Why Yoga and Football (Part 2)

Coaching and Analysis

In my last blog, I talked about how yoga can be a tool for a football player, and more broadly, for a club (and especially how having a yoga sports coach makes good financial sense in the modern football environment.) Importantly though, my training in yoga informs my approach as a football coach and analyst. To my mind, there is a continuity of thought and approach: I am not just a soccer coach who does yoga, or a yoga coach who also coaches soccer. The skill sets, both of observation and intervention, from one impact upon the other.

As an independent analyst, I pick up projects from people I know in the game, usually match analysis for one particular match, but also some ongoing ¨book work¨ so we have snapshots of players as they develop through the Academy ranks, in order to have a better notion of how they will develop as professionals. From an analysis standpoint, the observational skills from working on the mat help me identify points for coaching intervention. In evaluating a player, whether as an opposition scout, talent identification, or evaluation of our own squad, the key performance indicators are only important if they reveal a weakness that can be exploited (or remedied in the case of player you are looking to sign) or the nature of a player´s strengths. Statistical analysis, which while fashionable and indeed useful in football, reveals patterns and relationships of play, but the information is meaningless if it cannot be acted upon.

All fine and good, but the question still remains, so what has that got to do with yoga? In scouting opposition it helps me expose the weaknesses of opposition and as a coach identify and remediate weaknesses in my own squad. I will use a couple of examples from analysis work I´ve done:

When Mustapha Carayol, currently with Middlesborough, has the ball at his feet, he is as devastating a winger as currently plays in English football. He is pacey, very quick with his feet, has a sublime left footed cross, and a massive right footed shot. However, he has one significant technical deficiency as a left winger, that being that with some consistency he rotates his hips infield, receives the ball on his right, plays infield, then makes a cut upfield. However, after his third touch, he is very nearly unstoppable. Now, where my observational skills from yoga enter the equation is theorizing why he makes that first touch, how to exploit it, and, if I were working for Middlesborough, how to fix it. Watching in slow motion, Carayol does not hold his balance well when running and looking over his right shoulder, thus he slows and turns his entire upper body towards the ball. What appears at first glance to be just a bad habit, is predicated by a physical limitation, and creates a cognitive limitation.

When I looked at Carayol from the perspective of an opposition scout, his body shape and recognition of how his head turned (and didn´t turn) informed an approach to neutralizing him as a player. The fullback could close aggressively when the ball was being played – due to the way Carayol turns as the ball approaches, he loses sight of the fullback, and with the big first touch, an opportunity for a tackle exists. Further, if the right sided screening midfield can sit a little deeper, it takes away Carayol´s second option, playing the ball inside, and he can either be trapped or forced to play backwards. In the FA Cup First Round last year, Corby Town drew their right fullback away from Carayol (then playing for Bristol Rovers) part-way through the second half as the fullback was on a card and Corby had levelled the score in the 62d minute. In the 74^th minute, Carayol picked the ball up just short of the half line, again with a big infield first touch off his right foot, then turned upfield without being immediately closed down. He dribbled thirty yards in five seconds and hit a stunner from 30 yards to return the lead to Rovers and save the tie. The opportunity to neutralize the player, and take the tie back to Steel Park, was lost.

Now, were I working with Carayol, basic mat work improving his spinal flexibility and posture would help give him the physical palette to address his technical weaknesses. Further, seeing the issue as a body shape issue, that changes the way I would approach the player on the training pitch. I can think of two or three technical/functional exercises to help quicken the first touch on the wing, while still identifying the location and closing speed of the opposition fullback. Identifying a problem ¨poor first touch¨ is not enough. Exactly WHY a weakness exists and HOW to fix it is the job of the coach. The skills from yoga inform how I read the play on the pitch in the match, and heal reveal solutions not only on the mat, but on the training pitch as well.

