Archives: England Matches Diary 2005 – 2009

Relive every England match from the “Golden Generation” with our archived match reports and England fan’s diary.

These are all preserved exactly as they were first written, so you get to relive everything as if you were there, and still believed that Sven or Shteeve might actually win something. But not Capello though. Nobody every thought that.

Anyway, it’s a long read – but enjoy.

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International Friendly; Saturday November 14, 2009.

Brazil 1 England 0

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Thiago Silva, Michel Bastos, Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Elano (Alves 64), Kaka (Julio Baptista 81), Nilmar (Eduardo 81), Luis Fabiano (de Souza 68).

England: B.Foster, W.Brown, M.Upson, J.Lescott, W.Bridge, S.Wright-Phillips (P.Crouch 82), J.Jenas, G.Barry (T.Huddlestone 82), J.Milner (A.Young 87), W.Rooney, D.Bent (J.Defoe 54).

This game had been bigged up beforehand as a prestige friendly international and was taking place on neutral soil in Qatar but it was hard to work up much enthusiasm, or optimism, when the England team took the field.

Of the first choice side you would expect Fabio Capello to pick only two members, Gareth Barry and Wayne Rooney, were fit to start and while the game theoretically offered the fringe players a chance to state their case for inclusion in the World Cup squad it was hard to see a team with so many back up players in it seriously competing with a side rated number one in the world at the moment.

The outcome was a game which started in reasonably competitive fashion but which became increasingly a damage limitation exercise. To England’s credit they stuck to their task and only lost by one goal, thanks to several large slices of good fortune, but few players managed to make a positive impression overall.

Brazil were mainly at full strength but were fielding a makeshift left back and Shaun Wright-Phillips quickly exploited some hesitant defending in that area to whip over a wicked centre that only just escaped the lunging Rooney in front of goal. England kept the ball in the danger area long enough for Barry to smash in a fierce drive which was blocked by a defender.

If England hoped that Wright-Phillips would be able to make a serious impression, however, they would be disappointed as the winger gave a typically erratic display in which his passing was generally abject.

The weak link in the England defence, initially, was Matthew Upson who slipped up twice in quick succession to gift Brazil dangerous attacking situations. On the first occasion Michel Bastos, quickly ignoring Wright-Phillips and charging forward at will himself, flashed a shot wide and on the second Joleon Lescott produced a smart interception from Nilmar’s centre.

England were pressing the Brazilians well in the early stages and Rooney was looking in lively form with some sparkling touches which the men in yellow would have been proud of but he then wasted the openings he had created for himself with a series of almost impossible through balls in the direction of Darren Bent when the space available was in the wider areas.

Brazil were starting to move through the gears and began ripping holes in England’s midfield. Fortunately Upson had recovered from his woeful start and showed good pace to see off Luis Fabiano in a straight sprint and then produced a superb tackle to stop Kaka in his tracks after the schemer had worked a slick one two just outside the England penalty area.

In fact with Lescott looking absolutely assured the centre of the England defence was beginning to take on a surprisingly solid appearance. With Brazil attacking from all angles, however, danger was seldom repelled for long.

One truly magnificent piece of control in mid air by Rooney allowed England an attacking situation which resulted in a couple of dangerous centres but Brazil dealt with these and were quickly testing Ben Foster at the other end.

Felipe Melo sent a cross shot wide before testing the England keeper with a curling effort which was comfortably grabbed. Kaka also tried to curve one beyond Foster but this too was fielded without alarm.

England’s best attacking situation of the game appeared shortly afterwards when Rooney looked likely to burst completely clear only to be crudely taken out on the edge of the box by Thiago Silva. The ball rolled towards Bent so the referee played advantage but the shot was blocked by covering defenders when the award of a free kick would have offered a better opportunity.

England were also able to apply some pressure close to half time following a corner but when the shooting chance came James Milner was way too high with his left footed swinger.

Half Time: Brazil 0 England 0

England were probably quite happy with their first half efforts but Brazil had been the side generally looking dangerous and quickly after the restart this threat was confirmed by a splendid goal.

Elano picked up possession in an apparently harmless area only to produce a peach of a ball which cleared Upson and found Nilmar moving inside from the left wing ahead of Wes Brown to score with a clever header which arched over Foster’s dive into the far corner.

Brown, who had started in dominant fashion, was now looking somewhat ragged and made a horrible error which should have had terminal consequences for England’s chances. In trying to deal with a similar situation from which the goal came Brown tried to chest the ball back to Foster but was hopelessly short in the attempt and the goalkeeper poleaxed Nilmar in his desperate efforts to retrieve the situation.

In a competitive match Foster would almost certainly have been shown a red card but here the referee contented himself with a yellow and when Luis Fabiano then smashed the spot kick at least five yards too high England were still in contention.

There was little hint that England could fashion an equaliser by this time but a quickly taken free kick almost brought them back on level terms. Wright-Phillips was released down the right and his centre to the far post was met by a cushioned volley from Milner which only just cleared the crossbar.

Brown did well to get his head in front of a goalbound effort from Nilmar and England’s goal then enjoyed an even closer escape as Lucio strolled forward to hammer a vicious twenty five yarder that beat Foster all ends up but flew to safety off the inside of the post. Foster also did well to grab a drive from Daniel Alves that spat as it bounced in front of him.

With ten minutes left Rooney brought perhaps the first, and only save of the game, out of Julio Cesar from twenty yards and England tried to exert some late pressure but they could not fashion a proper opening and ended the game well beaten.

It was asking a lot for this patched up England side to test Brazil and that task became impossible given the fierce heat in which the game was played. Nobody looked comfortable and it was almost painful to see freckly, ginger, baldy Rooney running round in that baking atmosphere. I wished he could have played with a knotted hanky on his head, I would have felt better about his overall well being.

This England side desperately needed to be able to press the Brazilians in possession and for twenty or thirty minutes they did so and looked capable of making a fist of it. When they began to run out of energy their task was hopeless and gave another example of why the football (a winter sport) World Cup should not be played in summer.

Full Time: Brazil 1 England 0

England: B.Foster 7, W.Brown 5, M.Upson 6, J.Lescott 8, W.Bridge 7, S.Wright-Phillips 6, J.Jenas 6, G.Barry 7, J.Milner 6, W.Rooney 6, D.Bent 3 (J.Defoe 5).

Star Man: Joleon Lescott

This was an excellent display from Lescott who won his headers and was seldom beaten on the ground either. Read situations well and looked in control of everything he did. Also survived the burning heat without apparent fuss in a long sleeved shirt and took Luis Fabiano out good and proper with an inadvertant headbutt.
What more do you want from your centre half?

Wednesday October 14, 2009; World Cup Qualifier.

England 3 Belarus 0

England: B.Foster, G.Johnson, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, W.Bridge (J.Milner 78), A.Lennon (D.Beckham 58), F.Lampard, G.Barry, S.Wright-Phillips, P.Crouch, G.Agbonlahor (C.Cole 66).

Belarus: Zhevnov, Kulchy, Yurevich, Sosnovskiy, Bordachev (Kashevsky 84), Verkhovtsov, Omelyanchuk, Shitov, Kalachev, Kornilenko (Kovel 77), Kutuzov (Rodionov 45).

England made six changes from the side that started against Ukraine on Saturday with the most surprising being Ben Foster’s selection in goal. A new keeper was always going to start after Robert Green’s red card but the choice of Foster, not included in the original squad because of injury, was a shock.

The way England started the game suggested that Foster might not have much to do on his return to international duty.

Barely a minute had passed before Shaun Wright-Phillips was shooting narrowly wide following a half cleared free kick and two minutes later England were ahead.

Gareth Barry created the chance with a pin point pass to slice open the Belarus defence and Gabby Agbonlahor showed a cool head in waiting for the precise moment to supply Peter Crouch with the chance to poke home from point blank range.

England continued to impress for a few minutes more with Barry looking especially impressive. The authority and precision that marked England’s start soon began to fade, however, and the first half drifted into a familiar pattern. Most of the slick passing was provided by the visitors, without offering much of a threat, while England lumbered along creating more danger on their intermittent ventures forward.

Kornilenko scuffed a half chance wide from a second successive Belarus corner while Crouch got in a strong header from an England corner only to direct it ten yards wide of the target.

Wright-Phillips managed to elbow the keeper in the head as they challenged for a decent Glen Johnson centre but Zhenov recovered in time to make a decent low stop to deny Agbonlahor after the Villa striker launched a lone breakaway after England had cleared a corner.

There was nothing cohesive about England’s play at this stage, however, with Barry slipping into the general mediocrity around him and nobody either willing or able to stamp any real authority on proceedings.

Johnson showed good composure and awareness to break up a dangerous short passing move inside his own penalty area as Belarus began to grow in confidence but the increasing tendancy to play football in all areas then almost cost the visitors.

After some unnecessary passes at the back Zhenov chipped a loose ball straight out of play and Johnson was quickly bearing down on goal from the throw in. Having cut inside onto his left foot to clear the path to goal the full back could only slice his shot horribly off target, however.

The enigma that is Glen Johnson continued to baffle the keenest observers as he was then caught in possession in a dangerous area but Bordachev wasted a wonderful position by hitting his pass too far ahead of Kornilenko in front of goal.

The visitors were obviously growing in confidence and Kutozov was presented with a chance after playing a slick 1-2 but refused to shoot with his left foot and the opporunity vanished.

Foster was finally called into action by Omelyanchuk’s low free kick from distance but there were no dramas as he fielded the effort cleanly and England were able to slightly rouse themselves as half time approached.

John Terry was a bit unlucky to see a high stepping volley charged down after Crouch had got his head to a free kick and then Crouch himself headed wide at the near post after a decent combination down the right between Johnson and Aaron Lennon.

So England went in at half time ahead but the overall performance had been no better than mediocre and you felt certain that Fabio Capello would be having a few choice words at the interval.

Half Time: England 1 Belarus 0

Anybody hoping for, or expecting, an improved England display on the resumption were to be disappointed as the play remained fitful at best.

Frank Lampard clipped in a free kick that Zhevnov tipped over straight after half time but England’s play was generally sloppy.

It was probably fair to say that Wright-Phillips was by now having a nightmare, out of position on the left wing, and he must have felt even worse when Kornilenko suddenly unleashed an awful challenge on him and gained the nights’ only yellow card.

The next action was at the other end as Foster caught a shot from Omelyanchuk but the keeper was not behind the effort and it was difficult to tell whether the ball had been deflected, swerved or simply misjudged.

Capello now sent on David Beckham for Lennon to hopefully provoke an improvement and his willingness to move infield and get involved in the play did help England to put more passes together.

Beckham’s first job was to take a corner, won well by Agbonlahor, which he played back to Wright-Phillips who nipped inside a challenge and sent in a low drive that Zhevnov was unable to keep out.

Belarus continued to produce some decent football and put together the best move of the game shortly afterwards. Omelyanchuk started the one touch move, which also involved Rodionov and Bordachev, and was on the end of it as well with a fierce shot that Foster did superbly to turn away at his near post.

Terry also had to be alert to clear Kalachev’s centre to the near post before Beckham came to Foster’s rescue at the far post after the keeper made a forlorn attempt to catch up with a deep centre.

Once again England were able to emerge from a period of lethergy to score another goal.

Barry sent a ball over the top to Carlton Cole, looking decidedly offside, and when the keeper could only parry his low shot Crouch was following up to mop up for yet another international goal against dubious opposition.

This goal did knock any remaining stuffing out of the visitors and England were able to control the remaining minutes.

Beckham, James Milner and Johnson all sent over good centres that were just about cleared and the Belarus goal amazingly remained intact after Milner hit the inside of a post and Beckham the outside of the other within a minute of each other.

All in all a job completed in awkward circumstances, after all England aren’t used to playing out dead rubbers, and now everybody can start looking forward to next summer and the finals themselves.

Full Time: England 3 Belarus 0

England: B.Foster 7, G.Johnson 7, R.Ferdinand 7, J.Terry 7, W.Bridge 7 (J.Milner 7), A.Lennon 6 (D.Beckham 8), F.Lampard 6, G.Barry 7, S.Wright-Phillips 5, P.Crouch 6, G.Agbonlahor 6 (C.Cole 5).

Star Player: David Beckham

Beckham was only on for just over half an hour but he was the only England player who really stamped any authority or personality onto the game. His movement was good and his passing a cut above anybody elses in its’ range and consistency.
He also made one vital defensive contribution.

Saturday October 10, 2009; World Cup Qualifier.

Ukraine 1 England 0

Ukraine: Pyatov, Kucher, Kobin, Rakitskiy, Khacheridi, Gai, Tymoschuk, Nazarenko (Yarmolenko 67), Rotan, Shevchenko (Gusev 90), Milevskiy.

England: R.Green, G.Johnson, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, A.Cole, A.Lennon (D.James 15), M.Carrick, F.Lampard, S.Gerrard (J.Milner 45), W.Rooney, E.Heskey (C.Cole 72).

It was difficult to know what to expect from this game as England had already qualified whilst Ukraine were desperate for a victory to boost their own chances. England came out in positive fashion but were soon derailed by a red card which ensured that they would be up against it for the remainder of a volatile night.

England began brightly enough with Glen Johnson and Aaron Lennon looking especially forceful down the right although the action was more frantic than controlled in the opening stages.

The hostile atmosphere inside the ground quickly took on a more sinister aspect as play was held up for several minutes as a barrage of flares were hurled into Robert Green’s goalmouth from the stands.

When play resumed England continued to look the more dangerous side and Frank Lampard produced a lovely ball to release Lennon down the right but Rakitskiy headed away at the near post before an England head could reach the centre.

Emile Heskey did get his head to the resulting corner but the ball flew well over the bar.

There had been little to alarm the England defence but Rio Ferdinand failed his first test of the night, which should have been a simple one, when he allowed a long punt forward to bounce past him and suddenly Milevskiy was running through on goal.

Green dived at the forward’s feet but only succeeded in poleaxing him and Ukraine had a penalty.

The referee was absolutely right to give the decision although he had been miles behind play and appeared to need assistance from one of his assistants to finger Green as the culprit rather than Ferdinand. Once that point had been established the West Ham keeper was staring at a red card.

Capello sent on David James and decided that Lennon was the man who should be sacrificed.

After all this commotion England survived further punishment as Schevchenko slid his penalty against the outside of the post with James hurling himself in the opposite direction.

With a moment to think it was difficult to agree with Capello’s decision to withdraw Lennon who had started in lively fashion. Pace is a useful weapon to have when playing with a man less and it was something England now lacked for the rest of the night.

Either Heskey or Michael Carrick appeared to be more obvious men to replace. The holding midfield player is a luxury you can’t really afford when you only have ten on and a centre forward who never scores also becomes a problem.

But they stayed on with Heskey left up front on his own, Carrick continuing to sit deep in midfield and the ever willing Wayne Rooney replacing Lennon on the right hand side.

After another break for flares to be cleared from the England goalmouth the game continued with Ukraine pressing forward against an England defence that continued to look unsteady.

Just before the half hour mark England pressed the self destruct button again and made absolutely sure that Ukraine were gifted the lead.

Ashley Cole was caught in possession on the edge of his own box by Kobin. Johnson dived in to stop his progress but the ball ran loose to Nazarenko who hammered in a shot that Cole dived full length to head past James.

Nazarenko officially received credit for the goal but this was as clear an own goal as you could wish to see.

With the stadium in uproar England immediately fashioned a great chance to equalise. Rooney slipped a telling ball into Lampard, breaking into the penalty area, but his cross shot flashed a foot wide of the far post.

For the rest of the half England were at full stretch trying to keep the deficit down to one, however. Schevchenko pulled a good chance wide and Gai sent a free header over the bar following a corner but the break came with England still in contention.

Half Time: Ukraine 1 England 0

There was a further blow for England as Steven Gerrard could not continue after the break with James Milner coming onto the left hand side.

England were able to exert more control of the proceedings after the break, with Ukraine perhaps wary of pushing forward too vigourously now that they had the lead.

Rakitskiy did slam in one fierce drive from distance that had James diving full length to parry. It was difficult to tell whether this was a great save or poor positioning in the first place because the shot looked pretty central when James managed to intercept.

England were able to pass the ball quite neatly through midfield on several occasions but struggled to create anything resembling a chance once they reached the final third. Rooney provided Lampard with a shooting chance from twenty yards but the Chelsea man decided to have a touch and the opportunity was immediately lost.

I never thought I’d be sat watching Fat Frank and screaming at him to have a pop but here was the occasion.

Ukraine finally produced a telling attack when the substitute Yarmolenko was played in on goal on the left hand side but James spread himself well to make the block and the game entered the dying minutes with the home side still sitting on a precarious lead.

England did manage some late pressure and when Carlton Cole did well to set up Rooney for a shot just outside the box it looked as though England might be about to salvage a draw but his strong drive flashed a yard wide. There was still a corner for the home side to negotiate but when Lampard stabbed over, under pressure, from close range Ukraine had made it and England had suffered their first competitive defeat under Fabio Capello.

It was unusual to be able to watch an England defeat in such a relaxed manner and it is hard to read anything into the defeat given the red card to Robert Green.

The way in which the red card came about and the goal was conceded both asked further questions about England’s defence and goalkeepers, however, with Rio Ferdinand undoubtedly having most to think about in the aftermath.

Full Time: Ukraine 1 England 0

England: R.Green 5, G.Johnson 7, R.Ferdinand 4, J.Terry 6, A.Cole 5, A.Lennon 6 (D.James 6), M.Carrick 6, F.Lampard 6, S.Gerrard 6 (J.Milner 5), W.Rooney 7, E.Heskey 5 (C.Cole 6).

Star Player: Wayne Rooney

Rooney worked as hard as you would expect after being asked to fill in on the right hand side after Green’s red card and also provided a few moments of quality in attack.

Saturday September 5, 2009; International Friendly.

England 2 Slovenia 1

England: R.Green, G.Johnson, M.Upson (J.Lescott 64), J.Terry, A.Cole, S.Wright-Phillips (A.Lennon 45), F.Lampard (M.Carrick 45), G.Barry, S.Gerrard (J.Milner 45), W.Rooney (C.Cole 80), E.Heskey (J.Defoe 45).

This game was mainly a warm up exercise ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Croatia and the action rarely got out of second gear. Unlike some friendlies, however, this one managed to retain an interest till the end.

England’s early attacks came mainly down the left where Steven Gerrard was again stationed and he managed a couple of dangerous centres, the second of which the Slovenian keeper was required to punch away.

The first clear chance came at the other end, however, as Milivoje Novakovic was sent clear of the England defence and managed to round Robert Green before shooting over. Novakovic had been forced wide in evading the keeper but he should still have scored.

England continued to have the bulk of possession and pressure with Wayne Rooney, inevitably, prominent. Rooney cushioned a volley narrowly wide from a Glen Johnson cross and then forced his way down the byeline before checking back for a shot that was goalbound before being deflected behind.

Gerrard took the corner which John Terry met with a solid header that cannoned back off the bar.

England were then handed the opportunity to take the lead. Gerrard angled in a centre which saw Rooney and Bostjan Cesar going to ground in a tangle. The referee awarded the penalty and booked Cesar even though it looked as though Rooney was the offender.

Frank Lampard didn’t seem to care as he clipped the penalty into the corner.

Shortly afterwards Cesar’s sense of injustice was complete as he was forced to retire injured.

England pressed hard for another goal as half time approached. Matthew Upson got his head to another corner and the flick was met by Rooney who could only blast his shot against the post from close range.

Two teasing centres almost brought reward as Emile Heskey headed narrowly wide from Rooney’s centre and then Rooney was agonisingly close to reaching Ashley Cole’s inviting delivery.

Half Time: England 1 Slovenia 0

England made four changes at the interval and two of the new men almost conjured a goal after working a short corner routine. Aaron Lennon played in James Milner whose rising drive only just missed the target.

The action was more subdued than in the first half but England doubled their lead just past the hour mark. Lennon was again involved in the build up but the real impetus was added by Jermain Defoe who darted past a defender before squeezing a shot into the corner from just outside the box, a slight deflection making a crucial difference.

Lennon was having far more effect on the right than Shaun Wright-Phillips had before him and caused problems with a centre that reached Rooney whose shot had to be scrambled off the line.

The action continued to be sporadic but Rooney managed one dipping drive from thirty yards that narrowly cleared the bar before being substituted moments later with ten minutes left.

Five minutes from time Slovenia breathed new life into the contest by grabbing a goal back. Neje Pecnik sported with Johnson out on the left, turning the full back three times, before sending over a precise centre that Zlatan Ljubijankic glanced home.

Slovenia were unable to really trouble Green in the closing stages, however, and Carlton Cole wasted a good chance to settle the contest by shooting weakly after doing well down the left hand byeline to create the chance for himself.

Full Time: England 2 Slovenia 1

England: R.Green 6, G.Johnson 6, M.Upson 7 (J.Lescott 5), J.Terry 7, A.Cole 7, S.Wright-Phillips 5 (A.Lennon 7), F.Lampard 8 (M.Carrick 6), G.Barry 6, S.Gerrard 6 (J.Milner 6), W.Rooney 8 (C.Cole 6), E.Heskey 6 (J.Defoe 7).

Star Player: Frank Lampard

Fat Frank kept things ticking over in midfield and was more consistent in his contribution than any other England player.

Wednesday August 12, 2009; International Friendly.

Holland 2 England 2

Holland: Stekelenburg, Heitinga, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Braafheid, De Jong, Schaars (Mendes Da Silva 82), Van der Vaart (Sneijder 45), Robben (Afellay 55), van Persie (Babel 45), Kuyt (Huntelaar 78).

England: R.Green, G.Johnson, A.Cole (W.Bridge 84), R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, G.Barry (M.Carrick 45), D.Beckham (S.Wright-Phillips 45), F.Lampard, A.Young (J.Milner 68), E.Heskey (J.Defoe 45), W.Rooney (C.Cole 59).

With the World Cup finals less than a year away there are no such things as meaningless friendlies at the moment but it was difficult to know what to expect from a game taking place before the Premier League had even started.

What we got was a competitive game with some good play by both sides but also plenty of abject play by the England defence. At this stage of the season there might by a possible excuse but nobody will want to see a repeat during the next twelve months.

England’s problems in defence were not so much their actual defending as what they did when they had possession themselves. Robert Green and his defenders looked like they were under instructions to play the ball out from the back at all times but seldom seemed to know where, or who, they should pass the ball to.

They were hardly helped in this conundrum by their midfield colleagues and England’s attempts to play constructively from the back simply landed them in trouble time after time.

England gave a taste of what was to come straight from the kick off as they ferried the ball back and across their defence until reaching Glen Johnson at right back. Each pass had put the player in possession under increasing pressure and Johnson found himself with nowhere to go tight to the touchline. His attempted pass up the line was intercepted and Holland were immediately on the attack.

The Dutch made nothing of this situation but would punish England when presented with much bigger gifts later on.

When England did manage to mount attacking moves they looked lively, however, and with Holland quickly settling into their passing game an entertaining evening looked on the cards.

The Dutch defence offered Wayne Rooney hope with a weak backpass of their own and the England forward forced a scuffed clearance from Stekelenburg but Holland’s keeper got lucky as there were no white shirts on hand to take advantage.

England then made absolutely sure that the deadlock would be broken by offering their hosts a gift they simply had to accept.

Several pointless passes had already been knocked around the edge of their own area before Frank Lampard played a pointless pass to Rio Ferdinand which forced the defender into a corner down the right hand side of the area.

Rio’s way out of this tight spot was to slip the ball inside to Dirk Kuyt, possibly thinking the Liverpool “striker” would offer the least threat to the England goal at that moment. On this occasion, however, Kuyt sidestepped Green twice before scuffing his shot in at the near post past the retreating John Terry who could not really be blamed but might have cleared.

Several England players had reason to feel disappointed with themselves after this goal but it was Ferdinand who was holding his hand up and he was certainly right to take responsibility.

Even this goal was not enough to persuade England that footballing their way out of defence was not the best idea in the world and they continued to offer the Dutch forwards encouragement on a regular basis.

England continued to attack in more convincing fashion, however, and David Beckham was pivotal to a slick move, also involving Johnson, that ended with Lampard driving in a low shot that Stekelenburg blocked with his legs.

Rooney charged in for the rebound but could not direct his header on target under pressure from a defender.

England then attacked again down the same channel and claimed a penalty when De Jong handled Gareth Barry’s back heel from the byeline. The referee gave the Dutchman the benefit of the doubt although it did appear as though his arm had made a definite movement towards the ball in handling.

England were beginning to move slickly in the face of some uncompromising Dutch tackling and both Ashley Young and Barry sent in efforts from distance. Young’s forced a comfortable save while Barry’s fizzed narrowly over the bar after more good work from Beckham who was heavily involved at this stage.

Holland then responded after Johnson, struggling in his defensive duties, conceded a clumsy free kick. This was taken deep and Green, who had started to come then stayed at home, saved England and himself by blocking Kuyt’s close range downward header with his feet.

The England keeper was quickly in action again saving from Robin van Persie and then tipped over a rising drive from Arjen Robben.

Robben’s effort had come after Green, Ferdinand and Johnson had again combined to land England in trouble just outside their own penalty area.

Van Persie was then able to fire in an effort from thirty yards after a feeble challenge by Barry had left England exposed but his shot flashed wide of the post.

Seven minutes before half time, however, Holland profited from English generosity for the second time. Barry knocked a pass towards his own goal without looking and only succeeded in putting Robben in on goal.

Green came out to block the shot with an outstretched foot but the rebound went straight to Rafael van der Vaart who promptly dispatched it into the gaping goal.

England tried to respond with Rooney forcing a save and then drilling an angled drive just wide after a neat flick on by Emile Heskey but Holland threatened again before half time with Kuyt sending a fierce angled drive narrowly off target.

All in all an excellent first half’s action soured by the woeful England defending which had brought about the two goals scored.

Half Time: Holland 2 England 0

There were five substitutions in total at half time with England bringing on Michael Carrick, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermain Defoe in place of Barry, Beckham and Heskey.

England were quickly looking for a way back into the game but Rooney was just unable to play Wright-Phillips in on goal after a neat passing move and the first shot on target of the half came at the other end when Wesley Sneijder, one of the Dutch changes, sent in a low shot that Green gathered comfortably.

Four minutes after the restart England were back in contention as Defoe announced his introduction with an outstanding goal.

The referee could have awarded Rooney a free kick on the halfway line as he was bundled over from behind but played advantage and Lampard lofted a high ball down the middle for Defoe to chase.

The England striker had a yard of space and made the most of it with a magnificent first touch as the ball dropped which allowed him to continue goalwards at full pace, a clever second touch that took the ball away from the last defender and then a magnificent finish, poked left footed at full speed, that gently curved the ball away from the keeper before bending back in off the post.

Genuinely world class.

