England Football Team

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If you're passionate about the England football team, let us know what you think. We'll let you know our views on all the latest developments with the England squad here, so come back often.

Wednesday March 26, 2008; International Friendly

France 1 England 0

England: James, Brown (Johnson 63), Ferdinand, Terry (Lescott 46), Ashley Cole, Beckham (Bentley 63), Hargreaves, Barry, Joe Cole (Downing 46), Gerrard (Crouch 46), Rooney (Owen 46).

Now let me tell you something straight away, I don't actually want to write this match report. There'll be loads of reports for you to read tomorrow morning in all the papers but the blokes who have wrote them will have been paid good money for doing so.

I am involved with this website because I'm an England fan and I do it because I enjoy it. Having to watch this game was bad enough. Now having to write about it is something approaching purgatory.

You could argue that England were not that bad. They passed to each other a few times and generally kept the French attack at arms length but by the end of the game you wondered whether there had been any point to the game whatsoever.

I know this was only a friendly but surely Capello wants to impose some sort of standards for his team. Surely he wants to see some sort of spark from his players and they, in turn, want to impress their new manager with examples of their quality.

Or perhaps not.

To be generous you could say England were going through the motions. It is upsetting to think that any England team would just go through the motions, however.

If they were not just going through the motions, though, the only reasonable conclusion to come to is that we are just a depressingly mediocre side.

The most important aspect of the night seemed to be David Beckham winning his 100th cap. Both sets of fans gave him an excellent ovation but the centurion was unable to make a serious impact on the big occasion. He was not alone.

Beckham sprayed a few dangerous looking passes around and whipped in a couple of inviting centres but there was no real substance to his performance.

In fact the game seemed somehow appropriate in marking his landmark achievement. Beckham now plays in a completely sub-standard league and seems to be more of a marketing tool than a footballer. He is mainly seen swanning around in friendly games and this looked more like a money spinning friendly/testimonial fixture rather than a proper international game.

Beckham sent a dangerous ball in early on but Thuram lunged in front of Rooney to head behind for a corner while at the other end Anelka headed wide when well placed from a Ribery free kick.

For a fleeting moment it looked as though Beckham might actually crown his big night with a goal when he lunged in at a cross from Ashley Cole but the keeper managed a vital touch to deflect the ball to safety.

England enjoyed their best spell midway through the first half as they managed to retain possession and work one or two reasonable positions.

Gerrard headed over from a decent Wes Brown centre before flinging himself forward to meet a header back across goal from captain Ferdinand. Again his header was too high, however.

France emerged from this spell of English promise to take the lead. Anelka was sent through the England defence, James came out to block but was too late and only succeeded in sending the forward sprawling dramatically.

Has David James ever saved a penalty? He certainly didn't save this one, diving the wrong way as Ribery rolled the ball home.

England tried to retaliate and Rooney got in a header from Barry's centre which caused the French keeper a moments' discomfort but England went in at the break behind having never really threatened a goal.

Half Time: France 1 England 0

Capello made four changes at the break with Johnson, Downing, Crouch and Owen replacing four better players. Not surprisingly England's performance did not improve.

England's one hint of a second half chance came early when Beckham's corner was perfect for Crouch but the towering forward once again displayed his remarkable lack of heading ability with an effort that was miles too high.

Crouch also spoiled a promising situation when Downing got the ball into him in a yard of space on the edge of the box. An embarrassing lack of control ensured that there was never any danger to the French goal, however.

The last half hour saw the England performance peter out to basically nothing while France threatened sporadically when they could be bothered rousing themselves to come forward.

Anelka lashed a shot just over from a narrow angle, which James appeared to get a fingertip to, then Malouda put his shot a yard wide from a good position on the edge of the box.

Barry produced a superb ball over the top of the French defence but Downing was completely unable to take the ball in his stride running into the area and the keeper collected.

Crouch then plopped a sorry volley way over the bar from 25 yards after Owen had managed one of his few touches to nod the ball down.

Neither side now looked particularly dangerous but France carried what threat there was. Anelka sent a snap shot miles wide before a good move ended with Ribery dragging his shot well off target.

Ashley Cole wasted a couple of decent positions with woeful crosses while James produced an easy save from another shot by Ribery.

The last decent chance fell to the French substitute Cisse who ran at Cole after an England corner had been cleared but ended up poking a harmless shot into the side netting.

The last thing I remember about the game was Michael Owen playing the worst pass in the history of football which rolled into touch about forty yards from the nearest Englishman and then the blessed relief of the final whistle.

I know we have come to expect little from friendlies and that it is impossible to judge Capello's England on the strength of them but surely these games are vitally important in forging some sort of teamwork and confidence before the serious stuff starts again, for us, in the autumn.

This just felt like a waste of everyones' time.

Full Time: France 1 England 0

England: James 3, Brown 3 (Johnson 3), Ferdinand 3, Terry 3 (Lescott 3), Ashley Cole 3, Beckham 3 (Bentley 3), Hargreaves 1, Barry 3, Joe Cole 3 (Downing 3), Gerrard 3 (Crouch 1), Rooney 3 (Owen 1).

Star Player: Michael Carrick?

Tuesday, March 25
The Great Beckham Debate

Should David Beckham have been recalled to the England squad? It's dangerous to say "No" too quickly or loudly as he's come back before and showed he's still good enough to compete at international level but there is no real reason you can give to justify his selection in the latest squad.

It's a bit worrying to think that a man supposedly as professional and hard bitten as Fabio Capello might put someone in his squad just because that player is one short of his hundreth cap.

It is perhaps more disturbing to think that he would pick somebody who hasn't played a proper game of football basically since he left Real Madrid (and what century was that by the way?).

While Beckham obviously has the talent in his right foot to make his current inclusion in the England squad a justifiable one it still seems a ludicrous decision.

We have been waiting for Beckham and his contemporaries to bring home some bacon for over ten years now and we are just getting more and more hungry.

With the nearest major tournament over two years away surely it is time for Beckham to be moved to one side and the next generation given their chance.

If Beckham was left footed then it would be a different matter but we do have options on the right. David Bentley did more than enough in the last game to expect to keep his place for this one. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon are viable options for the right side of midfield as well. Theo Walcott and Steven Gerrard are other members of the current squad who could be used in Beckham's position if required.

It would be wrong for any of these players to miss out on vital international experience just so that Beckham gets to win one more cap.

Maybe Capello does see Beckham as a realistic part of England's future but surely he still needs to see his man getting some competitive football under his belt before including him in the squad.

Beckham himself has praised the new manager for not respecting reputations and picking players on current form alone.

That interpretation would be pretty hard to comprehend for someone like Michael Carrick while how Beckham himself can kid himself that he could possibly be in the squad under the criterion of current form is beyond explanation.

To be honest the situation is a bit of a mess and highlights a growing concern over the national team. With fewer and fewer English players playing regular top flight football it will become increasingly difficult to replace our so called golden generation and players like Beckham will continue to have claims even if they do play in a pub league.

Once again it has to be pointed out that David Bentley has been consistently excellent for Blackburn this season and should start on the right for England tomorrow night.

The best Beckham should be able to hope for is to come on as a sub but if that is what happens and he is then discarded it will only serve to completely remove the value of his 100th cap anyway.

It will all come out in the wash one way or another I suppose but there are precious few reasons to feel optimistic about the English national team at present.

Wednesday February 6, 2008; International Friendly

England 2 Switzerland 1

England: D.James, W.Brown, R.Ferdinand, M.Upson, A.Cole (W.Bridge 74), D.Bentley, J.Jenas (S.Wright-Phillips 57), G.Barry (O.Hargreaves 74), S.Gerrard, J.Cole (P.Crouch 57), W.Rooney (A.Young 87).

England took the field for Fabio Capello's first game in charge with just one out and out striker, Wayne Rooney, in front of a five man midfield that certainly contained attacking potential on paper. Capello either wasn't aware of the theory that England teams can only play 4-4-2 or he was taking the earliest possible opportunity of displaying his managerial prowess.

By half time it looked as though the press might be searching for a suitable vegetable to superimpose on the Italians' shoulders, by full time they might have been inclined to wax lyrical about a bright new dawn for English football.

Not surprisingly neither of these reactions would have been correct. It was encouraging to see England actually improve after a half time team talk and give a performance that suggested that their manager might actually have the ability to change things for the better but nothing will really be known about the new mans' capacity to really improve our national team until the serious business of World Cup qualifiers gets under way.

The first half was mainly best forgotten even though England actually went in at the break ahead.

The early stages were scrappy and disjointed with England completely unable to form any pattern of play or exert any meaningful pressure on what looked like moderate opposition.

In fact it was the Swiss who threatened first though this was mainly due to sloppy defensive play by England than anything inspired of their own.

Wes Brown was the chief culprit in the early stages with a series of wayward passes but people like Ashley Cole and Gareth Barry were not far behind.

Brown made two unforced errors in the space of a few seconds which gifted Switzerland the first real shooting chance of the game but this was dealt with by the returning David James without fuss.

England's first attacking opportunity came when a clever flick by David Bentley bought a free kick and the same player whipped a decent ball into the near post for Wayne Rooney who got too much onto his header and saw it flash comfortably wide of goal.

Rooney then had a better chance when fed by a superb pass from Joe Cole but the keeper was out quickly to block as he attempted to lift his shot into the net.

England's attacks were sporadic but continued to gravitate around the willing running of Rooney. Ashley Cole was given a crossing opportunity by a quickly taken throw in and Rooney was again making a move to the near post but his extravagent back heeled flick found only the side netting with the keeper in position to make the save if required in any case.

Wes Brown was possibly not the most regular offender when it came to squandering possession for England but he was the man doing so in the most dangerous areas. Barnetta was offered a sight of goal by a particularly woeful clearance from the Orange Man but his effort was wide of the near post from just outside the area.

With the game refusing to settle into any kind of rhythm both sides had half chances from set pieces in quick succession.

England won a corner after Steven Gerrard and Barry combined neatly to release Ashley Cole whose dangerous centre was smuggled behind for a corner with some difficulty at the far post by the Swiss defence. Bentley's first corner then led to another from which he pinged the ball onto Rio Ferdinand's head but the defenders' header was always clearing the bar.

Then Joe Cole dived in rashly at the other end to concede a free kick wide on the right and Yakin's inswinging ball was flicked on by two of his colleagues before flashing beyond the far post.

Gareth Barry, uncomfortable in a purely holding role, then took over Brown's mantle of saboteur. Firstly he offered a shooting opportunity with a poor pass just outside his own area and was fortunate to see the shot fly straight at David James and then he conceded a free kick on the edge of the area but Barnetta's drive was too high.

England finally carved out a good position through genuinely good play when Bentley played two give and go's cutting in from the right before slipping a cute ball into Jermaine Jenas who had Joe Cole supporting in front of a gaping goal but delayed his pass and then saw the keeper diving to intercept his square pass.

The England supporters were beginning to tire of this laboured display but cries of "One David Beckham" seemed misplaced. Bentley had looked as lively as anyone and if he is still being singled out because of his decision not to play for the Under 21's last summer then that is taking things too far.