Another example, this time evaluating a young player for his development potential, is Conor Coady of Liverpool. If you ever have the opportunity to watch a U18 or U21 match at Liverpool´s Kirkby complex, you should jump at the chance. It is quality football on a first-class surface and you are up close to the action. Coady is technically gifted – two footed, brilliant first touch, and a range of passing that immediately brings Steven Gerrard to mind. However, there are times he holds the ball just slightly too long, plays over-ambitious passes, fails to take easy options to retain possession. If you watch him play, Coady plays with a lot of tension in his shoulders, and as a result his head is tilted slightly downwards, and his hips are slightly closed. There are a series of results of that: first, the human brain processes visual information more quickly if the line of sight is parallel to the horizon. I don´t know if anyone knows exactly why or how, but it is consistent: spatial relationships are more quickly and accurately assessed when eyesight is level. Also, the slightly pinched stance makes it physically a little awkward for Coady to turn more than about 70 degrees with one touch. The net result is that his speed of play is just slightly less than some his contemporaries, notably Denis Suarez who play across town for Everton. While Coady has better control, more accurate passing, and to be honest, more interesting ideas, the truth is Suarez can play just a little quicker due, in part at least, to better body shape, and can make an impact in games where Coady struggles to keep up.

In looking at Coady as a player for the future, I want to see how he physically develops, and if he relaxes his shoulders. If not, I rate him as a solid League or Conference player. If, however, he can make the adjustment, get his head up over the next two seasons, then honestly I will probably stop tracking him, as his future will likely lie at levels higher than my career is likely to reach. That said, if I were working for Liverpool, my observation brings me to specific yoga techniques to improve balance, vision, and dynamic posture, but also specific technical functional exercises to engender and reward a change in how he sees. The coaching intervention would not necessarily be traditional speed of play exercises, but instead technical head-up work, to address my estimation of what is the limiting factor in Coady´s speed of play.

All of this is to say that I don´t see yoga just as a tool I can use to enhance performance of individual athletes, but it also informs how I see the game. The observational skills help me recognize subtle changes in patterns of movement that can indicate an exploitable weakness either in our squad or the opposition. In being very specific in identification of issues, it allows me as a coach to make very specific interventions, not just on the mat during a yoga session, but on the training pitch to hone certain skills and habits, and even in-game adjustments.

Why Yoga and Football (part one)

What Yoga Does for the Athlete and for the Squad.


Having just completed my certification as a Yoga Sports Coach with Yoga Sports Science, I get the question, ¨why yoga and football?¨ frequently, and usually in two completely different ways.  First (usually from Americans and of course ¨why yoga and soccer?¨) with total incredulity, as they see no relationship between yoga and soccer and think it is totally strange anyone would be linking the two; second (usually from English) with genuine curiosity, as they see no relationship, but know there must be one as footballers such as Giggs and Freidel tout the benefits of yoga as integral to their continued performance. 

I have to open with a quick caveat: this are my thoughts and opinions based on my experience.  I am a YSS trained coach, but my opinions shouldn´t be construed as a position paper from Yoga Sports Science any more than they should be considered a position paper from the United States Soccer Federation just because I hold a coaching license from them as well.  That said, the benefits of a yoga practice are seen across multiple case studies by different YSS coaches.  Next week, I will talk a little more about how yoga changes me as a coach, and that is much more unique to my situation.

For performance enhancement, yoga is different from other modalities, as so much of the improvement is subtle, and very difficult to test.  However, with elite athletes, the differences in performance between dominating a match and never seeing the pitch are minimal.  There is a massive difference between a D3 college player and a journeyman professional.  There is very little between a journeyman professional and an international-level player.  As you move up the performance ladder, each incremental step in performance is smaller, and also harder to find. Elite athletes are looking for marginal gains, slight edges, and yoga helps find those marginal gains.

As a physical exercise protocol, yoga is not revolutionary, but combines eccentric exercise (well-demonstrated to improve tendinopathies and improve functional mobility), balance (well-demonstrated to reduce rates of joint injury), and flexibility (which shows marginal improvements in soft tissue injury rates as well as performance improvement.)  The unique approach yoga provides is not just in combining all three, but the emphasis on mental focus, which is massive in working with the elite athlete. 