This gave England added belief and momentum and Defoe was soon causing problems again after a swift move involving Johnson and Wright-Phillips. Defoe’s first touch carried him away from his marker deep into the box but then the striker seemed caught between going for goal himself or finding Rooney at the far post and the Dutch defence scrambled clear to general English frustration.

Typically England then offered Holland a way back into the game as first Johnson and then Carrick surrendered possession in dangerous areas but no damage resulted and the outcome remained in the balance.

Bringing on Carlton Cole for Rooney would not seem to be the most effective substitution ever but the West Ham striker quickly got involved with his physical presence and sure control both posing problems for the Dutch defence.

England then gained further momentum as James Milner replaced the disappointing Young and made a positive difference down the left hand side.

Milner immediately whipped in a decent centre that Defoe flicked just over the bar and Cole was unlucky to shoot inches wide after showing good control to take a probing pass from Lampard in his stride.

With thirteen minutes remaining England drew level after more good work by the replacements. Cole held the ball up well before spraying the ball out towards Milner on the left wing. This pass should have been dealt with by Heitinga but as the full back hesitated Milner stuck his head in bravely and was suddenly racing clear towards the Dutch goal.

With plenty of time to spare Milner weighed up his options carefully before rolling a perfect ball to the far post where Defoe dived in ahead of Wright-Phillips to convert.

Now the game was really up for grabs and both sides continued to look for the winner.

Cole was frustrated to head wide of the near post from a Lampard corner while Ryan Babel was causing problems for Johnson, his new Liverpool team-mate, at the other end.

When Johnson hauled the winger down with a clumsy challenge right on the edge of the box you had to fear the worst but Sneijder’s free kick clipped the end of the wall and deflected wide.

The last few minutes saw England pressing hard with crosses raining in on the Dutch penalty area but the ball wouldn’t drop kindly, mainly thanks to the surprisingly effective Ooijer, and the game ended in a draw that was probably acceptable to all concerned.

England would have felt happiest at the end, however. Not only had they shown good character and plenty of ability to come back from a two goal deficit they will no doubt believe that the goals they had gifted the Dutch before half time will not be repeated in the games that matter.

If England do continue with their charity work at the back, however, we can write off our World Cup chances right now.

Full Time: Holland 2 England 2

England: R.Green 6, G.Johnson 4, A.Cole 6, R.Ferdinand 5, J.Terry 6, G.Barry 5 (M.Carrick 6), D.Beckham 7 (S.Wright-Phillips 6), F.Lampard 8, A.Young 5 (J.Milner 7), E.Heskey 5 (J.Defoe 8), W.Rooney 7 (C.Cole 8).

Star Player: Jermain Defoe

These friendlies are normally spoiled by the mass introduction of substitutes but on this occasion several England replacements showed up to advantage. Carlton Cole and James Milner both did well but it was Defoe who really pulled the game out of the fire with two fine goals and a performance that was generally lively and full of danger.
His first goal was genuinely magnificent.

Wednesday June 10, 2009; World Cup Qualifier.

England 6 Andorra 0

England: R.Green, G.Johnson, A.Cole (W.Bridge 65), S.Gerrard (A.Young 45), J.Lescott, J.Terry, D.Beckham, F.Lampard, P.Crouch, W.Rooney (J.Defoe 45), T.Walcott.

Andorra: Alvarez (Gomez 88), Ayala, I.Lima, Sonejee, A.Lima (Vales 48), T.Garcia, Jimenez, Andorra, Vieira, Moreno, Silva (Fernandez 79).

There were a couple of surprising selections from Fabio Capello for this probable World Cup qualifying walkover against the minnows of Andorra. It had been suggested that Glen Johnson, one booking away from a suspension, would be rested in favour of Gary Neville at right back but Johnson retained his place after an uncomfortable performance in Kazakhstan.

Instead Emile Heskey, also one yellow away from a ban, was left out and Peter Crouch came in to lead the attack.

Capello perhaps felt this was a game in which a forward might be more likely to pick up a booking than a defender and this was how it worked out as England’s defence was virtually redundant throughout.

Previous meetings with Andorra had been marked by a frustrating inability to register an early goal and England came out apparently determined to put that record straight on this occasion. Their positive start was rewarded with a goal on four minutes after a series of attacks.

Wayne Rooney provided the spark with a wonderful piece of footwork just inside the box and a clever chip which was well saved by Alvarez and the Andorra keeper was quickly in action again as he managed to parry a fierce close range effort from Theo Walcott.

The ball flew out towards Rooney who dramatically flung himself sideways but could only direct his header against the angle of post and bar with the goal gaping.

England’s in form striker was not to be denied, however, and duly broke the deadlock with a header back across goal after Glen Johnson curled a good ball to the far post from the right hand side.

England continued to pour forward with Johnson particularly keen to support the attack and inventive when he did so. Crouch sent a poor header over the bar from a David Beckham free kick and Steven Gerrard failed with several attempts of varying difficulty, his best effort being tipped behind as he cut in off the left wing.

After fifteen minutes or so England began to lose some of their impetus although they remained completely in control. A sure measure of their dominance came in the raucous cheering that accompanied the sporadic touches of goalkeeper Robert Green as he occasionally took the opportunity of coming outside his area to mop up a punt out of defence from the Andorrans.

It was important that England got a second goal to keep their attacking momentum going and this arrived just before the half hour. Johnson again did well down the right and released Walcott clear to the byeline. The winger cut back an intelligent ball towards the penalty spot and there was Frank Lampard, in his best Chelsea manner, arriving right on cue to score with a low shot.

England’s biggest failing in their half hour of complete domination had been their inability to get to the dead ball line and this goal emphasised the point, coming as it did from their first venture into such territory.

Andorra then sent in their first, and just about only, attempt on goal. Moreno’s shot from thirty yards was certainly ambitious but it had Green worried for a moment as it drifted past the angle.

There was only one team going to score, however, and England did so again on thirty nine minutes when Johnson clipped in another decent centre from the right and Rooney cushioned a sweet volley high into the net from ten yards out.

Beckham then had the chance to claim his first ever England goal at Wembley with a free kick in prime territory but the effort was not his best and Alvarez collected well low down.

Half Time: England 3 Andorra 0

England made two changes at the break with Jermain Defoe and Ashley Young replacing Rooney and Gerrard and the substitutes quickly combined as England came out on the attack.

Defoe did well to centre from the right but Young’s attempted curler from beyond the far post did not threaten goal.

Despite the efforts of England’s substitutes to make an impression the performance lapsed into mediocrity for long spells immediately after half time.

Young quickly showed that he had the ability to beat his man down the left but consistently let himself down as he attempted to centre with his weaker foot. On the other flank Walcott’s threat was irregular and Defoe, playing alongside the completely ineffectual Crouch, was struggling to find the support to get himself into the game.

Beckham and Lampard continued to completely dominate the midfield but neither was busting a gut to get forward and the performance was in danger of petering out.

Just past the hour mark England seemed to sense this danger and increased their intensity once again to put the Andorran goal under real pressure.

There should have been a goal when Alvarez punched out a fierce drive by Lampard straight to Walcott and the wingers’ controlled first time effort was heading for the empty net only for the hapless Crouch to block as he presumably tried to jump out of the way. Then John Terry got on the end of an inswinging Beckham corner at the near post only to see his header fizz narrowly wide.

Alvarez had done well in goal for Andorra and produced a magnificent save from Defoe’s vicious point blank drive although the flag was already up for offside.

The next incident of note came when Crouch risked a red card by pushing Ildefons Lima in the face after a slight coming together off the ball. The defender fell theatrically but Crouch escaped as the referee and other officials were all following the ball.

Crouch would have had no excuses had the incident, soft as it was, resulted in a dismissal and that might have been the appropriate way to end one of the most inept performances ever given by an England centre forward.

Now that England were pushing forward with more purpose Defoe was looking lively and he got his reward with a simple header from yet another Johnson cross and the striker was soon collecting his second as he reacted sharply to convert the rebound after Alvarez had parried a Beckham free kick.

Then came a goal for Peter Crouch, scarcely deserved but fitting in the ragged way it came about and its execution.

Defoe made a strong run into the box but was then crowded out and there should have been no danger with two defenders in position to clear but each one left it to the other and as the ball continued to roll gently across goal Crouch got in a toe to scuff the ball past the exposed Alvarez.

Everyone was probably content with six nil although Defoe remained hungry with the possibility of a hat trick to be had and was close with a late header before the referee signalled the end of as one sided an international as we are ever likely to see.

Seven wins out of seven then and England are all but mathematically certain of being one of the party in South Africa next summer.

Hallelujah!

Full Time: England 6 Andorra 0

England: R.Green 6, G.Johnson 9, A.Cole 7 (W.Bridge 6), S.Gerrard 7 (A.Young 6), J.Lescott 6, J.Terry 7, D.Beckham 8, F.Lampard 8, P.Crouch 0, W.Rooney 8 (J.Defoe 8), T.Walcott 7.

Star Man: Glen Johnson

After suffering a somewhat torrid time in Kazakhstan Johnson may have been happy to come up against a side with no attackers at all and he certainly took the opportunity to impress with his own excursions forward.
Crossed for three of the goals and was heavily involved in another. He also looked one of England’s most subtle players when faced with a blanket Andorran defence.

Saturday June 6, 2009; World Cup Qualifier.

Kazakhstan 0 England 4

Kazakhstan: Mokin, Kirov, Abdulin, Kislitcin, Karpovich, Nusrbayev, Skorykh, Ostapenko (Ibrayev 27), Kukeyev, Averchenko (Erbes 74), Logvinenko.

England: R.Green, G.Johnson (D.Beckham 76), J.Terry, M.Upson, A Cole, T.Walcott (S.Wright-Phillips 45), G.Barry, F.Lampard, S.Gerrard, W.Rooney, E.Heskey (J.Defoe 81).

This was undoubtedly a trip into the unknown and this was emphasised as the game kicked off, at four o’clock our time, under floodlights. The state of the pitch was a concern for England but they almost had more serious things to worry about as Kazakhstan should have scored in the opening seconds.

The home team actually surrendered possession straight from the kick off but Theo Walcott played Glen Johnson into trouble with a thoughtless pass and the full back was immediately robbed by Kukeyev who raced away down the left before placing an inviting low centre in front of Ostapenko who kicked fresh air with glory beckoning.

This was the signal for an uncomfortable opening for England who were unable to put any passes together and were frequently unsettled by the bustling approach of their hosts. Kazakhstan also had genuine class in the form of Kukeyev who continued to petrify Johnson.

England registered goal attempts through Lampard, who was high from distance, and Upson, wide with a header, but were totally unable to put together any fluent moves or even basic passes.

The unthinkable then seemed to have happened when Ostapenko guided a header past the poorly positioned Robert Green following a superbly flighted free kick by Kukeyev but the forward had moved needlessly early and was correctly flagged for offside.

Despite being clearly illegal you could not help thinking that Kazakhstan actually deserved to have the goal stand.

Ostapenko looked basically useless up front but his willingness to charge about had unsettled England on several occasions and it was undoubtedly a blow for his side when he had to leave the pitch after injuring himself in a collision before the half hour mark.

Immediately after his departure England put together their first slick passing move which ended with Heskey drilling in a low effort that Mokin did well to touch onto his near post and the keeper deserved to see the ball bounce out to safety.

John Terry would have been disappointed to head straight at Mokin when unchallenged at a set piece but this did suggest that England might profit from dead ball situations and this proved to be the case five minutes before half time.

Kazakhstan were sleeping as Gerrard accepted a short corner on the left and were just as sloppy in the penalty area where Gareth Barry ghosted in at the far post and headed back across goal to give England a scarcely deserved lead.

England still had time to double their lead and completely settle the issue before the interval. Gerrard’s deep cross from the left took a deflection which caught out the advancing Mokin who ended up slapping the ball down into the box and Heskey was on hand to claim a rare international goal.

This had been a generally poor forty five minutes but England were still able to boast a two goal lead and with Kazakhstan noted for tiring in the second half there was little doubt that Capello’s men had already done enough to take another step towards next summers’ finals.

Half Time: Kazakhstan 0 England 2

Theo Walcott had made little impression on the right hand side and was replaced at the break by Shaun Wright-Phillips with no discernible improvement of quality.

In fact the second half was even less inspiring than the first. England were never in danger against opponents who had already spent themselves but they remained unable to put anything meaningful together in midfield and their play was still extremely disjointed.

Terry saw a fierce drive blocked and Gerrard shot too high after turning smartly on the edge of the box but that was about it until England finally extended their lead on 73 minutes.

Johnson made his one confident and positive contribution with a surging run that carried him to the byeline and although Mokin was able to make a fine save to keep out Rooney’s first effort he was powerless to intervene as the striker reacted brilliantly to hook home a scissor kick as the ball rebounded out behind him.

Capello decided that Johnson could now be replaced having done something right at last with Beckham on and Wright-Phillips dropping back into defence.

Moments later England were four up as Heskey was hauled to the ground as he moved onto the rebound after Mokin saved from Ashley Cole and a penalty was immediately awarded. Frank Lampard stepped forward to hammer the ball high into the net and prove that England have no problem with penalties whatsoever unless it’s actually a shootout.

The game petered out from this point with the only interest coming in the shape of a one man pitch invasion, a low drive from Kukeyev which flashed just wide and a smart save by Mokin from a Rooney effort.

So England remain on maximum points after six qualifiers but this was not a performance they will remember with any great fondness.

Full Time: Kazakhstan 0 England 4

England: R.Green 4, G.Johnson 4 (D.Beckham 6), J.Terry 7, M.Upson 6, A Cole 7, T.Walcott 4 (S.Wright-Phillips 4), G.Barry 6, F.Lampard 7, S.Gerrard 6, W.Rooney 6, E.Heskey 6.

Star Player: Ashley Cole

Tough to pick a star man after such a turgid display but Cole didn’t do much wrong and ended the game attacking with increased confidence. His task was made easier by the fact that Kazakhstan concentrated on attacking Glen Johnson.

Wednesday April 1, 2009; World Cup Qualifier.

England v. Ukraine

England: D.James, G.Johnson, A.Cole, G.Barry, R.Ferdinand (P.Jagielka 88), J.Terry, A.Lennon (D.Beckham 58), F.Lampard, P.Crouch (S.Wright-Phillips 79), W.Rooney, S.Gerrard.

Ukraine: A.Piatov, V.Shevchuk, T.Mykhalyk, D.Chygrynsky, G.Yarmash, A.Tymoschuk, S.Valyayev (S.Nazarenko 61), V.Sliusar (M.Kalinichenko 88), O.Aliiev, A.Milevskyy, A.Voronin (A.Shevchenko 55).

This game marked the halfway point of England’s World Cup qualifying campaign and the victory means that they still have a perfect record thus far. This was the least impressive performance yet under Fabio Capello in a competitive fixture, however, and England could count themselves very fortunate to have another three points to their name at the end of the night.

Not only could the result have been different but there could easily have been other areas of concern to address.

From the start England struggled to find any fluency as Ukraine took a stranglehold on possession and were reduced to intermittent attacks on the break. It was also obvious, however, that England’s greater urgency in their attacking play made them more of a threat than the measured, overly patient approach play, of Ukraine.

The first moment of excitement came after seven minutes when Wayne Rooney reacted sharply to a cross from Steven Gerrard to send in a brilliant overhead kick from outside the box but the ball dipped marginally over the bar.

The next action was not so inspiring as Gareth Barry earned himself a booking for a cynical trip as the visitors threatened danger on the counter attack.

Aaron Lennon again offered a consistent outlet but not a consistent delivery. One testing centre was well defended but on too many occasions there was no real conviction in the wingers’ final ball.

Rooney, again England’s liveliest attacker, was prevented from breaking clean through the defence by a crude challenge from Valyayev, another booking, and Gerrard was only a foot or so wide of the far post with the resultant free kick.

England’s first really impressive move then saw Frank Lampard feed Rooney on the left and his wonderful crossfield ball released Lennon but the centre was hopeful and Ukraine were able to smother the danger.

Despite enjoying lots of possession there had been no real danger to the England goal until Ashley Cole hesitated on the edge of his own box under the impression that David James was coming to collect an attempted through ball and John Terry had to act hurriedly to mop up the situation, inadvertantly bloodying Voronin’s nose in the process.

Terry’s next involvement saw England taking the lead just about on the half hour mark. Lennon saw another centre blocked by the defence but at the expense of a corner and when Terry then headed the ball back across goal Peter Crouch had been left unmarked to volley home from six yards out.

Without having really imposed themselves on the game England could argue that this was a deserved lead as they were the team looking capable of scoring when they did get forward.

There was almost a superb second goal minutes later when Rooney speared another fine ball from left to right to Lennon and then charged forward to meet the centre only to volley too high.

Ukraine’s first effort on goal was a worrying moment as James found it necessary to knock Tymoschuk’s ambitious 35 yard effort away from goal with his chest, for no apparent reason, and England were lucky that there was nobody on the Ukraine side following up. Given the visitors’ general reluctance to get forward, however, this was hardly a surprise.

The last action of the half saw Rooney tee up Gerrard on the edge of the box with a cleverly disguised pass but the sidefooted shot lacked real power and was comfortably saved by Piatov.

Without ever playing really well England went in at the break with the advantage against a side scarcely hinting at a fightback.

Half Time: England 1 Ukraine 0

If the first half had been disjointed the second half became an exercise in tedium as England began to merely go through the motions and Ukraine remained incapable of really testing the England defence.

Rooney smacked in a fierce shot that flashed wide but was hit from such a distance that it never really offered any danger. The only other things to note in the first twenty minutes of this half were the introduction of Andriy Shevchenko for Ukraine and David Beckham for England.

The decision to bring on Schevchenko was a no brainer as the visitors had been completely punchless in attack but the choice of Beckham for Lennon seemed less obvious.

You might have thought, with Ukraine needing to seek an equaliser, that Lennon would have had more chances to exploit his pace on the counter attack and the change came across as pre-determined.

As it was Beckham found himself completely unable to get himself into the game as England’s performance stuttered towards a complete halt.

Rooney forced his way forward to win a free kick that Beckham put over the bar but then launched himself into a ridiculous challenge which could easily have brought him another red card.

Rooney jumped to his feet motioning that he had played the ball and found the referee making exactly the same gesture back to him. He was exceptionally lucky.

This website is very supportive of Rooney, we basically love him, but we have to hope that he will think back about this incident and realise he was out of order.

It is not justifiable to say you have played the ball when your challenge simply skids across the top of it and carries on towards the opponent. Rooney ended up flying two footed at his opponent in a violent manner and, had he made proper contact with him, the consequences could have been very nasty.

Rooney should also take on board that if this challenge had been made anywhere other than at Wembley then he would almost certainly have been staring at a red card.

This challenge was very possibly a reaction to England’s disturbing lethargy and the team had certainly fallen into a rut. Maybe the equally tepid efforts of their opponents had lulled them into a false sense of security but, looking on, the danger signs were obvious.

When Ukraine then equalised on 74 minutes the goal was simultaneously out of the blue but hardly surprising. England conceded a free kick on their left hand side and when they failed to clear the centre properly Schevchenko was on hand to rifle a drive past James in fine style.

With England unnerved the visitors pressed again and Tymoshchuk should have done better than shoot over the bar after excellent work by the invigorated Schevchenko.

At this stage the visitors might well have been able to press on for a victory but they seemed to decide that a draw would do and this allowed England, in a mainly scrappy manner, to apply some pressure of their own.

Rooney wasted one promising situation by shooting from an impossible angle tight to the goalline but victory was then secured following another set piece.

Beckham won England a free kick and then took it to the far post where Gerrard headed back across goal to Terry who calmly turned the ball home from close range.

England had to survive four minutes of added time but the only task James faced in that time was a Schevchenko free kick which he grabbed without alarm and England had their victory and another three points.

This was a game in which few, if any, players really enhanced their reputations, however. The best of the bunch were probably Johnson and Rooney but they had moments to forget like everyone else.

James was a source of unease in goal throughout and Ashley Cole, whose distribution was poor, was the weakest link in a defence that never suggested real authority.

Barry and Lampard were okay but never dominant and neither of these players consistently bring their attacking colleagues into the game in the manner that Michael Carrick can.

This partly explained the fitful performances of Gerrard and Lennon, who both did good things but then disappeared for lengthy spells, while Crouch continues to prove a poor targetman despite grabbing another goal.

All in all plenty for Capello to ponder. Let’s hope he has more up his sleeve than his predecessors who would no doubt have recognised this performance as one they’d seen before.

Full Time: England 2 Ukraine 1

England: D.James 4, G.Johnson 7, A.Cole 4, G.Barry 6, R.Ferdinand 6, J.Terry 6, A.Lennon 6 (D.Beckham 5), F.Lampard 6, P.Crouch 5 (S.Wright-Phillips 5), W.Rooney 7, S.Gerrard 6.

Star Player: Wayne Rooney

Yet again, and this time Rooney was easily our most impressive performer. I had to knock at least one mark off for that scary challenge, however. It might be a fact that Rooney needs to have aggression in his game but if he isn’t able to channel it properly you can rest assured that he will get sent off for England again in the future.
We can only hope if that does happen it doesn’t cost us something really important.

Saturday March 28, 2009; International Friendly.

England 4 Slovakia 0

England: D.James (B.Foster 45), G.Johnson, A.Cole, G.Barry, M.Upson, J.Terry, A.Lennon (D.Beckham 45), F.Lampard, E.Heskey (C.Cole 15) (P.Crouch 35) (M.Carrick 74) W.Rooney, S.Gerrard (S.Downing 45).

Slovakia: S.Senecky, P.Pekarik, J.Valachovic, M.Skrtel, M.Cech (E.Jendrisik 45) M.Karhan (Z.Strba 83) R.Zabanik, S.Sestak (M.Jakubko 72) J.Kozak (M.Sapara 62) M.Hamsik (M.Mintal 79) R.Vittek (F.Holosko 45).

The first thing to mention about this friendly is obviously the new shirt. Apparently it’s a proper England shirt that we’re going to play in for the next two years and not just a one off for this game.

It’s supposed to be more sophisticated than your common or garden football shirt and maybe it is because it doesn’t really look like a football shirt. It looks more like a tennis shirt and while it may not improve our ability to score goals I’m pretty sure our boys will soon be sending down some pretty mean aces.

I’ve just checked out a picture from the game to remind me of the outfit and it actually looks pretty good but it’s a picture of David Beckham and, as someone once said about Marilyn Monroe, he’d probably look good in a sack.

As for the game England came out in forceful style with the recalled Aaron Lennon getting away down the right in the first minute to put over a decent centre and Wayne Rooney putting in the first shot, blocked by a defender, a couple of minutes later.

This was to set the tone for the afternoon with England carrying virtually all the threat despite Slovakia enjoying decent periods of possession.

England were soon ahead as Rooney combined well with Steven Gerrard down the left flank, a feature of the first half performance, and Emile Heskey was able to bundle the ball home at the near post from Gerrard’s low centre.

The early stages suggested there might be a landslide victory in store for England and this might have materialised had Heskey not contrived to head a sitter over the bar from a pin point left wing centre by Rooney.

This would be Heskey’s last involvement as he soon withdrew with an injury which saw Carlton Cole entering the fray. This seemed to upset England’s rhythm somewhat and another spike in the attacking intentions was the wasteful delivery of Lennon from wide areas, although the wingers’ contribution as a whole was encouraging. One aimless cut back following a lovely ball inside the full back by Rooney was particularly frustrating.

Slovakia then created one of their few chances as Pekarik got behind Ashley Cole to set up Sestak for a volley which flew over from a good position.

Frank Lampard also had an opportunity on the volley from a similar position but, despite forcing a save from the keeper, he could not make the best contact.

The next incident saw Carlton Cole joining Heskey on the Wembley treatment table as he limped off with a strain suffered when sending in a weak effort on goal. Peter Crouch came on to make it three centre forwards in just over half an hour.

David James was forced into a diving, but routine, save by Karhan, who bore a disturbing likeness to Iain Dowie, before there were some real fun and games at the other end after Martin Skrtel missed a lunging interception on the left wing to set his Liverpool teammate Gerrard racing onto Rooney’s pass.

The ball then ran loose from Gerrard’s centre and Lennon got there ahead of the Slovakian keeper near the byeline. This time the winger took the right option to find Rooney, backing up the attack he had started, but his attempted chip drifted harmlessy wide of the target.

Lennon’s next chance came when Lampard set him free inside the box with a smart half tackle, half pass but the winger seemed to suffer a bobble and what might have been intended as a cross ended up a shot to the near post. The keeper parried and then parried again as Garrard came flying in for a header at goal from a narrow angle.

Matthew Upson committed England’s one real defensive blunder of the game when he let a ball run away from him on the edge of the box and it needed a sharp reflex save from James to tip Vittek’s rising drive over the bar.

England’s failure to confirm their overall superiority with a second goal was becoming increasingly irritating and the general profligacy remained until half time.

Gerrard spoiled slick work between Johnson and Lennon with a weak finish and then Rooney, cutting inside after a magnificent reverse ball from Gerrard, blazed wildly beyond the far post.

There was reason to be disappointed at a one goal lead at the interval but I suppose there are worse things to be disappointed about at half time.

Half Time: England 1 Slovakia 0

England’s half time changes saw Ben Foster replacing James in goal and David Beckham and Stewart Downing coming on in place of Lennon and Gerrard to play on either flank.

This appearance gave Beckham his 109th cap and thereby allowed him to overtake Bobby Moore’s all time record for an outfield player. It’s a bit pointless trying to estimate the relative value of these two achievements but you can’t argue with Beckham’s dedication, skill and his contribution to the national team. Fair play to him.

One early break by Slovakia spelled danger to England but the final ball in ended up in the side netting and thereafter Ben Foster was able to amuse himself with the daily papers, magazines, cigars, slippers, pipe, ceefax, loose women, jeremy kyle, the theory of relativity and the meaning of life. I think he even nipped out for a packet of fags and another box of cleenex at one point.

Incredibly England were still unable to emphasise their control of the game with another goal as Rooney, on several occasions, and Lampard could not convert reasonable openings.

John Terry slid in to push home a Peter Crouch header from an offside position when the ball might have been already net bound. There was an apology from the skipper but surely also a little snigger behind the hand when nobody was looking.

Finally, with twenty minutes remaining, England managed to put the game to bed with a second goal. Ashley Cole sent in the initial cross from the left but the telling ball came from Beckham on the right with a chip that picked out Rooney perfectly for a simple header from six yards.

Four minutes later Skrtel managed to rake a stud down Crouch’s thigh as they challenged for a high ball and England’s third centre forward had to depart injured. Fabio Capello had now run out of forwards and had to send Michael Carrick on.

This was obviously to England’s benefit anyway as Carrick began pulling a few strings from deep and the other midfielders bombed forward to support Rooney.

In fact Lampard and Carrick conjured a third England goal between them following a quickly taken free kick midway inside Slovakian territory. Both were involved twice in the move which ended with Lampard finishing Carrick’s pass in emphatic style.