Then there were clear signs of disenchantment, possibly outright booing, as England retreated from an attacking position on the right hand side.

Crucially, however, they had kept possession of the ball for one of the first times in the half and, having worked their way across the pitch, a sudden injection of pace saw a chance fashioned on the edge of the box and it took a good save to keep out Joey Cole's low drive.

This seemed to stir England somewhat and Bentley was not far wide with an instinctive shot from miles out which took the keeper completely by surprise. Then Jenas stole possession high up the pitch and supplied Joe Cole for another effort on goal which forced a decent save.

England's next attack gave them the lead. Bentley did well to retain possession after a none too inviting pass from Brown and then found Gerrard to his left. The England captain speared a fine ball out to Joey Cole down the left hand side of the box and he sat his defender on his backside before scurrying to the dead ball line and squaring for Jenas to slot home.

Overall it had been a lacklustre first half performance but five minutes of decent pressure had been enough to give England the lead.

Half Time: England 1 Switzerland 0

Despite the scoreline it is unlikely that anybody was overly thrilled with the first half performance and England immediately looked more progressive as the second half began.

Bentley and Joe Cole confirmed the promise they had intermittently displayed before the break with a quality combination which ended with the Blackburn man sending in a cracking centre for Rooney at the far post but he spoiled the chance by trying to take a touch when a first time shot would have been a better option.

England pressed again and although the move was scrappy rather than precise Bentley was again able to locate Rooney whose chip towards the far post dropped just over the bar.

Rooney really had the bit between his teeth now and was unlucky to see a vicious volley deflect narrowly wide after he had accepted a good header down with a lovely touch on his chest.

The corner saw further pressure on the Switzerland goal as Matthew Upson headed down into the box and after Rio Ferdinand's drive was blocked Jenas sent in a rasping left footer which the keeper did well to turn away at full stretch.

Joey Cole spoiled his impressive display when, after a defensive slip had given him a free run on goal, his first touch allowed his opponent to recover and block.

With England performing much better since the interval it was a little disappointing to see Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips coming on for Jenas and Joey Cole but this could not be held responsible for Switzerland immediately grabbing a surprise equaliser.

Some slick passing through midfield ended with an incisive pass down the side of Ferdinand who had no time to react before Eren Derdiyok came on his blind side to whip an instant shot beyond James.

This was the sort of goal where it was hard to apportion real blame yet it still somehow seemed a soft goal to have conceded. It is certain that nobody had got anywhere near Derdiyok at any stage of the move, however.

If Capello was wondering whether he might be the worst England manager since Alf Ramsey at making substitutions he was quickly rescued by the men he had introduced.

Crouch got up to head a punt down the middle to Rooney who flicked a superb first time ball out to Gerrard, storming forward in his best Liverpool manner, and his low ball across the face of goal gave Wright-Phillips the simplest of scoring chances.

Yakin continued to show the odd quality touch for the Swiss and another of his wicked free kicks produced a superb headed clearance at the near post by Barry. Unfortunately for the Aston Villa man the referee pointed for a goal kick which meant that his one really telling contribution had officially never happened.

Rooney produced a sweet turn under pressure before drilling a shot a yard wide from just outside the area and then Bentley clipped the pass of the game through to Crouch who did not connect properly with his volley and the keeper had an easy save.

England's defence remained uncertain, however, and twice in quick succession the Swiss were encouraged to shoot as the home defenders retreated towards their own goalmouth rather than move in to challenge, Wes Brown again being the most notable offender.

Rooney's penchant for coming back to help his defence then betrayed itself once again as a dubious virtue. Firstly he was harshly penalised by a free kick after tracking a run but then was lucky to concede only a corner as he ran into his man precariously close to the edge of the box.

At the other end Rooney was offering a real threat, however, and linked well with Gerrard before Wright-Phillips sent a good ball into Crouch. He could have shot himself but ended up laying the ball back to Gerrard who was just too high with his left footed effort from the edge of the box.

Wright-Phillips then showed the good and not so good sides to his game with an electric turn that opened up the Swiss defence only to send a hurried, ambitious shot well wide of the target with options open to him inside the area.

With the game deep into injury time Switzerland forced a corner which David James came for and got nowhere near but nobody was on hand to take advantage and England held on to mark Capello's first game in charge with a win.

Everybody will want to draw conclusions from this game about the new manager, the formation, the players and everything else but, in truth, there is little you can ever learn from playing friendlies.

The acid test will only come when the competitive games start again and, unfortunately for England, this will not take place until the autumn.

This game should provide the new man with plenty of food for thought, however, and he has plenty of room for optimism while now being keenly aware of several areas of concern.

There is plenty of hard work to be done by everyone in the England camp but we can at least feel a degree of confidence that we have someone in charge who will be able to identify what the problem areas are and begin to work on improving them.

Full Time: England 2 Switzerland 1

England: D.James 5, W.Brown 3, R.Ferdinand 4, M.Upson 4, A.Cole 4 (W.Bridge 4), D.Bentley 7, J.Jenas 5 (S.Wright-Phillips 5), G.Barry 3 (O.Hargreaves 3), S.Gerrard 6, J.Cole 8 (P.Crouch 4), W.Rooney 7.

Star Player: Joey Cole

Joey Cole is surely England's most consistent player these days. He's always been on the fringe of being one of our supposed stars and maybe that's why he gets his head down and turns in a decent performance more often than not.
Is intelligent in his movement playing from the left side, is dangerous taking players on and hurts the opposition with his passing.
Having been denied a goal by Jenas's desire to have an extra touch before passing showed the Tottenham man exactly how it should be done in setting up his goal.
Watch and learn Jermaine then go away and put it into practise and come back a better player.

Thursday, January 31
Beckham Left One Short Of His Century

Fabio Capello has announced his first England squad and the biggest talking point is, probably, that David Beckham has been omitted.

Beckham, therefore, will not be winning his 100th cap against Switzerland and whether he will go on to complete a century is once again a matter of speculation.

Let's get this straight right away though, Capello has made the only logical decision open to him regarding Beckham. It will be a shame if Goldenballs doesn't make it to his hundred but there can be no real justification in picking someone in an England squad who hasn't played a competitive game of football for months on end and whose club football is, no matter what anyone says to the contrary, sub-standard.

Beckham cannot complain, he made his decision to move to America more from a business point of view and it looks as though, once again, this was a shrewd move. It was always a move that was likely to hinder his international ambitions, however, and that is certainly true at this moment in time.

Alex Ferguson, predictably, has come out and said that Beckham should be selected because, basically, it would be mean to leave his one short of his hundreth cap but that is the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard.

England caps should have to be earned. They are the ultimate accolade any footballer can receive and should not be awarded through sentiment or gratitude.

To award Beckham another cap just to take his total to 100 would be an insult to the man himself in any case and completely devalue the achievement.

With Shaun Wright-Phillips and David Bentley performing consistently well in the Premier League there is no real argument for including a man nearing the veteran stage with no recent football behind him.

There is also Aaron Lennon who has made a highly impressive return to the Tottenham team recently but has had to settle for a place with the under 21's on this occasion. If Lennon stays fit he looks a good bet to make the right side of the England side his own.

Capello has made a logical decision but has left the door open for Beckham to play his way back into the squad which is also a commonsense move. Hopefully commonsense will be something we will see a lot more of from the current England manager in comparison to his predecessor.

The squad selected is mainly predictable. We may have a new manager but he is stuck with the same players so the names on paper do nothing to instill any real optimism. If England are to improve under his management it will be down to Capello's ability to organise and motivate rather than an influx of exciting new talent.

Of course names like Ferdinand, Gerrard, the Coles and Rooney still suggest the nucleus of a good international side with others like Richards, King and Carrick potential stars in the making.

Hopefully Ledley King can stay fit forever from now on and if he does I would anticipate a struggle for John Terry to regain his place, let alone the captaincy.

Michael Carrick, in his understated way, has been absolutely magnificent for Manchester United in recent weeks and looks the type of player who could really blossom under a foreign coach.

Plenty of other players will feel that there is a window of opportunity for them to now really force their way into contention and if they make sure they do their talking on the pitch rather than in the media then England may well be able to move forward under the new manager.

It is certainly time for actions to start talking louder than words from everyone concerned with the England set up.

Capello's one surprising, in fact startling, selection is Curtis Davies, the West Bromwich Albion defender currently on loan at Aston Villa. Nobody could have seen that one coming but his inclusion does show the other young English players trying to force their way into Premiership teams that the step from club to national level is one that can be attained rapidly.

The new managers' next big decision is who to hand the captaincy to and the name Rio Ferdinand has been mentioned prominently. Alex Ferguson, not surprisingly, backed Rio's claims to the post.

I like Rio as a defender but he does not strike me as genuine captaincy material.

Unfortunately England don't really possess an obvious captain at present. This is perhaps a major reason why we have struggled recently.

All teams need leaders, people who know how to get the best out of their colleagues in all manner of different situations and who are capable of leading from the front themselves.

Bryan Robson wasn't called Captain Marvel for nothing and it was always basically taken for granted that English football would have someone who was an obvious selection as its captain, its leader.

The man who looks to tick the most, although certainly not all, boxes when it comes to captaining England is Steven Gerrard but his leadership of Liverpool has mainly relied on the quality and dynamism of his own performances. He has led his club magnificently from a playing point of view but he does not appear to be a particularly good man-manager, talker or motivator.

His performances for England have come nowhere near the inspirational level he has produced for Liverpool so giving him the captaincy would be something of a gamble.

If the captaincy of England provoked Gerrard into anything like his club form then it would be a great thing for everybody concerned. If his performances continued to labour then it could be the worst thing possible for both the player and the team.

Beyond Gerrard, however, the only other candidate I would entertain would be Wayne Rooney.

Rooney does not look at first glance to be captaincy material but his passion and aggression is generally well controlled, he is not afraid of telling his teammates when he thinks they are slacking and has enough respect from them to get the right response and he certainly can lead by example in the way he plays.

Ideally you would want someone else, more senior, captaining the side and leaving Rooney to just get on and play the game but at the moment I think we could do far worse.

Anyway, another new era is about to start for English football and let's keep our fingers crossed that it is better than the last one.

Thursday December 13, 2007

The FA's Search For A New England Manager

As I start writing this piece, taking it pretty much for granted that Fabio Capello is going to be the next England manager, I am forced to recall that I have sat here before writing a piece about Big Phil Scolari with the same conviction only to find out the day after that the FA had blown it and Big Phil had pulled the plug on the deal.

There seems little to get in the way of the FA's latest choice, however. Capello is between jobs and terms are hardly liekly to be an issue. Who wouldn't take a job in which the worse you do the more you get paid?

To be honest I'm not going to say much about Capello in this article anyway. I simply don't know enough about the guy to have much of an opinion.

His track record with a number of top European clubs is obviously impressive. He is used to dealing with big name players and their egos and is renowned for having little time for prima donnas. So much the better.