Elite athletes are, obviously, competitive individuals, and the competitive nature extends to the attitude with their bodies.  Footballers, taking one with the other, view exercise as a competition to push their body beyond a previous limit, to ¨win¨ the workout.  Yoga turns that on its head – the athlete is invited to inhabit the body and to develop a knowledge of the limitations and capabilities of the body to use it as an ally to win a match. 

The marginal performance gains are seen with decrease in rates of injury, including injuries that don´t warrant a drop from the team sheet, and improvement in playing comfort.  An athlete with a regular yoga practice is also going to be able to more readily distinguish between an ache and a pain – and adjust training schedules accordingly.  Further, Yoga Sport Science data suggests (not published yet, and data set only approaching statistical significance, so suggests not concludes) that athletes with a yoga practice return to training and to competition sooner than those that don´t. 

It is a reality of modern sport that any discussion ultimately leads to, or comes from, money.  In soccer, at the professional level, one player every other game suffers a lost-time injury, and on average, about three games are lost per each injury.  (The actual numbers are 27.7 injuries per 1000 playing hours and 15 days lost per Hawkins et. al., published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, 1999.)  Add to that training ground injuries, and on average a professional club is paying two players to be in the treatment room instead of on the pitch.  Just a 10% reduction in soft tissue injury (and the data shows greater reductions than that) means that a club gets four extra player/weeks per year.  At Premier League salaries, that is an order of magnitude beyond what retaining a sport-specific yoga instructor on staff year-round will be.

In my case study for YSS, I worked with a goalkeeper.  In addition to improvements in match-fatigue, overall health, and recovery times, there was one noticeable performance improvement: his kicking from the ground was more accurate, and marginally longer.  This marginal performance improvement dramatically changed the way his squad played.  As he was more comfortable kicking from the ground, he frequently took the ball out of the box rather than kicking out of hand.  The result was the ball was put into play 10 yards deeper, and with a man advantage, as he would not hit the ball out until one of the opposition forwards stepped towards him.  The point being, a marginal improvement in one thing, comfort and improved functional mobility in the goalkeeper´s groin, can significantly impact the play of the team.  Yoga is a way of finding and improving those subtle points.

Yoga optimizes existing fitness regimes both by improving balance, mobility, and flexibility, giving the athlete a greater maximum workload, but also by engaging the mind in a different way, so that the athlete self-regulates a workout to get closer to the edge of the performance envelope.  Through injury reduction, it makes financial sense for professional clubs at pretty much any level.  Finally, for individuals seeking the marginal performance gains that can take an athlete to the next level. 

Part two coming soon on what yoga does for me as a coach and as a match analyst.

Liverpool are doomed (and I hope I´m wrong)

I had an interesting twitter conversation with Dan Leivers of Notts County this past week regarding a comment Alan Hansen made that Liverpool should play percentages and look for longer passes.  While I didn´t hear Hansen´s comment, in broad strokes I agree that Liverpool played too short, whereas Dan, in broad strokes, disagreed as playing long leads to a greater chance of conceding possession.

The crux of our disagreement is ultimately about style of play, and thus there is no right or wrong answer.  Or perhaps more accurately there are a multiplicity of partially right answers, and the decision of a manager about style is choosing which partially right, which plays to your strengths and gives least exposure to your weaknesses. 

After watching Liverpool in pre-season and pretty much everything going Pete Tong at the Hawthornes on Saturday, I think Rodgers has pretty much got everything wrong, and Liverpool are doomed.  Admittedly, it is early days; I have not seen Liverpool play in Europe; I am not on the training ground and have limited data at my disposal.  However, Liverpool are static in the attack, purposeless in possession, and woefully out of sorts in defense.  From my view in the cheap seats, not only has Rodgers failed to improve any of these issues, but his style of play exacerbates every weakness Liverpool have shown.

