This is England. And it's not very good.
Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 2:11AM England 0 Algeria 0
What a shambles. I don't care when the team is announced by Fabio to the players. Whether it's two days before the game or five minutes before getting onto the team coach. If you're in the England squad then you should be prepared to do battle for your country, chests pumped out, full of pride and guile and courage. I can understand uncertainty can perhaps have a negative influence, but please get a grip. The players know what's at stake.
What we witnessed looked like a group of players drafted together last minute and asked to play ninety minutes which they weren't too fussed about doing, going through the motions disinterested and confused. The botheredness level stood at around 1 out of 10. It was just woeful.
We were the perfect illustration of fragmented. Formation was uncomfortable, some of the players completely ineffective others lost in their own shadow of past form. Too slow on the ball and too slow off it. Clumsy, sloppy. Rooney looked unfit - and its best we concentrate more on the fact he hasn't scored for 630 minutes rather than his ill-judged outburst to the camera post-final whistle. And yes, booing isn't constructive, unless you've just forked out 5k to travel to SA to see your nation represented by players earning up to 120k a week. We drew with Algeria. It's frustrating and fairly unacceptable when you can hardly think of one true threatening moment. A boo here and a boo there reminds us at least that some of the players do actually care enough to be pissed off about being jeered and react to it.
Apparently only two England players run over to the England fans to applaud them. I guess the booing was way too hurtful to hear for the delicate ears of some of our representatives.
4-4-2? Doesn't work. Especially doesn't work when you attempt to play all your best players rather than play the best players in their best positions. Gerrard is suited behind a forward, rampaging down the middle of the field. For all this desire for Barry to be fit and selected, I'm confused why a defensive player should be bestowed with so much importance. I'm not critical of Barry and his on the field responsibilities, I'm alluding to the fact that a creative spark (Joe Cole) should be the one ilk of player we need to be selecting, because offensively we appear to have no clue.
There was no cohesion or obvious style to our play. If Fabio means for one, it's lost somewhere between the training ground and the opening seconds of a game. 4-4-2 is not working. In the context of the game v Algeria, Fabio can quite obviously change things with the aid of substitutions. Lennon, who was not effective (not so much his fault other than his reluctance to run down the wing instead of cutting in all the time, but then he had little choice to do otherwise) but to replace him with SWP? I don't see the point. At all. Any player positioned in the role that Lennon is required to fulfil, based on the strengths Lennon possesses, you'd think the one thing to do is not starve the player of the ball. To then bring on a player who is similar to Aaron defeats the impact of changing things around effectively.
Fact is, in this England team, the way it's set-up, he simply cannot be picked. Massive shame considering what we all know he can do. And I can't see how SWP could possibly do any better considering the shape of the team and the rigid boring way we attempt to push forwards in routine and obvious stagnated fashion.
Heskey is Heskey. And for the record, the last time a Heskey/Rooney combo was effective was apparently back in 2009, but then I'm unsure how many times these two have played together since. Heskey alongside an out of sorts Rooney is painful. Defence was okay. James was fine. Terry wasn't perfect, but the back four was the only highlight for me, at a stretch. But then Barry did help out back there too. And Carragher made sure that in the final group game, we'll have to throw Upson or Dawson in at the deep end.
Pressure? What pressure? James, you know anything about that?
So, why are we so disjointed? Why are players lacking the required application? Are they unhappy with their manager? The formation? Is there a player dispute within the camp? Or is all this just part of the traditional 'we'll play crap in the opening two games, win the third and then get to the semi-final' master-plan? I'm knee-jerking for the sake of it because I can't fathom a more sensible logical explanation (i.e. we're rubbish).
I've said we would stumble to the final. A moment of madness, surely. But we all know one result, one positive result could change everything. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm bricking it.
We have to win the next game. No other options available. Drawing lots is not an option. Win. And win decisively.
England really need to start believing and trusting in each other. The fact we've failed to do so in the first two games suggests a frailty that is frankly disturbing. Did we perhaps over-rate our chances based on the qualifiers? When is the right time for that magical click to happen when everything sets up perfectly performance wise?
Dozens of questions, no comprehension with the alleged answers.