The mental image conjured when his name is mentioned is of a studious tactician in the Eriksson mould who is not afraid to go a bit mental when things aren't to his liking or not going to plan. Surely that can only be a good thing.

It is a while since England had a man in charge who actually let anyone know if things needed changing, or had a clue how to actually change them.

How Capello would fare as England manager, however, is obviously open to debate. He might want to ditch, or at least pull into line, one or two of the supposed superstars at his disposal but McClaren tried to do that with Beckham and found out there was nobody fit or able to take his place.

He is likely to want England to play a more continental game than the one we popularly believe suits them best. This could have disastrous consequences or could be the making of the team. I, for one, am prepared to believe that our footballers are capable of adapting to different formations and tactics if these are feasible to start with and properly explained and implemented.

The language might be held up as a difficulty but this seems unlikely. Capello is an intelligent chap who will no doubt quickly master the lingo and become easily more fluent and erudite than, say, someone like Alan Shearer for instance.

Football is often said to have a universal language anyway and Capello has never appeared to struggle in getting his points across.

Personally I am finding it increasingly difficult to really rouse myself to an opinion on the situation.

The idea of Capello as England manager doesn't exactly thrill me to the bone but we could hardly complain about his pedigree if he was appointed. After all, if an Englishman had his CV and wanted the job it would be a bigger nailed on cert than day following night.

I suppose my growing apathy is predictable. Like many others, I suspect, in theory I would want an Englishman doing the job but, practically, I realise there is nobody out there who is a credible candidate.

It does seem surprising that the man chosen should have absolutely no background in English football whatsoever though. It would have seemed sensible to go for someone with a prior knowledge of the English game, the people and, perhaps most importantly, the press but maybe a complete outsider is just as likely to succeed.

Of more interest is perhaps not the man the FA have apparently chosen but the manner in which they have made this choice.

You would have thought the FA, and Brian Barwick in particular, would have given this matter some thought before McClaren's inevitable exit and had a list already drawn up. Then it would have simply been a case of making the preferred option an offer and seeing if it was accepted.

If not then it would have been a case of asking number two on the list if he fancied the job.

Instead we have had Barwick apparently canvassing the opinions of all and sundry about who they think might be a good choice, even though Barwick himself stated that it would be his decision alone who came next when he announced that McClaren had been sacked.

Even though I would probably expect every single one of the people Barwick consulted to have a better idea of who should get the job than he does it still seems a bad thing that he has been going about looking for clues.

What did he then do? Get all the names mentioned to him, put them into a hat and then draw one out at the end of his research?

And just how trustworthy are the opinions of the people he has been asking? In private they might be capable of giving an honest opinion but in general football people just sit on the fence and pretend to be telling you what they think.

For instance, Arsene Wenger was one of the people Barwick apparently sought out. Only a week before McClaren was sacked Wenger was quoted in the papers as saying that McClaren was still the man for the job.

If he honestly thought that then surely he said as much to Barwick when he asked for his opinion a couple of weeks later.

What a great conversation; "Who do you think should be the next England manager, Arsene?" "Steve McClaren, and the good thing is he's just been sacked so he's available."

"Yeh, thanks for that Arsene."

Wenger has also come out and reiterated his opinion that the England manager should be English. When asked about Capello, however, he thinks the bloke is a top choice.

Are any of those opinions worth anything?

As for Wenger's classic comment about not wanting to go to war behind a foreign leader I'm not so sure. How confident would you have been taking orders from Steve McClaren in a war zone?

If Capello does take over then the FA will ram it down our throats that he was their first choice for the job all along but will that really be true?

To all and sundry it looked as though Jose Mourinho was the leading candidate until he ruled himself out and, if the FA did want him, then they have been guilty of dreadful indecision.

For a spell it looked as though the Special One was actively courting the position but he was never likely to hang around waiting for an offer if one wasn't immediately forthcoming.

Since Mourinho announced his unavailability several people have been quick to declare that England have had a lucky escape and the FA themselves are probably relieved that they are not faced with the potential embarrassment they might have suffered to their dignity from his larger than life personality and opinions.

It is a shame, however, that a man who has almost total respect among English football followers for his ability, even if that respect is often begrudgingly given, was not offered the chance to restore our footballing credibility, especially as the man himself has gone on record to state his passion for the English game.

If it is to be Capello, though, then so be it and "Good luck, Signore." And if you do have to play a holding midfielder then think Michael Carrick or Gareth Barry and not Owen Hargreaves.

Wednesday November 21, 2007; European Championship Qualifier.

England v. Croatia

England: S.Carson, M.Richards, S.Campbell, J.Lescott, W.Bridge, S.Gerrard, G.Barry (D.Beckham 45), F.Lampard, S.Wright-Phillips (J.Defoe 45), P.Crouch, J.Cole (D.Bent 80).

Okay, we're all upset and we're all disappointed. It's important to make sure that we analyse the game fairly and honestly. Well, it is for me. This is supposed to be a match report so it's only right that I be as objective as possible.

To be fair, the rest of you are allowed to get as irrationally demented as you want. It was a performance to encourage such a reaction.

England contrived to lose at home when a draw was good enough to see them through to the finals. That's bad.

England contrived to get back on level terms from two nil down and still lose at home in a game they only needed to draw to get through to the finals. That's very bad indeed.

They did this against Croatia. That's freaking abysmal.

Don't get me wrong. Croatia are a good team. They are strong, well organised and they can pass the ball well.

But Croatia are not a world force in football. Thay will not win this competition. They are not Brazil or Argentina or France or Italy or Germany.

They would not have gone to any of the countries just mentioned and won 3-2 in the same situation. They would not have gone to the same countries and won 3-2 in any situation to be honest.

And if we're being honest, by the end the final scoreline actually flattered England to a significant degree.

Let's start at the beginning.

England lined up 4-3-3 with Crouch the lone striker supported by Joey Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips. The other significant decision made by Steve McClaren was to play Scott Carson in goal in place of Paul Robinson.

By the end of play, in fact by half time, these decisions were looking disastrous. In truth I am not so sure the final outcome was shaped so completely by these decisions alone.

On a truly embarrassing pitch, which brought the FA and English football in general into disrepute, England started in eager fashion although with perhaps more energy than control and with nobody looking completely comfortable.

This seemed to be down to the pitch but subsequent events would suggest an inherent lack of confidence and belief within the squad.

England mounted the first real attack down the right hand side with Micah Richards combining with Shaun Wright-Phillips to release Steven Gerrard for a first time centre which Joey Cole met with a diving header but the save was an easy one for the Croatia keeper.

There was more promise from the same area when Wright-Phillips produced a perfect cross for Peter Crouch but the striker tried, unsuccessfully, to find Frank Lampard with his header when he might have gone for goal.

The early signs had been basically promising but when Croatia moved into English territory for the first time on five minutes disaster struck.

Niko Kranjcar was given space thirty yards out and when he sent a shot dipping straight at Carson the England keeper somehow managed to usher the ball into the net.

The pitch was poor but it had nothing to do with this goal. This mistake probably equalled all Paul Robinson's put together for incompetence but it only left England one behind with 85 minutes left to play.

As long as Carson could recover then England were still in a position to qualify.

Initially things looked okay. England had started well and they continued to come forward with some purpose.

Joey Cole won England a free kick after a darting run but Gerrard's delivery was dreadful and other set pieces would be similarly wasted by the Liverpool man and Gareth Barry.

Cole was looking particularly lively at this stage and instigated a fine move that ended with Crouch stretching to give Wright-Phillips a clear shooting chance inside the area. Wright-Phillips decided to have a touch and then drove his shot too close to, and at a nice height at, the keeper who parried to safety.

Then England conjured a superb move with Barry, Gerrard and Wright-Phillips all involved with the latter slicing the Croatian defence open with a lovely ball to the rampaging Richards.

The England full back could have shot but opted to square towards Crouch who got his near post effort all wrong under challenge from a defender.

Immediately following this excellent move, however, disaster truly struck. Croatia moved the ball upfield with a couple of hopeful lobbed passes and when England failed to deal with these there was sudden danger.

Eduardo carried the ball forward and, with some defenders backing off and the others standing waiting for a non existant offside, the Arsenal reserve rolled an easy ball through to Olic who walked round Carson to slot home number two.

There were still 75 minutes left and England were still playing pretty well but this second goal knocked every last ounce of confidence out of the England side and the rest of the first half was basically an exercise in torture as any semblance of fluency or creativity disappeared from the England performance.

England's problems were exacerbated by the fact that their set pieces continued to be woeful. Free kicks and corners seemed our one route back into the game at this stage but whenever an opportunity arose it was wasted by feeble delivery.

When Croatia ventured forward for their third attack, if we're counting their first goal as an attack, there was another opportunity but Kranjcar could not direct his header on target at the far post.

Wayne Bridge, having a torrid time at left back, then presented possession to Croatia and Joleon Lescott did well to snuff out the danger from Corluka's cross.

England mustered one decent attack but Bridge wasted this with an awful centre and then nerves were set on edge again when Carson made a terrible meal of saving a routine shot from Modric.

Fortunately England survived this incident.

Sol Campbell, struggling to impose himself, did make one telling interception to stop a dangerous Croatia move and the half ended with England once again failing to threaten from a free kick in a promising position.

Half Time: England 0 Croatia 2

Action was now obviously needed and Steve McClaren responded by throwing on Jermain Defoe and David Beckham for Barry and Wright-Phillips.

England's first opportunity of the second half came when Crouch was pushed in the back thirty yards out but Beckham's free kick flicked off the wall and behind for a corner.

When Croatia cleared the corner they suddenly had a massive counter attacking opportunity but Gerrard just about got back to cut out the danger.

In the visitors' next attack Eduardo was suddenly running through on goal and Carson was called upon to block with his feet.

It had been all too easy for Croatia to pierce the England defence.

Despite the changes England were looking no more likely to create anything with Crouch singularly unable to locate a colleague with any of his headers.

Then, out of the blue, England were handed the lifeline they so desperately needed. Cole lobbed a ball into the box towards Defoe that was the keepers all the way but as he collected England were awarded a penalty for the merest of touches on Defoe.

Don't ever believe that this was a genuine penalty. If it had been awarded against England I would have been taking hostages.

Fat Frank stepped up to do the honours and probably wasn't all that confident. The Croatia keeper obviously hadn't been doing his homework, however, and obligingly dived the wrong way as Frank put it low to his usual side and England were back in the game.

Although Croatia were obviously angry and somewhat rattled by this incident it was they who posed the next threat.

With the England defence, and midfield, all over the place yet again Wayne Bridge took the ball off the toe of a Croatian forward on the edge of his own box but, at full stretch, sent the ball looping over Carson and the whole country was relieved to see the ball bounce behind for a corner off the top of the bar.

When the corner came across Olic was left completely unmarked six yards out and it needed a brilliant reaction save from Carson to keep out his header.

Moments later, however, Croatia were in again as the hapless Bridge fell over when faced with a routine interception to leave Olic in on goal.

The finish was poor but still forced a smart save from Carson dropping down to his right.