Firstly, Liverpool´s problem last season was not possession -- it was goals.  The two are NOT strongly correlated.  Indeed, in a meta study by Roland Loy (originally presented in July, 2011 at the ITK in Bochum, Germany, and later published in German by the BDFL and translated in English for Soccer Journal in the March/April 2012 issue) showed a negative correlation between possession and wins.  The same study showed a negative correlation between shots on goal and wins.  Liverpool do not need more possession or shots, but rather creativity in the final third to create and finish chances. 

Thus far, Liverpool´s 4-3-3 has been dreadfully static with no cutting edge in the final third, even on the rare occasions they do move the ball forward out of midfield.  There is no interchange of positions, no runs through the middle, and little link up play.  Yes, Suarez was in good position to finish two chances and missed, but even if Suarez was 100% in front of the West Brom net, Liverpool still would have lost 3-2.  Two quality chances per match is not enough. Barcelona possess the ball like other, but watching them against Real Sociedad, there was always a menace about them.  The four central midfielders were always playing with each other and using each others runs to create space.  The two wingers started wider even than Borini and Downing did for Liverpool, but would make full speed runs inside, off the ball, to exploit the space created.  Liverpool had none of that.  What concerns me even more however is that the U21s played exactly the same way against Wolves: static, station to station football.  They possessed well, but Ngoo, Pacheco, and Ibe each had their own third of the pitch and rarely interacted.  Flanagan and Smith bombed up the flanks, as Kelly and Johnson did for the senior side on Saturday, but with much the same result -- possession on the flank finished with a desultory cross towards a lone red shirt in the area.

What Liverpool did well last year was defend.  In spite of an awful, awful season from Pepe Reina (and thankfully he has looked much better in preseason and against West Brom) Liverpool were joint third for goals conceded in the Premier League last season.  Possession is, primarily, a defensive tactic: if you have the ball, the other team cannot score.  Liverpool´s possession numbers were fine last year and the defense superb.  LFC´s style of possession was fine, and I see no reason to think that increasing possession would increase their league position.  To the contrary, Rodgers´ possession oriented style of play has disrupted the Liverpool defense and, to my mind, has gone against some basic truths of the game.  Goals conceded from open play almost invariably result from at least two of the following four conditions: 1) failure to pressure the ball, 2) failure to support the pressuring defender, 3) concession of possession in your own half, 4) failure to track runners.  The Liverpool fullbacks are now playing as wing backs, leaving Agger and Skrtel now playing 30 yards apart instead of the 10 they were accustomed to last year.  The midfield is spread to create possession passes.  As a result, when mistakes are made, and there always will be, Liverpool are apt to have any and all of the four goal-conceding conditions happen.  They are too spread to pressure; the center backs cannot support each other; the midfield cannot pick up their runners in transition quick enough; and possession is more often surrendered in the Liverpool half because that is where Liverpool now play.

Troublingly, the U21s played exactly the same way.  While dominating possession against Wolves, they showed little cutting edge, and late in the game conceded possession in their own half, Coady failed to track back, the ball was not pressured, and a stunning strike sent Wolves back to the midlands with a draw.  The match was, I fear, the model for Liverpool 2012-13.  Lots of possession and pretty football, no cutting edge, ¨unlucky¨ goal conceded late. 

I hope I am wrong.  Clearly, Brendan Rodgers has miles more experience in senior first team football than I do.  However, in my considered opinion, I see no reason to believe Liverpool can be a dominant force in English football this season, and I see many reasons to think ¨bottom half struggler¨ might be their role this year. 

Liverpool weren´t unlucky against West Brom.  They were poor.  And they better do something to fix it or the season will get very ugly, very fast.

Totaalvoetbal and movement towards a treatise on football

This month, as we are between seasons, I have stayed mentally busy.  After completing my last assignments for my Yoga Sport Science course, I have been reading widely, including revisiting Jonathan Wilson´s excellent Inverting the Pyramid, a variety of Soccer Journal back issues, including David Trapp´s thought provoking short ¨A Soccer Renaissance?¨ and Delgado and Mendez´s ¨Tactical Periodization¨ and from Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, Gilbert et. al.´s 2010 piece on coaching philosophy ¨The Pyramid of Teaching Success in Sport.¨  It has me thinking about what makes a teacher, what makes a complete player (complete being a common descriptor of the very best lately, especially in light of the excellence of the Spanish team at Euro 2012) what makes a good coach, and what makes a good manager, and of course, where do all of these various ¨goods¨ intersect. 