Still, onwards we go. And regardless of the empty days ahead before we face Slovenia, by the time our final group game kicks off, it will be once more heart-in-mouth and once more, singing/hoping that we turn up. If we do, we'll soon forget about all this. If we don't, batten down the hatches.
Until then, at least I can enjoy countless repeats of John Barnes dancing in a park with the cast from Shaun of the Dead.
Reader Comments (62)
It amuses me how some claim that Fabio is over-rated. Not me, just the England fans I listened to on the BBC phone-in after the game. I think the correct term would be stubborn. Rather than over-rated.
It was March the 27th 2009 that the combo last worked.
I only know as it was my son's birthday and I got fleeced for tickets.
We were dire tonight.
Allez Cote D'Ivore!
:)
Cracking read, sums it up for me. I'm depressed and probably won't enjoy the games between Sunday and next Wednesday thanks to the fear that is tagging along with me. To go out in the group stages would be devastating.
I tell you what, though: that game didn't half make the performance against the USA look marvellous... ;)
play the lads in their natural positions. and yes, i agree, why play Barry esp when we wanna win the game?
and why isnt Joe Cole starting? Capello seems to be under alot of strain
WHY CARRAGHER
WHY NOT JOE COLE
WHY WHY WHY
JESUS WHY
Has any one noticed that on quite a lot of the other sites.People(ie gooner morons-i would say)have been slagging Lennon off.Why for Gods sake,he was far from the worst player on the park.Quite a few of the others would have that title by miles.ie.Rooney for one this time round.He looked out of soughts(lazy-unusual for him/a touch like an elephant)Then thats being unfair to an elephant.Gerrad and Lampard-I think they need there eyesights cheched for the anount of times they passed or gave the ball away to the opposition.As for Heshey for all his industry which is commendable.He runs arond like a headless chicken and could not score in a brothel.for me the only ones too come out of it wioth sought of feel good was James/A.Cole/Barry/yes Lennon at least he did not give the ball away on every occaision.And Defore when he came on,And like many others I have to ask.Why was not Joe Cole brought on to try and add some flair.Griope over.Onwards and upwards.Wevlive in hope.
Very good analysis, very good article. I was questioning last night why England still provoke such optimism in me, when they never seem to be anything other than a big letdown.
We are always just one game away from everything clicking into place and turning in a great performance, harking back to the days of when we drubbed Holland at Wembley. It's just that this kind of performance never seems to materialise.
I wouldn't want to be one of the players stepping off that plane at Heathrow should we fail to beat Slovenia.
Not progressing from such a weak group would be such a monumental failure.
just madly dissapointed.....find it very strange that terry/lampard/gerrard etc for who its their last world cup just are not giving 100% in pure effort terms (Ie:chasing/tackling/winning headers) - i honestly think if the english players just went out absolute hell for leather such as a NLD or a manc v scouse game we would terrify the world just through intensity and pace.....when they come home (please god not on wednesday) they will have to look at this tournament as the chance they blew and they will have about 50 years to live on those regrets...sad...
lighter note - when do we find out who we get in the champ league playoff...??
James came out of this well because he had absolutely nothing to do and did it competently.
Everyone else was asked to show that they were the cream of England and failed miserably.
Cue jokes about ´going sour´and 'were a bit off'. Except that this a beyond a joke.
Lennon can't do his job when there is an attacking fullback who steals his space
.Several times he laid the ball back to Gerrard or Carragher and span into the space but the return ball didn't come.
The best you can say is that he was no worse than several others.
You might as well start Crouch and Defoe next game but the iconic Rooney won't be dropped I'm afraid.
Perhaps the match fees are not worth getting out of bed for.
I lost my passion for supporting England a while ago, and performances like that remind me why. If the players don't care why the hell should I. Roll on August and the domestic season.
And if I was a conspiracy nut how much would it cost the FA to release Capello after he forced the new contract.
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That was the most abysmal performance from an England side for years!
Rooney should be dropped because he is still not fit and has not been since that injury against Bayern Munich. Lampard looks totally drained and also needs to be dropped, Johnson for me seemed to do well and Cole was by far and away our best player, the remainder barring James who had little to do was very poor!