The game was wide open at this stage which gave England their best grounds for optimism and suddenly they took advantage with an equalising goal of absolute quality.

Beckham slanted the ball in from the right to Crouch who took a touch on his chest before volleying low into the corner.

There was no denying that Crouch had done well, his first touch was excellent and he really buried the finish but the ball from Beckham had been sent from heaven.

You could call it a cross but you would be doing it a dis-service. It was a pass and one of the best you could ever wish to see.

Suddenly, then, England, without doing too much, were level, their dodgy keeper had just made a tremendous save, their talisman had just produced a piece of genius to help his side get on terms, the Croatians were still looking aggrieved about the penalty and the Wembley crowd was lifting the roof.

Surely the ideal position from which England would push on and take the game by the scruff of the neck?

Are you joking?

There will be a lot of recriminations after this game and a lot of witch hunting but, for me, the reason England did not qualify from this group was their decision to sit back and hold on for what they had.

They did it in Russia and saw a one goal lead turn into a defeat and they did it here and saw a two all draw turn into a 3-2 defeat.

This is after seeing tournament after tournament slip away doing the same thing.

Why do we insist on sitting back? It's not as though we're good at it.

But here it was worse than ever. In front of our own crowd and with all the impetus suddenly with us we were too scared to try and push on.

We were negative, we were cowards and we got exactly what we deserved. Croatia did not regain the initiative. We handed it to them gladly and tried to hang on for the twenty odd, thirty minutes that remained.

Gerrard had a shot charged down after Beckham flicked the ball into his path but the pattern of play was now Croatia controlling possession and probing for openings across the full width of the pitch.

At no stage did England look convincing in defence but they steadfastly refused to try and take control themselves and apply pressure on Croatia.

Nothing much happened for five or ten minutes but it was Croatia in possession, Croatia putting the passes together and Croatia looking to come forward.

England stopped passing to each other, stopped trying to get men forward and still looked totally incapable of keeping it tight at the back.

Croatia made a substitute on 75 minutes and maybe none of the England players noticed because two minutes later Croatia passed to him, Petric, England stood off and he shot for goal from 25 yards out.

Campbell turned his back on the shot, Carson dived and seemed to get a hand to the ball but there it was, knocking the goalies' towel out of the side netting, and nestling in the back of the net.

McClaren immediately threw on Darren Bent for Joey Cole in an open admission that England were not going to try and play their way back into the game but just throw high balls forward and hope for the best.

Croatia, unlike England, did not panic in a position of strength and continued to keep possession and look the more likely scorers.

Lescott again covered well after Olic had got away from Bridge and five minutes from time England had their last chance of salvation.

Lampard lobbed a ball down the middle and Bent held off his marker before scooping a left footed shot inches over the bar.

The forward had actually knocked the last defender over completely and could have taken an extra touch but he was not really to know this and could not be faulted for getting his shot away early.

England tried to put Croatia under pressure as three minutes of injury time slipped away but, in truth, the visitors were the more likely scorers as they attacked on the break and when the final whistle sounded England could have no excuses for not qualifying, either on the night or over the course of the campaign.

They had been offered chances galore to get through and had not been good enough to take them.

Everyone connected with this squad has done a whole lot of talking over the past couple of years but precious little else.

Whose book about this latest failure will hit the shelves first I wonder?

Full Time: England 2 Croatia 3

England: S.Carson 3, M.Richards 6, S.Campbell 3, J.Lescott 5, W.Bridge 1, S.Gerrard 1, G.Barry 3 (D.Beckham 5), F.Lampard 4, S.Wright-Phillips 4 (J.Defoe 3), P.Crouch 6, J.Cole 4 (D.Bent 3).

Star Player: Nobody

Forget it, I'm not giving one. Micah Richards gets a six but wasn't exactly brilliant and Crouch only gets one because expectations of him are so low.
OK, he took his goal well but for a target man his heading is a joke.
Plus, if Crouch is England's best player it means only one thing; we've lost.
That was the one thing we had to avoid and was the one thing we achieved.

Tuesday November 20, 2007

Steve McClaren; Looking Back: Looking Forward

Since England's defeat in Russia last month left their European Championship qualification hopes hanging by a thread, and in the hands of others, the speculation regarding Steve McClaren's job prospects has been fevered.

All across the media and, no doubt, within the walls of the FA the fate of the England manager has been widely discussed and the message has mainly been to get the obituaries ready.

Nobody seemed to expect Israel to avoid defeat at home to Russia, somewhat surprisingly and our betting expert did advise you to take the 5/1 on offer against the Israeli's, but their victory in that game immediately tossed England's fate back into their own hands and offered a stay of execution to McClaren.

All of a sudden the specualtion stopped and everyone started looking forward to the Croatia game with the unwritten message seeming to be that McClaren will be safe until the summer if England do now go on to qualify.

This hardly seems sensible to me. Surely McClaren should only be judged on his own performances and if it was right to think he should be sacked before Israel beat Russia surely it is still right to think so.

After all, McClaren had nothing to do with Israel's win. It's probably as well for England's sake that he didn't.

If England beat or draw with Croatia then we will have qualified and McClaren will have a half decent result under his belt. He will still have steered his ship on a wildly erratic course to eventual qualification and left his crew and passengers, surely, concerned about his ability to steer it any more smoothly on future voyages.

Not everybody has been saying McClaren should go, however, even if England should fail to qualify. Voices have been raised in his support, voices from within the game that should, theoretically, count for plenty.

This seems to me to be the ideal time to review and judge McClaren. As it stands McClaren will now be judged purely and simply on what happens tomorrow night against Croatia but that seems to be taking too narrow a viewpoint whatever happens.

England might lose because the referee sends three of our players off for no reason at all and awards Croatia four incorrect penalties. Would that be a reason for McClaren losing his job?

England might win 5-0 with a wonderful display of attacking football but the fact would remain that McClaren had needed Israel to beat Russia to give his side a chance of qualifying. Having led his team to a home draw with Macedonia, a draw in Israel and defeats in Croatia and Russia would eventual qualification be a sound enough reason for McClaren continuing in his post?

Overall, without even going into reasons or discussions, my feeling is that Steve McClaren is not the right man to lead England.

That is my gut feeling. I do not have any confidence about his ability or personality and imagine few other onlookers have either.

It is not enough to get rid of someone because of a gut feeling, however.

On the other hand there should also be real reasons for keeping him. In the main the people who have come out in support of McClaren do not give any and that is a worry.

His supporters have come from predictable places. Other managers have backed him and the LMA (League Managers Association) have backed him.

What a surprise. When does any manager (other than Sam Allardyce) ever come out and suggest that one of their own should get the chop? The fact that managers virtually always stick up for one another makes their stated opinion actually worthless.

The League Managers Association are even worse. They have so much of a vested interest in a manager keeping his job that they are totally not to be trusted. In this case this is multiplied several times over after the body campaigned so fiercely for the appointment of an English manager.

The LMA need to continually justify themselves and the only way they can really do this is by the consistent spreading of propaganda.

They cannot actually point out any home grown talent to have emerged through their coaching qualifications and their insistence on an English manager over a foreign one still looks like completely flawed thinking.

People such as Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson have both criticised the criticism of McClaren but have nothing concrete to say in his defence, only that he should be allowed more time.

This is not such a good argument at international level though. It's not as though McClaren is waiting for a transfer window to bring in his own players. At international level you get what you are given and have to make the best of it. And results are needed immediately. Five year plans are no good because it means you may have already missed out on two major tournaments and you have no idea what kind of a squad you will be left with at the end of that time.

McClaren was dealt a pretty fair hand in taking over as England manager and it is fair to say he has not played it well.

There was one person who actually offered reasons to back up his opinion that McClaren was the right man for the job. That was Don Howe, a famous coach who obviously now stands firmly in the coaches' corner, but his reasons did not really stand up to scrutiny.

Howe opined that McClaren had not been given the credit he deserved for his skill and bravery in making the decisions that contributed to England's excellent 3-0 wins over Israel and Russia that provided the undoubted highlights of this qualifying campaign so far.

These decisions were bringing Campbell, Heskey and Barry into the side, and Howe singled out the selection of Heskey.

Howe also said McClaren had not been given the credit he deserved for recalling Beckham for the game in Estonia.

To give McClaren much credit for these decisions is surely unnecessary, however.

Surely if Beckham was the right man for England once he had moved to America to play his football then he should never have been left out in the first place.

As for the selection of Campbell, Heskey and Barry this was hardly the brave, bold decision Howe would have us believe. These players only got into the side because McClaren had no-one else to pick. Had his usual suspects been available then these three wouldn't have got anywhere near the team.

And the one player who has been crying out to get dropped, Paul Robinson, has remained in situ throughout up to now and simply carried on costing us points.

To be fair to McClaren I think he does deserve credit for the performances against Israel and Russia but even in giving this credit it does beg the question what has he been doing in the other games?

Not only did the players brought in play well in those two games England actually looked as though they were playing to a plan. It wasn't rocket science but it helped England produce two excellent performances and the results matched.

The plan was simple, Heskey was used as an old fashioned target man with others playing off him, but it was at least a plan. The players looked as though they knew what they were supposed to be doing and they did those things well.

The balls up to Heskey were of good quality and he handled them expertly. This ensured that England laid a platform for other players to perform on and they did so.

It was as though McClaren realised he did not have his first choice players out there so decided some tactical instruction was required.

Why is this not the case when he has his best players available?

In general McClaren gives the impression that he thinks having the right players on the pitch is good enough, that they will win without any definite plan simply because they are good players.

This isn't the case. And when McClaren's tactics come into play it is simply to turn to all out defence. Once again this habit cost us dear in Russia when our blanket defence was shredded and Rooney ended up giving away a penalty when playing at left back.

That kind of stuff is embarrassing yet we seem to be condemned to a lifetime of watching England teams do this.

McClaren doesn't help himself with what he says either. Whether England give a good or a bad performance the manager never seems to say anything before or after the game that makes you think he might have any idea why the performance was good or bad.

McClaren never has anything to offer after a bad display to make it clearer what his side had been trying to do or how. Plans can go wrong or simply fail but the man who has hatched them should still be in a position to explain what that plan had been and how it had been intended to succeed.

The England manager either never has an actual plan or is simply unwilling to share it with us. If it is the latter then not letting us in on the secret is surely a mistake. I, for one, would be much happier, even after a defeat, if McClaren was able to give me any idea of how his team had been trying to play. But he never does that.

The answers McClaren gives to questions are mainly meaningless generalisations. Soundbites you might call them. They are statements which if taken in passing give the impression that he knows what he is doing but give no details or real evidence to substantiate this.

The comment I particularly recall, and which seems to sum McClaren up perfectly, came after the fine 3-0 wins over Israel and Russia. After the second victory the BBC interviewer had McClaren in the tunnel and asked him why these performances had been so good.

McClaren replied "Sometimes these things just take time," or words to that effect.

That answer intimated that the manager had been working towards those performances since taking over in the job. He had been moulding his team and his tactics towards a style of play that he had always had in his mind and that now had been properly tuned.