Foster had to switch off Trisha long enough to keep out Sapara’s free kick before England added a gloss to their victory with another goal in stoppage time. Lampard sent in a first time centre from the left after possession had been smuggled from the Slovakians and Rooney took two perfect touches to kill the ball and then deposit it into the roof of the net.

This was a speedy, slick interchange which caught out the linesman as well as the Slovakians as the official failed to notice that Rooney had been in an offside position.

No matter, the 4-0 scoreline with two goals for Rooney seemed the most appropriate conclusion to a game that England had dominated with the tone mainly set by the Manchester United man.

Full Time: England 4 Slovakia 0

England: D.James 7 (B.Foster 6), G.Johnson 8, A.Cole 7, G.Barry 6, M.Upson 5, J.Terry 7, A.Lennon 7 (D.Beckham 7), F.Lampard 8, E.Heskey 6 (C.Cole 4) (P.Crouch 5) (M.Carrick 7) W.Rooney 8, S.Gerrard 8 (S.Downing 4).

Star Player: Wayne Rooney

Rooney was again outstanding for England and eventually crowned a fine all round display with two goals. He might well have been pushed for the award had Gerrard stayed on for the whole game, however, and the best moment of the game was Gerrard’s brilliant reverse pass to his fellow Scouser in the first half.
These two combine really well for England and they seem to enjoy playing together. We all know that Rooney can’t go and play for Liverpool so maybe he should suggest that Gerrard ups sticks and goes to United in the summer.
That’s what would happen on the park.

Spain 1 England 0; Reaction.

What is there to say about England’s defeat in their latest friendly international with Spain?

Obviously the performance was disappointing but it was only a friendly and it was, possibly, an experimental team. I suppose it is best not to get too upset about it but the possible lessons must not be ignored either.

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the question of what exactly our best side is at the moment. Capello has had his hands forced by injury withdrawals into spreading the caps around a bit of late although he had declared previously that he would be using the friendly games to have a look at various players anyway.

That’s great in principle but there are potential drawbacks to this approach as well. Most obviously any degree of rotation in the friendlies prevents the manager from allowing his preferred starting line up from honing an understanding.

There is another possible downside as well. In blooding new players the manager might actually make things more complicated and confusing for himself. If the new men do well the manager might actually find that his job becomes more difficult rather than more easy.

The obvious position where complications may arise is in midfield. Gareth Barry and Michael Carrick have started the last two internationals together in central midfield and done ok. Will this be enough to earn them a place, assuming Gerrard and Lampard are also available, when the proper games start up again or will the old favourites simply walk back into their accustomed positions?

And has Capello been seriously looking at Barry and Carrick as a possible midfield partnership or pitting them against each other as rivals for one position alongside one of the established duo? Or has he just been teasing the pair of them?

We have always looked hard for the possible relevence of England friendlies and it is still not overly obvious. The best thing about the recent friendlies is that the England team, despite the comprehensive defeat in Spain, do seem to be growing in confidence and belief under Capello and appear more together as a group than under the previous manager.

Question marks still hover over several area of the team, however.

David James was anything but reassuring in goal and we learnt little about Robert Green who came on for the second half but had little to do despite the precise passing of the Spaniards.

The whole of the midfield is presently a conundrum. Will we play a winger (Walcott, SWP, Lennon) on the right in the qualifiers or will we have a midfield player there (Beckham, Gerrard)?

Will Gerrard and Lampard be paired together in the centre or will one of them play alongside a holding player (Barry, Carrick)?

Or will we play three in the centre with both Lampard and Gerrard ahead of a holding player?

Will Stewart Downing be trusted with the left sided role in a game with something riding on it or will Capello fill in with a right footer or a more solid option such as Gareth Barry?

It’s all very well looking at players and having options in personnel and tactics but the best sides, Spain are currently a good example, are generally settled in who they pick and how they play.

Injuries haven’t helped Capello to shed too much light on England’s current conundrums but it would be nice to see a recognisable England eleven emerge over the next few months with the back up players trusted but basically there in case of emergencies.

One quick thought about Spain. Obviously they won the European Championships, which they would do seeing as we didn’t qualify, and are currently on a good run of form but are they really that good?

They looked ok against us but surely they can’t be that clever as half their team seems to play for Liverpool and we all know that Liverpool are crap. And would be really crap if it wasn’t for Steven Gerrard. And he’s English.

Wednesday February 11, 2009; International Friendly.

Spain 2 England 0

Spain: I.Casillas (P.Reina 45), R.Albiol, G.Piqué, A.Iniesta, D.Villa (David Silva 56), Xavi (D.Guiza 85), F.Torres (F.Llorente 64), J.Capdevilla (Á.Arbeloa 45), Xabi Alonso, S.Ramos, M.Senna.

England: D.James (R.Green 45), G.Johnson, A.Cole, M.Carrick, P.Jagielka (M.Upson 45), J.Terry, S.Wright-Phillips, G.Barry (F.Lampard 45), E.Heskey (P.Crouch 45), S.Downing (D.Beckham 45), G.Agbonlahor (C.Cole 75).

England’s run of good results under Fabio Capello came to an end somewhat abruptly in Spain tonight. Against the European Champions England were unable to cope with a below strength team. It is debatable how much better they would have fared at full strength.

England tried to match their opponents in a technical, passing game but were seldom able to impose any authority on proceedings and found themselves trying to play football under pressure in their own half of the field. Often possession was given away in dangerous areas and this fault was fully punished when Spain took a first half lead.

Capello stuck pretty closely to the team that had played so well to win in Germany three months earlier with the only changes being Phil Jagielka for Matthew Upson, Ashley Cole for Wayne Bridge and Emile Heskey for Jermain Defoe.

This always looked like a much tougher proposition for England, however, and so it duly proved.

After John Terry had produced a good block to snuff out Fernando Torres as danger threatened early on England enjoyed their best spell of the game around the quarter hour mark as Spain struggled to cope with the physical presence of Emile Heskey.

Gareth Barry broke forward for a left wing centre that Gabby Agbonlahor came close to converting despite scuffing his volley and then Barry was just wide of the post with a header from Stewart Downing’s corner.

Heskey momentarily looked to be through on goal before tumbling under some pressure from Pique. Nothing was given and there was some confusion as to whether Heskey had been pulled up for offside, which he certainly wasn’t, or whether the referee had simply deemed there to have been no foul by the Spaniard.

Spain quickly began to exert more control in the midfield and, with England constantly giving the ball away in their own half, the action became concentrated at the other end of the field.

Glen Johnson and John Terry produced good blocks to deny Spain but for every good block or tackle the England defence managed there was at least one wayward pass that simply encouraged Spain to attack again.

Johnson and Ashley Cole were guilty in quick succession as the England goal came under more threat. David James added to the growing feeling of unease when he somehow spilled a dolly catch and, after Spain had seen a goal correctly chalked off for offside, they duly took the lead on 36 minutes after more wasteful England distribution.

Jagielka played a woeful ball into midfield straight to Xabi Alonso who fed it into David Villa on the edge of the box and the striker wriggled away from Jagielka before stroking a calm, low finish into the bottom corner.

Heskey was narrowly wide with a header from a Downing centre before James stood and watched a 30 yarder from Senna whistle an inch past his upright.

With England continuing to gift Spain quality possession deep inside their own half the home side continued to press right up to the interval with Villa seeing a goalbound effort blocked, Alonso firing inches wide from distance and Sergio Ramos belting an ambitious cross shot straight at James from way out on the right.

The England keeper just about held on and the same could be said about the whole team as they went in at the interval just the one goal behind.

Half Time: Spain 1 England 0

England made five changes at half time with Robert Green, Matthew Upson, Frank Lampard, David Beckham and Peter Crouch coming on for James, Jagielka, Barry, Downing and Heskey. This change of personnel did nothing to alter the overall balance of play, however.

Beckham put an early free kick into the mixer which Reina just about punched away from his goalmouth but the sight of Shaun Wright-Phillips, possibly England’s brightest attacker on the night, chasing back to desperately cover the overlapping Ramos twice in quick succession amply demonstrated which team was in charge of proceedings.

Agbonlahor, Lampard, Johnson and Ashley Cole were all culpable of giving the ball away inside their own half as the pattern of the first half was repeated and Upson did well to get a toe in as Torres looked to profit from one of these aberrations having been fed by the influential Xavi.

England managed the occasional threat but when they did get half a sight of goal their finishing was as tepid as the display in general had been.

Johnson sent in a deep centre which Crouch headed straight at Reina and then Wright-Phillips shot meekly at the keeper having stepped inside Ramos following a magnificent 70 yard arrow of a pass from Beckham.

Lampard could also only head straight at the keeper following a decent move although he wasn’t helped by the floated centre put in by Agbonlahor from the right hand side.

Bravery from Beckham allowed England to mount another attack but Carlton Cole, just on as a sub, made poor contact with his volleyed effort from a Johnson centre.

Suddenly Spain moved forward to win a free kick 40 yards from goal and when Xavi lobbed it into the box Upson lost his bearings to allow Llorente to head conclusively beyond Green.

Beckham produced England’s best moment of quality when he showed quick feet to make himself a yard of space before threading a gorgeous ball through to Cole who managed to sidestep Reina but then saw his unconvincing left footed finish cleared off the line by a covering defender.

These late moments did nothing to hide the fact that England had spent most of the night chasing shadows and had been a very clear second best.

Full Time: Spain 2 England 0

England: D.James 3 (R.Green 5), G.Johnson 6, A.Cole 6, M.Carrick 4, P.Jagielka 3 (M.Upson 5), J.Terry 5, S.Wright-Phillips 6, G.Barry 4 (F.Lampard 4), E.Heskey 5 (P.Crouch 2), S.Downing 3 (D.Beckham 6), G.Agbonlahor 3 (C.Cole 4).

Star Player: Glen Johnson

Not an easy choice and Johnson hardly covered himself in glory but he stuck to his guns defensively and got forward whenever possible, linking to some effect with Beckham in the second half.

Wednesday November 19, 2008; International Friendly.

Germany 1 England 2

Germany: Adler (Wiese 45), Friedrich (Tasci 68), Mertesacker, Westermann, Compper (Schafer 77), Schweinsteiger, Rolfes, Jones (Marin 45), Trochowski, Gomez (Podolski 57), Klose (Helmes 45).

England: D.James (S.Carson 45), G.Johnson, J.Terry, M.Upson, W.Bridge, S.Wright-Phillips (P.Crouch 90), M.Carrick, G.Barry, S.Downing, J.Defoe (D.Bent 45), G.Agbonlahor (A.Young 77).

With several of Fabio Capello’s usual first choice players missing this friendly through injury the England side selected had a definite second XI look to it with Johnson, Upson and Bridge starting in defence; Wright-Phillips, Carrick and Downing joining Gareth Barry in midfield and Agbonlahor gaining his first cap up front alongside Jermain Defoe.

The side was obviously brimming with pace but lacking height as well as real experience at this level. The side picked might not inspire huge confidence on paper but if it could impose itself on the game and the opposition then it certainly contained lots of attacking potential.

More than anything, however, it seemed important going into this game that England, weakened side or not, kept up the momentum gained from the four successive victories in their World Cup qualifying group.

The early signs were certainly encouraging as England enjoyed most of the possession. Gareth Barry and Michael Carrick immediately looked to have control of the central areas and England were able to get the ball into their diminutive strikers with decent frequency.

There was a hint of an opening in the second minute but Defoe was offside as he ran onto Agbonlahor’s pass. It was not just Carrick and Barry who were showing good composure on the ball either as Matthew Upson fed Agbonlahor twice with quality passes out of defence. Such confidence quickly spread throughout the team with England looking by far the more assured side.

The first real threat came from the Germans, however, as David James plunged to meet a low centre from the left wing and could only parry it out into his box. Fortunately Barry was alert to the situation and nipped ahead of two attackers to mop up the danger.

In general though it was England dictating play, controlling possession and probing for openings. Glen Johnson showed himself eager to get forward down the right and Stewart Downing was looking far more confident than in any of his previous internationals down the left.

Downing, sharp and direct in possession, earned his side a couple of corners which were wasted by Shaun Wright-Phillips’s poor delivery and then Germany had a real let off when Agbonlahor left the keeper sprawling down the side of the penalty area as the pair chased a probing chip forward by Downing.

It looked a perfectly fair shoulder charge but the linesman thought differently and flagged for a free kick with the German goal unguarded.

Wright-Phillips had been the one England player looking below par in the opening stages but when he cut inside to win a corner with a deflected drive it signalled the start of a steady improvement in his performance and he would end the night as yet another England success.

From the corner Matthew Upson saw a clever volley deflected wide for a corner from the other flank and when Downing whipped in a fine centre the German keeper got himself tangled up with Jermain Defoe allowing Upson to poke the ball into an empty net after a kind ricochet off Agbonlahor.

Undoubtedly a scrappy goal but one England thoroughly deserved for their excellent start to the game.

There was no sign of England sitting back on their one goal lead and they continued to play the better football throughout the first half.

With Barry and Carrick calm, precise and occasionally inventive England remained in control while they also looked a yard or two faster down both flanks.

Germany’s only threat was coming from set pieces and they had the referee to thank for keeping them liberally supplied with dead ball opportunities.

James had to fist one inswinging free kick from the left wing over his own bar while both Klose and Westermann might have done better with headed chances from set plays.

The incisive movements were England’s, however. Carrick and Downing combined in fine style to set England flowing forward but Carrick then wasted the chance with an unnecessary dummy on the edge of the box before Wright-Phillips could only locate the solitary German defender instead of either of two supporting teammates after a superb pass by Johnson had sent him racing down the right.

Wright-Phillips was getting more and more involved in the action and seemed to have slipped Agbonlahor through on goal only for a very dubious offside flag to deny the Villa forward. Moments later Wright-Phillips was helping Johnson to win a corner and when this was half cleared he was offered a decent shooting chance but dragged his shot wide of the far post from 25 yards.

The half ended with England’s confidence at its most obvious and the German goal under real threat.

Agbonlahor made a wonderful break from inside his own half but, with the German defence stretched, underhit his intended pass to Defoe when he had every excuse for continuing himself. Then Downing was bringing a flying save out of the German keeper with a piledriver from just outside the box and moments later Wright-Phillips was not far away from the angle of post and bar as the rebound fell into his path.

Right on half time anothing probing pass from Carrick had Agbonlahor scampering beyond the German defence but the keeper was sweeping up well and was able to clear the danger just in time.

All in all an excellent forty five minutes from Capello’s men and a well deserved lead.

Half Time: Germany 0 England 1

Germany made three changes at the interval while England contented themselves with two. Darren Bent came on up front to replace Defoe, who was apparently nursing a slight pull, while Scott Carson came on for David James in goal.

England’s passing was not quite so assured at the start of the second half as Germany looked to up the tempo but it was still the visitors looking to play the football. Some bloke called Rolfes fired an ambitious effort way over the bar as Germnay looked to test Carson but the home side were still finding it almost impossible to fashion a real chance against a diligent England defence.

Carrick was instrumental as England found their passing rhythm again and when Downing then broke a challenge thirty yards out he had an inviting shooting opportunity. The effort was disappointingly wide of the far post, however.

Little had happened since half time until a frantic spell of action just past the hour mark somehow ended with Germany level.

Shaun Wright-Phillips set the touchpaper alight with a sizzling run from way out which took him past three challenges before his shot was blocked at the expense of a corner. The corner was cleared to Johnson and England momentarily looked in trouble as the defender slipped but he recovered magnificently to wriggle out of danger and feed Barry who instantly sent Darren Bent racing through on goal with a sweet through ball.

Bent took the ball wide of the advancing keeper but could only scuff his shot wide of the gaping goal as his standing foot went from under him as he attempted to make the slight re-adjustment required in the act of shooting.

Misses like that often end up being crucial and England were left really rueing this one when Germany suddenly went forward to equalise.

If there was one consolation to Bent it was in the fact that the bizarre manner of Germany’s goal probably made most people forget that his miss had ever taken place.

There should have been no danger as a woefully overhit pass intended for Helmes dropped beyond John Terry and bounced towards the England penalty area. It was more out of a sense of duty that Helmes belatedly set off in pursuit but he ended up glad he had done so as Terry failed to clear and Carson advanced too late thereby allowing the forward to poke the ball beyond the hapless England pair and tap into an empty net.

Who was at fault? I think it’s only fair to say both. We don’t know if Carson shouted but whether he did or not his advance was disastrously unconvincing while Terry could have taken matters into his own hands at any stage by simply booting the ball to any part of Germany.

Both men ended up looking stupid in the extreme; Terry for his comedy attempted back header when the ball had actually stopped bouncing as well as his failed attempt at making his backside an impassable object and Carson for his old mans’ stoop to collect which ended in him being horribly nutmegged by Helmes.

All in all a moment to forget but that won’t be so easy for Carson given his awful blunder against Croatia in his last game.

The one thing this cock up did do was allow England, generally excellent beforehand, the chance to show that they could take a body blow and come back fighting. Capello must have been thrilled with the way they did this.

Germany were unable to build momentum from their unexpected gift as England continued to call the tune. Downing whipped in a wicked centre that was punched clear unconvincingly by the German keeper who was lucky that the ball evaded the waiting England forwards and then Carrick produced a sublime pass to send Agbonlahor racing through the inside right channel for a fierce drive that the keeper did well to tip away from his near post, undetected by the referee as well.

Another surging run by Wright-Phillips gained England a free kick in a dangerous position and the keeper did well to parry Downing’s low drive but was still lucky that the rebound did not fall to an attacker rather than a defender.

Then Carrick released Bent but the England forward was unable to nick the ball past the onrushing keeper despite just about getting the first touch.

Germany finally enjoyed a spell of domination with just under twenty minutes remaining and asked some real questions of the England defence.

Bridge and Downing had made a solid partnership down the left but were beaten too easily in one attack and were grateful to Upson for a barnstorming block inside the area and Carson was called upon to deal with a low drive and a testing centre in quick succession, both of which he dealt with competently to everyones’ relief.

England were not in the mood to remain on the back foot for long, however, and emerged from defence to strike the crucial blow. The catalyst for a spell of England pressure was a strange bit of headed juggling by Bent which kept possession for England and allowed Wright-Phillips to come charging up in support for a searing drive which cannoned back to safety from the upright, with the German keeper again possibly getting a vital touch.

England were able to keep the ball in the German half and Ashley Young, on for Agbonlahor, earned his side a free kick from a typically leaden footed German defender.

Downing chipped this into the far post from right to left and there was Terry, no doubt eager to erase the memory of Germany’s goal from the collective memory bank, climbing above his marker to steer a splendid header in off the far post.

England continued to play with purpose and precision through to the final whistle with Downing stinging the hands of the German keeper at the end of another controlled move and England ended the night worthy winners despite having conceded one of the worst goals in their history.

While it would be wrong to get carried away with anything that happens in a friendly this had been just about as good as it could possibly get.

Despite fielding a hugely different side to the one that had earned the four World Cup victories England looked and played like a team from the first whistle to the last. Everyone looked comfortable in the position they were playing in, everyone made sure that they had a teammates’ back when it was needed and, for the good of the team, several players took on board tasks that they would probably prefer others to do.

This is what we have wanted to see from England teams for a long time and, touch wood, we now have a manager who can deliver. We have now had two superb victories away from home in quick succession and both were mainly the result of a sound, well organised team effort in which the players’ individual quality ended up coming to the fore as a natural consequence.

Too often we have been waiting for talented individuals to simply win internationals on their own, and it looked as though the England managers in question expected this more than anyone.

Now we have a manager who knows that the individuals have to function as a team first and then the rest should take care of itself.

This is not to say that England will win every game they play under Capello but if they simply continue to look and play like a team then it will represent a huge improvement on what we ended up suffering under Eriksson and then MacLaren.

It’s also been good to see a few smiling faces around the England camp in the last few games. It’s obviously easier to smile when you’re winning but playing football, even at this level, should still be fun.

England’s sense of enjoyment from their past few results and performances has also appeared to be the genuine fulfilment experienced from the knowledge of a job well done, individually and collectively, rather than the usual prima donna style self congratualtion at even the slightest achievement.

Long may it continue.

Full Time: Germany 1 England 2

England: D.James 7 (S.Carson 4), G.Johnson 9, J.Terry 7, M.Upson 8, W.Bridge 7, S.Wright-Phillips 8, M.Carrick 9, G.Barry 8, S.Downing 9, J.Defoe 7 (D.Bent 5), G.Agbonlahor 8 (A.Young 5).

Star Player: Glen Johnson

Basically everybody did well but three players especially pressed claims for inclusion in Capello’s real starting eleven. Michael Carrick was quietly authoritative in midfield and Stewart Downing played with a purpose and freedom down the left entirely missing from his previous England performances. It is unlikely that these two will get the nod when Capello picks his teams for the qualifying games, however.
Glen Johnson, who was almost astonishingly good at right back, might fare better however.
Johnson was outstanding both in his defensive duties and going forward and combined raw pace with real control in this performance. In fact you couldn’t really ask for any more from a full back although it could be argued that he was facing a “winger” who looked well short of top international standard.
A massively encouraging display however you measure it though.

Wednesday October 15, 2008; World Cup Qualifier.

Belarus 1 England 3

Belarus: Y.Zhevnov, A.Kulchy, E.Filipenko, S.Omelyanchyuk, D.Molosh, V.Bulyga, P.Sitko, V.Kutuzov, A.Putilo (V.Rodionov 67), I.Stasevich (V.Hleb 90), D.Verkhovtsov.

England: D.James, W.Brown, W.Bridge, S.Gerrard, R.Ferdinand, M.Upson, 7 T.Walcott (S.Wright-Phillips 68), F.Lampard, E.Heskey (P.Crouch 70), W.Rooney (D.Beckham 88), G.Barry.

England’s excellent start to competitive action under Fabio Capello continued with a fine 3-1 win in Belarus. While this was by no means a consumate performance the display confirmed the growing feeling that England will at least look and play like a team under the Italian.

While there were obvious points of concern there were also many real positives to take from this game and, by the final whistle, everybody with the interests of English football at heart must have been feeling pretty positive themselves.

Areas to be addressed remain England’s disturbing tendancy to defend too deep having gone in front, achieving the correct balance and personnel in midfield and the role to be played by Theo Walcott, who faded after a bright start as he had done against Kazakhstan four days earlier and who looked a liability when asked to do some defending.

Reasons to be cheerful were an outstanding goal by Steven Gerrard, magnificent performances from Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey up front and the tremendous fighting spirit and commitment shown by the entire team.

Basically this was a demonstration of how England are supposed to play football. We have never been the prettiest of footballing nations but when we play with pace, power and purpose we have no reason to be ashamed of ourselves in any company.

The opening stages were lively in the extreme with both sides looking to assert themselves. Belarus impressed with their close passing from the first whistle and dominated the early possession but England looked dangerous on the occasions they were able to get forward.

David James was tested by a free kick that was straight at him but arriving on the bounce and his handling was secure, as it would be on numerous other occasions in the opening forty five minutes.

England were offered hope by the robust start made by Emile Heskey, who was proving too much of a handful for his markers from the word go, and the fleet footed Walcott on the right wing.

Heskey would continue to be a menace right up to his substitution midway through the second half whereas Walcott would quickly fade to leave question marks over his international credentials.

Twice in quick succession Walcott sent in superb crosses from the right with Rooney inches away from converting on the second occasion but the wingers’ distribution and decision making would never reach these standards again.

England’s threat was confirmed as they then took the lead with eleven minutes on the clock. Rooney was superb in retaining possession in a tight spot and as he moved away from his marker from right to left he was met by Gerrard, moving up in support from the left, who strode onto the ball to sweep a delicious curling shot into the far corner from the best part of thirty yards.

James was quickly called into action to preserve England’s lead and he got the job done without looking particularly comfortable fielding an effort from distance. At the other end Gerrard tried his luck again and wasn’t too far away from slightly closer quarters to which he had opened the scoring.

For the next quarter of an hour, however, England endured their worst spell of the game as they dropped deeper and deeper without putting their opponents under any real pressure and Belarus began to dictate with their slick passing and movement.

A poor touch by Walcott sold the overlapping Wes Brown short and left England exposed to the counter attack and the situation wasn’t helped when Gareth Barry then somehow failed to intercept the resulting centre. Fortunately there was no Belarus forward in a position to take advantage and the danger was scrambled clear.

England’s right hand side was giving particular cause for concern. Brown looked loathe to commit himself into a challenge with Pavel Sitko and the full back was certainly getting little protection from Walcott in front of him.

Another attack from this avenue ended with Sitko sending in a fierce snap shot from the edge of the box and James was happy to see the ball fly directly at him. Then the England keeper was diving low to make a good stop after a mistake by Gerrard had presented a shooting opportunity just outside the area.

James was being kept uncomfortably busy at this stage as England made problems for themselves by sitting too deep and giving the ball away in dangerous areas.

There was one unpleasant incident when Anton Putilo went over the top on Frank Lampard and was lucky that the referee, generfally lenient, was content to issue a yellow card instead of the red that the ugly challenge merited.

England came within inches of extending their lead, against the run of play, when Heskey turned his marker inside out before chipping a centre to the far post that was headed just wide under pressure by Rooney.

The real danger was being posed by Belarus at this point, however, and the home side levelled shortly before the half hour. A sustained spell of passing ended with a chip to the far post where Sitko was stealing in completely unmarked to head home from point blank range.

Walcott was the man who should have been tracking the run but he had completely failed to react with disastrous consequences.

Having been pegged back England began to be more positive again and came close when Heskey headed wide at the near post following a left wing corner before Lampard tested the keeper with an ambitious free kick from long range.

Rooney produced a piece of sheer brilliance to send Walcott running into the box but the winger was stopped by a solid challenge. Within a minute Walcott was played into an even better position beyond his full back but chose to shoot early when it looked as though he might be able to go through on goal and the keeper had no problem in saving his low effort.

All in all this had been a frustrating half with England throwing away the initiative of their early goal and failing to offer enough support to two forwards who both looked in top form.

Half Time: Belarus 1 England 1

England began the second half in far more positive mood both in their attacking and defending. Wes Brown was quick to launch Sitko over the touchline with an all consuming challenge while Rooney and Heskey continued to terrorise the Belarus defence.

Rooney picked his way through a crowd of defenders on the edge of the box only to shoot weakly at the keeper but then made no mistake when Heskey surged to the byeline and squared a perfect ball into his path.

Brown then got away with a suspect challenge inside the area as Belarus looked to respond but this was nothing to the leniency being granted the home defenders who were taking it in turns to kick the outstanding Heskey.

To his eternal credit the big man ignored the punishment and continued to torment the Belarus defence with his strength, control and vision. The referee, however, was completely out of order in not offering any punishment, beyond the award of free kicks, to the offending defenders.

There was another spell when England were in danger of sitting too deep and failing to put real pressure on the ball but the home side were not as dangerous as they had been before half time with James now only being called into sporadic action.

