What would Slaven do?

I’ve been watching Slaven Bilic doing the pundit thing on the telly and I’m beginning to feel a man crush coming on. It’s a big thing for me to admit seeing as how I’ve borne a grudge against the man since 1998 when he cheated Laurent Blanc out of his chance to play for France in a World Cup final in Paris. But everyone should be given a second chance and at this point, I’d like to put in a request for Slaven Bilic to manage my life. I think I’m performing reasonably well but I just think he’d get more out of me. He has an inspirational quality and given his help and motivation, I could perhaps go all the way.
Which is more than can be said for England. One of the pleasing aspects of the build up to this Euros was the lack of bullishness of all but the most one eyed of England fans. Almost no-one said we were going to win the thing and it turns out the majority were probably right. I would of course love to be proved wrong but watching England huff and puff for ninety minutes, it’s hard to imagine anything but a sticky end when England meet a half decent team.
You’d have thought that a squad with five forwards including two of the three highest scorers in the Premier League would be able to score more than three goals against Russia, Slovakia and Wales. But it turns out that when Englishmen are doing the creating as well as the scoring, the chances are not quite as clear cut.
Roy’s getting a bit of stick this morning for making six changes. I guess it was a gamble that didn’t pay off and I’m sure he’d have expected some negative comments. Leaving Rooney out was a big call but as for the others, it felt like an ideal time to see what the rest of the squad are made of. And surely these top Premier League players had enough to beat Slovakia. Turns out they didn’t and the draw, coupled with Wales victory over Russia (well done Wales) means that we now have an alternative route to the final (ha!) which includes a possible quarter final meeting with France. Oh dear.
And yet, Slaven thinks we can do well. He confidently asserted that England will do better when we’re playing against a team who are actually trying to score a goal. He said that our players are better when they’ve got space to run into and there was no space last night because Slovakia had eleven men behind the ball. And he said it with such conviction that I thought maybe he knows what he’s talking about (well, he definitely knows what he’s talking about but this is England at a major tournament so allow me a certain level of scepticism). It’s not over yet.