The next game against Slovenia is a total banana skin game, win and we should carry on to the knockout stages, draw or lose and we can say goodbye to South Africa for we will deserve to head home.
It is interesting that before the World Cup began, the Netherlands were quoted as saying 'We hope England do what they always do - and fail' and it looks as if they will be proved correct, unless...!
In my opinion Joe Cole MUST start against Slovenia with Michael Dawson to replace the suspended Carragher.
The Slovenians played an excellent game before the Yanks took the match to them, equalised and should then have won before the referee for some unknown reason ruled out the 'winning' goal, nothing wrong that I could see.
If Slovenia play against England like they did against USA, it will be 2-0 before we wake up!
Anyway, my team would be: James, Johnson, Dawson, Terry, Cole A, Lennon, Gerrard, Barry, Cole J, Crouch & Defoe ~ Substitutes: Hart, Upson, Warnock, Lampard, Carrick, Wright-Phillips, Heskey.
A very different 11 I know but if the 'regular' 11 cannot produce results then let the others have a go, they can do no worse than send England back to blighty earlier than expected - or could they surprise us all?
Unfortunately we have to understand this. We can say that it's becasue of the formation, or the manager, or the ball,, or the pitch etc but these are all excuses. Yes we played ok in qualifying against teams like Algeria and below par Croatia, but the reason we can't do well now is - our players just aren't good enough!! Sure in the EPL Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney etc are all good but that's becasue the EPL has a very high tempo which suits our players and unfortunately, as Beckenbauer said, we are a bit of a kick and rush team and can't deal with the slow nature of international matches especailly at this level. In our squad, we do not have one really creative, technical player. Joe Cole is the closest thing we have to a Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo etc. These are all players who can dribble past two or three people and create goals out of nothing and they have the technical ability to do that. If you look at the previous world cup winning teams, all of them have had at least one player like that, often more than one. This is why Brazil have been so successful as they have the most technically gifted players who can unlock tight, stubborn defences and get past those two banks of four. But we have no players like that, not sice 1966 at least.
I'm Irish so the England results hold little interest (apart from spurs players doing well). I do want England to do well so they keep Capello or at least the papers don't start their pressure to remove him because I'm certain they'll be looking the most prominent English manager to take over... Now I'm not the biggest Harry fan but its working whatever "it" is and I don't want it unsettled especially now!
So much of the play went down the right hand side but most of the time Johnson was further forward than Lennon! If not Heskey drifted out to the wing! So Lennon either ended up defending or drifting inside or even at times arriving in the box trying to get on the end of Heskey's attemped crosses! So he was totally nulified... And when he was subbed for SWP he did exactly the same! Were these Capello's instructions? Did anyone else notice this?
Spot on. JimmyG2, what are the odd for Rooney or Lampard or Gerrard to be dropped? Fit all the big names to produce shit games seems to be the plan. How is this moving on from the wally in the brolley, apart from the fact that we qualified for the World Cup?
As for Slovakia, they've got a tougher defence than either Algeria or the Yanks. Heskey and Rooney up front for that has all the cutting edge of a foam baseball bat. cr'Ouchie and Defoe up front. Lennon and Joe Cole on the wings. Johnson told to fckin pass to Lennon, and to fckin stay in his defnsive position!!! Tghe entire team to play with a 'kin clue.
Its a shocking time to be an England fan. What a shambles.
Yidyango yes! Ollie No. These players have got enough in them that if played in a decent formation with the tactics right and everyone knowing what to do, we would win the world cup. Playng as disjointed as they did yesterday, we will win nothing.
I am so angry the Rooney has the nerve to critisize the England fans who booed the team, he should be apologising on his knees for that crap they served up last night. He wasn't the only one to blame but he has put himself further into the spotlight because of his very poor attitude. He should be dropped for the slovenia game.
I have said to all my mates for some years now that Fat Frank an Stevie G can't play in a 4-4-2 as it leaves spaces and other players covering their selfish arses. Last night was no different, Capello should have taken Lampard off put Gerrard back in the middle and Joe Cole out on the left. But that is the curse of being England manager, and he's not the first one to miss this obvious!!