The work I´ve been doing preparing for the season has been outlining session plans and periodized fitness plans for Leeds United LFC, where Andy Burgess has been brought on as manager, and I´m again providing services as a technical consultant.  I´m also updating the U9/10 curriculum for my local club, Century United, as we prepare for the upcoming season.  Meanwhile, I´m still doing private sessions for both yoga and soccer clients, so my professional life, such as it is at the moment, is mirroring my reading list: a search for the complete coach, complete manager, complete player.

The term Total Football arose after the Rinus Michel´s system and approach was well and truly mature, after the 1974 World Cup.  The etymology of the term is telling: Gropius, the leading Bauhaus designer and architect was a proponent of total architecture as early as the 20s -- that all design should take into account all of the particular uses and interactions of the object and should be designed taking into account all available construction materials and techniques, without regard to tradition or previous forms or styles.  The Ajax team of the early 70s (and their counterparts at Dynamo Kyiv under Lobanovskyi) was steeped in the innovation of the methodo, referred to the verrou and catenaccio, but neither Ajax nor Dynamo were bound by anything that went before.  More importantly, there was a holistic approach to training: from youth development, training, fitness, nutrition, and obviously the functions of each player on the field.  Sports science, in its infancy (but most progressed in the Netherlands and in the USSR) was used to improve the athlete to his optimum.  Each player was expected to be able to interchange freely throughout the park, and, much like with total architecture, was valued in the utility of interaction and the squad was to be appreciated as singular complex system. 

Holistic football is perhaps a better translation of totaalvoetbal than total football.  It is, in many ways, the antithesis of the moneyball approach so touted today as the wave of the future.  Where the common theme of performance analysis is reductivist -- measuring the value of a player by analyzing discrete indicators, total football is holistic in its approach -- viewing the game as a singular system.  This isn´t to say that performance analysis is useless however, as the insights it provides can generate reliable indicators of how the whole networked system of a squad at play can operate. 

Moving back to the individual athlete, thinking about the holistic approach of course brings me to thoughts near and dear to my heart, yoga and football.  Sport science gives us very good measures of fitness that predict work rate and injury prevention, and tests exercise protocols to improve fitness.  However, at the end of the day, the athlete is a complex system that reductivist measures cannot quantify.  Why is Leo Messi the best footballer in the world?  Why doesn´t he get injured with frequency?  The data gives us hints, but ultimately it is because the whole system -- not just Leo Messi´s muscles, tendons, joints, blood, &c &c -- but Leo himself that works together to be the athlete that he is.  The sum cannot be adequately described as the addends. 

So the exercises that my athletes do that I pick from yoga, or the yoga sessions I lead are somewhat secondary to my point: it is the holistic attitude, looking at an athlete as more than just a summation of techniques and physical attributes that must inform coaches and managers.  I am no Luddite arguing against use of every tool that sport science and analytics gives us, but for total football, those tools must be used to organize, teach, engender, and nourish the player

Still a lot of thinking to do, but I am convinced the future lies not in the cold numbers of the game, but in its warm beating heart . . .

Random Thoughts on Euro 2012

Although I watched something like 20-22 of the Euro matches, coming in the last weeks of my coursework, I watched more as a spectator than an analyst.  Which, I think, is a bit of a shame, as it was a deeply interesting tournament -- dominated by defensive thinking, yet only two scoreless matches; extensive use of the false nine, yet more scoring from headed crosses, the classic #9 goal, than any tournament in memory; and the continued decline of the importance of the direct free kick.  So, while I still have a thousand words to write for my final paper, a few random observations and thoughts . . .

