Features, Ian John, World Cup 2010 POSTS
A Considered Reaction…
Published by Ian John on June 19, 2010
Are you a soccer fanatic? Do you have strong opinions about the game? Think you have the chops to write about it? Contact Us then...
Occasionally things are sent to test us. Jesus apparently spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness fighting temptation. America had George W Bush as president for eight years, some clever clogs introduced sectarianism in Ireland, France has to put up with having Germany and Italy as a neighbour (and vice versa), the Dutch are forced to eat rather dull cheese and the World has been made aware of the music of Chris De Burgh.
But nobody should be forced to be an England fan. Not after last night.
I usually try to fly in the face of conventional lazy journalism and report on something else. Perhaps take an alternative viewpoint, seek out the positive from the negative, point out a few things we may have missed.
But I can’t, not even after a good nights sleep and time to reflect. Last night’s performance was considerably the worst I have ever witnessed from an England team at the World Cup Finals. And believe me that is no lightly made statement, it has plenty of competition for utter crassness, but last night took the biscuit.
I’m not going to state what last nights performance was. Everyone unfortunate enough to witness it will have noted what a soulless, gutless, moribund, facile display it was. Algeria were not the better team on paper, they just tried to play the game with a degree of optimism and courage, two crucial factors missing from the England performance.
Instead, I am going to ask why England played this way? Why do players like Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry and co, so excellent in the domestic game and in European football, fail so spectacularly when the chips are down with England?
The manager? Well, you can begin to look there I suppose. To say Capello’s tactics last night were dismal is an understatement. Once again, Gerrard, England’s best player against the USA, was marginalised on the left. Gerrard CAN play there yes. In the same way Lionel Messi CAN play left back, or Joe Hart can juggle onions. They CAN do it, but are they at their best? No. To move Gerrard to the left once again defies belief. He tried but isolated and on the margins of the game so often, he often ventured inside. This then left poor Ashley Cole isolated and unable to make the marauding runs he is so famed for, for fear of Algeria hitting on the counter.
It wasn’t any better down the right. Lennon seemed desperate to backheel every single decent pass he received. Johnson seemed laboured, rather than dynamic, going forward. Wright Phillips came on and made little difference.
Barry and Heskey worked hard for England, Carragher and Terry did ok too. James was solid-ish in the usual David James way.
Rooney? Shambolic. It is patently clear he isn’t fit. Not even close. His lack of control time and time again, wasteful passing and tendency to drop deep to help lose possession, was a low point of the England performance. It isn’t all his fault, Capello and England’s insistence that he is our messiah is to blame for heaping undue pressure on him. His frustration was clear to see at the final whistle, though criticising England fans loyalty for booing is absolutely pathetic. Their loyalty, Wayne, comes from the fact they’ve spent thousands of pounds and travelled thousands of miles to support you and the team. So if you don’t play well, they damned well have a right to boo you or anybody else they see fit. Their loyalty isn’t in question. If the team displayed the same level of passion then we wouldn’t be in this mess.
If Capello has any balls, Rooney would not be starting against Slovenia. Not on that performance.
Neither would Lampard after another anonymous performance. Two mishit shots apart, the Chelsea man once again hid under a rock for most of the game. While Barry was continually battling away in midfield, Lampard was notable only by his absence.
So why are these top quality players under-performing when compared to their club sides?
The answer for me is simple. Capello knows his best players do not make up his best team. I don’t think you would find any England fan who would say that Defoe is better than Rooney, or indeed that Defoe, Crouch or even Bent or Zamora are worse players than Heskey. The result is, to get his best players in the team in some kind of shape, there is a compromise. England’s shape is shifted to try and accommodate mainly Rooney and Lampard (Gerrard is shoved wide left, which is hardly accommodating him). This upsets the balance and rhythm of the team and as a result, performances in big games, like last night follow.
Then of course there is the pressure from the fans and media. England went to South Africa with most of us at home hoping for a win. The media campaign of hype had begun months earlier. Yes, it is the same in Brazil, Spain, Germany and Argentina… The big difference? They have players used to winning at this level and play in a way which compliments their abilities, rather than alienating them.
Fear? Yep. Fear is a huge part of it. Whether this is down to Capello’s style of management is open to debate. After what happened to Rob Green though (one mistake and out), it will be interesting to see what happens to Rooney on Wednesday after his mistake ridden showing last night.
England can beat Slovenia. I’m just not sure that they deserve to. Given the performance last night, a first round elimination would at least save England fans the humiliation of another dreadful performance in the knockout phases.
Then maybe we can get an England manager who tries to build a successful TEAM, rather than trying to blend a group of talented individuals together through a series of compromises that ultimately benefits nobody, certainly not the players nor fans.
And the crowning glory? England are struggling for goals, greatly. And we left a player who has scored 40 goals in 89 games at home because he is “injured too often”. Unlike of course, Rio Ferdinand, Ledley King, Wayne Rooney, Gareth Barry…
My England team for Wednesday : James, Johnson, Terry, Dawson, Cole.A, Wright Phillips, Barry, Gerrard, Cole.J, Crouch, Defoe.
Image Courtesy of ***Wilf D Lampy *** on Flickr.com
Loading ...
