GROUP D FRANCE 1 ENGLAND 1:BRIEFLY, THERE was the sense of a team that could give Euro 2012 a jolt. Steven Gerrard had just delivered a cross of such expertise it would have been impudent for Joleon Lescott not to apply the finishing touch. France's 21-match unbeaten sequence was suddenly looking vulnerable and England threatened to have the wit and gumption to end their record of never having won their opening game of this tournament.
Then the old failings returned. It was an evenly contested game but this is not an outstanding French side, certainly not on the evidence in Donetsk, and if England are to make a lasting impression on this competition they are going to have to learn to take better care of the ball and develop a more incisive passing style.
The lead was surrendered within nine minutes when Samir Nasri thumped a shot past Joe Hart from the edge of the penalty area and, after that, there were only sporadic moments when Roy Hodgson’s team threatened to make a better start to Group D.
The punishing conditions, extreme heat making way for intense humidity, offered a form of mitigation but England had little penetration in attack and they were unable to get Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck on the ball more frequently. As for the Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain experiment, it was a bold selection on Hodgson’s part but it did not work.
A draw still represents a reasonably satisfying evening’s work for Hodgson when the opposition have not lost a match since September 2010 and he was entitled to be pleased by all the usual English qualities of application and structure.
Nobody should be too surprised either that his team are still, very evidently, a work in progress when their preparations were so erratic.
Hodgson has had only three games and, in those circumstances, there were encouraging signs for him of a team taking shape. All the same, England were too rigid, lacking fluidity in this functional yet 4-4-2 system.
France passed the ball more than twice the number of times of their opponents – 634 to 307.
Just as tellingly, there were only 136 English passes in the second half, when there were conspicuous signs of a team fading. But they defended manfully and restricted their opponents to few clear opportunities. However England lacked penetration after that moment, on the half-hour, when Patrice Evra fouled James Milner on the right of England’s midfield and from the free-kick Lescott eluded his marker, Alou Diarra, to score from close range.
Gerrard’s delivery was so inviting Lescott had to do little more than get his header on target but, afterwards, it was difficult to think of another moment when England put in a decent cross and had players in the penalty area.
Too often there were moments of exasperation. On one occasion, James Milner failed to beat the first defender and when the ball came back to Glen Johnson he overhit the second cross in quick succession.
They had edged the game during the opening half-hour and might have scored earlier after Young’s pass split open the French defence for Milner to run clear, the one moment when England showed the invention to play the killer pass and have a midfielder breaking beyond the forwards.
Milner’s first touch took the ball round Hugo Lloris but moved him further wide than he would have liked and he was unable to angle his shot, with his weaker left foot, into the net.
The disappointing part for Hodgson perhaps was the different response of the teams to the opening goal. It was robust from France, poor from England. Within five minutes Alou Diarra had two headed opportunities, the first saved by Hart and the second turned wide while England struggled to clear. Then Evra and Franck Ribery combined to give Nasri a sight of goal and his clever shot beat Hart, dipping into the bottom corner.
It was unusual to see England’s goalkeeper beaten at his near post but the credit should go to Nasri, who talked afterwards of deliberately deceiving his Manchester City team-mate. Hart, he said, would have been ready for a shot to the other side. Nasri has a habit of “opening up” his body and aiming across the goal. Instead, Nasri showed his intelligence by going for the opposite corner, even if the Frenchman did spoil the moment a little by celebrating provocatively with a shushing gesture to the England bench.
Nasri was often France’s best player, with Karim Benzema generally well contained, and Ribery inconsistent. Mathieu Debuchy, a slick and attacking right-back, was also a frequent menace with his willingness to push forward from defence, particularly in the first half when he exposed the gaps Oxlade-Chamberlain left in his reluctance to track back.
The Arsenal teenager put in a willing performance in this match but he looked callow, too, as might be expected for someone who has started only six Premier League games. He managed only 11 successful passes and, once again, England’s left-wing is threatening to be a problem position, at least until the Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney is back from suspension and Young can move back out wide. England will certainly be glad to get Rooney back.