That would have been fair enough had it been true but in reality the performances had been given by a side thrown together because of injuries and suspensions to his preferred players.

"Sometimes these things just take time."

What exactly had just taken time? Had McClaren been waiting for half of his starting eleven to be ruled out before picking a team that could actually produce a performance.

Would he have picked Campbell, Barry and Heskey if Terry, Lampard and Rooney or Crouch been available?

No he wouldn't.

The bottom line was that England had just given two good performances and McClaren was just as confused as to why it had happened as when they give a bad one. Or so you would think from the answers he was giving.

As for the Croatia game the England manager has a shot at redemption and he badly needs to take it. If his side fails now after getting so lucky in being given yet another chance then it will be the failure or all England failures.

Sure he has problems with injuries and the like but he still has the players available to get at least a draw and he certainly shouldn't be in the job if he cannot gain the result to get us through with the players still left at his disposal.

His biggest questions are who to play in goal and who to play up front, although there are questions to be answered all through the side.

I would go with Scott Carson in goal and would play Crouch up front by himself. I cannot see the point of playing more than one sub-standard striker in such an important game.

Obviously I would want to see plenty of support in and around Crouch and would like to see Joe Cole given a more attacking free role.

Cole does a good job for England on the left hand side of midfield but it's not really his best position. Playing more centrally and given licence to attack Cole could be a really potent weapon. He has the imagination and ability to split defences open with his passing and is more than capable of dribbling through the centre of a defence.

He could be a real dangerman for England if employed in this way.

The other attacking option I would use would be either Ashley Young or Shaun Wright-Phillips and, at the moment, I would probably favour Young.

Both these players have pace to burn, something England will badly lack if Beckham is preferred, and can provide crosses as well as getting into goalscoring positions themselves.

Behind them a midfield three of Barry, Lampard and Gerrard would provide a strong and well balanced base from which England could control the game and launch attacks.

McClaren would no doubt favour Owen Hargreaves over Barry and will probably opt for the experience of Beckham over Young or Wright-Phillips but if he does so England might well find themselves involved in a tight, tense game which could easily end in disaster.

Let's hope not. Whoever McClaren picks they will undoubtedly have a crowd right behind them and if they can play with sufficient tempo, quality and purpose then we should get a result to see us through to the finals.

Here's hoping.

Friday November 16, 2007; Friendly International

Austria 0 England 1

England: S.Carson, M.Richards, S.Campbell (W.Brown 45), J.Lescott, W.Bridge, D.Beckham (D.Bentley 62), F.Lampard, S.Gerrard (G.Barry 45), J.Cole (A.Young 45), P.Crouch (A.Smith 73), M.Owen (J.Defoe 34).

In one of England's lowest key friendly internationals ever Steve McClaren saw his team come away with a positive result but, typically, also suffer a serious setback.

Michael Owen came away from the best move of the game with a hamstring injury and will now miss the game that matters against Croatia on Wednesday night.

This game started with Austria, a team basically written off by their own people, looking to take the initiative and instill some kind of belief among the players and fans.

England were pressed back for ten minutes or so but the home side were unable to really test Scott Carson, starting in goal for the first time.

Joleon Lescott was looking comfortable for the first time in an England shirt alongside the reassuring Sol Campbell while Micah Richards and Wayne Bridge were in control on the flanks.

The first incident of note came at the other end as England came forward. David Beckham slanted a ball over the top of the Austrian defence for Peter Crouch to chase but the forward was just beaten to the ball by Jurgen Macho.

Contact was unavoidable and the Austrian keeper clearly suffered the worst of it, looking in considerable distress before being carried off to be replaced by Alex Manninger.

England were now controlling possession much better with Frank Lampard looking keen to impose himself as he started alongside Steven Gerrard for the first time in a while.

Joey Cole offered his usual eager brand of trickery but Beckham, sorely short of competitive football, was subdued.

It had been a game badly lacking goalmouth incident but when England suddenly produced a move of real quality there was no shortage of talking points.

Quick, one touch passing between Cole, Gerrard and Crouch saw the ball moved in from the left wing to release Owen bursting forward into the box. The striker clipped a high shot to Manninger's right which the keeper did well to turn over the top but tweaked his hamstring in doing so and was forced to limp off.

The longer term implications seemed serious as Jermain Defoe came on in Owen's place and these were later confirmed with the news that England's fragile goalscorer would be missing for at least a month.

England continued to assert themselves without Owen and another pleasing move saw Richards, Lampard and Defoe combine down the right but the substitutes' centre was too high for Cole.

With half time approaching Cole combined with Crouch to force a save out of Manninger and from the resulting corner Crouch headed Beckham's deep centre down and in at the far post to give England a lead they by now just about deserved.

Austria tried to respond immediately and Carson, in his first serious action, had to slide out at feet to ensure England's half time advantage.

Half Time: Austria 0 England 1

McClaren was looking to ensure no further important injuries before Wednesday as he removed Campbell, Gerrard and Cole from the action at half time with Wes Brown, Gareth Barry and Ashley Young, for his debut, coming on in their place.

The change at the back saw Brown come on at right back with Richards moving inside to partner Lescott.

Austria again tried to impose themselves at the start of the half but still found it difficult to breach the England defence. One of their more incisive passing moves presented a fleeting shooting chance but the forward opted for another pass and the opportunity immediately vanished.

Lampard was continuing to set the tone for England with an energetic display backed up by good use of the ball but tidy approach play was seldom matched by the work of the forwards.

Ashley Young cut inside from the left after one such move but sliced his shot well wide of the target. Overall, however, Young would create a positive impression.

Austria shouted in vain for a penalty as Brown stood his ground at the far post and a forward went to ground but there was nothing doing from the referee.

England then had a fine chance to stretch their lead. Lampard sent a superb pass out to Young who had the time to get the ball back onto his favoured right foot and send a perfect centre onto the head of Crouch.

Crouch again headed down but his effort was too close to Manninger who parried the ball to safety.

As Lampard continued to dominate proceedings Young kept the Austrian defence on the back foot with a series of purposeful runs. When Lampard then changed the direction of attack with a clever ball over the top for Crouch the forward was guilty of waiting for the ball to drop and a defender nicked the it away when the forward could have moved in and claimed possession himself deep inside the area.

Wayne Bridge was the next player encouraged forward by Lampard's distribution and the full back made it to the edge of the Austrian area before being stopped.

With twenty minutes remaining England looked pretty much in control and the signs were encouraging. Another couple of substitutions and an apparent change in approach meant this promise quickly faded and the game ended, all too familiarly, with England looking to hold on to their one goal lead, seemingly out of choice rather than necessity.

David Bentley replaced Beckham on the right and struggled to get into the game. Alan Smith replaced Crouch and it was hard to tell whether he was playing up front or in midfield.

Austria had looked as impotent an attacking force as England had faced in a long time but any side can score if the other side decides to play in their own half and this could have been the case yet again.

The England defence was properly breached after a slick exchange of passes but again the final shot was badly sliced and Lescott needed to be alert to intercept after a sloppy pass by Brown had played his side into trouble.

Lampard inspired another foray forward but Young tried to engineer a right footed shot with the ball on his left side and failed miserably.

The last five minutes were played out with Austria coming forward to send in a stream of hopeful long range shots, none of which threatened Carson's goal.

An England win but, overall, a game that counted for, and proved, very little indeed.

Full Time: Austria 0 England 1

England: S.Carson 6, M.Richards 7, S.Campbell 7 (W.Brown 5), J.Lescott 6, W.Bridge 6, D.Beckham 5 (D.Bentley 4), F.Lampard 8, S.Gerrard (G.Barry 6), J.Cole 6 (A.Young 6), P.Crouch 6(A.Smith 3), M.Owen 5 (J.Defoe 4).

Star Player: Frank Lampard

Lampard looked confident and assured and dominated the game for long periods with an impressive range of passes.

Wednesday 12 September, 2007; European Championship Qualifier

England v. Russia

England: P.Robinson, M.Richards, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, A.Cole, S.Wright-Phillips, S.Gerrard, G.Barry, J.Cole (P.Neville 87), E.Heskey (P.Crouch 80), M.Owen (S.Downing 92).

Russia: Malafeev, V.Berezutsky, Ignashevich, A.Berezutsky, Aniukov (Kerzakov 80), Bilyaletdinov, Zhirkov, Semshov (Bystrov 39), Sychev (Pavlyuchenko 62), Arshavin, Zurianov.

Having battered Israel on the Saturday England approached this game with renewed confidence and belief. Steve McClaren, wisely, resisted any temptation to tinker with the side so Emile Heskey retained his place up front instead of Peter Crouch, available after suspension.

Russia were expected to provide stiffer opposition than Israel and showed in the early stages that they could pass and move dangerously around the midfield and the edge of the box.

Arshavin provided a cutting edge to one neat move by cruising past Rio Ferdinand down the right wing and his centre looked dangerous until Gareth Barry arrived on cue to intercept at the near post.

England were in no mood to sit back, however, and soon had Russia under serious pressure with the crisp, fluent football that had destroyed Israel.

The components that had worked well in the previous game looked to be well oiled again and as England imposed themselves they grabbed a crucial early lead.

Micah Richards drove forward to help win a throw in deep inside Russian territory and when he threw it long towards Heskey the ball dropped for Joe Cole to launch an acrobatic volley that looked goalbound before being blocked at the expense of a corner.

Gareth Barry swung in a fine ball that was cleared at full stretch back out to him and when his second centre landed in the box it was at the feet of Michael Owen who kept typically calm before stroking home his finish off the inside of the post.

The game continued in the same fashion; Russia looking neat and occasionally incisive but England offering the real threat with their pace and power.

Barry, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Owen were all involved in a superb passing move that ended with Gerrard playing a defence splitting pass for Heskey who was unlucky to see Malafeev save his lunging effort with his body.

The ball ran loose and Owen would have had a tap in after the covering defender slipped but the England striker had already gone to ground himself in an attempt to block the expected clearance.

The Russians were concetrating their attacks down England's right and were getting some joy as Richards was left exposed at times by Shaun Wright-Phillips. Zhirkov spent an age teasing the England full back and Bilyaletdinov was still unmarked when he finally rolled a simple ball back to him.

With time and space Bilyaletdinov opted to shoot from the corner of the box and only found the side netting.

Wright-Phillips did better going forward with a strong run that won a corner and Barry sent over another peach of a centre that Richards flung himself forward to meet only for his effort to be blocked, possibly by John Terry.

Russia could not clear properly and England were able to tee up a juicy shooting opportunity for Gerrard some thirty yards out but, unusually, his effort was sliced well off target.

Russia were encouraged to attack the England defence when Terry tried to be too cute with a long ball down the middle and it needed Ashley Cole to hold up the counter attack and Barry to tidy up again.

Joe Cole did well to find space and feed Wright-Phillips for a shot which took a blatant deflection before flying wide but the referee somehow failed to spot this and Russia had a goal kick.

The officials next call would more than even up this error, however.

