Jamie O’Hara has been labelled as a arrogant after making an England prediction ahead of the game with Ukraine on Saturday night.
According to Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis at data company Nielsen’s Gracenote, England are favourites to win Euro 2020.
“Ukraine are the lowest ranked team to make it this far at Euro 2020 as they are currently ranked 30th in the world by Gracenote’s world ranking,” said Gleave.
“In our pre-tournament forecast, England were second favourites to win Euro 2020 with an estimated chance of 13.6%.
“Having reached the quarter-finals and with potential home advantage to come later in the competition, this has grown to 26.5%, making England favourites to win Euro 2020.”
That confidence is also shown on O’Hara who reckons Ukraine will be easy to beat.
😬 “We could play a completely new XI & win that game. We could go through with the B team against Ukraine.”
🔥 “We will win this game comfortably. I’d rest players tomorrow!”
Jamie O’Hara is confident that #ENG will have no problems with #UKR tomorrow pic.twitter.com/WPt0YZFXEO
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) July 2, 2021
He said on talkSPORT: “I don’t see nothing in Ukraine, nothing. 100%, I think you could rest the whole team could play a completely new XI & win that game and go through with the B team against Ukraine.
“They scrambled through, fair play to them, but this England side that we have got is way too good for them. We will win this game comfortably.
“The Ukraine game, I would rest players. The reason behind it, if we think logically, I think we have to get to the final the run we got and the teams we got.
“We’ve got three games in eight days, I would rest Saka, take him out, because he has done very well, enjoyed watching him, he’s had his little moment, bring him back out, bit like Foden, I would play Sancho, start Sancho right wing. We’ve not seen him at all yet so he’s fresh and still got a lot to offer.
“Move to Man Utd has been done, it’s been sorted, I would back to four at the back, so I would take Trippier out, I’d put Kyle Walker back, and I would play Grealish as a number 10. So get him in the team, he needs to start the game.
“Then I would play Henderson and Phillips and rest Declan Rice, because he is on a booking, so if he gets booked he misses the semi finals.”
Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate believes that playing away from Wembley will help the team.
He said: “I think there was clearly a big emotional toll from the game (against Germany) and everybody enjoyed the day but, even in the dressing room afterwards, the players were already talking about the next game and the need to prepare well.
“So we have shifted the mindset quickly on to that next challenge.
“We’ve achieved one challenge but that’s not the Everest we set ourselves, really. We want to push on from where we’ve got to now.
“I think the psychological freshness is key. We’ve obviously got a strong squad as well.
“It’s actually, for us, probably a good thing to be going away now. It would’ve been very hard, three days later, to replicate that experience at Wembley.
“So now we’ve got a different sort of test.
“We’ve got to go away from home, play a good team, without many English fans in the stadium, so it’s all about our group, it’s all about our team and what we do, and the energy and focus that we create.”
Southgate said Ukraine are “a good side”: “I’ve been really impressed with what (Ukraine manager) Andriy Shevchenko’s done with them.
“They had a couple of sticky results through the autumn, through the Nations League but they’ve bounced back, and they got a very good result in France, in the World Cup qualifiers and, again, this week against Sweden.
“So if we give them space to play, they’ll play, and they’ve got some dangerous forwards.”
Fans reacted as Jamie O’Hara gets labelled as arrogant after making his England prediction…
@MarkMcC32: Imagine how arrogant they would be if they had a decent record in international tournaments. 55 years since the world cup, they’ve never won a euros or even made a final and the arrogance of fans and the media towards other countries is a joke
@5tandish: It’s that kind of attitude that gets you knocked out. The Ukraine are in the Euro quarters – give them respect they deserve
@burger85hughes: I bet people were saying the same thing when we played Iceland in the last Euros.
@jonnykearns12: Typical, arrogant statement from the English media/commentators. The Ukraine will not be swept aside as easy as they think. They think they have won it already.
@Jah__Bunny: These are the comments that make people want us to lose. Ukraine have as much of a chance to reach the SF as we do. Stop being so arrogant. We lost to Iceland at the last Euros, remember?
@waitami38140320: More amazing insight from the guy that was sacked by Billericay Town in division 9
@deanashtonsfoot: Fuck sake. Just stop it. Look what Switzerland have done against France and Spain. We can’t take Ukraine lightly. They might not be among the favourites, but there’s a reason they’ve got this far.
@simon10of7: It was probably a mindset like that which meant he didn’t make the most of his opportunity at a pro career.
@Nagser82: Rest your first 11 there in a quarter final of a major tournament, his best one yet 🙈
@Fpl_boyo: This is why people often want England to lose. The arrogance is so bad within the media and fans.Iceland you would have thought was a lesson in humidity but nope. Switzerland vs France?? Nope. Scotland v England?? Nope. Yes England should win, but its no walk over
@nathancarty112: No no this would be too arrogant and disrespectful full strength team then make subs when we need to we can not take it for granted we have to respect Ukraine
@Nipper603Paul: @Mrjamieohara1 that’s the football knowledge that propelled big spending Billericay to where they are today 🤡👊🏻💦
@pokeefe1: This is exactly the sort of attitude that makes you come unstuck. Pure arrogance and ignorance.
@AndrewHurn2: This is why England are so hated because these kind of things… Who do they think they are seriously and pundits are the worst for actually backing it up… Bottle every tournament yet for some reason think there guaranteed wins in any of them laughable really 🤣🤷♂️
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