Whose assessment of England vs Slovenia was most accurate?

BBC and RTE both showed England’s crucial 1-0 victory over Slovenia on Wednesday, but both painted a very different picture of how the Three Lions performed.

Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen, Lee Dixon and Harry Redknapp waxed lyrical about England’s performance in Port Elizabeth, while RTE’s team, including Eamon Dunphy, Ronnie Whelan and John Giles, saw things very differently, giving the English a bit of bashing in the process.

Sour grapes from the Irish chaps? Or a case of the old rose tinted glasses from the BBC boys?

Here’s what they said:

Alan Hansen: “Once England got the goal the confidence levels surged, they were excellent.”

Eamon Dunphy: “They just didn’t grow in confidence at all after the goal.”

Gary Lineker: “The goal really settled them, didn’t it? They pushed on from there.”

Ronnie Whelan: “You’d think they’d have kicked on from when they scored, but they actually got worse.”

Roy Hodgson: “England’s crossing has been absolutely outstanding.”

John Giles: “Some of the crossing was just awful.”

Lee Dixon: “A great performance.”

Dunphy: “Shocking…absolutely incredibly bad…pretty awful stuff.”

Lineker: “He looked more like the Rooney we know.”

Whelan: “Rooney is a major worry, his form, his body language, his demeanour, everything.”

Dixon: “Gerrard was outstanding.”

Dunphy: “I can’t believe how bad Gerrard was today.”

Redknapp: “Across midfield we were top drawer.”

Giles: “Barry got worse as the game went on, Milner, Gerrard and Lampard the same.”

‘Arry: “Bring it on! Whoever we play we’ll be difficult to beat.”

Whelan: “If they don’t improve they’ll go straight out, it was a very, very inept performance.”