Russia composed another good move down the left and when they cut inside Ferdinand was indecisive in his challenge and suddenly there was real danger. Terry flew in to make a fine block on Sychev's shot but the ball broke loose for Zurianov who looked a certain scorer.

The Russian misjudged the bounce slightly but looked to have scored after turning and shooting underneath Paul Robinson. He had taken a touch, however, and this the referee deemed to have been with arm rather than chest.

It looked as though England had had a huge slice of luck.

England retaliated and Joe Cole cut inside to swing in a perfect centre for Wright-Phillips who headed badly over from point blank range when he certainly should have scored.

Arshavin linked well with Bilyaletdinov who sent in a fierce effort that Robinson tipped away at full stretch and then Sychev was just unable to reach a clever chip across the face of the England goal.

England were moving the ball around well themselves and looked dangerous whenever they swept forward. Barry stepped in to claim possession inside Russian territory and fed Joe Cole for a drive that was deflected but Malafeev was able to fist away.

Heskey was causing all kinds of problems in the air and knocked one high ball down that the Russians managed to hook clear. Rio Ferdinand instantly returned the ball high towards the penalty area and this time Heskey's knock down was perfect for the unmarked Owen who let the ball bounce before smashing a vicious volley into the roof of the net from 20 yards.

This was a fully functioning England side and the confidence was clear to see all around the pitch. John Terry started another sweeping move with a long ball forward for Ashley Cole who cushioned a lovely first time ball back into his namesake Joe.

Cole then sent in another fine deep ball for Wright-Phillips who should have done better than volley weakly back across into the keepers' arms.

It was another example of a quick, constructive, penetrative England attack, however, and the Wembley crowd was quick to show its' appreciation.

The highly impressive Richards stormed forward to link with Wright-Phillips and send in another dangerous cross that was cleared at full stretch with England players packing the box and the half ended with England pressing again but Heskey's ambitious back heeler was intercepted before any England player could profit.

All in all an excellent half from the boys in white.

Half Time: England 2 Russia 0

Russia came out determined to try and get themselves back into the match and England suffered a really uncomfortable ten minute spell.

A magnificent move engineered a clear shooting chance for Sychev to the right of goal and his fierce low drive flashed just the wrong side of the far post.

Zhirkov then got away down the other flank to whip over a low centre that a lunging colleague was inches from converting in front of goal.

Gerrard burst forward to send in a low drive that Malafeev held at full stretch but at this stage England were definitely on the back foot.

Ashley Cole got caught out trying to shepherd a ball over the goalline and then allowed the substitute Bystrov to cut inside him towards goal. The Russian went down as Cole tried to recover but the referee turned the penalty appeals down flatly.

The next man to be sloppy around the England goalmouth was Ferdinand but Barry once more got back to mop up the danger.

Having failed to score from this excellent passage of play some of the steam went out of the Russian challenge and as England began to assume control again the result never really looked in doubt from this point on.

Barry and Gerrard combined effectively yet again to feed Joe Cole who had a good chance himself only for his first touch to desert him. The Chelsea man recovered, however, to cut a good ball back to the supporting Gerrard who had a clear shooting opportunity from inside the box but the ball was on his left foot and his effort ballooned well over.

England looked more content to take the sting out of the game which now went through a quiet period.

Russia caused a scare when Bilyaletdinov eased himself into a shooting opportunity far too easily and Robinson needed Rio Ferdinand to be on hand to tidy up after saving but not holding the shot.

Joe Cole was then very harshly booked after being penalised for two excellent looking tackles in the space of about ten seconds.

Peter Crouch came on for Heskey just to remind everyone of how it looks when a player is happy just to get his head to the ball without really caring where it might be going.

The beanpole won his first flick on and Joe Cole was able to claim possession to set up Wright-Phillips for a crisp effort that brought a decent save out of Malafeev.

Then Cole himself was presented with a good chance by Owen but managed to get the ball stuck between his feet.

On a good night for England Joey had not really been at his best.

By now the game was drifting but the crowd were sent home in party mood after England scored again from a late corner.

Once more Barry's fine delivery was cleared straight back to him and this time he went short to the feet of Michael Owen who surveyed his options before finding Rio Ferdinand with another short pass to the right of goal.

England's centre half paused for a moment then unleashed an Ali shuffle that must have had half of Wembley going the wrong way before drilling a low drive under Malafeev at the near post.

The Russian keeper should certainly have done better but he was probably still mesmerized by Rio's dancing feet.

Steve McClaren tried to dampen the feelgood factor by introducing Phil Neville and Stewart Downing for the last few minutes but on this occasion there was nothing that could spoil the mood inside the stadium and around the country.

Two victories in five days with two excellent performances by an England side looking like a team for a change, not just a collection of individuals.

Long may it continue.

Full Time: England 3 Russia 0

England: P.Robinson 7, M.Richards 8, R.Ferdinand 5, J.Terry 7, A.Cole 5, S.Wright-Phillips 6, S.Gerrard 8, G.Barry 8, J.Cole 6, E.Heskey 8 (P.Crouch 5), M.Owen 9.

Star Player: Michael Owen

The midfield partnership of Barry and Gerrard was excellent once again but Owen's with Heskey was the real match winner.
It's no wonder Owen apparently wanted his old mate Emily back in the side as the big man won header after header to provide his partner but Owen still has the hardest job in football.
When he's in form he makes scoring goals look extremely easy though and England look a completely different side.

European Championship Qualifier; Saturday September 8, 2007

England v. Israel

England: P.Robinson, M.Richards, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, A.Cole, S.Wright-Phillips (D.Bentley 83), S.Gerrard (P.Neville 70), G.Barry, J.Cole, E.Heskey (A.Johnson 70), M.Owen.

Israel: D.Aouate, Y.Shpungin, S.Gershon, T.Ben Haim, Y.Ziv, Y.Benayoun, W.Badir, A.Benado (O.Golan 57), Y.Katan (M.Zandberg 73), B.Itzhaki (T.Tamuz 45).

England knew that victory was imperative going into this qualifier after a dreadful start to their campaign and they also knew that they would be faced with extremely negative opponents.

Israel had barely come out of their own half in the first game between the sides when they were at home so there was no reason to expect anything other than a rearguard action here.

The encouraging thing for England was that as soon as they applied any pressure on the Israel defence in the early stages the visitors looked fragile. Whenever a ball went towards the recalled Emile Heskey the England forward was able to reach it first and provide his side with an attacking platform.

Heskey created real danger by flicking on a routine free kick from deep and strike partner Michael Owen was onto the ball ahead of the keeper by the goalline. Owen laid the ball back to Shaun Wright-Phillips whose weak centre was cleared at the near post.

The ball was quickly worked back to the winger whose second centre was slightly better and won his side a corner.

On nine minutes England should have taken the lead. Gareth Barry, starting in assured fashion, clipped a lovely ball into the box for Owen and with the defence drawn to him he knocked a perfect ball back to Heskey unmarked on the penalty spot.

The less than prolific forward reminded us why with a shocking effort that sailed way over the bar.

Israel were encouraged to come forward when Joe Cole played a wayward pass around the halfway line and then Micah Richards, having raced back to reclaim possession, immediately gave it away as well.

Danger loomed but when the ball was slipped through the middle the linesman's flag went up to reprieve England although Paul Robinson had already dashed off his line to take the ball off the strikers' toe.

In England's next attack Richards chipped a nice ball into the box for Heskey and his strength knocked an Israeli marker straight off his feet. Unfortunately Heskey was unable to get the ball out of his feet to get away a shot but it provided further encouragement to the England camp.

Apparently England had been working on getting quality crosses into the Israel box in training but in the early stages this was just about the most disappointing aspect of the performance with Wright-Phillips on one side and Ashley Cole on the other particularly culpable. It was, however, refreshing to see England players in crossing positions so often.

Heskey was continuing to cause problems and produced a sweet chested lay off to encourage Gerrard forward but he was taken out as he stormed forward. The free kick, looking for John Terry at the far post, produced a corner from which Heskey headed wide having got cleanly above his marker.

With twenty minutes gone the goal England were threatening arrived. Gerrard clipped a good ball into Ashley Cole who slipped the ball back to namesake Joe. He evaded a challenge before curling an inswinging cross to the far post and, while the Israel defence stood and watched, Wright-Phillips darted in to sidefoot home on the volley into the roof of the net.

Terry got a knock on the ankle after hurtling into a challenge having been sold short by Joe Cole but in general the England defence was redundant.

When Gareth Barry gave away a rash free kick on the touchline Richards leapt highest in the penalty area to deal with the centre.

England may have been in trouble shortly afterwards but the referee decided there was nothing wrong with a dubious looking Rio Ferdinand challenge on the edge of the box and England quickly regained control.

Richards won a free kick when powering forward from right back and the keeper just about got his fists to Gerrard's inswinger ahead of two England attackers.

Richards was getting forward more and more and was presented with a shooting opportunity by Joe Cole but could only manage a gentle shot on the turn straight at the keeper from outside the box.

Confidence was clearly coursing through the England team and Gerrard, Ashley Cole and Barry combined in a fine move which ended with Joe Cole clipping another dangerous ball across the box which Owen couldn't reach and Heskey didn't read.

Heskey and Owen then combined down the right and when Heskey laid the ball back to Wright-Phillips his centre was expertly laid off by Joe Cole into the path of Owen who smashed his finish straight into Aouate's face before spooning the rebound miles off target.

The Israeli keeper needed a splash of water to his dazed head before carryintg on.

England were really forcing the pace and Barry was again instrumental in starting an attack which then saw Owen slip in the overlapping Ashley Cole but the keeper was able to dive and parry his tentative effort from well inside the box.

Heskey played in Wright-Phillips down the right with another sweet touch but his low centre was just in front of the lunging Owen and England had to settle for a one goal half time lead.

The performance had been extremely satisfying, however.

Half Time: England 1 Israel 0

Israel emerged with a different centre forward but it was England who continued to dominate proceedings and it was not long before they had increased their lead in stunning fashion.

Richards did well initially down the right before coming inside to find Barry. Once again the Aston Villa man produced a cute ball between defenders to find Owen whose first touch invited him to turn and drill a magnificent half volley into the corner of the net from twenty yards.

This goal further boosted the England team and for ten minutes they had their opponents pinned back inside their own half and although they were unable to fashion any clear chances the threat was always there that they might.

Ziv was booked for crudely taking out Wright-Phillips and then Shpungin escaped caution after barging through the back of Joe Cole.

Israel briefly threatened when Katan sent a good ball in from the right but Ferdinand defended the situation well to avert any danger.

Barry combined with Gerrard for the latter to play a precise ball inside the full back for Joe Cole but his effort was indecisive and Aouate saved at the near post.

Within moments Gerrard had a shooting chance himself in a central position 25 yards out but the effort was straight at the keeper.

England's defence was suddenly caught out through the middle but the Israeli sub Tamuz needed far too long to take advantage and Ferdinand and Richards got back to block out the danger before England sealed victory on 66 minutes.

Barry sent over a corner from the right and with Aouate nowhere Richards got up to power a header into the empty net.