You don´t have to have a #9, but you have to get in the box

France were the biggest disappointment to me because coming in, I felt that with Nasri, Ribéry, Cabaye, Maluda, and above all, Benzema, France could be as dynamic and exciting as anyone going forward.  Instead, they looked disconnected, unimaginative, and flat.  Benzema was the biggest disappointment, but I have to question his positioning.  With Real Madrid, he has thrived all year in the channels, turning center backs inside out.  For France, he played deeper and wider, oftimes in front of the opposition´s right back, which, if I am defending, is as close as I want Karim Benzema to my goal, ever.  The French did generate some attacking down both flanks, notably from Ribéry and the excellent Jérémy Ménez, who I had not seen at all this year at PSG.  In the end, though, they had little bite to the attack, looked dull against the English, impotent against the Swedes, and just not nearly good enough against the Spanish.

While the French played with a number nine who didn´t act like one, the Spanish experimented, and looked at their best, playing 4-6-0.  However, there were many (somewhat justifiable) complaints of the Spanish being dull.  The Spanish possession is a massive defensive weapon -- you can´t score against them if you can never get the ball -- but without an incisive edge, it was left late (Croatia) or not at all (kicks from the spot with Portugal.)  As many expected, Spain had another gear that they found in the first five minutes of the final, flying at the Italians from all angles.  Silva scored with his head and Jordi Alba burst into the penalty area like Ian Rush ca. 1984.  Neither are number nines, but the game always needs someone getting there like a house on fire, and that´s what Spain did.

Injuries change everything

If Dennis Rammedahl doesn´t come up lame, Denmark likely go through instead of Portugal.  Although Spain was bossing the game and unlikely to be turned over, Thiago Motta coming up injured just the hour mark (less than five minutes after his introduction) ended the final as a competitive affair. Over the past 30 years, hamstring injury rates have not substantially changed.  With the massive amounts of money (at club level) and national pride at international level, not to mention the job of the manager at stake, I am surprised at the lack of progress in injury prevention, particularly with hamstrings, and especially in a summer tournament after a full professional season.  A recent (2008) clinical trial by Engbretsen et. al. at the Oslo Sports Trauma center showed only 21% compliance with rehabilitative training among elite players designated high risk for re-injury.  Mendigucia, Alentorn-Geli, and Brughelli wrote an excellent analysis of the current shortcomings of the reductionist approach to injury treatment in a recent (2012) article in British Journal of Sports Medicine. They argue for a more holistic approach that considers mobility and strength variables, along with movement efficiency, motor sequencing, and, importantly, behavior and environment.

A more holistic approach that is athlete centered, working towards high level of compliance with the rehab protocols and supported by good science across a wide range of variables?  Hmm -- yoga, anyone?  I won´t say Motta or Rammedahl wouldn´t have been hurt had their respective federations shelled out a few grand to bring a yoga coach along for the ride to Polkraine, but Denmark couldn´t have been any more eliminated.

England are nowhere near good enough (USA either)

Being an American with a lot of English friends, I hear much about ¨we just need X and we can win the Cup.¨ (Be that cup WC2014 or Eur2012).  The truth is that the Golden Generation never were that good, and in the US, we still don´t have a fullback, Donovan is still a role player, and Dempsey can´t carry an entire squad.  It´s not just that compared to Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the English were inferior at every position, and they were, but ultimately the squad looked tired and uncreative, like they had a long plane ride from 1977 when the style of football they were playing may have worked.  The game is too fast, too technical, too fluid for the English or American player.  While England played well, the gap between the game at the top level and what the English play, much less the Americans, is so big that it cannot be reasonably hoped that either country do better than round of 16 in Brazil. 

The youth systems in both countries must get away from focusing on winning competitions and instead look to develop players.  What separates the Spanish, Italian, and German players from the English (or the Brazilian, Uruguayan, Argentine from the American) is match intelligence: visual processing, chunking of information, anticipation.  Those skills are developed at ages 10-14, but give almost no competitive advantage until at least 16 and really only at 18-22.  The skills that produce a competitive advantage at 10-14 -- dribbling speed, first touch, physical size, physical speed -- all either level out or don´t make much difference at 18-22.  Unless we fix the youth system, England can go the way of Hungary, and the USA never come to the fore.  Instead, we will both watch Premier League matches on Fox and Sky respectively and say, ¨too many damn foreigners¨ when the truth is our kids aren´t good enough to play with the foreigners in the EPL because we were too damn worried about beating the next town over in a U12 derby than actually teaching the kids how to think the game.