Gerrard wasted a great chance to send Heskey through on goal with a heavy pass but England’s performance had become somewhat hesitant at the midway point of the second half.

Capello made a couple of changes with Shaun Wright-Phillips replacing Walcott and Peter Crouch coming on to allow Heskey to nurse his manifold bumps and bruises but the urgency which England needed to rediscover was provided by an unlikely source.

Wayne Bridge, replacing the injured Ashley Cole at left back, had had a relatively incident free night and suddenly decided to take the bull by the horns down the left flank.

He embarked on one forceful break down the wing and made it all the way to the edge of the Belarus box only to find that none of his teammates had matched his adventure when he came to put in his cross but the incident seemed to rouse his colleagues and his next sortie paid rich dividends.

Having made a swift break from halfway Bridge slipped a low ball inside to Rooney who allowed the ball to run on to Gerrard and instantly set off to receive his teammates’ first time pass before sitting the last defender on his backside with a lovely feint and clipping a clinical finish beyond the exposed keeper.

Magnificent stuff.

It was unlikely that Belarus would be able to respond to a two goal deficit and so it proved as England saw out the remainder of the game in some comfort.

Indeed the margin of victory should have been improved when Gerrard stormed through some feeble defending and strolled around the keeper before hitting the post instead of the empty net.

If Gerrard had trusted his weaker left foot then he would surely have hit the target but his insistence on using his right resulted in a truly embarrassing miss.

On this occasion, however, this barely seemed to matter as England registered their fourth win out of four in their qualifying group to leave themselves in a great position to put the disappointment of missing out on the European Championships behind them.

Full Time: Belarus 1 England 3

England: D.James 8, W.Brown 6, W.Bridge 8, S.Gerrard 7, R.Ferdinand 8, M.Upson 6, T.Walcott 5 (S.Wright-Phillips 6), F.Lampard 7, E.Heskey 9 (P.Crouch 5), W.Rooney 9, G.Barry 6.

Star Player: Emile Heskey

This is a somewhat generous award given the magnificent performance of Wayne Rooney but Heskey deserves massive credit for his contribution to this victory.
He took some fearful stick from the Belarus defence but kept coming back for more and scared the life out of his markers throughout.
Undoubtedly makes life a whole lot easier for his teammates and laid Rooney’s first goal on a great big silver platter for him.
It’s a massive pity that he still can’t score to save his life, however.

Saturday October 11, 2008; World Cup Qualifier.

England 5 Kazakhstan 1

England: D.James, W.Brown, A.Cole, R.Ferdinand, M.Upson, S.Gerrard, G.Barry (S.Wright-Phillips 45), F.Lampard, T.Walcott (D.Beckham 79), E.Heskey, W.Rooney (J.Defoe 86).

Kazakhstan: Mokin, Kirov (Sabalakov 85), Kuchma, Kislitsyn, Nusserbayev, Skorykh, Ostapenko (Maltsev 76), Baltiyev, Ibrayev, Kukeyev, Logvinenko.

This was a slightly strange game and an erratic England performance. Despite the fact that the match was goalless at half time and ended in a 5-1 victory the England performance was probably better in the opening forty five minutes.

Before half time there was early promise in the shape of Walcott and more coherence in the overall play. It is true that the attacking impetus petered out the longer the half wore on but there was a general order to proceedings with Kazakhstan rarely posing a threat on the England goal.

After half time, with England set up in a more attacking formation after the withdrawal of Gareth Barry from the holding midfield role, it was sometimes difficult to tell whether England were playing with urgency or desparation. Even though five goals were scored this was mainly due to Kazakhstan’s inability to defend set pieces and the fact that their players tired noticeably late on.

In their efforts to force the pace England left themselves open at the back on several occasions and were lucky not to concede more than once. There was also the uncomfortable realisation that for lengthy spells in the second half Kazakhstan’s passing and movement was far more intelligent and dangerous than England’s.

The game began with England in confident mood and looking to attack from the off. Theo Walcott was the focus of most of the early attacks and when a clever touch from Wes Brown sent him racing to the byeline his low centre seemed certain to bring a goal but Emile Heskey somehow failed to convert sliding in before an empty net.

The formation did not look as natural as it had in Croatia with Steven Gerrard joining Frank Lampard in central midfield in front of Barry. Wayne Rooney was playing to the left of Heskey but was obviously allowed to wander in search of the ball.

This was good in many ways as Rooney was able to orchestrate several attacking movements but it did give England a lopsided look with no real attacking outlet down the left hand side.

Rooney tested Mokin with a snap shot and linked well with Walcott on a couple of occasions which ended with England winning free kicks in good positions after fouls on the Arsenal flyer.

These immediately looked highly promising as the Kazakhstan defence struggled to deal with anything crossed into the goalmouth and Matthew Upson was not too far over with one header at goal.

Kazakhstan’s first threat came when Nusserbayev bundled his way past Ashley Cole before hitting a low cross shot uncomfortably close to David James’ right hand post and the England goalkeeper was also given a worrying moment when Upson played him a ridiculous back pass from tight to the goalline which forced James to clear with a sliding tackle.

The ball flew straight onto a Kazakhstan head on the edge of the box but the instinctive header, fortunately, was well wide of the target.

Most of the action was at the other end, however, with Rooney producing some neat work on the right hand side before finding Lampard breaking into the box for a good effort that deflected behind off a defender.

Rooney was also at the heart of a move that ended with Walcott cutting inside onto his left foot for a shot that was never troubling the keeper.

Steven Gerrard had been peripheral and his lack of involvement may have explained why he passed up a perfect shooting opportunity from 25 yards out in favour of an ambitious pass that was woefully overhit.

Lampard tried a couple more efforts, one deflected behind and the other not far from the angle, and Upson headed wide from another corner but England then began to lose momentum and ideas as half time approached and the final ten minutes of the half passed by without a threat on the Kazakhstan goal.

This is becoming a disturbing feature of England performances with nobody apparently able to take command when the going starts to get a bit tougher.

I also thought the Wembley pitch seemed somewhat narrow with the play cramped and space hard to come by. Surely the national side wants a nice wide pitch to play on, don’t it?

There were murmurings of discontent amongst the crowd at half time but nothing too severe. After all, it was hard to imagine that Kazakhstan would be able to hold out for another forty five minutes.

Half Time: England 0 Kazakhstan 0

England made a slightly surprising substitution at half time with Shaun Wright-Phillips coming on in place of Gareth Barry. This saw the formation change to a straight 4-4-2 with Rooney moving up front alongside Heskey and Wright-Phillips playing on the left hand side.

This seemed an unnecessarily premature change. It could be argued that the move was a positive one but it could also have been viewed as somewhat desperate.

The result of the change, and England’s manic attempts to attack, was a hugely disjointed second half performance. Little was gained from having two wingers as Walcott’s distribution began to degenerate and Wright-Phillips embarked on a basically embarrassing display. The removal of Barry from a holding position also exposed the England defence to several alarming moments as Gerrard and Lampard once again struggled to forge any meaningful combination in midfield.

The one big plus was that Rooney was moved into a position where his work became even more effective and he remained England’s brightest player.

The danger of England’s frantic attacking intentions quickly became apparent as the left flank of defence was left unmanned as Ashley Cole raced forward on the overlap only for England to squander possesion and suddenly Kazakhstan were pouring forward in numbers.

Having made untroubled progress to the byeline a centre to the far post saw a header at goal rebound off Wes Brown and when the ball dropped straight to a Kazakhstan attacker in the jaws of goal England should have been one down but Nusserbayev somehow failed to hit the target.

Shortly afterwards England punished this miss when the Kazakhstan keeper got nowhere near a left wing corner and Rio Ferdinand was able to head in at the far post.

The goal was given no questions asked as this was Kazakhstan at Wembley but it was a carbon copy of the goals we have seen Sol Campbell score time and again at major finals only to be ruled out.

The decision looked sound to me and I remain convinced that Big Sol has been denied his rightful place in English folklore by piss poor refereeing decisions.

The goal did nothing to inspire a more constructive England performance, however, and it was Kazakhstan catching the eye with some slick passing moves in which Kukeyev and Nusserbayev were prominent.

Nusserbayev sent in a fine effort that was saved, none too convincingly, by James and the England keeper also had to be alert to stop a surging run by Kukeyev.

With Kazakhstan looking increasingly confident England then scored from another set piece to apparently settle the issue. The free kick award to Ashley Cole looked extremely generous but England accepted the gift as Lampard whipped in a fine centre that glanced into the net off the head of Alexandr Kuchma.

It was good to see Wayne Rooney not desperately trying to claim a goal that wasn’t his (unlike certain members of the squad I could name) and he was to find the target legitimately later on in the piece.

Nobody was probably expecting a response from Kazakhstan after this goal but, amazingly, they were back in the game four minutes later after a dreadful blunder by Ashley Cole.

Under some pressure tight to the touchline Cole sent a woeful ball crossfield that only succeeded in putting Kukeyev clean through on goal. The Kazakhstani had all the time in the world and took it before burying his shot low past the totally stranded David James.

This was unquestionably a cock up of the highest order by Cole but the angry booing that then greeted his every touch was surely unjustified.

I can understand people not thinking much of Cole as a person. I can understand them thinking similarly about several other members of the squad. Plenty of them come across as spoilt, self centred, irritating arseholes who have completely lost touch with reality and the average man in the street football fan. If that is a reason for booing them, however, then they should be getting booed from the word go every time they play.

To single Cole out for this error, though, was completely out of order. As an England footballer Cole has been one of our real stalwarts for the best part of a decade and, unlike many of his teammates, has always performed on the biggest stages.

The goal meant that England were on edge again and with Walcott and Wright-Phillips wasting attack after attack a sense of anxiety prevailed.

Gerrard created one chance for Heskey whose header was narrowly off target before a rare move of precision ended with England restoring their two goal cushion.

Lampard and Walcott combined before Wes Brown was afforded time and space to cross and he picked out Rooney, all alone in the centre of goal, for a glancing header inside the far post.

This time there would be no slip ups and England put a flattering gloss on the scoreline as Kazakhstan tired in the closing minutes.

Rooney scored from close range following another free kick and then a sublime touch from Heskey sent Jermain Defoe, on as a late sub, through to score clinically.

Once again Heskey failed to back up his sound work as a target man with a goal and this remains a worry in contemplating games against the stronger nations.

He somehow failed to score after excellent play between Beckham, also on as a replacement, and Defoe despite having about five bites at the cherry and then saw his header from a Beckham centre easily saved by the keeper.

The performance certainly ended on a high, however, but overall this was another typically disjointed England display which demonstrated that Capello still has his work cut out turning England into a consistent international force.

A similar display would be unlikely to bring victory in Belarus next week but for now, at least, England remain on maximum points in their qualifying campaign.

Full Time: England 5 Kazakhstan 1

England: D.James 6, W.Brown 7, A.Cole 4, R.Ferdinand 7, M.Upson 5, S.Gerrard 6, G.Barry 6 (S.Wright-Phillips 0), F.Lampard 7, T.Walcott 5 (D.Beckham 6), E.Heskey 7, W.Rooney 8.

Star Player: Wayne Rooney

Always striving to get involved he was England’s most consistent creative force and also hit the target twice. Quality.

Wednesday September 10, 2008; World Cup Qualifier

Croatia 1 England 4

Croatia: Pletikosa, Simunic, Robert Kovac, Corluka, Pranjic, Rakitic, Petric (Knezevic 56), Nico Kovac (Pokrivac 62), Srna, Modric, Olic (Mandzukic 73).

England: D.James, W.Brown, J.Terry (M.Upson 88), R.Ferdinand, A.Cole, T.Walcott (D.Beckham 84), F.Lampard, G.Barry, J.Cole (J.Jenas 55), W.Rooney, E.Heskey.

After years of waiting England finally put in a top performance in a game that mattered as they went to Croatia and smashed that nations’ unbeaten home record in competitive internationals. In doing this in Fabio Capello’s first real test as England manager the team have once again raised expectation levels within the country and it has to be hoped that this sort of performance will become the norm rather than the exception.

There has to be optimism that this could be the case. There was nothing remarkable about this performance other than the fact that it was so unexpected. In general the display was simply an excellent team effort with each department of the team looking after its’ own responsibilities and then blending into a powerful, coherent unit as confidence visibly spread throughout the ranks.

With England suddenly playing as a team it came as no coincidence that players like Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard turned in their best international performances in ages. Get the balance right within the team and give them the confidence to go out and play and we can still turn out a formidable England team.

The trick now is to maintain the level of performance shown here consistently. Let’s hope Capello is the man who can achieve this feat.

From the outset this looked an unusually well organised, efficient and confident England. Despite Croatia’s daunting home record and the memory of the two defeats in the last qualifying campaign England started in noticeably positive mood. The early thrusts of the home side were resisted strongly by the England defence and then the visitors enjoyed a ten minute spell where they dominated possession and had Croatia pressed back in their own half.

This impressive sequence produced one promising opening when Lampard knocked a fine ball over the home defence for Theo Walcott but the Arsenal youngster tried to pull the ball back across goal when a shot looked the better option.

Croatia finally roused themselves and their first spell of real pressure saw England dropping dusturbingly deep in their efforts to keep the home side at bay, a tendancy which has cost us dear consistently over the past decade.

Ashley Cole was enduring a difficult start to the game against Srna but valiant defending ensured that most efforts at David James were blocked at source. James also contributed a couple of hairy moments by dropping crosses into his box although he would have expected far more protection from a referee who was to prove himself somewhat erratic all night.

In the recent past England might not have been able to ease the pressure and crumbled but on this occasion things were different. Rio Ferdinand and John Terry deserve most plaudits for this as they showed the confidence to put their foot on the ball in tight situations and play their way out of trouble. This composure quickly spread throughout the team and suddenly we were controlling possession again and playing much higher up the pitch.

This is the way good teams react to difficult situations and England were certainly looking a good team as the first half reached its’ midway point.

Emile Heskey claimed a penalty, somewhat hopefully, when Walcott’s centre went behind him but England did make the vital breakthrough shortly afterwards when Walcott lashed home a low drive after an attempted clearance by one Croatian defender cannoned into another and rebounded into his path.

Once again the part played in this goal by Rio Ferdinand should not be overlooked as he started the attack by seizing on a loose ball around the half way line to come surging forward and create the confusion in the Croatia defence, another sign of England’s confidence and purpose.

Taking the lead presented England with another test. Under the last couple of managers taking the lead had been the signal to fall back on all out defence with disastrous consequences. The initial signs were good, however, as we attacked again instantly to present Walcott with a similar chance to the one he had just taken but this time the Croatian keeper managed to touch his drive behind for a corner.

It was also encouraging to see Wayne Rooney really getting to grips with the game at this stage and he was becoming a focal point as England began moving the ball around quickly and dangerously.

The threat of Walcott’s pace was also obvious and Simunic went into the referees’ book for cynically taking the young flyer out with a nasty bodycheck.

Croatia desperately tried to respond before half time but their efforts on goal were becoming increasingly hopeful and were still being blocked, more often than not, at source.

Half time arrived with England leading and looking extremely confident.

Half Time: Croatia 0 England 1

The start of the second half was likely to be crucial. Would England continue in the positive vein they had shown before half time or would this now be a case of protecting what they had?

Happily England came out looking to impose themselves on the game once again and were quickly calling the shots. Croatia were soon showing signs of raggedness as they struggled to cope with the unusual position of trailing on home soil.

England had genuine cause for grievance that Simunic, who had been fouling Heskey with monotonous regularity, was allowed to stay on the field after a blatant foul on Rooney who was storming past him in a dangerous position and Lampard almost inflicted his own punishment with an awkward low free kick that Pletikosa parried and was grateful to his defence for scrambling away the loose ball.

With 53 minutes played, however, the home side were reduced to ten men when Robert Kovac was shown a straight red for an elbow on Joey Cole who had to depart on a stretcher with blood pouring from a head wound.

I seemed to be in a minority of one but I actually thought this was a very harsh decision. Kovac had got up early to put in a powerful headed clearance. It looked more a case of Cole jumping into the defender as he went for a ball he could not win and coming off worse after catching the defenders’ arm flush in the face.

Taking into account what Simunic had been getting away with the home side could hardly complain at being a man down, however.

Once again you found yourself questioning the England team as Jermaine Jenas came on to replace Cole. Would this apparent advantage suddenly bring a note of caution to their play or would they really go on to seize the initiative? This question was quickly and emphatically answered as the visitors began to completely dominate possession but also looked to attack their reeling hosts at every opportunity.

This attitude brought a swift reward.

Rooney was instrumental as a swift burst of short passing just outside the Croatia penalty area involving Lampard and Heskey ended with the Manchester United forward slipping in Walcott, again lurking to the right of goal, for a truly assured finish into the far corner.

Confidence was now brimming throughout the side and England continued to punish Croatia with their crisp and incisive passing. It was indicative of how the match had gone that Ashley Cole, who had started nervously, was now driving Srna back consistently down the England left and when he nicked possession away from his opponent deep inside the Croatia half England were suddenly pouring forward again.

Jenas took up the attack and was able to stroll to the byeline before cutting back a perfect ball into Rooney who produced a calm, side footed finish from ten yards for a well deserved goal.

England were oozing quality at this stage and Lampard, whose performance also merited a goal, was cruelly denied when he put a sweet finish to a sublime move only to find the referee penalising Heskey extremely harshly for a supposed infringement way off the ball.

The referee again showed his erratic nature minutes later when he allowed Srna to carry on after the Croat won possession from John Terry with a foot raised to head height and with the England defence for once exposed Srna was able to play Mandzukic in for a simple finish past David James.

On this wonderful night for English football this undeserved setback was not allowed to fester and four minutes later the three goal cushion had been restored as Rooney produced a magical touch to kill a long ball out of defence before playing an instant ball through for Walcott to race clear and complete his hat trick with a nerveless finish.

This completed a wonderful night for Walcott, who was then replaced to a standing ovation from the travelling support, and England in general.

There would be no fifth goal to replicate the drubbing handed out to Germany early on in Sven Goran Eriksson’s tenure as England manager but that might not be a bad omen. Hopefully this victory and performance will not remain the highlight of Fabio Capello’s stint as England manager.

While not getting carried away and realising that results are seldom likely to be as emphatic as this it has to be hoped that the quality of this performance can be replicated on a regular basis.

There is no question that the England side is better than the results it has produced of late. If Capello can keep them organised and confident then surely the England team will at least continue to look like a team while he is in charge.

Here’s hoping.

Full Time: Croatia 1 England 4

England: D.James 6, W.Brown 7, J.Terry 8, R.Ferdinand 8, A.Cole 7, T.Walcott 9, F.Lampard 8, G.Barry 7, J.Cole 7(J.Jenas 8), W.Rooney 9, E.Heskey 7.

Star Player: Theo Walcott

For once this was a difficult decision for the right reasons.
Rooney blossomed during the game and ended up giving a wonderful display and Frank Lampard gave his best England performance in years.
At the back Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were also immense but the award has to go to the hat trick hero, Theo Walcott.
Walcott’s searing pace was again a huge factor in allowing England an attacking outlet and his finishing was superb.
There’s no going back now for the boy wonder.

Saturday September 6, 2008; World Cup Qualifier

Andorra 0 England 2

Andorra: Alvarez, Ayala, Txema, Sonejee, Antoni Lima (Fernandez 90), Ildefons Lima, Pujol (Vales 90), Vieira, Silva (Toscano 65), Jimenez, Andorra.

England: D.James, G.Johnson, J.Lescott, J.Terry, A.Cole, T.Walcott, G.Barry, F.Lampard (D.Beckham 79), S.Downing (J.Cole 45), W.Rooney, J.Defoe (E.Heskey 45).

England’s first competitive match under Fabio Capello saw them returning to Spain to take on Andorra. Not the most difficult of starts but everyone, Capello included, would have been aware of the scorn poured out at Steve MacLaren’s team on the last visit when England went in at half time goalless after a particularly tepid performance.

Capello chose a surprising team which seemed to suggest certain players were being rested for the much tougher test to come in Croatia on Wednesday. Time alone will tell if this was the case.

One of the surprise picks, Theo Walcott, was the star of the early stages as England started with pace and purpose and looked ready to hand the minnows a thrashing.

In the very first minute Walcott was streaking beyond the Andorran defence down the right hand side for a dangerous low centre which eventually bobbled through to the keeper who was caught late by the onrushing Jermain Defoe.

Predictably the Andorran’s would make the most of every bit of bodily contact throughout the game as they sought to frustrate and perhaps goad the England team but on this occasion Defoe had definitely been out of order and was fortunate not to receive punishment.

Walcott continued to be England’s obvious attacking weapon. Any decent ball knocked in behind his full back saw him speeding clear and he also showed lovely footwork on a couple of occasions to slalom out of apparent dead ends.

The Arsenal flyer wasted the next opening by shooting over the bar from a narrow angle with players lined up in the centre waiting for a cut back but at least he appeared to quickly learn his lesson. Soon afterwards he was pulling the ball back from the byeline only for a defender to intercept at full stretch and then, when Frank Lampard knocked a good ball over the top, he cushioned a lovely lay off into the path of Wayne Rooney whose left footed effort flew woefully off target.

Midway through the half Lampard went close with a decent hit from just outside the box but from that point on England’s early promise disintegrated and there was barely a threat on the Andorran goal for the rest of the half.

It was especially disappointing to see the supply of service to Walcott dry up. Here England had an obvious advantage but they were either unable or unwilling to press this home. Now there was no obvious focus to the teams’ attacking play and rather than focussing on positives we were left to ponder some obvious negatives.

Defoe struggled desperately to make any impression whatsoever on the packed Andorran defence while Stewart Downing was depressingly unadventurous on the left wing.

Half time brought a predictable chorus of boos which were not as well merited as on our last visit but understandable given the way the performance had petered out so tamely.

Half Time: Andorra 0 England 0

Capello reacted to England’s tepid ending to the first half by introducing Emile Heskey and Joey Cole for Defoe and Downing at the interval. One of the replacements was to make an instant and decisive difference and there are no prizes for guessing which one it was.

After four minutes of the second period England won a free kick which was lifted into the box for Joleon Lescott to produce a beautifully cushioned lay off and there was the impish Cole lashing a volley home from ten yards out.

Inspired by this goal England produced another concerted spell of attacking which saw John Terry come close with a good effort from the edge of the box before Cole doubled the lead after England’s sharpest move of the game.

Gareth Barry linked well with Rooney who slipped a defence splitting pass through for the darting Cole to flick a low finish past the Andorran keeper.

Just past the hour Glen Johnson was unlucky to see his drive from the edge of the area ruled out for offside against Cole, greedily seaking his hat trick, but then England’s attacking ambitions seemed to simply peter out and the last half hour was another exercise in tedium.

Overall this was a highly erratic performance but there were some positives to take out of the game and I think England will travel to Croatia in better spirits after this display.

The obvious positive came in the performance of Theo Walcott although he is by no means certain of keeping David Beckham out of the side to face the Croats.

One thing England have obviously been missing in the past year or two is genuine pace and Walcott certainly provides that vital ingredient. Without him we are a very pedestrian side by international standards.

Full Time: Andorra 0 England 2

England: D.James 5, G.Johnson 5, J.Lescott 5, J.Terry 5, A.Cole 6, T.Walcott 7, G.Barry 5, F.Lampard 5 (D.Beckham 4), S.Downing 3 (J.Cole 8), W.Rooney 5, J.Defoe 4 (E.Heskey 5).

Star Player: Joe Cole

Walcott was excellent in bursts and it was not his fault that his midfield colleagues failed to give him the ball consistently but the decisive contribution was Cole’s. His two goals were both expertly taken and his general eagerness to get involved and test the Andorran defence gave everybody a lift.

England v. Czech Republic; Comment

Before I start slagging off England’s latest uninspiring performance let me get their excuse in first. August internationals have almost always seen England playing like halfwits for as long as records exist.

Rustiness, lack of match fitness and the fact that it was a friendly do offer some explanation for a lacklustre display but they do not excuse England’s latest sorry showing.

If England had looked like they were playing in second gear, easing themselves back into the new season and saving themselves for the bigger challenges ahead, while basically looking like a football team, then that would have been alright.

That was not the case, however. England were obviously giving it their all but without showing any cohesion, understanding, teamwork or discernible tactics.

These facts make our latest showing particularly disturbing.

It’s the lack of obvious tactics or understanding that I can’t work out. We have all these coaches with all these qualifications and yet it is impossible to work out any tactical plan that England are trying to execute.

If you go down to any public park on a Sunday morning and walk around the half dozen games that might be going on there you will probably be able to work out each teams’ plan. It will probably be very basic but you will be able to work out what it is and you will be able to see how that team is trying to carry it out.

One team might have a fast or tricky winger so most of the time they will be trying to get the ball out to him and the others will get into the box waiting for a centre.

Mainly there will be a strong bloke at centre forward and the play will be aimed in and around him. If this guy is fast and strong he will be left to go it alone, if he is just strong then they will probably have a nippy player alongside him trying to take advantage.

Around these obvious tactics each team will probably have a couple of players who fancy themselves as a bit of a superstar and they will try something extravagant every so often. It normally won’t come off but once or twice a season they will be back in the pub basking in the glory of having done something truly magnificent.

Now that might all sound pathetically basic, and very pub football, but I defy anyone to work out exactly how the England team is trying to win football matches.

There is no obvious channel through which we are consistently trying to build up attacks. No consistent source of service into the front players, no obvious partnerships or understandings being built up between individuals and certainly no individual brilliance in evidence.

These players have played together for years now and yet there are no established links within the team whatsoever. Basically that’s an embarrassing shambles.

When I was growing up the England team revolved around the Kevin Keegan/Trevor Brooking axis, two players who had an obvious understanding, and also had the ability to attack down either flank with Steve Coppell and Peter Barnes.

Obviously that team wasn’t the best in the world either but at least it looked and played like a team and it probably got the best out of the players involved.

The present regime is not getting the best out of any of the players involved.

We still seem to be just expecting things to happen because of who is on the pitch, even though nothing has happened for years now, and waiting for the odd set piece from which we continue to pose a threat.

Whereas we will probably go into the World Cup qualifying campaign with the same approach, pick the established players and hope for the best, it would seem that something more proactive is required.

The hub of the problem is surely in midfield. I would like to see Micah Richards in at right back instead of Wes Brown but the defence basically picks itself, unless Ledley King gets fit and then John Terry should be dumped into the nearest skip. And we know we are strugglng up front so it’s going to have to be Rooney and A.N. Other for the moment, unless Capello decides to give Gabby Agbonlahor a go.

Given this it is vital that we are functioning properly in midfield, an area where we should theoretically be strong.

On Wednesday we were comprehensively outplayed in that department. Only Steven Gerrard came out of the game with any real credit and that was mainly based on the fact that he made a decent fist of playing out of position on the left.

Gareth Barry struggled badly as the holding midfield player, Beckham gave his now customary quarter back performance while Fat Frank simply looked out to pasture.

