs. That is no longer the case. I would expect England to superior to Switzerland - they have a far bigger talent pool. But the Swiss overachieve, whereas the English consistently underachieve. Football is not the biggest sport here. It's ice-hockey, I reckon, or skiing. Attendances for local teams are very small. England may have won by two goals, but it was hardly a one-sided contest and a draw would have been pretty fair. It's probably irrelevant in any case as the two best teams in the group are likely to be England and Switzerland and they should both qualify.
You sat back until England scored. At home you parked your bus. Despite your 'higher' ranking. If you'd played more open football the kids wouldve thumped you. The Swiss team is mediocre and the ranking flatters what is obvious to all. You have one or two good players. The rest are mediocre at best. When you did play deeper in the england half you got what you wouldve got had you done that earlier. Beaten. By kids.
At the end of the first half, I counted that both Sommer and Hart had each had to make one save. One miserable shot on target from each team. It was fairly tedious stuff. Fortunately it livened up a bit in the second half. The Swiss came very close on a couple of occasions - the result could have been different. I bet you'll find there isn't a huge difference in the average age of the two teams. The Swiss team are pretty young too. I don't think the Swiss are world beaters, but then I don't think that England are either. In any case, what do you care? You're a Jock. Weren't you rather more interested in the resistance put up by Scotland in Germany last night? They didn't lose by much in the World Champions' back yard.
We always play well against the big teams. Unfortunately its teams like the Pharoah Isles that kick our arse, time and time again. Scotland only wakes up for the likes of Germany or Brazil. I think England can draw more positives than the Swiss. An away win and a respectable talent pool. Without Shaqiri etc the Swiss would struggle to beat Gillingham FC. Any team that sits back at home and parks a bus against a young inexperienced side has deep issues. Thats the most worrying factor for the Swiss I believe. But had you not I think you'd have been thumped. You could see that Englands kids were growing in confidence as the game went on, as did the fans. They could see that the Swiss were not there yesterday. I think 0-2 was fair enough. You didnt play well enough to merit a goal and your finishing, like Englands was poor. But England has enough talent to miss a few whilst they rebuild and still get a couple. I dont think the swiss has that luxury.