Capello opts for continuity because he knows England teams do not cope easily with changes. He picks a system everyone knows (though it didn't look that way last night). Lennon is cutting inside all the time, because Johnson is taking his space; Johnson doesn't interact with Lennon, he seeks to duplicate if not replace him. There were times when Lennon was almost doing Johnson's defending, and it is clear that the two don't fit together. Since Johnson is effectively our only right back option, Aaron has, sadly, to go, for the sake of a win; no one seems prepared to accommodate him, and he is unable to assert himself by going where HE wants to go (how often did he get the ball the way Spurs give it to him?). But that suggests using Johnson on the right flank, and Joe Cole on the left, where the two Coles seem to interact more effectively, NOT replacing Aaron with SWP. I suspect that Cole may not be fit but, if he is, I would play a five man midfield, with Gerard advanced, and Barry withdrawn (and told to STAY withdrawn). I'd leave the massively ineffective Heskey out, and play one up, so the midfield now reads Barry, Lampard, Milner, Cole, Gerrard. But I STILL think the major issue is that our players are not as good on the ball as even the weakest teams. They pass inaccurately, and lose control regularly. We say this every time; we are not teaching skills at schoolboy level, but building up strength and athleticism. It showed!!
What a useless bunch of bastards. If I continually performed that badly at work I'd be out of a job. I don't blame capello, those players are fantastic for their clubs, they just seem clueless in an England shirt. As for Rooney, I wouldn't give him the sweat off my balls if he was dying of thirst.
Lennon cannot play his natural game with Glen Johnson playing RB. Johnson is constantly out of position, which means Lennon cannot take the risk of losing the ball, and last night Lennon was forced inside because Johnson kept filling the space Lennon wanted to run into.
That's why Corluka works well with Lennon at Tottenham.
I was in the pub watching the game so at the final whistle went to the bar and carried on getting pissed.. What were Rooney's comments? someone please enligthen me....
you got it - a team in search of a manager
the only hope now is that the players take charge
because capello showed himself to be incompetent uninspired and unimaginative
"Its nice to see home fans boo ye, thats great support".
its true lennon cannot play with johnson..
Not performing like we do in training apparently. Sorry, but how is running around with your team-mates comparable to playing against opposition players?
The arrogance of the players came over loud and clear. Gerard "This was Algeria's World Cup Final". What makes him think that a country form the lower levels playing England is a World Cup Final. What arrogance!!!
Rooney, well we all heard what he said, what a arsehole!! who pays your bloody wages mate. If this was a board room, they would have all been sacked by now.
We needed spark, there is one player in Jo Cole who can provide this. Fabio's fear of losing and getting knocked out has been passed on to the players and they are playing with fear matched by their arrogance of expecting to walk on and beat everybody!!
I always new this was not going to go according to plans - sorry dreams!!!
Sick of it all really!!!
Did anyone else feel like Lennon had been TOLD to cut inside - perhaps the idea was to bring Johnson into play?
Also, I'd go Crouch and Defoe next game, drop Lampard, bring on Cole for LM and play Barry and Gerard in the centre...
"This was Algeria's World Cup Final"
I laughed at this. Ridiculous statement which more or less proves the players do not have a clue and do not have the right mentality for it.
Lennon is playing with fear in his boots. The second he gets the ball, its passed on and 99 times out of a 100% in BACKWARDS or INSIDE!!!
dRb i know what u mean, i was literally screaming at the screen for lennon to run/turn around an run but it just wasnt happenin..but yea the amount of the time u look down the right wing an see johnson and heskey there and have to start searchin for lennon, didnt make sense, drop rooney, crouch an defoe start
Spot on Jimmy G2, Tommy Harmer and Trembly. Rooney was dreadful, at least Barry put in effort, Johnson takes the right wingers space and pulls CB(Callagher) out of position to cover. Seems the Terry/Lampard/Gerrard cartel run the England show with bias passing. Wish Bent was available. Start next match with Crouch, Defoe J. Cole and Dawson in the team. At least we might see more spirit.
I'm a virgin, so be gentle - Love the blog Spooks and have followed closely for a year or so.
With regard to Lennon he needs to grow a pair and do what he does for us. If that twat Johnson has gone on the overlap taking his space, he should just push on past him and at the same time remind him he's the right back and should feck off back there. I'm just glad I'm in Cyprus on not home at the moment. Looking forward to the proper football.