Lampard has consistently been England’s poorest midfielder for several years now and it is surely time to dump him. When he has not been there we have managed a few promising performances but no partnership has been able to develop because Fat Frank has always been brought back to put a big fat spanner in the works.

He also symbolises the distasteful nature of present day English football, all talk, excess and minimal achievement. Maybe if England paid him £140,000 a week he would start slamming goals in for us and start kissing the badge on a regular basis.

I’m not a booer but sometimes the boos are understandable. In the case of Lampard they are easily understood. Completely self obsessed, completely removed from the realities of the average football fan, completely convinced of his own magnificence and completely shit whenever he pulls on an England shirt.

What’s not to boo?

Despite the fact that we keep on scoring from Beckham set pieces it is now surely the moment to call time on his international career as well. He is too slow and not fit enough to influence international football beyond his set pieces nowadays and was actually responsible for several dangerous Czech attacks on Wednesday with woeful passes inside his own half.

His other contribution is the odd raking pass which looks fantastic as it zooms seventy yards or so to pick out an attacker but these never come to anything because that attacker is always completely isolated against three defenders.

It should also be remembered that there are other players in the England squad who can take decent set pieces as was shown when we equalised from a David Bentley corner.

Difficult decisions ahead for Fabio Capello then. Will he make any or will he simply bury his head in the sand and hope for the best?

Unfortunately there are no obvious answers although I would have thought that Joey Cole, busy and clever, demands inclusion.

Wednesday August 20, 2008; International Friendly

England 2 Czech Republic 2

England: D.James, W.Brown, A.Cole, G.Barry, R.Ferdinand (J.Woodgate 58), J.Terry, D.Beckham (J.Jenas 79), F.Lampard (D.Bentley 79), J.Defoe (E.Heskey 46), S.Gerrard (J.Cole 58), W.Rooney (S.Downing 68).

Czech Republic: P.Cech, Z.Grygera (Z.Pospech 46), T.Ujfalusi, D.Rozehnal, M.Jankulovski, S.Vlcek (D.Jarolim 46), R.Kovac, (J.Rajnoch 76), J.Polak, J.Plasil (M.Papadopulos 90), R.Sirl (M.Kadlac 76), M.Baros (V.Sverkos 46).

This friendly got under way on a slick, greasy surface which seemed ideally suited to good football. Indeed there would be several swift, classy passing movements displayed over the course of the game but more often than not these came from the visitors as England, short of imagination and cohesion, toiled to unlock a packed defence.

The first Czech attack that threatened danger was built up down England’s right and when the ball was transferred back into the middle Stanislav Vlcek had a decent sight of goal at the far post but scuffed his shot badly.

Wayne Rooney, playing behind Jermain Defoe, dropped deeper to start a better England move and then transferred the point of attack with a sweeping ball out to the left to find Steven Gerrard who came inside onto his right foot to test Petr Cech with a dipping drive which the keeper parried to safety.

England were looking to play one touch, passing football but this tactic saw the ball transferred back away from the danger area as often as it produced any forward movement and there were several occasions when errant passes allowed the Czech’s to break dangerously.

David Beckham was especially erratic with his passing and one poor ball gifted the Czech’s possession and saw Gareth Barry, in a desperate attempt to snuff out the danger, piling into a poor challenge on Jaroslav Plasil to collect a merited booking.

The England defence was also looking less than sound whenever the Czech’s came forward with one hopeful ball over the top seeing Milan Baros, completely isolated, getting in behind Rio Ferdinand for a snap shot that David James did well to parry low down to his left.

It was just as well Baros had no support as the ball ran loose across the front of the England goalmouth with Wes Brown eventually able to poke clear.

Midway through the first half another poor pass by Beckham was the catalyst for England falling behind. Beckham sent a low ball forward from deep inside his own half that was easily intercepted and the Czech’s immediately looked to move forward. Beckham compounded his error by setting off on a wild goose chase after the ball and when the play was eventually moved from one flank to the other by the visitors the England defence was short staffed on their right hand side.

Wes Brown sold himself cheaply to increase the danger, John Terry completely failed to stop Baros turning inside the box and when his shot came in Ashley Cole stuck out a foot to deflect it past James.

All in all not a great goal from an England point of view.

Stung by this goal England proceeded to play their best football of the night but they remained unable to really penetrate the Czech defence or fashion clear cut chances, their attempts on goal being generally ambitious from around 25 yards out.

The best moves, and chances, ended with Defoe having half a yard inside the area to test Cech but both his efforts were too close to the keeper to cause real concern.

Cech was not looking altogether happy on the sodden surface, however, and looked uncomfortable when dealing with speculative efforts from both Rooney and Gerrard.

The more incisive football, mainly on the break, was still coming from the visitors, however, and one dangerous break, in which England were briefly outnumbered, ended with Radoslav Kovac shooting wildly over from the edge of the box.

Right on half time England levelled in an almost depressingly familiar way. Beckham swung in a free kick which was headed behind and when the same player sent over the resulting corner Brown got in front of his marker to plant a header past Cech from close range.

Half Time: England 1 Czech Republic 1

England made only one change at the interval, Emile Heskey coming on for Defoe, but made a sloppy start to the second half which set the tone for an abject final forty five minutes.

Wes Brown played his side into trouble with a woeful pass that saw Jan Polac firing narrowly wide from the edge of the box and when the Czech’s mounted their next attack Barry conceded a free kick on the edge of the box with a clumsy foul.

With three Czech’s on the end of the wall and David James crouching down behind it for the worst possible view Marek Jankulovski bent a sweet drive into the top corner.

It’s not fair to say that James didn’t move, he did actually take a pace the wrong way before turning to concrete as the ball flashed into the roof of the net. A great free kick but that was the side of goal James was supposed to be guarding and he palpably didn’t.

Rooney, promising when coming deeper to set up play but unable to affect the game further forward, linked with Frank Lampard to play Garrard into the penalty area but the Liverpool man wanted to get the ball back onto his right foot rather than trust his left and was promptly robbed.

David Jarolim blasted miles over for the Czech’s before they wasted a glorious opportunity to punish embarrassing England defending. With a Czech player standing offside the England defence stopped as a long ball went down the left wing and completely failed to react as Vaclav Sverkos ran onto the ball from a patently onside position, Beckham being the man most at fault.

David James made an ill judged decision to come right out to the touchline to intervene but was beaten to the ball and rounded with ridiculous ease by Sverkos who then panicked and shot weakly into the side netting with the England defence desperately trying to recover.

The Czech’s then produced a quality move with Plasil feeding Sverkos for a low shot which was saved, though not convincingly, by James.

England tried to muster a late rally but their efforts had little more than, well, effort to commend them. Heskey nodded down a long punt forward for Stewart Downing to drill a low shot wide of the post before a couple of centres across the face of goal won England a corner deep into stoppage time.

David Bentley whipped this into the middle and after a couple of ricochets, and one blatant offside that wasn’t given, Joe Cole prodded an unconvincing shot goalwards which was miraculously turned into his own goal by a Czech defender. I’m not sure which one it was but he spared England’s blushes by somehow kicking the ball into his own face as he fell backwards to send the ball into his own net.

Thanks pal.

The rumbling of booing which met the final whistle was an understandable reaction to this performance despite the late equaliser, however.

Full Time: England 2 Czech Republic 2

England: D.James 3, W.Brown 3, A.Cole 3, G.Barry 2, R.Ferdinand 4 (J.Woodgate 5), J.Terry 3, D.Beckham 2 (J.Jenas 3), F.Lampard 2 (D.Bentley 3), J.Defoe 4 (E.Heskey 2), S.Gerrard 5 (J.Cole 4), W.Rooney 5 (S.Downing 4).

Star Man: Steven Gerrard

He probably doesn’t want to play on the left but he was still, just about, England’s most effective player. Both he and Rooney showed up to advantage, sporadically, but there is no structure or pattern to England’s play designed to consistently involve these players in the areas where they do most damage.
Fat Frank’s God awful performance made you wonder once again why players constantly have to compromise themselves for his benefit.
Perhaps somebody should read Capello the story of Paul Scholes who retired from international football because he was fed up of being asked to play on the left hand side.
Fat Frank has seen off one quality England player, we don’t want him doing the same with Gerrard.

Sunday June 1, 2008; International Friendly.

Trinidad & Tobago 0 England 3

England: David James (Joe Hart 45), Glen Johnson, Wayne Bridge (Stephen Warnock 84), Gareth Barry, Rio Ferdinand (Phil Jagielka 45), Jonathan Woodgate, David Beckham (David Bentley 45), Stewart Downing (Ashley Young 57), Dean Ashton (Peter Crouch 45), Steven Gerrard, Jermain Defoe (Theo Walcott 69).

There was undoubtedly a carnival atmosphere inside the Haseley Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain as the teams took the field for a game helping to mark Trinidad & Tobago’s centenary celebrations.

Unfortunately for the hosts it was England who came out of the blocks like the famous sprinter. All the early possession was England’s with the home side sitting too deep and inviting pressure while allowing too much time and space on the ball for their opponents all over the pitch.

David Beckham, restored as captain for this game, whipped in a dangerous early centre that was well defended by Kern Cupid. From that moment on, however, the right back would endure a torrid first half before being withdrawn at the interval.

Steven Gerrard won England a free kick just outside the box but Beckham was unable to get his shot over an extremely big defensive wall. His effort did occasion Stern John, the man who blocked it, some genuine discomfort, however.

England were being allowed to knock the ball around with freedom and the midfield quartet of Beckham, Gerrard, Gareth Barry and Stewart Downing were all able to settle into the game in some style. When Gerrard sent a longer ball forward into the channel for Dean Ashton to chase the forward laid it back to the supporting Beckham who fizzed a lovely first time centre across the face of goal which Jermain Defoe should have done more with than glance wide of the far post.

Then came a really disappointing moment. England had been completely untroubled in the early stages but when a long ball was suddenly sent down the middle David James made a rash decision to come beyond his area to deal with a situation that Rio Ferdinand had under control and was obliged to lunge into a 50/50 challenge with Kenwyne Jones.

James’ awkward challenge took just about everything and Jones was forced to leave the field on a stretcher. With him went the home sides’ chief attacking threat which was the last thing the boisterous crowd wanted to see.

On this occasion the referee was content to allow James’ intervention to go unpunished. In a competitive match he might not have been so lucky.

Having survived this scare England resumed control and soon had the lead. A nice move down the left culminated in Downing chipping a precise ball through for the overlapping Wayne Bridge who picked out the run of Barry who volleyed home comprehensively from point blank range.

Five minutes later it was two as Downing pierced the centre of the Trinidad defence with a low ball into Defoe who had so much time and space that he was able to get away with two dodgy touches before bobbling a left foot shot into the far corner of the net.

At this stage there was a very real danger of things turning embarrassing for the hosts who were soon standing off and watching as Defoe sauntered towards the edge of the box for a low drive straight at Clayton Ince.

This was more than the keeper could take and a prolonged volley of abuse towards his teammates seemed to have the desired effect as the home side finally began to apply some pressure to their visitors.

The home side earned a free kick in a decent position but Carlos Edwards’ effort deflected behind off the wall. The corner, hit low, produced a moments’ panic in the England defence and Ferdinand required treatment after the ball was finally scrambled clear.

Khaleem Hyland then produced the biggest cheer of the night with some slick footwork that baffled Gerrard who found himself in the referee’s book for the foul that followed. Edwards whipped a good looking ball into the box but this was well defended by an England head.

The home sides’ improvement was then highlighted by their first shot on target. Keon Daniel tricked Glen Johnson on the left and his low centre ended with Darryl Roberts sending a snap shot at David James from the edge of the box.

England responded and both their strikers missed decent opportunities within a couple of minutes of each other. First it was Defoe who cleverly lobbed the ball over a defenders’ head from Gerrard’s long ball before blazing way over the top and then Ashton was found by Beckham peeling off his man at the far post but his attempt to cushion a volley back across goal was badly spooned.

England were finishing the half in a far more sloppy fashion than they had started it, however, although Downing did cut inside to test Ince with a low right footer from outside the area.

The keeper had no trouble in dealing with that effort and was soon leaving the pitch for half time in company with Dean Ashton, no doubt reminiscing about their good old days at Gresty Road with Crewe.

Half Time: Trinidad & Tobago 0 England 2

England made just the four changes at half time with Joe Hart, Phil Jagielka, David Bentley and Peter Crouch coming on for James, Ferdinand, Beckham and Ashton.

Within three minutes of the restart they had increased their lead. Bentley was allowed time and space to centre to the far post where a defender headed back across goal under pressure from Crouch and Defoe pounced to score from close range.

Within seconds Defoe was offered another sight of goal by generous defending but could only poke wide. Bentley then picked out Gerrard breaking into the box but his volley was nowhere near the target.

Hyland, perhaps the home sides’ most impressive performer, had Hart scrambling with a low shot just wide of the post from twenty yards and this was to be the start of an uncomfortable baptism for the young Manchester City keeper.

Defoe saw another hat trick chance go begging mainly due to a poor first touch before Crouch wasted a fine chance with a weak shot after a slick moving involving Gerrard, Bentley and Defoe.

Bentley then came within inches of getting on the scoresheet with a sliced centre that flew beyond Ince and just missed the far post.

The pace had dropped almost to walking pace by the middle of the second half but Hart managed to get himself into a tangle from corners in quick succession and was grateful to his defenders for bailing him out of trouble.

Ashley Young and Theo Walcott were also introduced but there appeared to be no urgency to exploit their pace as the game began to drift.

Walcott went scampering after one long ball forward and Ince was fortunate that he could just about get his head to the bouncing ball as he came outside his box to deal with the situation.

Then the Arsenal flyer was left in the clear when Dennis Lawrence completely missed an interception but Ince was able to parry Walcott’s weak shot before reacting well to deny Crouch from the rebound.

Trinidad came forward to create their best chance of the night but Aurtis Whitley could not keep his shot down from an Edwards pull back and the crowd’s last chance to really celebrate something had gone.

There was one great moment when Crouch headed for goal and Ince didn’t bother using his hands to save but just brought the ball down on his chest instead and then the keeper had to make a more difficult stop to keep out Young’s low drive.

By the end, however, you almost got the feeling that the crowd were happy for the game to finish so that the party could really get going.

Full Time: Trinidad & Tobago 0 England 3

England: David James 4 (Joe Hart 2), Glen Johnson 5, Wayne Bridge 7, Gareth Barry 7, Rio Ferdinand 5 (Phil Jagielka 5) Jonathan Woodgate 5, David Beckham 6 (David Bentley 5) Stewart Downing 6 (Ashley Young 4), Dean Ashton 6 (Peter Crouch 3), Steven Gerrard 7, Jermain Defoe 7 (Theo Walcott 4).

Star Player: Gareth Barry

Neat and tidy but far more constructive than Owen Hargreaves in the holding position. Took his goal well.

Wednesday May 28, 2008; International Friendly.

England 2 United States of America 0

England: D.James, W.Brown (G.Johnson 57), A.Cole (W.Bridge 82), O.Hargreaves, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, D.Beckham (D.Bentley 45), F.Lampard (G.Barry 57), J.Defoe (P.Crouch 68), S.Gerrard, W.Rooney (J.Cole 78).

England friendlies have not provided the most exciting spectacles over the past few years and for half an hour this one threatened to be the worst of the lot. Thankfully a goal by John Terry inspired England to then produce a decent showing while America conveniently kept as low a profile as possible.

After another stultifying pre-game ritual of children, introductions, pop stars trying to show off singing the national anthems (America’s Destinys Child embarrassed herself) and the ludicrously hyperbolic announcement of the England team the game opened at a predictably mundane pace with neither side stringing more than two passes together.

This is what we have come to expect from England friendlies but this was particularly depressing as the nation waited for something to restore faith in our faltering football team.

Over six minutes had elapsed before the first thing resembling an incident occurred. David Beckham fouled Heath Pearce to concede a free kick but this was easily cleared and England suddenly had the chance of a break.

Jermaine Defoe did well to carry the ball forward but when Wayne Rooney then attempted to exchange passes with his latest partner his return ball was cut out.

It was another five minutes before England gained a free kick in a dangerous area when Steven Gerrard was caught as he looked to break away after linking with Ashley Cole. The set piece was just beyond the left hand angle of the penalty area and Beckham went over to clip a delightful ball to the far post where Gerrard stole in to steer a sweet half volley inside the opposite post.

Unfortunately the referee hadn’t blown for the kick to be taken so all England received was a ticking off for Beckham. It was also possible that the defender nearest to Gerrard had stopped anyway knowing that the move was meaningless.

When Beckham was allowed to take the free kick he whipped a lovely ball right across the face of goal but nobody in white could get on the end of it.

Wes Brown played his side into trouble with an awful pass out of defence but the Americans were looking even more pedestrian than England and completely failed to take advantage. Rooney was then sloppy again at the other end as he failed to release Defoe as the striker made a telling run beyond the American defence.

With almost twenty minutes gone England produced their first effort on goal as Gerrard pounced on a loose ball to feed Beckham on the edge of the box but his hurried volley flew well over the crossbar.

Despite this attempt England had failed to put any kind of move together in the opening twenty minutes as the game desperately waited for a spark.

A slip by Carlos Bocanegra gave Rooney the freedom of the right hand side and he took the right option in squaring the ball back to Gerrard on the edge of the box but the pass was slightly behind the Liverpool man whose shot was blocked when he was able to get it away.

England attacked again quickly and Ashley Cole won a free kick down the left hand side of the box after a decent exchange of passes. Beckham cleverly played the ball back low behind the throng of players in the six yard box to find Gerrard whose left footed shot was well hit but could not find its’ way through the packed defence, Clint Dempsey the man in position to head clear.

This hinted at something better from England but the next few minutes saw America enjoying a better spell. Brown was required to produce a good headed clearance under pressure at the far post before Eddie Johnson found himself in space after a neat 1-2 only to centre meekly to David James’ near post.

John Terry then conceded a free kick in a dangerous area after blocking off Johnson’s run but DaMarcus Beasley’s free kick was a total waste.

With thirty four minutes on the clock England finally produced a move of real quality. Rooney had managed to link with Gerrard, playing predominantly on the left hand side, a couple of times and now released his fellow Scouser with a wonderful, first time, half volleyed flick and Gerrard’s centre offered Defoe a real chance at the near post but the striker could only direct his close range effort wide of the target.

Four minutes later England’s slight improvement was reflected by an opening goal. It was not too surprising that this should come from a set piece, however. Ricardo Clark fouled Wes Brown on the right hand side and when Beckham whipped a typical centre towards the penalty spot John Terry reacted smartly to plant a header low beyond Tim Howard.

Gerrard was at the heart of most of the good things England were producing and he linked again to good effect with Cole and when the ball was slipped inside to Defoe he was tripped right on the edge of the box for another free kick. Beckham could not clear the wall, however, and when the ball subsequently came back to Owen Hargreaves he sent his shot flying way over the crossbar.

Beckham then sent a wonderful diagonal ball forward for Defoe who was crudely hauled back by Steven Cherundolo for a fully deserved booking. Again Beckham’s free kick failed to clear the wall and the first half ended with Rooney somehow avoiding censure from the referee after a ridiculous, lunging challenge from behind in just about the most innocuous area of the pitch possible.

Half Time: England 1 America 0

England had eighteen substitutes stripped and ready for action but would only be able to use six of them. The first to be introduced came on at the break, David Bentley replacing Beckham on the right hand side of midfield.

Before England had got their minds’ back on the game after the break America came within a whisker of equalising. Pearce got forward down the left before finding Johnson with a low centre and his instant shot on the turn flashed just wide of the post with James rooted to the spot.

Bentley marked his introduction with two wild challenges within the space of a few seconds but the erratic referee again saw nothing amiss. Bentley would struggle to contribute anything of a more constructive nature as the half developed.

Rooney and Gerrard linked to good effect to find Defoe just outside the area but his low shot waas easily fielded by America’s replacement goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Defoe was more unfortunate moments later when he turned sharply onto a floated free kick by Terry and held off his marker before firing the bouncing ball straight at Guzan.

With just under an hour played England made a couple more changes with Gareth Barry and Glen Johnson coming on for Frank Lampard, totally anonymous, and Brown.

Within a minute Barry had made his mark as England scored a superb goal. Rooney came deep to start the move although his pass back towards Hargreaves was not the safest. Hargreaves had to hurry to knock the ball forward first time and Defoe also had to react sharply to slip the ball inside to Barry.

These two passes had made a breach in the American defence, however, and when Barry then slid a perfect ball through for Gerrard, cutting inside from the left hand side, he was clean through on goal. Gerrard’s touch took him further to the right but he had no trouble in slipping a low shot back across goal and inside the post.

England were now producing some slick, passing football although there was less hint off an end product as Capello’s men looked mainly satisfied with their two goal advantage.

Josh Wolff sent a stooping header wide for America before being replaced by Freddy Adu who gave a feeble impression of the boy wonder he had once been touted as.

With Theo Walcott and Gabby Agbonlahor both on the bench it was truly depressing to see Peter Crouch summoned to replace Defoe.

Rooney then finally managed to force his way into the referees’ book before being smartly withdrawn for Joey Cole to take his place.

Cole soon had the embarrassment of being comprehensively beaten by Eddie Lewis along the goalline and James was at full stretch to tip the centre behind.

James was also called upon to save a weak effort from Adu while Crouch sent in two pathetic attempts at the other end.

In truth the game was finishing as it had begun but at least England had produced enough in the middle third of the game to muster some optimism for next seasons’ World Cup campaign.

There’s still plenty of work to do and much for Capello to think over before then, however.

Full Time: England 2 America 0

England: D.James 5, W.Brown 4 (G.Johnson 5), A.Cole 7, O.Hargreaves 6, R.Ferdinand 6, J.Terry 7, D.Beckham 6 (D.Bentley 4), F.Lampard 3 (G.Barry 7), J.Defoe 6 (P.Crouch 4), S.Gerrard 8, W.Rooney 6 (J.Cole 5).

Star Man: Steven Gerrard

Gerrard was played in an unfamiliar left sided position but showed up to advantage. Most of England’s attacking moves came down that flank with Gerrard linking well with both Ashley Cole and Rooney.
He also took his goal very well to cap an impressive display.
Would you keep him out on the left when the real football starts again next season, though? Frank Lampard’s turgid display in the centre did nothing to dispel the feeling that Gerrard is the man for that position.

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 are designed to deflate. McClaren’s body language is truly awful.

Can anyone really imagine this man inspiring the players?

McClaren is right in saying that you cannot be gung ho in games like these but you can be positive.

Being positive does not mean simply attacking. You can be positive in defending, in making decisions, in the way you walk and talk. In your frame of mind.

McClaren does not come across as being positive in anything he does and that, it seems, transmits itself to his players.

Whatever the England manager says is generally negative or defensive and is usually uttered in the whining voice of a schoolboy complaining about a punishment he has been handed or an unpleasant task he has been ordered to undertake.

England should be going into this game eager and confident of winning. While they should be prepared to be patient if a goal is not immediately forthcoming they should be eager to impose themselves on opponents who are basically inferior and confident in their ability to attack.

They should also have a clear understanding of how they are going to attack, which players are most likely to do the damage and how the ball is going to be supplied to them, in the right areas, on a regular basis.

As for the team it would appear as though the two main questions concern the left back and centre forward positions.

The left back slot should not be of too much concern. If Nicky Shorey plays then I would imagine he will do a good enough job although if Wayne Bridge is fit then he should certainly start.

The question up front is whether Peter Crouch or Alan Smith will partner Michael Owen.

My choice would be Crouch, which says a lot about Alan Smith.

Much as I don’t rate Crouch I cannot see any aspect of the game in which Smith offers more.

Smith’s strength, apparently, is his strength but he takes so long to do anything with the ball once he has got it under control that the defence always has time to cover. He also insists on backing into his defender when in possession of the ball even if it is easier to actually turn into a space and set up an attack.

Sometimes Smith can be seen burrowing backwards with ball at feet for a distance of several yards before actually locating a defender to hold off.

He’s a rank bad ‘un.

Crouch is similar but his goalscoring record is much better and his height will always make him awkward.

Of course it would be much nicer to see a genuinely good player operating alongside Owen, how old exactly is Peter Beardsley these days?

This game could well be very similar to the tedious goalless draw England played out in Israel, unless of course we actually play well for a change.

If it is then McClaren will be called upon to conjure a victory either through motivation or tactical astuteness.

Motivation seems out of the question. One tactical ace he could have up his sleeve if England are struggling to break Estonia down would be to move Steven Gerrard to full back.

This might sound silly but if he is finding it difficult to make his mark in a crowded midfield he could be asked to play an attacking role behind David Beckham where he would instantly find plenty of space in which to power forward and between them this pair would surely create plenty of chances from the right flank.

Against Israel the full backs were Jamie Carragher and Phil Neville. Neither had any real defending to do and plenty of space in front of them to attack. They just did not have the ability to exploit it and, in effect, England simply wasted two positions.

England might need to do something unpredictable because chances have been few and far between in their recent games.

Of course this might all be rendered meaningless if England simply come out and turn on a vibrant, powerful, confident display of attacking football but we haven’t seen one from those for a while and listening to the manager does not inspire the belief that such a display is waiting to happen.

Friday, June 1

England 1 Brazil 1

England: P.Robinson, J.Carragher, L.King, J.Terry (W.Brown 72), N.Shorey, D.Beckham (J.Jenas 77), S.Gerrard, F.Lampard (M.Carrick 88), J.Cole (S.Downing 62), A.Smith (K.Dyer 62), M.Owen (P.Crouch 83).

So here it was. The first England international at the new Wembley. Everyone was supposed to be excited because we were playing Brazil.

The fact is, however, it wasn’t exciting. Friendlies are friendlies. It doesn’t matter who you are playing. Friendlies are glorified, and vastly more expensive, training sessions.

New Wembley might catch up on the old Wembley in time but its’ debut was shite. Whether you count it as this game or the FA Cup final.

Both shite.

Instead of bringing back David Beckham perhaps they should have picked a white horse on the right wing. That might have added a note of historical interest in 100 years time.

Anyway, the game got under way in mundane fashion although the Brazilians, somewhat surprisingly, seemed intent on convincing everyone that it was only a friendly in name with a series of niggly fouls.

Joe Cole was the most sinned against with one foul by Daniel Alves especially naughty.

The almosy mythical South Americans did then begin showing some neat passing although little of any real note occured.

Kaka shot wide after some nifty footwork (taxi for Carragher) before Gilberto Silva had a header disallowed for offside.

This was one of those occasions when, under todays’ law, the goal should have stood as it was not the Roland Gift lookalike in an offside position but one of the band members.

David Beckham’s every move was being cheered and he almost found Michael Owen with one decent centre and was also close with a curling free kick after a driving run by Steven Gerrard was only halted by another Brazilian foul.

Ronaldinho was offered a chance from a similar position to show Beckham how it should be done but the Beast could only get his effort as close as Beauty had managed.