Andrea Pirlo is pure class

That is all.

Platini is making UEFA into as much of a joke as FIFA

The idiot with a megaphone counting down to kickoff is an annoyance.  The travel schedule is insane, and insanely expensive (resulting in a notable lack of fans at many venues).  Fining a player for displaying branded underwear is silly.  Making that fine 4x the fine for racist abuse is insulting.  Football should be played in front of people who care, not gangsters, Eurotrash, bankers, and rich American trust fund babies, all out for some ¨authentic culture.¨ Platini has been travelling amongst the rich too long.  We want our game back.

Spain are the team to beat in Brazil

Xavi Hernández will be 34 and Andrés Iniesta 30 in Brazil.  However, Thiago Alcântara will be 23; Cristian Tello will be 22; and the best left back in the world will be 25 (and if you think that is Ashley Cole, you seriously need help.)  The Barcelona factory keeps rolling.  I am too young to remember Pelé, Gérson, Jairzinho, Garrincha, Rivelino, Tostão, but it is a good age to be a football fan.  If Spain are to be beaten, I am confident it will be epic.

Initial Impressions on France v. England

On the whole, a disappointing game.  England, when they wanted to hang on to the ball, looked good, but for the most part were content to sit deep and counter.  France were sound, but with few exceptions, not dynamic. 

Of note:
Glen Johnson was quite good defensively.  His covering and clearing were what you would expect from a professional fullback and he never seemed rattled by the French attack.  Clearly, Hodgson gave him specific cues of when to get forward as he stayed at home much more than he does with Liverpool.

Alou Diarra was not good.  Other than conceding the goal, not poor either, but I expected quicker movement and more of a defensive bite.

England never really challenged Evra for long periods, and I think that was an opportunity missed.

Cole & Terry were unremarkable, but sound.  For me, surprising that Benzema looked to play off of Gerrard´s shoulder and come between the lines rather than off of Terry´s shoulder.  The final pass was never made for France because they were playing without a number nine most of the time.  Benzema has Terry for pace, quickness, and strength, and over 90 minutes, I expected Blanc to push Benzema up for at least a few minutes to test Terry.

Both squads are okay moving forward, but will need to step up their game if they expect to progress.  France probably has an easier time of it, playing Ukraine then Sweden.  England do not want to be in Donetsk next week playing Ukraine if it is a win or go home for both teams.

First Half Observations from Arsenal v. Swansea

A few quick notes:

1) Law 9, Ball in and out of play.  It´s really pretty easy.  Whole ball, whole line.  Would the FA mind actually having their officials read it?  Stuart Attwell telling Arteta to move the corner kick, when the ball was clearly over the arc is an absolute disgrace.  Seriously, is Sian Massey the only official in England that has actually read the Law?  It even comes with pictures if you don´t understand one-syllable words.

2) Arsenal and Swansea are evenly matched, and Mertesacker and Arteta are the best Arsenal players by some margin.  Arsenal was destined for a relegation fight without the 31 August panic buys.

3) You cannot lose focus for even a moment in the Premiership, even against a mediocre team.  Vorm´s moment of madness and Rangel´s lack of concentration may be the loss of points that send Swansea back to the Championship in eight months time.

4) Walcott is crap. 

5) Walcott is really, really crap.  And he doesn´t understand that it´s not the officials' fault when he dribbles with his head down and is tackled.  If he was a better finisher, he could be a threat in the Championship.  As it is, he is a League Two left winger, provided you have a good left back behind him for defensive cover.  Walcott to Crawley is actually a pretty good match, though Crawley´s ambitions are greater than Walcott´s play.