COYS
Agree with most comments on here. Good analysis too. To be honest i lost my England mojo a long time ago (Early in the Sven era) Im sick of the selection bias. I thought Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry and Johnson were shocking and the other players seem to play as if in awe of them. We play with no freedom and you just cant see a goal coming. We have got to find a place in the team for Joe Cole. Hes by far our most skillfull player, and he has to be given some freedom to enjoy himself. Its like Argentina keeping Messi on the bench or Portugal having Ronaldo cut up the oranges.
This team isnt fit to lick the boots of the Italia 90 or Euro 96 squads. Yet they seem to think theyre an international version of Barcelona. Bare Arse lona more like. Wankers
The real worry is that Slovenia have been the best team in the group so far, and dont forget playing us is their world cup final COYS
I can see how presenting Heskey on the team sheet to the Brazilians, Argentinians, Italians, Dutch is going to strike fear into the heart of their defenders!!!!!!
Its like giving the other team an extra player
And as for swapping like for like Lennon for SWP when clearly the issues are arrising from elsewhere on the field seems completely pointless to me.
Also, Carragher is way to slow to be kept there against bigger teams
What is Going on??
Whats going on is the FEAR of FAILURE!!!! The players do not have the intelligence to sort this out. They are not naturally gifted and able to think for them selves on the pitch. They are ROBOTS playing like machines. They know one way and one way only!! If it does not work, well that's it mate!!
No agility, no speed, no flexibility no thinking, no imagination, no spirit, do you want me to go on!!
How we thought we ever had a chance here is unbelievable!!
Hi, guys. I can't be bothered writing anything about the shameful, worse than pitiful shite that the whole world has been able to see and laugh loud at (if they could even stand to keep watching it) in these 2 games. I left London a month before Euro 96, and that was the last tournament I had any enthusiasm for England. Sorry, that's the way it is. Spurs means much more to me than England could possibly mean. Anyway, reading you here and some of the comments to articles in the English press, it's been comforting to know that we all saw the game in the same way, and felt the same disgust last night.
They may qualify, they probably won't, bu nothing they do will erase the taste left from last Saturday & last night.
And that brings me to the point that concerns me most.
Our REAL boys, the Spurs 5. When the whole England squad can show on their faces, in their body language, how totally devastated they are, this debâcle will not be so easy to get over.
We have a huge season coming up, the biggest for decades. So we have to hope & pray that Leds, Daws, JD, Aaron & Crouchy don't come back & go into 2010/11 psycholigically ripped up. You can't just turn confidence or team spirit back on, like it's from a tap. We all know how the media can whip it up against any player(s) they decide should shoulder the blame & crucify them. Then it's in their faces everywhere they go - the supermarket, stuck at the traffic lights, the other lot's fans at away games. We all remember what it did to Paul Robbo. It could bring enough f++king blow-back to ruin the whole CL/EPL '10/11 dream.
Any thoughts to help me stop worrying so mucht?
BTW, an August 3 warm up here aginst Benfica (for me, the Portuguese equivalent of L'Arse Scum) at the Estadio da Luz!!! Bring THAT on!!!!!!!!!
Sorry OnlyLivingYidinLisbon, Its crossed my mind too and i fear you could be right. The only light i can see is that we have a manager who can lift players like no one else. Heres hoping Lennon can set up Crouch and Defoe to beat Slovenia and they can go on from there. All is not lost yet
Here is my Rant - I said before the World Cup that this is the worst England team for generations, begging Carragher to come back to the fold, oh please he’s so far off the pace he might as well stayed at home, Glen Johnson looks lethargic (but saying that I thought he put in a good shift against the USA), Wright-Phillips can’t even make the City first team and what Heskey is doing totally baffles me; why take Joe Cole as it looks like he’s going to have about as much playing time as Beckham. Maybe Capello will now regret his moral judgement against Terry, as England are certainly lacking a leader on the pitch; and to round off a perfect evening Rooney chips in and has a go at the fans, what the f**k did he want? a standing ovation?!
I feel nothing towards this team so the saddest thing I can say is that I don't care if we go out now... Rooneys comments highlight the massive gap between the common man and the players who live inside this preposterously overpaid bubble of a life they call Professional Football.