Half Time: England 0 Brazil 0

The first half had been pretty mundane and the second period was an improvement, without ever getting better than ordinary.

Paul Robinson reacted superbly to fist away an effort from Ronaldinho that took a sizable deflection off Ledley King and Kaka sliced his shot wide from the edge of the box when reasonably placed.

Beckham whipped in a sweet free kick that Owen glanced just over with his head and Stweart Downing, just on for Joey Cole, drove in a rising effort that Helton tipped over the bar.

Then, on 68 minutes, came an England goal. Beckham curved an insidious ball (it was, it was actually insidious) to the far post and John Terry butted a firm header back across goal past the stranded keeper.

Oh joy of joys. Beckham was now officially a hero again although his performance had basically been an exact replica of the ones that had seen him dropped in the first place.

The game looked likely to evaporate into thin air as the substitutions began to come thicker and faster although there was one magnificent moment of comedy shortly after Wesley Brown was introduced for Terry.

With Brazil in a promising position the ball was played down the side of the Orange Man but too close and the intercetion should have been routine.

Instead Brown managed to stub his toe and simply helped the ball on perfectly into the path of Afonso.

To be fair if you were going to blunder so horribly you would probably want someone called Afonso running onto the end of it and the old music hall magician did not let Wes down, poking his shot past the onrushing Robinson but wide of the far post.

Robinson then spoiled an otherwise sound performance with an ugly punch from Ronaldinho’s free kick when a routine catch would have sufficed.

Luckily the ball ricocheted around the box before falling to an England foot to be hoofed clear.

So it seemed England were destined to win their first senior international at “new” Wembley and claim a rare victory over Brazil into the bargain.

But we all knew better than that, surely?

With seconds remaining England allowed Gilberto Silva too much time just outside the box and his cross was perfect for Diego to head low past Robinson into the far corner, questions being asked of King and Nicky Shorey at the same time.

The good thing about this goal was that, just like the rest of the game, it basically didn’t matter.

Full Time: England 1 Brazil 1

England: P.Robinson 7, J.Carragher 6, L.King 6, J.Terry 7 (W.Brown 2), N.Shorey 6, D.Beckham 6 (J.Jenas 0), S.Gerrard 7, F.Lampard 4, J.Cole 6 (S.Downing 4), A.Smith 0 (K.Dyer 6), M.Owen 7.

Star Man: Old Wembley

Old Wembley must be looking down on his offspring and feeling just like everyone else who’s ever sired a footballing offspring. “You’re not as good as me, son” you can almost hear the twin towers saying.
Is it true that sons are never as good at football as their fathers?
It certainly is in the Lampard family.
If Fat Frank has a boy I think we can safely assume he won’t even get picked for his house, let alone his school.

Wednesday March 28, 2007; European Championship Qualifier.

Andorra 0 England 3

England: P.Robinson, M.Richards (K.Dyer 61), R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, A.Cole, A.Lennon, S.Gerrard, O.Hargreaves, S.Downing, W.Rooney (J.Defoe 61), A.Johnson (D.Nugent 79).

England beat Andorra as anticipated although hardly in any sort of real style.

Having drawn a blank in the first half the team were roundly jeered from the field by the travelling fans and were largely indebted to Steven Gerrard for two pieces of inspiration for their victory after the break.

While England were as uninspired as is becoming the norm before half time they were on the end of some pretty disgraceful challenges/assaults from the Andorrans and a more severe referee would have done more to protect England and punish Andorra.

In the end the officials’ lenience extended to England as several players took it upon themselves to seek retribution.

Micah Richards, who would eventually leave the field on a stretcher after a string of late challenges, was poleaxed just inside the box in ridiculous fashion early on but the referee somehow decided to play on.

As Andorra set about employing their tactics of intimidation and provocation Owen Hargreaves took an elbow in the face, Andy Johnson was taken out savagely when sprinting clear and one Andorran smacked Gerrard in the face and followed through against John Terry in the same incident.

This made flowing football difficult although England must surely have been disappointed with their first half efforts at breaking the Andorrans down.

In truth they never really did break them down before half time.

Gerrard forced the keeper into an uncomfortable save with a shot from outside the box that moved in the air and Johnson made shooting opportunities for himself just outside the box on two occasions.

His first effort flashed just over the angle and the second brought a low save from the keeper.

The best chance of the half fell to Stewart Downing who managed to volley a Micah Richards centre over with the side of his left foot from six yards out.

None of these incidents saw the Andorran defence really split open in any sort of clinical fashion and the chorus of boos which accompanied England from the field were both inevitable and hard to argue with.

Half Time: Andorra 0 England 0

Thankfully England did not have too long to wait after half time before taking the lead.

Lennon made room for another hopeful centre down the right and when this was only half cleared to the edge of the box Wayne Rooney produced a neat lay off for Gerrard to drill a cracking drive into the bottom corner.

This was a more difficult finish than Gerrard made it look and photos of his body shape as he hits the ball would grace any coaching manual the current coaching gurus are thinking of putting out.

Still England were unable to really expose the limitations of their opponents and instead became even more embroiled in the ill feeling that was cloaking the pitch.

Rooney finally got himself booked, along with the man who had obviously been selected just to wind him up, while Richards finally had to succumb to the punishment he had suffered.

Defoe replaced Rooney, probably for his own safety, and immediately jabbed a hand into an Andorran’s face during another niggly tussle.

Lennon wriggled his way to the byeline to provide Kieron Dyer, on for Richards, with a clear opening but his left footed effort was sliced horribly wide.

Then, with a quarter of an hour left, England finally prized the Andorran defence wide open and in genuine style.

Gerrard was pivotal, starting the move and finishing it with a cool side foot shot after exchanging one touch passes with Downing and Defoe.

This prompted Steve MacLaren to send on Preston’s David Nugent in place of Johnson for his first cap and the Championship striker certainly had an eventful ten minutes as the Andorrans tired.

Looking sharp and keen Nugent began linking up play well on both sides of the pitch and set up Dyer for another sitter which brought an ugly right footed finish before chesting off neatly for Gerrard to send in a drive that was deflected narrowly over.

Then Nugent had his own chance to score after Downing played the ball back to him from the byeline but although his sidefooted effort was well struck it flashed a foot the wrong side of the post.

With time running out, however, he did manage to steal his way onto the scoresheet.

Gerrard clipped a lovely ball into Defoe whose low drive was partially stopped by the keeper but the ball was an inch short of making it over the goalline, and still travelling under its’ own steam, when Nugent skated in to belt it into the empty net.

Naughty, but nice for Nugent.

Tellingly, perhaps, there was still a decent percentage of the English support prepared to boo at the final whistle.

This is a win for Steve MacLaren but, long term, it does nothing to enhance his reputation at this level.

That can only be done against Israel, Croatia and Russia in the remaining games against them.

Full Time: Andorra 0 England 3

England: P.Robinson 5, M.Richards 7 (K.Dyer 6), R.Ferdinand 5, J.Terry 5, A.Cole 5, A.Lennon 6, S.Gerrard 9, O.Hargreaves 5, S.Downing 4, W.Rooney 5 (J.Defoe 7), A.Johnson 6 (D.Nugent 7).

Star Player: Steven Gerrard

Not the most difficult of choices. Gerrard led by example in all areas but, crucially, found the net when England were getting desperate.
Both his goals were absolute crackers too.

Comment

I’m not going to start going overboard about this England performance. It was pretty average again, if I’m being generous, but I don’t think this was a game to truly judge anyone.

What can you do against Andorra?

You might beat them six nil, or eight or even ten and then people might have thought we had turned a corner and everything in the garden was rosy again.

That would have been a mistake and I think it is wrong to dish out too much stick after “only” beating them 3-0.

Basically games like these are meaningless. Thrashing Andorra doesn’t make you a great side, beating them 3-0 doesn’t necessarily mean you are crap.

Games against nations that can actually play the game decide that.

It is impossible to consider the game at all and not point out that England were again massively disappointing, however.

Especially in the first half when they not only failed to score but barely looked like doing so.

After the depressing performance against Israel it would have been expected that there would be a bright, purposeful beginning but the team allowed itself to become embroiled in a niggly encounter far too easily.

Andorra had nothing to offer from a football point of view and were evidently keen to try and ruffle a few English feathers and too many of our players bit.

This was a mistake but sometimes it is difficult to turn the other cheek, especially as the referee was slow to get to grips with Andorra’s rough house tactics.

In fact I think the most reasonable comment to come out about yesterdays’ game was from Gareth Southgate who said that Andorra should not be allowed into this stage without a pre-qualifying competition.

He pointed out their approach to the game and also made the point that spectators pay good money to watch these games and would prefer to see two teams actually trying to win.

Fair enough.

As for the performance, the defence had absolutely nothing to do which was fine for Rio and John Terry but the new full back pairing of Ashley Cole and Micah Richards had to venture forward to try and help out the attack and therefore had to take their share of the stick being dished out.

This proved too much for Richards who was on the end of one dreadful challenge and several other late tackles, eventually departing on a stretcher.

Neither covered themselves in glory but there must be hope that Richards can develop into a worthy partner for Cole and give England a dependable and progressive full back pairing for several years to come.

In midfield Gerrard, obviously, stood out head and shoulders and capped a dynamic display with two superb goals.

Obviously the clamour is now for him to be kept in the middle but we should remember that it was only Andorra.

Even Fat Frank would surely have been able to impose himself on them in a similar manner.

In my opinion Gerrard is so good that you could use him in various ways depending on the opposition while allowing Frank to stay in the centre.

Against Israel, for instance, I would have liked to have seen him play at right back behind Aaron Lennon.

Gerrard is more than capable defensively but what we really needed in that game was somebody attacking Israel from a position they weren’t expecting.

Phil Neville and Jamie Carragher were never going to do it even though they had hardly any defending to do.

Gerrard would have had a lot more space and a lot more freedom had he played right back and if Israel had had to react by moving men further forward to try and combat him this would have created space further forward for the other attacking players.

Against better teams Gerrard should certainly be given the central berth and I think we should simply put him back in there with Lampard.

I’m sure England used to play better when they were in there together even though it never quite came off as everybody hoped it would.

The rest of the midfield did not improve their reputations.

Lennon and Downing were fitfull with their service from the wings, about five poor centres for every decent one, and Owen Hargreaves simply proved once again that he has no real creative ability whatsoever.

Up front things were equally disappointing. Wayne Rooney spent another frustrating night in an England shirt although it was nice to see Gerrard ram home the first goal from his neat touch.

Andy Johnson was spirited but showed no real international class. He did not look as sharp around the box as Defoe when he came on or as clever in his movement as David Nugent when he was introduced.

Of course Defoe and Nugent had the benefit of coming on when the Andorrans were wilting but Johnson has a lot of convincing to do at this level. Whether he will get the opportunities is another matter.

The worst thing I can say about him is that, in one way, he looks like he has been in the team for years.

While Defoe and Nugent brought energy and freshness and looked as though they had something to prove Johnson looks as though he has had all the life strangled out of him before he starts.

Which is also something that can be said of Rooney at the moment.

This is the biggest indictment of the England set up of all.

Rooney can have bad games, he can make mistakes but at present he is basically doing nothing for England.

That is incomprehensible.

This boy just loves to play football and I am sure he loves playing for England.

When he plays for Manchester United if he is not having the best of games he sets off and puts it right. He goes charging all over the pitch to get himself involved in the game and if he is not able to do something worthwhile in his own position he makes sure he does something useful at left back or on the right wing.

He is all energy, eagerness and real quality.

What happens to all that when he plays for England?

Someone needs to find the answer to that one and quickly. We have to hope that Steve McClaren can work it out but we also have to question whether he is capable.

In neither of these games have England shown any sign of developing as a team and we certainly haven’t seen any individual inspiration apart from Gerrard’s two goals.

McClaren comes across strongly as a manager who expects things to turn out right simply by selecting the team. Nothing happens that makes you feel he has formed any plans of how to break the other team down. Nothing happens that makes you feel he has worked out an area of his team that can particularly hurt the opposition.

It simply seems as though he is thinking the team is on the pitch and something good will happen from somewhere sooner or later.

Perhaps the team ends up going out with the same attitude.

I suppose what I am talking about is teamwork.

Generally teams know who their best players are, where they want the ball and they have players who make it their business to get the ball to them as often as possible.

Those players then create things for the players in the side who can score.

There is no pattern to the England play and it is impossible to see how the team is trying to break their opponents down in any concentrated way.

It is just a case of waiting and hoping that one individual can come up with the goods.

On Wednesday Steven Gerrard did this but in the long term, and against better opposition, this is simply not good enough.

Steve McClaren said when he got this job that the team was going to bear his hallmark.

If his hallmark has already been stamped on the side then we are in big trouble.

Sunday March 25, 2007

Israel 0 England 0

England: P.Robinson, P.Neville (M.Richards 72), R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, J.Carragher, S.Gerrard, O.Hargreaves, F.Lampard, A.Lennon (S.Downing 83), W.Rooney, A.Johnson (J.Defoe 80).

Well, we’ve had the emotional response to this game with our comment below but I suppose we should give England’s latest exercise in depressing mediocrity an actual match report.

There is nothing we can rationally say that offers a more positive outlook on this drab England performance, however.

In a game absolutely crucial to our qualification prospects we started nervously and improved to a level of mundane efficiency at the very best.

There was no craft, invention, initiative, inspiration. Basically there was nothing.

This is international football. Surely we can expect to see some sort of quality from someone. Something out of the ordinary. Something that you see and realise it is something you couldn’t do. That makes you understand why they’re out there playing for their country and you are in the pub watching.

Nothing of that sort happened all evening.

Steve MacLaren thinks we should have won. I don’t.

You don’t win international games, especially away from home, without doing something beyond the norm. Without conjuring something special, either collectively or individually.

England never really threatened to do that against Israel and can have no reasonable complaints about their goalless draw.

The real worry is that if MacLaren really does think that performance was worthy of a victory then he will see no reason to do things any differently in future.

The man needs to break out of his cocoon and realise that things are in a real mess quickly and do something about it otherwise we are not going to get out of this group and he is going to get sacked.

Many people think that the players we have should be able to simply turn up and put up a good show at international level. I think that MacLaren is one of them.

I think he is genuinely bemused when, having picked the right names and pinned them up on the dressing room wall, he has to sit back for an hour and a half and watch as nothing happens.

The point is that all footballers need some kind of guidance, leadership and motivation. This is what MacLaren is supposed to be providing.

This is not being clever after the event but the seeds for a dour, grim, lifeless display were sown the moment the manager decided to hand the full back shirts to Jamie Carragher and Phil Neville.

Honest, dependable chaps and both as desperately uninspiring as each other.

MacLaren was quick to hail himself as being the man to show England a bright and braver future but did so by booting out David Beckham, one of the best natural talents we have ever produced, while keeping Phil and Jamie in the fold.

A strange sort of revolution.

This move suggested MacLaren was scared and the performance that followed suggested this mood was catching.

The opening minutes were the worst of all from an England perspective as Israel started on the front foot and the defence immediately looked insecure.

Rio Ferdinand, especially ill at ease, combined with Neville to offer Toto Tamuz a sight of goal but the shot was wild and the home side failed to test Paul Robinson despite bossing the first ten minutes.

England broke the shackles through Aaron Lennon who quickly showed that he could go past his markers but the decision to play him on the left ensured that it was as awkward as possible for him when it came to putting in the final ball.

Either taking a chance with his swinger or cutting back onto his favoured right foot meant his ability to go past players counted for nothing tangible.

Lennon offered Rooney one half chance but his header under pressure was never troubling the keeper and then England’s great white hope linked well with Andy Johnson for the first time only to put in a woeful attempt at a chip.

Even at this early stage the omens did not look good for Rooney. Hardly in the game, frustrated and with none of the service or options he enjoys at club level there was little sign of the player who burst so joyously onto the international scene re-emerging.

It is a long time since any real joy has been evident in any aspect of an England performance and surely this is one of the problems.

It’s no fun to watch and it can’t be any fun to be playing. At whatever level you play football is something that’s supposed to be enjoyable and the quicker someone reminds the England squad of this the better.

Steven Gerrard capped the best England move of the game with a sweet first time ball into the run of Frank Lampard but he was another showing none of his swaggering club presence and bundled his way forward until relieved of possession by the plunging goalkeeper.

With England’s little spell quickly fading Israel emerged to threaten again as half time approached but after forcing Robinson into a half decent save by his near post Tamuz wasted a good chance by heading wide.

Half Time: Israel 0 England 0

England enjoyed massive control of possession after the interval as the home side became happier and happier with the prospect of a point but if anything this was even more depressing.

It was more galling to see how little was created with a virtual monopoly of the ball than had been managed with a more even spread before half time.

All teams need creative players and England are lacking in that department at present.

In this side Lennon and Rooney can create things but they need someone to give them the ball first.

Owen Hargreaves won’t or can’t do this, Frank Lampard doesn’t understand any concepts other than running and shooting and Phil Neville and Jamie Carragher don’t exactly add up to Pele when you roll them together.

This leaves Steven Gerrard. Not the world’s most subtle schemer but a player capable of spotting a pass and opening up a defence.

England’s best opportunities after the break usually stemmed from this source.

Lampard brought a reasonable save out of Dudu Aouate with a reasonable volley and then glanced a header wide from the service of Lennon and Gerrard and Johnson also flicked a header wide from a Gerrard cross.

Jamie Carragher dropped a header onto the top of the bar following a corner and there was a spirited ending after the introduction of Micah Richards and Jermain Defoe who looked far less inhibited than the rest of the side.

Defoe almost wormed his way through but was blocked by the brave dive of Aouate and also saw an effort chalked off, correctly, for offside as did Richards.

MacLaren managed to infuriate his teams’ supporters further, however, by withdrawing Lennon from the action for Stewart Downing rather than give him a go on his proper flank.

You have to wonder. You really do.

Precious little happened at the other end during the second period although Balili should have done better after an error by Hargreaves.

All in all then this was the only fitting result after a genuine exercise in tedium, something that is becoming a far too familiar theme in England internationals.

Full Time: Israel 0 England 0

England: P.Robinson 5, P.Neville 4 (M.Richards 6), R.Ferdinand 4, J.Terry 6, J.Carragher 5, S.Gerrard 6, O.Hargreaves 4, F.Lampard 5, A.Lennon 7, W.Rooney 4, A.Johnson 5 (J.Defoe 6).

Star Player: Aaron Lennon

Without being any better than decent Lennon walks off with the bubbly on this occasion.
In a totally lifeless team effort Lennon showed some spark and a willingness to try and at least make something happen.
Who knows what might have happened had he played in his proper position.

Comment

I normally name the team before doing the match report but this time I’m not going to bother.

I should do really because these people deserve to be named and shamed. Don’t worry though, the worst of them will be named in the report. I’ll start now with the worst of the worst. Believe me, these two are absolute, pure garbage.

Jamie Carragher and Owen Hargreaves.

Surely everybody knows that Carragher’s shit so it doesn’t really matter. You’re shit but we’re going to pick you. Fair enough then. He’s allowed to be shit.

But Owen Hargreaves?

Ever since he ran around like a madman against Portugal because we’d had a man sent off everyone thinks he’s world class. We were even being told we’d only been shit in our last four games because St. Owen wasn’t playing.

He was playing yesterday and how bad were we?

Owen Hargreaves and Jamie Carragher are really bad footballers.

Watch them closely.

Somebody passes them the ball in loads of space.

They are always in loads of space because they play so deep the other team can’t be bothered going to mark them. They might make the effort but they know how bad they are so they are happy just to let them have the ball.

Then the same thing always happens. In slightly different ways but it’s basically the same thing.

They pass the ball straight back to the person who has given it them.

It’s normally John Terry or Rio Ferdinand.

The only realistic pass open to John or Rio is to give it back to Jamie or Owen but they don’t do that because they know they will only get it straight back again.

So they try an impossible 40 yard ball to put Wayne Rooney clean through on goal and when that doesn’t work out everyone’s thinking how shit Rio Ferdinand is while Jamie and Owen are walking around thinking how great they are and the people who make fortunes compiling frigging statistics are busy imforming everyone that Owen Hargreaves is the best player on the pitch because he never gives the ball away.

Owen Hargreaves gives the ball away every time he gets it simply by passing it to people who aren’t supposed to pass it in the first place (defenders) in positions that are worse than he is in himself.

That’s not how you win football games.

I was watching the game in the company of some Man United fans who were smugly anticipating Hargreaves becoming a member of their team.

Unbelievable.

Yes, Alex Ferguson can go out and spend another 30 million quid and give him Michael Carrick’s shirt.

Carrick operates in the same sort of areas as Hargreaves but whenever he gets it he either passes to Paul Scholes or plays an early, telling ball through to one of the attackers.

That’s because he’s actually a good footballer.

He also breaks up as many of the oppositions’ attacks as Hargreaves does.

Because he’s a good footballer he does this by interceptions mainly rather than sliding tackles so most people don’t seem to count this as good defensive play.

In fact it’s a lot better because his team normally comes away with the ball. When Hargreaves goes flying in to challenge nobody knows where the ball is going to end up.

Watch them closely, Carrick and Hargreaves.

The ball goes to the centre halves and they want to pass it to someone else.

Carrck always makes a move to find space close by them so they can give him the ball easily. Then he takes the responsibility of doing something more difficult or at least gives it to one of his teammates who has the ability to do something good.

Hargreaves actually goes and stands as close to the nearest opponent as possible just to make absolutely sure nobody can pass to him.

If he gets caught out and somebody does give him the ball he makes sure he gives it them back straight away.

He hasn’t given it away so nobody can have a go at him but believe you me, that’s not the way you win World Cups.

So you have Jamie and Owen getting the ball all the time because the other side want them to have it and they just spend all the game shoving it back to John Terry and Rio Ferdinand who then have to lump it forward into places where we have two players and the other team has nine.

It shouldn’t need a rocket scientist to work out what happens then.

Yesterday we had one player who looked willing and able to actually hurt the opposition. Aaron Lennon.

He’s a winger and whenever he got the ball he did what he’s supposed to do. He ran at defenders and more often than not he went past them.

Super Steve had put him on the left wing though so every time he did go past someone he either had to put in a centre with his left foot, simply for standing on, or cut back onto his right foot.

This allows him to put in a better centre but gives the defence time to get into position to defend a cross from a less dangerous area.

And he’s on the left to allow Steven Gerrard to play on the right and he wants to play in the centre so he’s always drifting infield anyway.

Play Gerrard on the left and let him come inside and play in the centre and stick Lennon on his proper wing you frigging idiot.

I didn’t really want to mention any actual incidents from the game because it was so freaking garbage but Stevie G did play one beautiful first time ball to put Fat Frank in on goal but the fat bastard just ran the ball straight into the goalie.

Nobhead.

I’d just like to give a mention to Glenn Hoddle and Jamie Redknapp.

They were studio “experts” for Sky and at half time they were basically saying that England had been good and the only thing that was missing was a goal.

The goal was still missing at full time boys and that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

You don’t generally score if you don’t make any chances.

Did their keeper make a save?

Did they have a keeper?

We are shit.

And by the way Steve. Don’t put two full backs on the bench if you’re not prepared to start them ahead of Phil Neville and Jamie Freaking Carragher.

Moron.

Full Time: Israel 0 England 0

ps. Jamie Freaking Carragher.

International Friendly; Wednesday February 7, 2007

England 0 Spain 1

England: B.Foster, G.Neville (M.Richards 64), R.Ferdinand, J.Woodgate (J.Carragher 64), P.Neville (S.Downing 74), S.Wright-Phillips (J.Defoe 70), S.Gerrard (G.Barry 45), M.Carrick, F.Lampard (J.Barton 78), K.Dyer, P.Crouch.

Steve McClaren made no bones about dismissing this friendly as basically meaningless afterwards. In a way he’s entitled to. This game does not matter as much as the one coming up against Israel, he did have a couple of good players missing (well, Rooney) and it was only a friendly.

Of course McClaren was happy to take all the adulation when we whipped a Greece team that simply wasn’t trying early on in his tenure in a friendly but I suppose that’s to be expected.

It’s hard to accept that games against nations of the stature of Spain aren’t extremely important whether they are friendlies or not, however.

The victory over Argentina early on last season was the brightest moment in the recent history of the national team even if it appears to have been the best the so called golden generation of English football can provide. This current squad desperately needs a similar sort of boost.

The limp end to Sven’s reign appears to be heading for a new blandness and ineptitude under Steve McClaren.

Nobody should really complain, however. The mood of the nation was to have an English manager after the Swede and we simply couldn’t have gone with Big Fat “Do You Know Who I Am” Allardyce.

So we are stuck with Steve.

So far his tactics have been truly baffling, he has done nothing to bring the best out of his big players and we are further away than ever from a settled side and formation.

We also cannot score for love nor money.

Not a great start and does our inspirational manager have what it takes to sort out the mess he is creating?

Basically, no. McClaren’s only hope is that his big players (well, Rooney) can do it for him.

Exactly like his predecessor McClaren does not know what to do to make things better. He is just hoping one or two special talents can make up for his own inadequacies.

It’s one thing coming out afterwards and moaning about the injuries he has suffered (and by the way Steve when you tell everyone that you’re not going to make excuses your next word should not be “but”) BUT he is supposed to be the best manager we could find to do this incredibly high paid job.

Surely we are entitled to expect someone who can cope with a few injuries and still put out an England side capable of playing some decent attacking football in a formation we can easily understand and to some sort of pattern.

There are no patterns emerging within the England team under Steve McClaren. There are no areas of the pitch where you feel progress is being made or understandings being formed between individual players.

Nothing has happened to suggest England are a team rather than simply a set of expensive spare parts.

This is basically what McClaren is there to do.

All England really had to offer here was five minutes of robust attacking play at the start of each half. Without a real gameplan or structure to this attacking, however, it soon fizzled out and then the players were simply left vainly hoping that something would happen out of the blue.

Wishful thinking against most international opponents these days.

The focus of the early first half pressure was the right flank where the lively looking Kieron Dyer was eager to drift to link up with Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Within a minute this pair had won a corner and then a quick throw in down the same flank gave Michael Carrick a shooting opportunity and his rasping drive was only parried by Iker Casillas.

The keeper then made a superb block to deny Dyer from the rebound but the England man was offside by this stage in any case.

This early storm was weathered and when England found their early pace and energy had not been enough to destroy Spain they were pretty clueless as to how to open them up.

The visitors were almost as lacklustre although there was far less onus on them to make the running in this fixture. David Villa did smack an effort into the side netting before Fernando Morientes missed the best chance of the first half on 18 minutes.

Morientes was expertly set up by Angulo but having calmly dummied Gary Neville into the next postcode he sent his attempt on goal into orbit.

Kieron Dyer continued to be England’s most willing and intelligent runner with Wright-Phillips offering glimpses of promise but there was a conspicuous lack of end product and craft from the white shirts.

