After watching England's World Cup dreams disappear on Sunday afternoon while stood in a sunny, sweaty field at Glastonbury festival, it has taken me a few days to really think about and decipher exactly where we went wrong. Here are my thoughts on the combination of faults and fate that denied England a third successive quarter-final:
Lack of form:
Newly-instated captain Steven Gerrard went into the tournament on the back of probably the worst season of his career with Liverpool, so confidence couldn't exactly have been high. Other key players had also been off form, with John Terry having a less than convincing spell for Chelsea mid-way through the season and Wayne Rooney failing to find the net in the last two months of the season, despite incredible form before that. Similarly Jermain Defoe's goals had dried up long before the end of the season and Emile Heskey didn't start a game for Aston Villa from February onwards.
Injury problems:
Yes, other countries have them too but losing captain Rio Ferdinand immediately prior to the tournament didn't help. Not only that but Rooney, Aaron Lennon, Gareth Barry, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson had all picked up injuries in the latter part of the season, and Rooney and Barry in particular never looked to have fully recovered from these. David Beckham and Michael Owen were also ruled out of contention a few months before the finals, and while the former had become only a fringe member of the squad, and the latter hadn't been involved for a few years, if they were fit and firing at the business end of the season, they may well have made a difference.
Selection issues:
Fabio Capello made some interesting decisions in his squad, and starting line-up selections. Leaving Sunderland goal machine Darren Bent at home in favour of no-goals Heskey is seriously debatable, as is the choice of Shaun Wright-Phillips ahead of Theo Walcott. SWP was used as an impact substitute repeatedly but could Walcott have made more of an impact off the bench? Arsenal's Champions League quarter-final first leg with Barcelona springs to mind... Also, the inclusion of Michael Carrick seemed rather pointless as he was off form and well down the pecking order, perhaps a fifth striker would have been a better option. Regarding the starting line-ups, choosing Rob Green in the first match was clearly a mistake, as he simply isn't anywhere near as good as David James, despite the age of the latter. Capello obviously realised this in time for the Algeria match but by then the damage had been done. The lack of Peter Crouch in the line-up was also a mistake, I feel. Whereas the likes of Frank Lampard and Gerrard get lambasted for not performing for country as they do for club, Crouch is quite the opposite, and has been more prolific for country than any of his clubs, netting two against Egypt and one against Mexico in recent friendlies. Surely he should have seen more action. Again the refusal to use Joe Cole until late on in the last two matches was controversial, when he is another who has repeatedly impressed for England, including as recently as the Japan friendly shortly before the tournament.
The rigid system:
Capello stuck with 4-4-2 throughout the qualification campaign and continued through the tournament, with the exception of a brief spell against Slovenia where Joe Cole was bizarrely deployed off Defoe, and then Heskey in a 4-5-1. Yet it is this 4-5-1 system that Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool frequently employ, and Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, certainly England's three most dangerous players revel. At United Rooney often leads the line, with the likes of Park Ji-Sung, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs lurking behind him, at Liverpool Gerrard has shone playing behind Fernando Torres and at Chelsea Lampard has found form as part of a midfield three playing alongside more defensive partners such as Jon Obi Mikel and Michael Essien. A system with Rooney ahead of Gerrard flanked by Lennon and Joe Cole and with Lampard and Barry making up the midfield has been much touted by fans and journalists alike, but Don Fabio has never taken heed.
Unnecessary off-field controversy:
The whole Terry-Bridge affair (literally) which resulted in a change of captain could not have helped matters ahead of the World Cup. Further hoo-hah ensued when Capello was forced to ditch his 'Capello Index' by the FA, a scheme of his where players would be rated throughout the tournament on the manager's personal criteria. The FA feared this could offend his own players when they were rated and the idea was canned. As if Terry and Capello hadn't been involved in enough controversy already, come the tournament itself, they combined to maximum effect. The Chelsea captain announcing at a press conference that a meeting was to be held where he and the other players would voice their opinions and 'if it offends some of us, who cares?'. The next day Capello called Terry's actions a mistake and insisted no meeting of that kind had taken place and that it was simply a normal team meeting. This resulted in both parties losing face and the media cried of rifts in the England camp.
A slice of bad luck:
Injuries aside, England were unlucky in that had Algeria held on for two more minutes against the United States, the Three Lions would have been group winners and faced Ghana instead of Germany, and it could have been oh so different. Similarly, if referee Jorge Larrionda and his linesman had spotted Lampard's blatant goal against Germany, then at 2-2 England would have had the momentum against the old enemy and could well have pushed on for a victory. Not that this excuses the appalling defending that followed.
So where do we go now then?
Fresh faces are needed it would appear, with the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, Heskey and Ferdinand all the wrong side of thirty. Ashley Cole, John Terry, Matthew Upson and Peter Crouch are no spring-chickens either. For the Euro 2012 qualifiers it would be nice to see some new faces in the squad. Perhaps the likes of Ashley Young, Adam Johnson and the afore-mentioned Darren Bent deserve more of a run in the side. Other young players such as Everton's Jack Rodwell and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere will be hoping a good start to the season could see them being involved sooner rather than later. In goal, Joe Hart surely needs to be handed the number one shirt as David James is on the brink of retirement, and Green clearly isn't up to the job. As for the manager, it is hard to see how sacking him will help as a new man would have to start from scratch. Capello is experienced enough to be able to learn from the World Cup and it would be foolish to replace him when there are no obvious candidates to take over and do a better job. There are serious problems with England, and to get this team to perform at a big tournament it is going to take some extremely hard work. But it's not impossible, and if the star players can finally manage to work as a unit, like Germany and Brazil do time and again, the long wait for a trophy could end in Poland/Ukraine 2012. Don't hold your breath though...
No comments:
Post a Comment