Take, for instance, the lad from North Korea crying as he lined up and heard his national anthem played, as he fulfilled a lifelong dream. That was special and his subsequent performance (which was outstanding and full of passion and determination) just highlighted how little the Three Lions crest means to the 23 best players that this country apparently has to offer in comparison. They looked scared and, as the game wore on, disinterested which is criminal in my book.
There are games where you can have a stinker and nothing goes right but, when that does happen, your workrate and determination to bring something, ANYTHING, to the party should take over and you are expected to run hard, try hard and do everything you can to contribute... there was no such thing last night, just a lot of 'chokers' passing the buck and hiding from the ball. As a Spurs fan I have seen keane do this a few times... I dislike the player but, when he is having a bad game, he at least gets about the park and does some of the ugly stuff and makes a contribution.
For the next game, if Capello insists on playing Fat Frank again, I suggest we tie a Mars bar to the ball when no one is looking... at least then he might want the f+cking thing.
The thing is they don't believe in themselves and lots of the playes have been given to many chances at major tournaments. Played like Rio,Terry,Lampard,Heskey,Carragher!!! Also if players like Gerrard and Rooney want to sulk and not perfrom they can be dropped. My squad would of included Zamora for Heskey for starters.Capello needs to drop lampard,heskey,rooney for the next match!!
We'd all play for free and run til our nipples bleed
Dear God, but England were shite. Any halfway decent side would've buried them. Same old excuses every big tournament, whether we're managed by a Turnip, a Swede, a Maclaren, or an Italian. I've given up trying to figure out why. Just can't be arsed to care anymore. Nothing really to get excited or passionate about since Italia90. Think I'd like the Argies or the Dutch to win. THis England side can just fuck off and die.
Anyone know what the German, French and to a degree the Dutch press are saying about their teams? Watching Holland at the moment and they are fairly poor.
Enland was shite and lucky that the Algerians have absolutely no forwards , they outplayed you with good passing and trickery but lacked the power to go for it ...
Slovenia is very motivated , two of those players play with my lil brother here in Belgium (Suler and Ljubljankic) and they are very proud to be able to play for their country , they will go all out ...
That's a bit what is lacking in the bigger teams , the fighting spirit and the pride
Oops :
French press are murdering Domenech and his team
Germany : Tabloids are harsh but most papers saw a good match with unlucky finishing and harsh refereeing
Holland : i was watching Dutch TV and they are not very happy with the lack of will and movement of the Dutch squad
There is one thing i can't understand?Why on earth do the players play with fear?Once you go on the pitch and you feel fear,you have allready lost half the battle.Whoever plays,must be like Spooky said...battling for his country,chest pumped out!!!It's not over yet,but Capello need to get the basics right if he does'nt want to be included in the england manager's hall of shame!!!
There are many reasons for the shambles
1) Heskey's selection is a travesty. He does not play regularly for his club --O'neill knows his limitations, and his inclusion commits the team to a particularly stodgy one dimensional approach to the game
2) Gerrard has lost his mental edge, it has been obvious all year --maybe a hangover from his high profile court case last year
3) Carragher should not be playing. He knew himself he was not good enough at this level and retired a year or so ago, thank God he is now suspended. Either Dawson or Upson would be better.
4) Play strikers who are in form. Rooney, Deoe and Bent all had great years but only Rooney starts regularly and Bent did not even make the squad. Also Crouch has a great record scoring goals for England.
5) Let the wingers run at the backs. both Lennon and SWP can do this, they both have pace and skill but seem to drift inside
6) There is no real player who can open a defence in midfield. Joe Cole could do this but does not get picked and he is realively fresh from last season.
7) Rooney is jaded and it showed at the end of the premiership season. He carries too much at Man Utd as SAF let Tevez and Ronaldo go
8) The ball!! I think the new ball explains the poor touch of most of the players and also the scarcity of shots . They know it rises and that makes it difficult to keep on target. I think Lampard particularly will notice that as he shoots from way out. I realise the ball is the same for all teams, but many teams have played with it for the last year. Maybe the FA can explain why it was not used in the premiership last year.