Wright-Phillips instigated one move which saw Phil Neville put in a decent cross which only received a feeble header from Peter Crouch.

Crouch then reminded everyone of his presence with a series of infringements, both offsides and fouls coming equally naturally, while Frank Lampard was worse than normal in his super-sized England shirt.

We’ll never drop The Lamp but we might as well do as play him virtually on the left of midfield. Plain stupidity.

Maybe Frank will just give up the ghost himself. It was being shunted into that position that persuaded Paul Scholes that there were better things to do than bang your head against a brick wall in an England shirt.

Personally I think the nation at large has to take some of the blame for the ongoing misery of trying to solve the Gerrard/Lampard debacle.

So much fuss was made of the fact that they couldn’t play together that they’ve both been shifted here, there and everywhere in an attempt to find a solution.

Looking back the best they’ve ever really played was when they were playing together in the middle and we just accepted that once or twice we might not have anyone tracking back.

Back to the limited action and Angulo smacked a shot miles wide before England fashioned their best chance of the half.

Gerrard drove forward down the inside left channel before sending a superb pass with the outside of his right foot into Crouch’s path to the right of goal.

This was a fine chance but the shot back across goal was horribly scuffed and bobbled away without causing alarm.

The 58,000 present were probably already wondering whether they should have bothered as the half time whistle sounded.

Half Time: England 0 Spain 0

Gareth Barry came on for Gerrard at half time and while this gave a more natural balance to the side it could hardly be expected to make a huge improvement.

England set off hammer and tongs again with Dyer and Wright-Phillips combining to win a deja vu sort of corner from which Barry had half a chance but his shot was high under pressure.

Another right wing foray ended with Gary Neville being played into a great position down the byeline but his cross was cut out by Pablo at full stretch before it could reach any intended target in the middle.

Again this pressure was of all too brief a duration and Spain began to show better quality in possession across the midfield.

The introduction of Iniesta as a substitute on 56 minutes suddenly brought an increased urgency to the visitors’ play.

Villa brought the first real save out of Ben Foster with a stinging drive from just outside the area which needed a subbuteo style save from the England debutant to repel.

Moments later, however, Foster was breached.

Jonathan Woodgate had been in danger of giving England something of a plus point on the night but he was suddenly, dramatically and conclusively bamboozled down the left hand side of the box by Villa.

Ferdinand got the slightest of touches to the centre and the ball landed at the feet of Iniesta towards the right hand angle of the England box.

Iniesta let the ball drop then arrowed a drive beyond Foster that clipped the underside of the bar on its’ way in giving the goalkeeper no chance whatsoever.

The rest of the game degenerated into a procession of substitutions which only really served to add to the general confusion of the England performance.

The Manchester City pair of Micah Richards and Joey Barton offered a couple of moments of promise but were with their teammates in being unable to achieve anything concrete.

Jermain Defoe slammed a volley miles over from a Crouch knock down and the lanky buffoon had time for one more mis-hit attempt before the final whistle signalled an end to a dreary game and widespread booing from the crowd.

Totally justified reaction and one that is becoming far too frequent.

Being England guarantees you nothing in international football. If the players and, more importantly, Steve McClaren do not start proving themselves of international quality very soon we will not only not win Euro 2008, we won’t even qualify for it.

Full Time: England 0 Spain 1

England: B.Foster 6, G.Neville 5 (M.Richards 6), R.Ferdinand 5, J.Woodgate 5 (J.Carragher 4), P.Neville 4 (S.Downing 3), S.Wright-Phillips 5 (J.Defoe 3), S.Gerrard 5 (G.Barry 4), M.Carrick 5, F.Lampard 4 (J.Barton 5), K.Dyer 7, P.Crouch 3.

Star Player: Kieron Dyer

Don’t get excited, we’re not heralding the start of a glorious, all conquering international career. Kieron was just more industrious and bright than his “Dyer” colleagues and did enough to suggest that, injury permitting, he will be a useful squad member over the next few years.

Wednesday November 15, 2006; International Friendly

Holland 1 England 1

England: P.Robinson, M.Richards, A.Cole, S.Gerrard, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, M.Carrick, F.Lampard, W.Rooney, A.Johnson (S.Wright-Phillips 73), J.Cole (K.Richardson 78).

This was a game in which England would be looking to banish the memory of the awful display in Croatia but there was no getting away from the fact that this was only a friendly fixture and it was unlikely the game would offer any meaningful salvation.

That must wait, hopefully, until the competitive games kick in again.

It was important that England showed an improved performance, however, and the performances of newcomer Micah Richards and relative newcomer Andy Johnson would provide most interest.

It was evident from the start that Johnson was being asked to play in an unfamiliar role again by England, operating on the right hand side of a three man attack which had Rooney as its axis and Joe Cole on the left.

The opening to the game was bitty with England offering nothing going forward and several players falling over deep inside their own half. Fortunately the Dutch looked scarcely more adventurous or sure footed.

Michael Carrick set the tone for his sloppy first half showing with a slip which left Clarence Seedorf in a promising position only for him to fall over as well.

With Gerrad tucked in alongside Carrick and Lampard England were bunched in midfield and this led to some nervous looking short passing moves deep in their own half. In the early stages Steve MacLaren’s third formation in as many matches looked likely to be as effective as the one tried in Croatia.

England’s first hint of an opening came when Ooijer gave the ball straight to Andy Johnson but having put his head down and set off running he simply hit a brick wall with Rooney breaking forward and ready for the early pass.

Paul Robinson’s first action was a routine catch when the ball skimmed towards his far post from the stretching head of John Terry but the England goal came under more severe threat when Terry had to then leave the pitch for a couple of minutes for repairs to his boot.

Van Der Vaart sent in a dangerous ball from the right and Richards positioned himself expertly to deal with the danger but then erred in heading back into the goalmouth rather than out of harms way behind the goal.

This led to the ball being transferred back to Robben who went round England’s debutant inside the box with disturbing ease to fire in a shot that Robinson could only parry but Landzaat could only head limply wide under pressure from Ashley Cole.

It had been a nervous beginning for Richards but his night would get steadily better from here on and he would finish the night an undoubted success.

Suddenly England were gifted a wonderful chance when Boulahrouz sent in a woeful back pass which left Gerrard completely clear. For some reason Gerrard hit the ball first time on his left foot when he could have gone round the keeper or simply shifted the ball back to his right side before shooting.

Timmer saved with his feet at the expense of a corner.

The first noteworthy England passing move saw Gerrard, Richards and Johnson combine and England had a free kick when Gerrard was fouled.

Although he whipped the free kick in early for Johnson the Dutch had already moved out to catch him offside and his flicked header went wide of the far post in any case.

Robinson handled a low centre well after Gerrard had shown a disinclination to track back with the left back but England were beginning to look less cumbersome in their movement of the ball.

Their most assured period of keep ball at the back ended with Ashley Cole pinging a long ball towards the edge of the Dutch area but Frank Lampard was unable to take the dropping ball in his stride as he burst forward.

Richards showed his increasing confidence with a burst into enemy territory to link with Joe Cole who almost played Johnson in although the forward was again in an offside position.

Joey Cole had come over to the right for a touch of the ball having not managed one on the left hand side during the opening quarter of an hour. It was lucky for England that he did for they immediately began to look a better team when he did get involved.

Rooney also began to wander to better effect but although Johnson got to play nearer the centre he was never allowed to play the front runner role that comes most naturally to him and he would struggle all night.

Lampard again was unable to collect running at speed when a move involving Carrick, Rooney and finally Joe Cole unlocked the Dutch defence, Cole’s reverse pass being especially clever.

Dirk Kuyt chased a long ball behind the England defence but was beaten to it by Robinson coming outside his area to head clear but England were then lucky that Van Der Vaart miscued his shot from the edge of the box when he was allowed to work his way forward with Seedorf unchallenged.

Another chance came England’s way when Rooney opened up the defence with a good ball to Joe Cole and when Johnson challenged for the centre at the near post the ball dropped straight to Rooney backing up the play.

With time to let the ball drop and hit it on the volley Rooney decided to put in a header from penalty spot range and the save was an easy one for the Dutch keeper.

Holland were looking increasingly powder puff as Richards began to shackle Robben and it was left to Van der Vaart to send in a series of long range shots each one as feeble as the last.

Johnson produced his best moment with a dangerous ball into the near post from the left hand side but Landzaat got a toe in ahead of Joe Cole to avert the danger.

Then England mounted another decent attack. Gerrard knocked a lovely ball to the back post where Rooney headed back across goal towards Lampard and Richards both converging.

Timmer came out quickly to boot clear but I would like to think that in a competitive game an English foot would have got there first. In fact I reckon Richards might well have had this one only he seemed to bow to Lampard’s seniority when perhaps better placed himself.

This was definitely better by England and in their next attack they took the lead.

Gerrard spread play to Joe Cole on the right after another spell of decent possession, Cole waited for Richards to bomb past him on the overlap but only used the full back as a decoy to give him the time and space to measure a perfect ball to the far post where Rooney arrived to finish in something of the manner of an ice skater performing some kind of axel.

Rooney was quickly back into the action, dropping deep to provide a wonderful ball through the defence for the overlapping Ashley Cole. Cole managed to slip the ball into the middle but a Dutch toe took the ball away from Johnson at the last second.

Robben managed to dupe Richards and win a free kick when the youngster pulled him back but the defender should reflect that his pace was getting him back into position to challenge without the tug. From the free kick the increasingly assured Rio Ferdinand was on hand to clear when Kuyt headed back across goal from beyond the far post.

Ferdinand then produced an even better clearance at full stretch when the Dutch managed a quality ball in from the left hand side.

All in all a satisfactory half for England.

Half Time: Holland 0 England 1

England began the second half in sloppy fashion, just as they had the first.

Van Der Vaart was still trying his luck from distance and everything he hit was still turning to shite.

Joey Cole threatened to undo his good work of the first half by twice gifting possession to the Dutch just outside his own box and while a good interception from brother Ashley bailed him out first time England were grateful to see Seedorf’s low drive fizz just wide of the post moments later.

Van Der Vaart produced his best effort yet after combining with Robben but Ferdinand plunged to get in a fine block before England began to assert some control.

Ashley Cole showed terrific composure bringing the ball out of defence and England swept forward with a glorious move involving Lampard, Carrick, Rooney and Joe Cole.

In the position from which he created the goal, and with Richards piling forward on the overlap again, Cole this time sent his cross behind the goal.

England then wasted another good opening after Lampard cleaned out his Chelsea teammate Boulahrouz with a firm but fair challenge. Rooney took over but chose the wrong option in trying to thread the needle to put Joe Cole in through the centre.

Joey Cole could then be excused ignoring the players in support when he scuffed his shot wide after displaying great strength to make himself the chance.

It was nice to see Cole staying on his feet as his tendancy to hit the deck too easily had been the only real disappointment in his performance. For a man just back from injury he had been excellent.

Mathijsen produced a rare telling forward pass for the Dutch but this was wasted by another dreadful 25 yarder from Van Der Vaart.

Rooney set Joe Cole up for a strike on goal with a neat cushioned header and although his fierce strike was charged down Frank Lampard was picking up the pieces and released Rooney down the right hand side of the box.

With it crying out for him to give it everything Rooney attempted to pass the ball into the far corner and the replacement keeper Stekelenburg saved easily.

When Rooney then roared forward onto a loose ball to set England moving farward again Carrick showed him what he should have done with his previous chance when set up for a shot 25 yards out.

Carrick’s drive was a blur but unfortunately whistled just the wrong side of the post.

Carrick had been vastly improved after a sloppy first half but he needs to force himself into the opponents half more often. He has too much attacking ability to restrict himself to the England half.

Shaun Wright-Phillips came on to replace the unhappy Johnson who seems to be the butt of some evil backroom joke in the England camp having been asked to play completely out of position again.

Almost immediately Wright-Phillips lunged into a rash challenge on Robben on the edge of the box. The referee allowed the Dutch to continue and they did proceed to send a dangerous ball across the six yard line but Ashley Cole was again calmness personified as he allowed it to run under his foot before turning to clear.

Holland seemed to have run completely out of ideas but with victory in sight England were pegged back by a basic goal straight from a long throw in.

Vennegoor of Hesselink won the initial header and when Robinson decided against coming into the scrum on the edge of the six yard box the ball dropped invitingly for Van der Vaart who made no mistake from much more realistic range.

Suddenly England were inspired to go really looking for another goal and could have got one on a couple of occasions.

Gerrard did superbly to ghost past the last defender by feigning to shoot on the edge of the box but his low shot was then too close to the keeper who got down to save and Rooney bullied his way along the byeline but his cross to the near post saw Lampard’s effort blocked at close quarters.

With England pushing forward Holland were presented with one opportunity on the break but Ashley Cole was the master of Robben in a one on one situation.

England will be satisfied with their nights’ work although doubts remain about individuals and the tactics but all that matters for the moment is qualifying for the European Championships which will be a difficult task after the last two games.

England: P.Robinson 5, M.Richards 7, A.Cole 8, S.Gerrard 7, R.Ferdinand 7, J.Terry 7, M.Carrick 6, F.Lampard 6, W.Rooney 7, A.Johnson 4 (S.Wright-Phillips 5), J.Cole 7 (K.Richardson 3).

Star Player: Ashley Cole

Ashley never really lets England down and he was outstanding here. Sharp into the tackle and quick to get forward when the time was right this was a highly accomplished full backs’ display.

Tuesday, October 31
Steve McClaren’s Half Term Report

It was half term last week and Football England are delighted to bring you an exclusive view of Steve McClaren’s first school report from his new headmaster Brian Barwick.
We found the report in a hedge just outside his school, young Steven obviously didn’t want his parents to see it. Read on, you will understand why.

Squad Selection: B+
Steven upset all the girls in the class by leaving out the remarkably good looking boy who impresses them all with his keepy uppy skills and this did seem a mistake as he obviously didn’t trust the little boys from the year below when it came to the crunch against the nasty school from the council estate. On the whole, however, he has picked the boys everyone else in the class would have chosen. (except for little Johnny at the back of course who picked himself, his dad and his brother as well as Jean Claude Van Damme in his squad)

Formation: C-
Steven started by just copying what the last teacher had left on the blackboard. Then he got all creative with disastrous results; paint all over the foor, little Johnny embalmed in crepe paper and the class guinea pig dead after being force fed an orange crayola when it moaned about being played out of position at wing back.

Motivation: D-
Steven found it difficult to instill enthusiasm into the other children when he started asking them to do something different and there were hints of open rebellion after the unsavoury incident with the guinea pig. Asking little Johnny to give a rousing speech to the class also backfired when he got a bit carried away and started butting the blackboard and eating copious amounts of chalk.

Personality: D+
Steven smiles a lot and is very nice to everyone when the general mood is good but when there is a problem the combination of forced smile (which makes him look like he’s had one facelift too many), desperately pleading eyes and deeply furrowed brow seems to definitely scare the other children.

Leadership: D-
Steven doesn’t appear to be a natural leader. His decision to stay in his seat when the classroom burst into flames in the apparent belief that the fire would sort itself out was not the most inspired decision ever taken. Fortunately little Johnny decided to run back into the room when the flames were at their most intense and dragged Steven out, slightly singed, with his teeth.
Steven then decided to send the three smallest, newest members of the class back in to sort out the problem. They weren’t able to.

Results: D-
Steven did exceptionally well in the early tests set but these were carefully designed to be so simple that only a genuine, bona fide idiot could have failed them.
When the tests were made a little harder Steven just about passed the first one, although we think there may have been copying going on as he and little Johnny got exactly the same answers right and they both thought that when the hands on the clock are pointing at five to one it meant something very rude indeed.
The last two tests we set Steven failed miserably and in the second of these he managed a result that was the worst produced in the school for the past 30 years or so.

General Comments;
Making Steven headboy seemed to have been a really good idea at first. The school didn’t have many English candidates to pick from and we couldn’t give it to the school bully Samuel.
Everything went alright for a while but when his duties became a bit more taxing Steven seemed to lose all confidence and direction. The incident with the guinea pig cannot have helped and it is uncertain whether he retains the respect and trust of the other children even at this early stage of his tenure.
We are hoping that Steven will get better, or that his classmates simply bale him out, and we are at least relieved that unlike our last headboy he hasn’t been caught kissing any of the girls yet or talking to any other schools about taking over as their headboy.
God forbid he ever did that, we’d have to pay him far more money.

Group E, European Championship Qualifier; Wednesday October 11, 2006

Croatia 2 England 0

England: P.Robinson, G.Neville, A.Cole, J.Carragher (S.Wright-Phillips 73), R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, M.Carrick, F.Lampard, W.Rooney, P.Crouch (J.Defoe 72), S.Parker (K.Richardson 72).

England started the game with an unfamiliar 5-3-2 formation and the first fifteen minutes highlighted the fact that the players were not accustomed to playing that way.

With nowhere to go they quickly surrendered possession and found themselves pressed back. Despite having numbers in defence they did not look assured at the back either and it was a very nervy opening.

There was a hint of a chance when Rooney slipped a likely looking ball through for Crouch but the lanky one was offside and running in the wrong direction in any case.

There was far more real danger when play went down the other end with Eduardo slipping easily in behind Carragher to poke a low effort at Robinson which was not unduly taxing for the keeper at his near post.

There was hesitation from all parties when Ferdinand headed a ball back into his own box and from being in apparent control England were left desperately trying to block.

Then for a spell England finally seemed to settle and managed to play some of the game in the Croatia half.

Ashley Cole whipped a superb ball across the area after decent link up play down the left but there were no takers in the middle and another decent passage down the right ended with the keeper fielding Rooney’s driven centre.

England’s general discomfort was highlighted once again as Ferdinand turned into trouble and had to drag his forward down by the shorts to collect a yellow card which had appeared to be his mission from the first whistle.

Nico Kovac headed over from the free kick and this would not be the last time that Croatia found it remarkably easy to get in headers from set pieces despite the presence of three central defenders in the England line up.

Lampard then combined well with Rooney only to spoon in a horrible effort with his left foot before the half ended in a prolonged spell of Croatian pressure.

Rapaic began to enjoy consistent joy down the right, getting behind Cole and completely exposing Carragher’s shortcomings.

He saw a cross deflected into the path of Kranjcar, arriving totally unmarked in the centre, who was denied by Robinson’s shovelling save, before striding unchecked to the byeline to pull back for Kranjcar again to slam in an effort which Ferdinand blocked.

When the resulting corner was only cleared as far as the edge of the box it was again Kranjcar driving for goal only for Robinson to fist away. With England unable to get the ball away the referee lifted the siege by punishing a shove on Terry as yet another centre into the jaws of the England goalmouth was up for grabs.

Half Time: Croatia 0 England 0

While England had enjoyed one half decent spell during the first half they had created no real chances and only someone with distinctly rose coloured glasses could have felt any real confidence about the second half.

McClaren decided against any changes in either formation or personnel and, lo and behold, the England performance degenerated still further.

With the midfield starved of possession and totally lacking in options play condensed fiercely inside their own half with only the briefest of excursions into Croatian territory.

The absolute absurdity of pairing Rooney with Crouch was still apparently lost on McClaren and where he thought a goal was coming from, or even just some welcome respite, is anyones guess.

Petric was allowed yet another free header from a corner but sent his effort too high as play was concentrated in and around England’s last third.

There was cause for some grievance that offside flags denied Rooney and Cole when England threatened to get beyond the Croatian defence and Rooney was unlucky to see a ferocious drive rise just too high after skipping past a defender when latching onto a Crouch flick.

It was the only combination play the pair would manage all night.

England were having to defend in ever greater numbers, however, and when a dubious corner was awarded against Cole the dam finally burst open.

Robinson made a disappointing decision to punch the initial ball in rather than catch and England were then completely unable to clear their lines as the ball was whipped across their goalmouth from both flanks in turn.

When Nico Kovac looped the ball in from the left Eduardo was between Terry and Cole and despite arching backwards was able to loop a gentle header goalwards which defeated Robinson despite being directly in the centre of the goals.

In absolutely every respect it was a shocker of a goal to concede but the fact that constant pressure does tend to lead to individual mistakes and goals against is a fact which seems largely to pass the England management by.

Suddenly there was urgency in the England line up but there was very little conviction in their desperate attempts to respond and, above all, there was still absolutely no threat in behind the Croatian defence.

Rio Ferdinand showed what he can do by surging forward and breezing past a couple of challenges after intercepting deep in his own half but once he had laid the ball off it quickly ended up being passed back into the defence and all momentum was instantly lost.

Soon afterwards Gary Neville found himself being hounded in the right back position and rolled the ball back to Robinson whose attempted punt forward made no contact whatsoever as the ball skipped nastily off the patriotic Croatian pitch and rolled embarrassingly into the England net.

Just one of those things without question but it was fitting that it should happen during such a feeble performance.

It was not insignificant that England, despite being behind and supposedly chasing the game, were being forced back towards their own goal and both Neville and Robinson were under pressure when the incident occured.

McClaren’s belated response to his sides’ predicament was to throw all three subs on together but this was basically a futile gesture and was made to look reckless when Ashley Cole soon afterwards appeared to badly aggravate an ankle injury he had already sustained and was left hobbling painfully for the last ten minutes.

Robinson, who will be a somewhat unlucky fall guy given the crass ineptitude in front of him, made a superb save low down to his left from Modric’s drive as Croatia picked their way through the shambles of the England defence while Cole summed up England’s night by firstly picking up a booking that will rule him out of the next game in the group with a ridiculous challenge and then landed badly on his suspect ankle to be slowed to limping pace.

Simunic became the latest in a long line of Croatians granted a free header from a corner but was too high before Carrick took the one opportunity he had had all night to pick out a forward runner by chipping a great ball into Defoe.

Unfortunately his touch was not the best and Robert Kovac was back in an instant to poke behind for a corner.

Right at the end Lampard rolled a free kick square for Rooney and his 30 yard daisy cutter forced Stipe Pletikosa into a routine low save.

This would have been scarcely worth noting had it not been England’s first attempt on target in the entire game.

All in all not a great day at the office.

Full Time: Croatia 2 England 0

England: P.Robinson 6, G.Neville 5, A.Cole 5, J.Carragher 3 (S.Wright-Phillips 4), R.Ferdinand 4, J.Terry 4, M.Carrick 4, F.Lampard 4, W.Rooney 4, P.Crouch 3 (J.Defoe 4), S.Parker 4 (K.Richardson 4).

Star Player: Paul Robinson
This says it all really. Robinson was at fault for the first goal and though somewhat unlucky for the second will never live down being the only international keeper beaten by Gary Neville but was still England’s best player.
In general it was hard to dish out marks although Neville and Cole possibly deserve to have slightly higher marks than the rest while Carragher and Crouch both fall into the embarrassing category for me.

Comment:

In all honesty it was hard to feel any real confidence going into this fixture given both the performances against Macedonia.

Despite winning the away game the performance did not provide either the players or the spectators with any genuine confidence or belief while the home game was uniformly poor.

Not only was the opposition now appreciably stronger but the team was missing Gerrard and King, who suddenly seemed like a vital member of the side.

Add to that the exclusion of Beckham and the long term injury victim Owen (and Joey Cole) and the England squad had a real threadbare feel to it.

Steve McClaren chose to go with a 3-5-2 formation which left himself wide open to criticism in the event of things not going well and the points made in the aftermath can hardly be argued with.

The crux of the matter is, however, that it is hard to remember when England actually gave a convincing performance in any competitive game, playing 4-4-2 or any other formation.

Steve McClaren might have already been pressing the panic button in going with this formation but the probable fact of the matter is that having pointedly excluded Beckham and then seen Gerrard lost to suspension he suddenly found himself in the position of actually having to play some of men who he has deemed “the future”.

It is no good putting players in your squad as a signal of intent only to have no trust in them when the time comes to put them in.

Eriksson did it with Walcott in the summer, McClaren did it with Wright-Phillips, Richardson and Downing here.

I personally think he was right not to select these players in this game. His mistake was in leaving Beckham out on the asumption that his squad would not be stretched as far as it has been over the past few days.

Whether McClaren would ever admit it or not, had Beckham been picked in the original squad he would have played in this game. That means McClaren made an error in leaving him out.

It is dangerous to cast players like Beckham aside so casually. He has not been great for England for quite a while but he was still our most consistent source of openings and has the huge advantage of being a presence in world football.

He is a player other nations know and respect. They are also fully aware of his dead ball capabilities. He is someone the opposition will think about in a way they will never need to worry over Stewart Downing.

It also seems somewhat pointless fretting about allowing players like Richardson and Wright-Phillips sufficient international experience when they are unlikely to be getting sufficient Premier league experience any time soon.

It is easy to over react to setbacks and make rash judgements but is this the first sign of potentially massive damage being done to the national side by the presence of so many foreigners in the English game?

It is certainly disturbing to see an England squad comprising so many players who are not even regulars for their club.

Obviously it is only natural that attention will turn on Steve McClaren and while it may be seen as harsh that he is being questioned so early in his tenure the fact that he has sat alongside Eriksson for so long makes it seem as though he should have been ready for the transition.

He also needs to realise that for both himself and his players international football is not about building for the future it is purely about the present.

Tomorrow can wait, if players are good enough for international football they will make the grade, if they are not they will quickly fade.

McClaren has actually enjoyed a ridiculously positive response to his early efforts having been showered with praise for comprehensive victories over Greece and Andorra which, in all honesty, were never going to count for anything once the real football started.

He also took a lot of credit, some of it self appointed, for the victory in Macedonia which actually displayed many of the worst traits of his predecessors’ reign.

So far he has done nothing to suggest he will be an improvement on Eriksson and there are aspects to his management which worry me that he could even prove himself to be worse.

His obsession with stats is my main concern. He obviously places enormous importance on the figures spewed at him by his team of analysts.

I think this is the worst way to intepret a game of football. Just watch and make your own mind up. It isn’t hard to spot a good player from a bad one if you just watch the game.

If you look at a list of figures against a name on a piece of paper, however, you can generally make them show what you want them to show.

McClaren has also so far failed to solve the problem of finding a system, or way of playing to be more precise, that gets anything like the best from his star men.

The decision to play Rooney and Crouch together also left the side with no point to their attack and not only withdrew any forward options for the midfield players but took away most of their space into the bargain.

This is not being wise after the event, this pairing was never going to work and the sooner Crouch is dropped back to the bench, or even further from the team, the better.

The final question I would ask at present, as I would be able to go on all night if I didn’t stop somewhere, is that if Beckham was dropped because McClaren wants to look to the future then why is Carragher still in the squad?

At least Beckham has been, and may still be, good enough to get in the team. Jamie Carragher is just poor. He has ridden on Sami Hyppia’s back at Liverpool for God knows how long and now Sami is beginning to wobble a bit he is simply a distinctly average Premier League player.

At international level he is a liability.

If you are looking to the future Steve play Wes Brown and get Anton Ferdinand in the squad.

European Championship Group E Qualifier; Saturday October 7, 2006.