Israel's keeper was booked for protesting that he had been fouled but it looked more a case of him running into Michael Owen as he started his ill advised charge from his line.

England made a couple of substitutions with Andy Johnson and Phil Neville replacing Heskey and Gerrard and there was a slight worry over Gerrard who looked to have hurt himself in his last piece of action.

The game degenerated from this point with England satisfied with their efforts and Israel totally incapable of mounting a rally.

Paul Robinson seemed to have become bored as he firstly came way out of goal to the right touchline to boot clear when Rio Ferdinand looked in complete control and then came flying out to punch clear a free kick.

Phil Neville looked on a mission to concede the most free kicks in the shortest space of time in an international fixture while David Bentley came on for Shaun Wright-Phillips and found himself the target of some meaty booing after his refusal to play for the Under 21's in the summer.

There was one last, great, chance for England when Johnson held off his marker before playing in Owen who danced round the keeper but then saw Ziv slide back to clear his shot off the line.

All in all, however, this was a job very well done indeed.

Full Time: England 3 Israel 0

England: P.Robinson 6, M.Richards 8, R.Ferdinand 7, J.Terry 7, A.Cole 6, S.Wright-Phillips 8, S.Gerrard 7 (P.Neville 4), G.Barry 8, J.Cole 8, E.Heskey 7 (A.Johnson 6), M.Owen 8.

Star Player: Gareth Barry

The holding midfield position is pretty easy to play against opponents as negative as Israel but Barry did not allow himself to sit back and take easy options all afternoon. He moved forward at the right times and kept all the attackers well fed with precise and often telling passes.
An excellent display from the Villa man.

Wednesday August 22, 2007

England 1 Germany 2

England: P.Robinson (D.James 45), M.Richards, R.Ferdinand (W.Brown 45), J.Terry, N.Shorey, D.Beckham, F.Lampard, M.Carrick (G.Barry 55), J.Cole (S.Wright-Phillips 70), A.Smith (K.Dyer 57), M.Owen (P.Crouch 57).

Friendly internationals should not be pointless but the more you see England play in them the more you think they are. This is not a reaction to a defeat at the hands of Germany, it is just the over-riding feeling you come away with every time one of our friendlies has finished.

The substitutions don't help but it is more than that. We play these games and there never seems to be a more coherent pattern of play emerging, nobody ever seems more or less integrated into and comfortable with whatever style or system it is we play and, more than anything else, nobody who impresses in their cameo role ever seems to take that forward and produce it in a game that matters.

What have we learnt about our team and players tonight that we didn't know before? Did anything happen that really pointed towards a meaningful improvement?

This was not the worst display overall. England made enough chances to win the game and certainly should not have lost it. They did lose, however, because of poor finishing and poor defending, which has never been a good combination.

Perhaps the most pressing concern is the goalkeeping of Paul Robinson. Robinson has shown himself to be highly fallible on a regular basis in the last year or two and had another night to forget here.

Robinson's major strength has been the lack of any realistic competition but that is not the best attribute in a keeper. Basically he is ripe for dropping. He is not big enough to cock up routine situations.

Calamity James has always dropped the odd clanger or three but at least he is big and imposing, is truly magnificent when he is on song and basically is capable of saving things that Robinson's smaller frame won't allow him to get to.

If Robinson can't do the basics well every time then he has to go.

Onto the action.

England, as usual in friendlies, started at a good pace and with plenty of purpose. From the first whistle their attacks were given a real edge by the impish running of Joe Cole on the left hand side of midfield and the powerful surges of Micah Richards from right back.

It's nice when our players are Richards's age. They have few expectations and few responsibilities. They are simply allowed to go out on the pitch and express themselves. They play well for a year or so, become fixtures in the side and then the manager starts telling them what they should be doing, making sure they don't run anywhere they shouldn't and then they just become as bland as everyone else in the side.

Remember when Fat Frank first got into the side? Remember when Rooney first got into the side?

Exciting, influential players who hurt the opposition. How long is it since they did that?

Joey Cole had produced one exciting run and Richards had shown up to advantage before the latter was instrumental in England taking a ninth minute lead.

Cutting in forcefully from the right Richards produced an astute flick into the path of Lampard who leathered a fierce drive into the German net at the near post.

The shot was certainly powerful but questions still needed asking of Jens Lehmann. Paul Robinson would ensure that Jens was not the keeper most under scrutiny come the end of the game, however.

England continued to look lively and could have added to their lead but Michael Owen on a couple of occasions and Lampard were unable to accept presentable opportunities.

Germany had only a hopeful Hitzlsperger shot to show for their efforts before being gifted an equaliser by the England keeper.

Robinson made something of a meal of a shot from outside the box and then came out to kick the rebound towards the touchline rather than gather with his hands. The ball found a lurking German on the right wing who booted it back towards the centre.

Whether this was meant as shot or cross was hard to tell but the ball arrowed towards the top near corner and Robinson, all a fluster, simply spooned the ball back into his six yard box where Kuranyi was waiting to gratefully tap in.

Minutes later Robinson came for a free kick and got nowhere near it and was only spared further blushes by the fact that Mertesacker's header missed the open goal.

Germany did go ahead on the stroke of half time and this time the man at fault was John Terry. Choosing to pass his way out of a tight spot the England captain presented Germany with possession and three passes later Pander unleashed a stunning drive into the corner of the England net.

Robinson was probably happy to be beaten by such a quality strike, no-one was going to blame him for that one.

England began making their plethora of changes right at the start of the second half and immediately curtailed their own attacking threat.

Calamity James came on for Robinson, which was fair enough, but by bringing Wes Brown on for Rio Ferdinand and moving Richards into the centre McClaren removed one of his better attacking options.

Still, you could understand him wanting to see Richards in the centre I suppose.

Germany had a better command of the ball after the break but without looking unduly bothered about scoring and eventually England began to create a few chances again.

Gareth Barry came on into the holding midfield role and looked quality for a few minutes before really getting the hang of his job and totally disappearing. I know everyone loves this position but it still just looks a complete waste of a player to me.

Barry showed good skill to set Cole up for a run which ended with a low shot wide of the near post and then Nicky Shorey and Cole made a decent break down the left but there were no takers in the middle.

When Shorey next looked to move forward, however, he played an awful ball inside and the Germans broke quickly for a chance which came to nothing and then a long ball out of defence caught Brown and Richards napping but Kuranyi lobbed his volley horribly wide with James totally exposed.

David Beckham produced a sweet ball to send Kieron Dyer running through on Lehmann but the keeper got something on the effort and although it squeezed through his legs a defender was able to get back and clear.

Then Lampard did well to release Beckham whose low ball across the face of goal picked out Dyer but his sliding shot went wide of the gaping goal. Bad miss.

Joey Cole was rested to give club colleague Shaun Wright-Phillips a run on the left wing and the sub made a lively contribution. Cutting inside, Wright-Phillips clipped in a cracking ball that Lampard should have finished at the far post but, stretching, England's midfield fatty could only poke the ball over the bar.

Then, from a Beckham corner, Terry saw his header cleared off the line as England pushed for an equaliser.

Shorey, Barry and Wright-Phillips combined in what was England's slickest move of the game but this was then ended by a woeful pass to nobody by Dyer.

Wright-Phillips produced a nice Ali shuffle to escape two defenders and tested Lehmann with a low drive although, having made the space, a pass might have served England better.

Not content with impressing at one end Wright-Phillips then flew back to make an important block after Lampard had missed a tackle.

England's last chance to salvage a draw was wasted when Shorey, having done superbly to step his way into the box, sent in a dreadful cross from the left hand side.

The game ended with Germany in the England half and Kuranyi came close with a snap shot that deflected just over David James's crossbar.

Defeat then but not the worst performance ever and did it really matter?

Full Time: England 1 Germany 2

England: P.Robinson 2 (D.James 4), M.Richards 8, R.Ferdinand 4 (W.Brown 4), J.Terry 5, N.Shorey 5, D.Beckham 6, F.Lampard 7, M.Carrick 4 (G.Barry 7), J.Cole 7 (S.Wright-Phillips 8), A.Smith 2 (K.Dyer 4), M.Owen 6 (P.Crouch 4).

Star Player: Micah Richards

These are heady times for Richards and hopefully he can keep his feet on the ground, keep on performing and keep on improving.
Maybe his future with Man City is at centre half but, for the moment at least, he looks perfect for the right back spot in the England side.
Strong, keen tackling and with seering pace he is well equipped defensively and going forward he is a real threat.
A really exciting prospect and the longer he retains his sense of freedom and adventure the better.

Thursday, June 24
Not Quite The Same Old Story

Another England team went out of a major championship on penalties last night as the under 21 team lost out to Holland. Although this sticks to a familiar theme for English sides it was very definitely a variation on the theme.

Whereas we normally don't score any penalties at all this side did convert 12 spot kicks out of 16 in total before falling in an epic shootout.

England had also been only seconds away from progressing before Holland, the host nation, equalised at the end of normal time.

The game started in cagey fashion with England sitting deep in midfield and providing only sporadic support to the two forwards.

Chances were hard to come by but the best had fallen to the Dutch before England suddenly struck six minutes before the break. Nugent flicked on a punt forward from Carson and Lita shrugged off his man to fire past the keeper at his near post.

Early in the second half England were inches away from doubling the lead. The impressive Ashley Young was crudely brought down as he threatened to burst clear and Lita smacked the resulting free kick against a post.

From there on, however, England found themselves involved in an increasingly gruelling backs to the wall effort to repel incessant Dutch pressure.

Steven Taylor made one of several vital blocks after Carson could only parry a long range effort as England's defending became more desperate by the minute.

Stuart Pearce sent on Anton Ferdinand for Lita with his final substitution three minutes from time to try and shore up a midfield in which Noble and Reo-Coker had already collected bookings that would keep them out of the final.

The move did not work. In the very last minute a deep cross into the England box was hooked back across goal and, with Taylor down injured, Rigter scored in acrobatic fashion.

England could not complain given the goal scored against Serbia but the difference here was that Taylor was genuinely injured.

The Newcastle man had to hobble on as the game went to extra time, moving into midfield with Ferdinand dropping back, but worse was to follow as Onuoha had to retire with a groin strain leaving England effectively down to 9 men.

Milner also picked up a caution that would mean he missed the final and it became possible that England would not be able to field a full team even if they did go through.

They held out bravely for penalties but after the Dutch missed their second kick Justin Hoyte saw his effort saved with England's fourth kick and the marathon session ensued.

Reo-Coker had his effort saved at 8-8 but the next guy up for Holland missed and the score then went to 12-12 before the next failure.

Carson and the crippled Taylor had both scored but Matt Derbyshire saw his second penalty of the shootout saved and although Carson then made his one save of the series when Ferdinand then had his penalty saved the Dutch finally closed it out with a successful kick, 13-12 being the final tally in their favour.

Heartbreaking stuff and a gallant effort but once more it was a case of an England team setting up a barricade to defend a one goal lead and a tale of defensive substitutions.

Would it not be a better experience all round to actually lose being positive?

