Football
ESPN staff 8y

England may have been better playing Portugal than Iceland - Slaven Bilic

England may have been better off playing Portugal rather than Iceland in the European Championship round of 16, according to West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic.

Iceland's late winner against Austria changed the face of the draw for the Euro 2016 knockout stages and prompted celebrations from some English newspapers.

But West Ham boss Bilic believes that England's style may have been better suited to a game against one of the competition's more attacking teams.

"I can see how many people are relieved they are playing Iceland instead of Portugal, but it is not all good news," Bilic told the Daily Mail. "You will remember that England struggled to break down Slovakia and now they will be up against an Iceland team who are even tougher in the box. They love to defend.

"I would put it like this. For the Slovakia players, defending is work. For Iceland, it is an art form. I know this sounds perverse, but it may have been better for England, they could have expressed themselves more, had they been playing Portugal, Croatia or Germany.

"I know England have struggled so far against those resolute types of defence, but they have to break that trend. You have to be a bit lucky sometimes -- if they can score the first goal, they could go on to score four or five."

Bilic was in France for the group stages as a television pundit for ITV, but is now preparing for West Ham's next season -- their first away from Upton Park following the move to the Olympic Stadium.

"After 12 days in France, working for ITV, I am now back in my home town of Split," Bilic said. "I will stay here until we begin our preseason at West Ham in less than a week's time."

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