Oxlade-Chamberlain: We will attack
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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (left) is confident England can 'match every team we come up against' at Euro 2012
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain believes England have the quality to "damage any team" during Euro 2012 providing they also adhere to the basics of hard work and physically matching their opponents.
Arsenal winger Oxlade-Chamberlain made his first competitive start for his country in England's 1-1 draw with France on Monday. Roy Hodgson's side put the accent on denying France space and closing them down, but Oxlade-Chamberlain is confident England can also cause their opponents problems ahead of Friday's meeting with Sweden in Kiev.
The 18-year-old said: "It's been a good start for us, we can build from here, we can definitely get stronger, and we showed our quality as well in glimpses. As long as we keep approaching these games in the right way, keep our eye on the goal and work hard and match every team we come up against physically, hopefully our attacking prowess can come out."
He added: "Every game in this competition is going to be very hard for us. Teams wouldn't have qualified unless they had the quality in the first place.
"We will approach every game in the same way and we know it is going to be a tough game against Sweden but we've got the quality in our team to do damage to any team on our day."
Oxlade-Chamberlain showed glimpses of his potential against France but is refusing to contemplate the prospect of becoming a regular starter under Hodgson.
Little over a year ago he was playing in League One for Southampton and has made only six Barclays Premier League starts for Arsenal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain said: "It was a massive honour for me to get out there and represent my country in a competition like this.
"It was a nice surprise but one I needed to expect and be ready for when it came. But look, I'm only 18. Any chance I get, I'll try and take with two hands. I'm always learning from the boys around me. I'm grateful for any chance I get.
"There are really good players in all positions and there are a lot of competition for places and I'm sure there will be squad rotation. We've got the players to do it and there is a lot of physical demands from game to game."
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We need to retain the ball alot better than we did against France,and create alot more chances than we did.It was a good point,but we need to play alot more positive football.Just because some fans and critics were critical of our performance against France doesn't mean they are not behind the England squad and manager.Scott Parker even said himself that he can't see us winning a tournament playing football like that.Gerrard also said we need to step up our performance against Sweden.
Im my honest opinion we should have gone for a second goal against France,not sit back and allow the french to come onto us.Anyone who watches football knows that 1-0 is a far from safe scoreline.We need to be more ruthless and kill teams off.
We have the players to do well in the tournament,they just need to up their game and perform the way they do at club level.Come on England!
I like Alex's attacking spirit, and it's the right idea, attack is the best form of defence, but I wouldn't be surprised if Roy taught him a lesson about 'Who's Boss' and dropped him for the next game. Roy doesn't like to attack, he likes to play it safe and not lose games. Gerrard being the perfect example is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world but he was playing a holding role most of the time in the last game and rarely got forward with the strikers to make a lethal trio, but Roy has clearly 'instructed' Gerrard to stay back and as a consequence, one of the best attacking midfielders in the world is wasted in his best role within the team. Well done Roy.
Also Ashley young is a left winger not a forward/striker, it would of been better to have played him in his natural position on the pitch and played Jermain DeFoe alongside the impressive Welbeck. Jermain is a natural born striker who because of the sad death of his father last week will play with even more heart and conviction than ever in his fathers memory.
Milner, as usual looked slow and ineffective out on the right wing, I would play Theo Walcott on the right wing, he scares defenders with his lightning pace and has a good eye for goal. But Roy clearly blundered (again) when he didn't take Adam Johnson as his first choice right winger. Well done Roy.
............................Parker........................
For my own part, I was really impressed with the way England played against France. They kept their shape, and were tight and organised. They reminded me of the old England in style.
I think it is also important that England play to their abilities. It is no use England playing a more attacking open game against a team that is better at attacking than them. You could only expent one result then. That is not to say that you can't attack of course, but when you do you have to be at full strength against a counter attack.
Roy Hodgson knows all this and countless more than the rest of us, but it is interesting having our say anyway.