It should at least now be clear that the safety first approach doesn't suit us.

Tuesday, June 19
Under 21's Reach Semi Finals

The under 21's will play the host nation Holland in the semi finals of the European Championship tomorrow night after securing qualification with a bad tempered 2-0 win over Serbia on Sunday.

The game was played in an unpleasant atmosphere throughout with the stadium announcer having to appeal to Serbian fans to stop their racist abuse of Nedum Onuoha before half time and ended in chaos after Matt Derbyshire sealed England's win late on with a goal scored whilst a Serbian defender was lying injured, apparently.

Having already qualified Serbia made nine changes to their starting line up and England quickly took advantage.

In the 5th minute James Milner swung over a deep free kick for Steven Taylor to head a telling ball back across goal and Leroy Lita plunged in to head into an empty net.

This was not the signal for England to take control, however, and the Serbs enjoyed the majority of possession for the rest of the night without looking unduly menacing for the most part.

Nigel Reo-Coker almost extended England's lead from another set piece but his glancing effort, actually with his back, flicked just over the bar from Kieran Richardson's delivery.

There was a worrying moment when Lita, back defending a set piece, launched an untidy challenge inside the box but the referee decided he had played the ball and Scott Carson made a good save to keep out a deflected effort.

The second half was similarly cagey. Milner forced a save from a free kick at one end and then gifted possession to a Serbian forward moments later at the other but Carson came out to block with his feet to maintain England's slender advantage.

Leroy Lita also forced a good save with a spectacular overhead kick. It was only after Matt Derbyshire replaced Lita, however, that England wrapped up victory.

Derbyshire set up a chance for Richardson with a strong run to the byeline but his colleague was unable to convert at the near post.

The defender tracking Derbyshire initially stayed down but then got up as his teammates played on. Having reached the edge of the box the defender than decided to go down again and was prone as England regained possession.

Richardson lifted the ball through for Derbyshire who strode through to bury a clinical low drive inside the far post.

This was the cue for the Serbs to go beserk and a prolonged shoving match ensued.

Stuart Pearce said afterwards that Derbyshire had been unaware that an opponent was down and was sure he would have kicked the ball out if he had known.

Let's get this straight, the bloke was not actually injured, he had cramp.

Having gone down initially his team played on and he had managed to get up and make it 20 yards up the pitch before going down again.

If he had wanted treatment he could more easily have just stepped over the touchline, two yards away from where he had first gone down, and waited for the trainer.

There is no way a team should kick the ball out because an opponent has cramp. In fact, as could have been predicted, what started out as a sporting, goodwill gesture is now being cynically abused to a nauseating degree.

Maybe we should copy rugby league where the trainers come on while the game is in progress.

The drama didn't end here.

Tom Huddlestone was sent on with two minutes to go and was then sent off for saying something out of turn to the referee which was disappointing in more ways than one.

Serbia hit a post, forced Crason into a couple of saves and had an effort cleared off the lie by Leighton Baines in a frantic finale and then trouble flared in the tunnel as the players left the pitch.

What, if anything, UEFA will do about the explicitly racial overtones once again displayed by both the players and supporters of Serbia remains to be seen.

This was a disturbingly familiar situation, however.

As for England they must now find another level of performance, I would imagine, if they are to dispose of the hosts. This might be asking a lot of a tired and further depleted squad.

Saturday, June 16
Under 21's Progress Report

The Under 21's have drawn both their opening games in the European Championship competition in Holland but have their destiny in their own hands. If they can beat Serbia tomorrow in their final group game they will qualify for the semi finals.

Serbia have been the surprise package in the group and have already qualified after beating Italy and the Czech Republic.

The fact that they did so by the only goal on both occasions illustrates where their strength lies and their approach to the game.

In what is a punishing schedule it is likely the Serbs will rest many first choice players for the England game but will doubtless provide stiff opposition.

How England approach the game is the most important factor.

In the first game against the Czech's Stuart Pearce went with the in vogue 4-3-3 (or is it 4-5-1?) formation and nobody looked particularly comfortable.

A pedestrian, edgy performance brought a goalless draw although there were chances. Kieran Richardson somehow failed to head home at the far post after David Nugent had flicked on and Leroy Lita missed a late penalty after a juggling dribble by Nugent had drawn a handball offence from a Czech defender.

There were clear chances at the other end as well, however, which was not surprising given the fact that England were without their first choice centre halves.

Scott Carson made a couple of decent saves when he shouldn't really have been given the chance and the Czech's were also wasteful on another couple of occasions.

The next performance against Italy, however, was another matter altogether.

Reverting to 4-4-2 England gave a pacy, exciting display and although they let a two goal lead slip to end up with another draw this performance should have lifted the spirits and confidence of everyone within the camp.

In a furious start England tore into the Italians and were two up inside half an hour.

Nugent stooped to head home a sweet Leighton Baines cross before Lita slammed home a neat Ashley Young through ball.

Lita had already missed two gilt edged chances, however. First he shot wide of an open goal having sidestepped the keeper and then hooked a shot against the bar from close range with the goal gaping once again.

Italy pulled one back before half time and equalised midway through a second half they had the better of. Carson will have been disappointed with the goal he let in from distance as the Italians adopted a shoot on sight policy after the break.

The second half produced the type of action which has us all too quickly dismissing the traditional English approach as backward and impractical.

The Italians were neater in possession and kept the ball for long periods. They were also able to pick their way through a stretched midfield on several occasions.

Invariably, however, they ended up shooting from distance whereas when England did go forward they looked more likely to create something clear cut.

Nigel Reo-Coker, impressive in both games, forced one fine save out of the Italian keeper and Young was desperately unlucky when, having burst between two defenders, his shot got a touch from a defender, goalkeeper and the bar on its' way over.

Although it was scary watching a game as open as this one it was still exhilirating to see an England team playing with pace, passion and purpose and prepared to give it a go.

Whatever happens tomorrow and in any other games we might have to play in this tournament I hope we retain this positive attitude.

At least if you do get knocked out you know you at least gave it your best shot.

Stuart Pearce needs to keep this bold approach if he is going to suceed as a manager as well.

Psycho will never be a tactical genius, he is no good trying to take on the "modern" managers at their own game.

He needs to stick to what he knows best, keep it simple and see how far that, and his fierce motivation, takes him.

Pearce did not have the qualities that make a great player and yet he was a great player.

If he sets out his teams to play in the manner he did then he could still make a great manager.

Wednesday June 6, 2007; European Championship Qualifier.

Estonia 0 England 3

England: P.Robinson, W.Brown, W.Bridge, S.Gerrard, L.King, J.Terry, D.Beckham (K.Dyer 68), F.Lampard, P.Crouch, M.Owen (J.Jenas 88), J.Cole (S.Downing 75).

Hallelujah! It's been a long time coming, and you could argue it was "only" Estonia, but England finally produced a convincing performance in a game that mattered under Steve McClaren.

This was a good win and was the result of a solid, confident, constructive display which was capped by three moments of inspiration.

From the first whistle England looked more positive and purposeful than in any of their previous games in this group. It was a while before the chances began to appear but from the off England were first to the ball and keen to move forward.

The tone was set by Steven Gerrard who dominated the first ten minutes and although he would fade and have one of his quieter games overall the tempo remained.

England's first chance came when Michael Owen was bundled over just outside the box but David Beckham was unable to keep the free kick down.

Beckham was becoming increasingly involved, however, and quickly looked the most likely source of supply.

Fleeting chances came at the other end with Terrehov way off target with an ambitious effort and Ledley King having to make a fine recovery challenge to deny Voskoboinikov as the strapping forward looked to embarrass Wes Brown.

The balance of the play was definitely with England, however, and Peter Crouch sidefooted wide from inside the area after Joe Cole chested down a Beckham centre.

Beckham then cut inside from the left flank to shoot wide of the far post after a slick move involving Wayne Bridge, Cole and Crouch.

McClaren was a picture of frustration as these chances went begging but he should have been happy that openings were being made, in stark contrast to the performance in Israel that he had so vigorously defended.

Beckham whipped in a dangerous free kick from the left wing that Poom spilled back into the box but Owen, having turned, wanted too long to get his shot away and the defence blocked.

The goal England needed, and deserved, arrived in the 37th minute. Bridge threw into the box, Crouch flicked on and Cole, tightly marked, took a sweet touch on his chest before swivelling to send a perfect half volley whistling into the net via the post.

Bridge got forward to cross for Lampard who headed wide at full stretch before sloppy defending almost allowed Estonia back into the game as half time approached.

Beckham lost the ball cheaply in his own half but Vassiljev's shot was high and then Voskoboinikov was through after a mistake by Brown but a heavy touch allowed Robinson to fly out and clear feet first.

Half Time: Estonia 0 England 1

Another slip by Beckham allowed Vassiljev another shooting chance and this effort was not far wide but England quickly asserted control and did not take long to kill off the game.

Owen was unable to reach a Crouch knock down from Beckham's free kick but the next centre to come in from the right got its' just reward.

Beckham took possession tight to the touchline just over the halfway line and swung a sublime ball behind a line of Estonian defenders which bounced up perfectly onto the head of Crouch arriving at the back post.

Crouch guided the ball back over the stranded Poom and England had their two goal cushion.

With John Terry and Ledley King in imposing form at the back this was always going to be enough to secure the points but England made absolutely sure with another goal just past the hour.

Beckham was again the creator with another pin point delivery which this time found Owen who stabbed an awkward looking, but efficient, finish back across Poom for his first goal in what must seem like a lifetime.

Beckham, who had been carrying a knock from early on, departed soon afterwards but his work had most definitely been done by that stage.

With the result settled the game fizzled out amidst the customary round of substitutions although Crouch managed to get himself a booking that will rule him out of the next game and Terry had to hack off the line in the very last minute after Tarmo Kink had squeezed a shot beyond Paul Robinson.

England deserved their clean sheet and certainly deserved their victory though. This was a much improved, impressive display and should provide real belief as the side approach the crucial round of home games that will determine their fate in the group.

Full Time: Estonia 0 England 3

England: P.Robinson 6, W.Brown 4, W.Bridge 7, S.Gerrard 6, L.King 9, J.Terry 8, D.Beckham 8 (K.Dyer 5), F.Lampard 5, P.Crouch 7, M.Owen 7, J.Cole 7 (S.Downing 4).

Star Player: Ledley King

Everyone else has given it Beckham but I just thought Ledley was absolutely outstanding.
He was decisive in everything he did; sharp in the tackle, dominant in the air and assured in his distribution.
He and his partner, John Terry, really set the tone for a business like England performance.
King looks international class everytime he pulls on an England shirt.

Wednesday, June 6
Estonia v. England Preview

Tonight Steve McClaren faces his biggest game yet as England manager. If his team fails to win in Estonia then they will face a steep uphill battle to qualify for next summers' finals.

Approaching this vital game McClaren has wasted no time in throwing a blanket of caution, perhaps pessimism, around his squad.

Patience has been the buzz word, or should that be the snooze word, and it is not just his words that a