England 0 Macedonia 0

England: P.Robinson, G.Neville, A.Cole, S.Gerrard, L.King, J.Terry, M.Carrick, F.Lampard, W.Rooney (J.Defoe 74), P.Crouch, S.Downing (S.Wright-Phillips 70).

If there were people out there still believing that England had entered a new era under the enlightened leadership of Steve McClaren then they have surely had their eyes opened after this woeful display.

England began with some promise but generally pedestrian and ended up almost a shambles as any hint of shape to the side evaporated. Far from being better balanced, as McClaren has harped on about us being, the players seemed to desert any tactical plan that might have been in place and there was little pattern or fluidity to the play.

It was never apparent just how much influence McClaren had on proceedings under Sven Goran Eriksson. Having watched the last two games we could be forgiven for thinking the Englishman has been in charge all along.

The only noticable difference between McClaren and Eriksson at the moment is that Eriksson was not so keen on putting Stewart Downing on the pitch and surely that was to the Swedes’ credit.

This performance did not so much hark back to the days of the Swede as to the days of the last English manager of the national team Kevin Keegan, and even Keegan started brightly before being found wanting.

McClaren has a lot of work to do in a short space of time with “his” England side. For most of this game he appeared to be a man desperately hoping things would simply start going right rather than a man who could see what the problems were and do something about it.

Such things are easy to say and perhaps harder to do but surely the man in charge should be capable of doing it, or at least have the bottle to try.

For all his upbeat soundbites McClaren has yet so show he has the trousers to match the talk.

Firstly he has to truly mould a team.

Peter Crouch and Wayne Rooney are never going to be an effective partnership as both rely on having a player running behind defenders to be at their most dangerous.

Just pick one of them. That decision should not prove taxing to anyone, even if Rooney is currently below his best and Crouch has scored a panful of goals against poor opposition.

If Steven Gerrard is going to be picked on the right then he must remain in that position for the majority of the game. Some degree of flexibility and movement is fine but the timing of such moves must be selective and fit into a team pattern.

Gerrard simply got fed up after about 20 minutes of this game and ended up basically everywhere other than where he was supposed to be.

This did not help England whose one clear route to goal seemed to be offered along the flanks and although Gerrard did hit one thunderous late effort against the bar he gave probably his poorest display yet in an England shirt here.

If Michael Carrick is selected, and I think he should be, then England have to have the trust and patience to play through him.

For a fifteen minute spell in the first half most of England’s play went through him and our best moves of the game resulted.

When these didn’t bring instant rewards, however, the temptation to lump it forward towards Crouch once again proved irresistable.

The Macedonian defence was loving it.

Finally, and most obviously, Stewart Downing is an embarrassment as an international winger. Well, as a winger full stop to be honest.

He put over a couple of decent centres here but if that is all you want then David Beckham should definitely still be in the side.

Wingers are supposed to take people on and beat them. They are supposed to do something different, something extra. They are also supposed to be either fast or tricky. Downing falls down on all these fronts.

He did actually try to go past his full back on a couple of occasions here but the attempts were cringeworthy. No change of pace, no body swerve, no tricks on the ball.

Just a case of running straight, then running slightly more to the left and then a look of surprise that his full back was still in attendance. Simply not good enough.

The game started with Wayne Rooney looking determined to make an impact and put on a show as he comes under significant pressure for the first time in his career.

Within moments he had produced a fantastic piece of control and a strong turn to make room for a centre which Crouch was able to head down but Lampard was not able to get to ahead of the keeper.

Gary Neville was also looking in aggressive mood down the right, linking well with the midfield on a couple of occasions and showing a pleasing desire to drive forward.

Carrick tried to release Gerrard down the right with a raking pass and although it was intercepted at full stretch Neville was onto the loose ball in an instant to supply the Liverpool player whose centre to the near post was cut out with Rooney looking to profit.

Then Carrick and Lampard combined to send Downing to the byeline but having decided not to play the ball in first time he found his cut back run behind the line of attackers.

This was not Downing’s fault, however, someone should always be lurking near the penalty spot if the winger is making for the goalline.

This had not been a bad start but no chances had come and it was around this time, with twenty minutes on the clock, that England seemed to stray from any game plan that might have been in place before the start.

Gerrard, especially, simply vacated his nominal position and England certainly didn’t profit from the change. Together with Gary Neville the right hand side had looked England’s most likely avenue to success but little was seen of the full back as his supposed partner left him to look after that flank single handed.

The first moment of danger for England came when Gerrard, charging back from another ill judged position, managed to nick the ball away from one Macedonian attacker only for it to roll through to another.

Goran Pandev played a give and go on the edge of the area and was through the England defence, albeit from a prohibitive angle from which he could only find the side netting.

This was also a particularly galling few minutes for Downing who managed to give the ball away whether passing long or short and also showed his dribbling limitations. Then when a couple of chances came to just centre the ball from promising positions he could not beat the first man.

Carrick, however, was beginning to exert a positive influence and linked play calmly from deep before releasing Neville with a superb through ball. The centre was again weak to the near post but Neville almost fared better when released by Lampard but the diligent Macedonian back three again closed ranks before Rooney could reach his next delivery.

Gerrard’s wanderings brought him one moment of promise when he nicked possession away in a challenge and skipped a lunging challenge to get away down the left hand side of the box.

When he then centred deep to the far post there was no-one there, however. Well there wouldn’t be, would there Stevie? That’s where you’re supposed to be playing.

Now Macedonia seemed to grow in confidence as England’s disintegrating shape gave them ever bigger holes to break into.

Downing was now found wanting in a defensive position, flopping to the floor to allow his opponent free passage to the goalline and when the centre came over it was a fair chance for Petrov arriving in the position that Gerrard was supposed to be patrolling but wasn’t.

His volley was fierce but badly directed, however.

Then when Macedonia made inroads down the England left again it was a good job Neville was expertly placed at the far post to head behind for a corner.

Downing finally did something right with a telling pass in from the inside left position, without having taken anyone on of course, but after Lampard had produced a clever touch to take him beyond the last defender he could only stab the ball against the alert keeper.

It was now almost half time and the alert keeper still hadn’t had a shot worth noting to deal with.

The half ended with Pandev breaking the challenge of Ashley Cole only to shoot weakly wide of the target as the defender applied pressure with his excellent speed of recovery.

Half Time: England 0 Macedonia 0

There was undoubtedly much work for Steve McClaren to do at half time but it was not easy to work out what his instructions had been when the first action of the second half again saw Gerrard roving far away from his right flank berth.

Lampard managed to pin Gerrard with a fine pass on a rare occasion when he actually visited the right hand side of the pitch and a rash challenge by Petrov earned himself a booking and England a free kick.

Downing’s delivery was good and Lampard should perhaps have done better with his downward header. Nikoloski, however, was at least obliged to make a sprawling save.

The next action saw Gerrard making a rash challenge of his own and although he complained bitterly about the yellow card brandished in his direction the decision was fair enough.

With Gerrard therefore ruled out of Wednesday’s game in Croatia the decision to leave Beckham out of the squad was now beginning to look highly suspect.

The resulting free kick somehow managed to sneak through the England wall and appeared to be falling for a free attacker but Ledley King was across swiftly to snuff out the danger.

King was playing as a result of a late injury to Rio Ferdinand and was once again proving himself one of England’s few international quality reserves.

Macedonia were now beginning to look the more dangerous side as they broke out quickly and with purpose while England still chose to plough a frustrating and futile furrow through the middle.

Mitrevski had the clearest chance yet with a free header from a right wing corner but was too high and a dangerous ball inside King allowed Stojkov a chance but Robinson was able to deflect the ball behind as he guarded his near post.

Stojkov had only come on as a half time sub but looked the brightest player on the pitch.

Lampard, intermittently good, showed tremendous strength to emerge from a couple of challenges and when he fed Downing he sent over his best centre of the game.

Crouch appeared to climb all over the back of his marker but the referee was happy enough with the challenge and although Nikoloski parried the header out it ran to Gary Neville.

Faced with a gaping goal, from a slight angle, the United full back showed all his goalscorers instinct by firing over the bar.

Crouch then also got in a header from an Ashley Cole centre but this one was off target before he produced his one piece of quality in build up play by sending an astute ball over the last defender for Rooney.

Rooney’s touch wasn’t the best but he still managed to get in a strong left footed drive which Nikoloski did well to keep out with a good strong hand from point balnk range.

Mitrevski thought he was in on goal for a moment before Cole’s speed of recovery again got England out of a hole as Macedonia refused to be forced back onto prolonged defence.

Gerrard again looked more dangerous after getting out wide to deliver a wicked centre which located Downing at the far post. In a great position to either shoot or lay the ball back Downing lashed the ball horribly into the crowd.

Shortly afterwards he was withdrawn in an act which could be classed as more of a mercy killing than a substitution.

McClaren then managed to astonish me by sending Shaun Wright-Phillips out to play on the left.

With Steven Gerrard apparently allergic to the right flank why not let Wright-Phillips play on his favoured side and let Gerrard come over to the left? At least then it wouldn’t have been so annoying when he started to wander.

Wright-Phillips almost made McClaren look like a genius by winning possession and playing a one two with Crouch which left him running at the heart of the Macedonian defence.

His final shot was weak, however, and caused Nikoloski no trouble.

Any thought that this substitution, and that of Defoe for Rooney, would inspire England to a grandstand finish was nipped in the bud as Macedonia quickly threatened again. Just as in the away leg it was down to Ashley Cole to save England with a goalline clearance after Robinson had been lobbed advancing to meet an attacker breaking clear down the right hand side of the box.

Wright-Phillips then became the first England player of the game to actually beat a man with a little spurt which took him beyond three defenders. This allowed him to play in Gerrard, lurking in space 25 yards from goal.

Gerrard sent in a fierce drive which left Nikoloski standing but cannoned back to safety from the face of the bar.

The final few minutes saw England launching balls in for Peter Crouch and this did bring a couple of decent chances to win the game.

Gerrard knocked a ball over the last defender to Crouch at the far post but after taking a good touch on his chest he decided to shoot from a tough angle and the keeper saved comfortably while Defoe stood arms outstretched in front of goal imploring the pass.

Then Ledley King showed awesome strength to plough through two challengers before sending in a pinpoint ball which the gangly striker headed feebly wide.

There were again players hoping for a knockdown but there was no problem with him going for goal on this occasion, he should just have done a whole lot better with his header.

Anything other than a draw would have been a travesty of justice, however, and whatever excuses McClaren might choose to make after this one, or whatever stats he trawls out to make us think we have seen something we haven’t, there is only one place he can put this performance to rights and that is in Croatia on Wednesday.

England: P.Robinson 6, G.Neville 6, A.Cole 6, S.Gerrard 4, L.King 8, J.Terry 6, M.Carrick 7, F.Lampard 7, W.Rooney 5 (J.Defoe 4), P.Crouch 5, S.Downing 3 (S.Wright-Phillips 6).

Star Player: Ledley King
This was not an easy selection for all the wrong reasons and even Ledley looked a little bit short of his sharpest to me.
He didn’t really do anything wrong, however, and certainly produced the tackle of the season so far with a bone cruncher on Pandev which almost sliced the guy in half.

Wednesday September 6, 2006; European Championship Qualifier

Macedonia 0 England 1

England: P.Robinson, P.Neville, A.Cole, S.Gerrard, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry, O.Hargreaves, F.Lampard (M.Carrick 84), P.Crouch (A.Johnson 87), J.Defoe (A.Lennon 76), S.Downing.

It was welcome back Sven Goran Eriksson in Macedonia last night as England laboured to victory over Macedonia. There is no disgrace in battling your way to a win in places such as these but the fact that England voluntarily retreated to the edge of their own box for the last 25 minutes and simply chose to hang on to a slender lead brought back the worst memories of the Swedes’ reign.

Afterwards Steve MacLaren chose to praise the players for their bottle and endeavour but these tactics are the reason our last three major tournaments ended in tatters.

Real bottle would be in looking to improve on a one goal lead, not to cling on to it for dear life. That is what good sides do.

That confidence, that bottle, has to come from the manager. He tells the players what to do. This was MacLaren’s first real test and although he passed it in terms of the result he did so in exactly the manner of his predecessor, the man we are all so desperately trying to forget.

Sorry Steve, if this is how you are going to go about the job then you too are doomed to fail.

Of course it is early days in his reign and we can all hope for better. This was not encouraging, however.

The first twenty minutes or so was all Macedonia. The home side played some neat football but seldom looked to have the desire needed to score.

Paul Robinson came and claimed a couple of centres comfortably enough but in general the imposing figures of Ferdinand and Terry were enough to scare off the Macedonia attackers.

England had shown virtually nothing in the opening quarter and the midfield had done nothing of note in a constructive manner.

The catalyst for a spell of England pressure was Phil Neville’s throw ins. That in itself is faintly depressing but we were grateful for anything by this stage.

Neville hurled one right onto Crouch’s head and Nikolovski was forced to tip over for a corner.

Within minutes Neville sent another across the box and the ball dropped for Defoe to send an overhead kick a yard wide of the post. Close but I think the ref might well have disallowed this effort for high kicking anyway had it been on target.

When England won their next corner Crouch was wrestled to the floor in a blatant fashion off the ball but none of the officials were prepared to give a decision.

Crouch was then able to flick on another Neville throw and Defoe should have done better than volley high over the bar.

Macedonia suddenly found some incision with a move down the right which ended with a perfect cut back into the path of Sumulikowski on the edge of the box. He went for a precise sidefooted finish which the lunging Terry was able to block. He should have just leathered it.

The half finished with Downing sending over his one worthwhile centre but Crouch was slow reacting and the chance evaporated.

No damage had been done during the first 45 minutes but there had been nothing uplifting either.

Half Time: Macedonia 0 England 0

Perhaps Steve MacLaren can take credit for an uplifting teamtalk because within a minute of the second half starting England led.

A neat move down the right involving Gerrard and Crouch fed the ball out to Phil Neville. His centre fell loose towards the goalline and the Macedonian defender was unable to send his clearance beyond the ever expanding backside of Frank Lampard who was able to then force a centre towards Crouch who whipped a crisp effort goalwards from six yards.

Nikoloski did well to get fingertips to the ball but it crashed against the underside of the bar and bounced down behind the goalline. After a few painful moments the goal was signalled.

The excellent John Terry blocked an effort from Pandev as Macedonia tried to respond but for a spell it looked as though England were going to assume control and kill the game off.

After Crouch sent a snap shop just wide of the far post and Terry was off target from a corner around the hour mark, however, the team retreated deeper and deeper until it was the all too familiar sight of everyone back lining the edge of the box and hoping for the best.

Long balls were punted forward towards, at best, one attacker and the ball just kept coming back. If you want to encourage a side to score against you this is the way to do it.

Robinson made a comfortable save from Pandev but was relieved to see an effort from Sakiri flash just wide of his far post after a neat one two with Pandev finally opened up the England defence.

The closest the home side would come to an equaliser was on 83 minutes. Tasevski sent in a cross shot from near the byeline and the ball deflected goalwards off Robinson.

Ashley Cole had stayed on the goalline and took an almighty swing at the ball only to execute a perfect airshot. The ball struck his standing leg and the full back then showed admirable composure to adjust and finally clear properly.

A lucky escape and England had another three valuable points. The party will have been very happy to hear that Russia and Croatia had drawn as well I suspect.

This performance should not be considered acceptable in the long run, however. If England are serious about winning the actual competition then this is simply not good enough.

Stewart Downing looks mind bogglingly ordinary, likewise Lampard and despite his recent glut of goals Crouch has a lot of work still to do to confirm that he is an international class striker.

Overall, however, this is not a game in which I would criticise the players. Once again it was the system, the tactics, the mentality which I would question here.

Before and after this game Steve MacLaren was all too eager to point out that this was always going to be a difficult game and that we would have to win “ugly”.

One thing’s for sure, Steve, if you go in to the game certain that it will be difficult and ugly then, yes, it will be.

Why not go into the game looking to play good football and winning with a bit of style but in full readiness to roll your sleeves up and scrap if you have to.

To put this performance into perspective I would look at Owen Hargreaves’ contribution.

I am not a fan of Hargreaves but he has shown enough to suggest he can benefit England.

His one truly positive contribution to England has been his performance against Portugal when we were down to ten men. In that game he was liberated from his position in front of the back four and he impressed with his incredible energy and his ability to influence the game all over the pitch.

When he stays in the sitting position he just looks a bad player. He has no actual passing ability and the game also passes him by as a destructive force.

He is too deep to win the ball in midfield and when attackers are coming towards him already in possession they can simply pass around him.

This is not a criticism of Hargreaves, just the role he is asked to play. Okay, we don’t want him flying forward all the time but if he is a ball winner at least get him in amongst things in the middle where the ball can be won.

And if he is the fittest man in the world, which his performance against Portugal suggested he might be, than let him use some of that energy.

Full Time: Macedonia 0 England 1

England: P.Robinson 7, P.Neville 6, A.Cole 6, S.Gerrard 6, R.Ferdinand 8, J.Terry 9, O.Hargreaves 6, F.Lampard 6, P.Crouch 7, J.Defoe 6 (A.Lennon 5), S.Downing 5.

Tuesday, September 5

Saturday September 2, 2006; European Championship Qualifier

England 5 Andorra 0

England: P.Robinson, P.Neville (A.Lennon 65), A.Cole, S.Gerrard, J.Terry, W.Brown, O.Hargreaves, F.Lampard, P.Crouch, J.Defoe (A.Johnson 71), S.Downing (K.Richardson 64).

I’m sorry that this report is a bit late coming but motivating yourself to write about this farce is not easy. On top of that my computer blew up on Saturday amid turbulent weather conditions.

I suppose the fact that I have found it difficult to muster any enthusiasm about the visit of the mighty Andorra should make me somewhat sympathetic to the players who had to take the field and manage to take it seriously against this wannabe pub team.

It’s not going to though.

What a pile of crap we have had to wade through in the papers and on the tele again since this victory. Will we never learn to apply some measure of reason to England’s performances? We slam a few goals past teams like this and Jamaica and everyone starts thinking we’re the best team in the world again.

Maybe we are but results and performances like this don’t prove it.

All of a sudden people are saying that Joe Cole won’t get his place back from Stewart Downing and Wayne Rooney might have to wait his turn behind Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe because of the devastation caused to that recognised world footballing power that is Andorra.

Of course that ignores the possibility that come the end of this month both those forwards might well be warming the benches at their particular club sides.

And as for Downing. Apparently Downing should be praised for showing a total lack of adventure against Andorra. Apparently that makes us better balanced and allows all the attacking threat to come down the right. Apparently that’s a tactic.

What? You don’t play wingers to give you balance and to keep things nice and steady. You play them to take the opposition on and hurt them. And if you’re not going to take your full back on when you’re playing Andorra then when exactly are you going to do it?

Anyway, to the game.

After five minutes England took the lead. This was probably longer than it should have taken but was a respectable start.

Ashley Cole sped forward from left back to combine with Defoe. The final pass inside was probably made by an Andorran but it found Crouch completely unmarked in the middle of the penalty area and he slipped a low left footed shot into the net.

Replays confirmed that his defender had positively sprinted away from him to give him the freedom of the box.

John Terry and Defoe went close before England extended their lead on 13 minutes. This was a quality finish by Gerrard but again followed embarrassingly inept defending.

A deep centre from the left cleared the Andorran left back, who seemed to grow ever shorter as the ball came over, and Gerrard took a neat touch on his chest before rifling a sweet drive across goal into the far stanchion.

The power of the shot must have truly scared a few of the Andorrans.

From here the game became quite dull. This was not really England’s fault. The match was already in the bag and the Andorrans were faced with desperate damage limitation.

The players who know they have things to prove carried on giving it everything, those who are more secure began to relax.

Defoe was the man probably trying the hardest. His eagerness to find the net was obvious and he must have been getting anxious as a couple more openings came and went.

Ashley Cole fell into the other category and stopped flying forward with the urgency with which he had started. This left Downing without the easy option of laying the ball off to his overlapping full back and letting him do the attacking so he fell back on his other two easy options.

He either collected the ball and centred immediately from deep or cut inside onto his right foot, playing right into the Andorrans’ hands, and simply laid the ball off to his nearest teammate. As the game wore on I found this abdication of responsibility increasingly annoying.

We’re playing Andorra, Stewart. Take somebody on for Gods’ sake.

Owen Hargreaves took over the Beckham mantle with a 30 yard free kick and surprised everybody by finding the foot of the post with a fine effort.

Then Defoe finally got his goal and it was well worth the wait. Gerrard skipped a challenge out wide and whipped in a superb ball to the near post. Defoe was on it in a flash and stabbed an incisive first time volley high into the net at the near post.

This was England’s best goal simply because it looked the goal most likely to have been scored against a good team.

Almost immediately he nearly had another as an instinctive, leaping, flicked volley was pawed to safety by the keeper.

From the corner England miraculously failed to score when the entire Andorran defence pushed out to leave Phil Neville clear and onside on the right with five unmarked players waiting in the area.

Neville opted for a high cross instead of just rolling it in low and John Terry tried to convert even though the ball was behind him and simply headed clear of his waiting colleagues.

Not that it mattered.

Half Time: England 3 Andorra 0

Within a minute of the restart Defoe had scored with a decent touch across his defender and sharp low finish. It was hard to believe a proper defence would have allowed this goal, however.

This really did allow England to drift into mediocrity.

The ever willing Hargreaves tried his luck from distance and almost snapped the post in two with a fine effort but in general goals were looking increasingly unlikely.

Then MacLaren took off Neville and Downing for Lennon and Richardson and England immediately scored again.

The first time Lennon got the ball he ignored all the impressive buck passing that Downing had indulged in and went straight for his full back. He skipped past two challenges as if they weren’t there and centred for Crouch to head in yet another international goal.

How does he do it? Even against opposition like this I can’t understand it. When he heads the ball his head is actually moving away from the target not towards it. He deflects the ball with a kind of ricochet, not with the normal method of actually imparting power with use of the neck muscles.

That is why so many of his headers end up flopping into the keepers arms in such a sad, limp manner.

Now he is being tipped to end up England’s all time leading scorer. Just how many games can we arrange against teams like Andorra and Jamaica?

He should really have had his hat trick here after the final substitute, Andy Johnson, laid one on a silver platter for him but he stroked wide from penalty spot range.

All in all a routine win against a side with absolutely no international ability whatsoever.

Come back on Thursday to read about a game which should offer some kind of test.

Full Time: England 5 Andorra 0

England: P.Robinson 6, P.Neville 6 (A.Lennon 8), A.Cole 7, S.Gerrard 9, J.Terry 7, W.Brown 6, O.Hargreaves 7, F.Lampard 5, P.Crouch 6, J.Defoe 7 (A.Johnson 6), S.Downing 3 (K.Richardson 5).

Star Player: Steven Gerrard

Gerrard is a genuinely good player and by moving him out to the right MacLaren is leaving Fat Frank with less excuses for his own sluggish performances.
It was thought that these two were too similar to play well together. What’s Franks’ excuse now he’s playing with Hargreaves?
Count the number of times he gets mentioned in this report and it will tell you everything about Lampard’s latest performance.

Wednesday, August 16
Hangover Cure?

In some ways I would be better advised not to pay any attention to tonights’ friendly against Greece. Any thought of the England football team at the moment just brings the World Cup flooding back into my mind in all its gory.

The feelings that provokes are split fairly evenly between frustration, depression and anger.

Even though the Swede has gone, and he will remain forever the man I hold most responsible for our abject showing, plenty more of those accountable will be on display at Old Trafford. More caps will be handed out like confetti to multi millionaires who talk a good game and then perform like the shyest boys in the primary school class who are forced to stammer out a line or two in the nativity play at Christmas.

And if one of Frank Lampard’s shots does happen to fly in we will all be eagerly discussing what a world class player he is again. If fat Frank wanted to be considered a world class player he had his chance in the summer.

Of course he will not be held back tonight by being partnered by Steven Gerrard who gets first dibs on David Beckham’s slot on the right. Owen Hargreaves will be allowed to take his place alongside Lampard in the centre as he tries to build on his own personal World Cup “success”.

That should not be hard. He has now established himself as a world class player in most quarters simply by running around in a committed fashion when we lost Rooney against Portugal.

Get the videos out. He was no better than average against Sweden and truly awful against Paraguay. He still has everything to prove in my book.

It makes me laugh when the newspapers give him so much praise and start making out that he’s quality and that he scored his penalty because he plays in Germany. If he was such a good player would he not be capable of a decent forward pass? His wholehearted display against Portugal had nothing to do with superior skill or technique but was, in fact, the most typically English performance imaginable.

That’s not a criticism. Our football has always been based on a large percentage of hard work and physical commitment. Had the better players in the squad showed the same appetite for graft then their quality might have taken us forward.

Too many remained cocooned in the Swedes’ air of passivity.

Hargreaves has been lauded since the tournament as England’s one success story. Surely the one unqualified success was Aaron Lennon who impressed every time he got on the pitch and improved each performance. His reward is a place on the bench while MacLaren gives a shirt to his Middlesbrough chum Stewart Downing.

Downing looked distinctly average during the World Cup and also has a lot to prove.

Of course the sombre mood going into this game has already been increased a million times over by the injury to Dean Ashton in training.

Ashton was not present in the summer and his inclusion in the side offered one of the rays of hope looking ahead. If he could have put in a good performance it might have pushed Freak Crouch back down the pecking order. Instead we are going to have to suffer his annoying presence from the start.

I, for one, am still definitely suffering from a World Cup hangover and I don’t expect this game to provide any sort of a cure. That can only begin to happen when the proper games start up in a few weeks time as we look to qualify for the next European Championships.

For now I’d settle for a Jermain Defoe hat trick and reality checks for Crouch and Hargreaves. Unless of course Hargreaves is a realistic international option. He could be, unlike Crouch.

Friday August 11th 2006:
England – Do we really care what happens next?

The FA have rolled out another press conference today to get McClaren’s ball rolling and offer their public support. Terry Venables was announced as McClaren’s assistant, Steve Round has taken up a post as coach, Bill Beswick has been installed as team psychologist and John Terry as England’s new captain. Does anyone really give a toss?

What exactly does the Assistant to England’s manager exactly do, other than pick up an alarmingly fat cheque every month?
Is he a good typist, or has he got an excellent telephone manner? Perhaps he just makes a good brew?

Venables is to be seen as a forward step is he?

Can McClaren not be trusted to make his own mind up? Is Venables there as a Phil Neale type “Yes boss” man?

It is all a little difficult to understand, but indicative of how the FA choose to keep their watchful eye on our national side. All the right noises (and when required, excuses) are made but no real gutsy decisions are made. We at Football England are fed up of it, but frankly we’re past caring.

We’ve seen it all before and are already preparing for a month or two of depression in four years time. We may get a bit of something to shout about in the European Championships, but that doesn’t really count does it?

The World Cup is everything, and we’ve been let down too often there to have any optimism left.
McClaren has an almighty task ahead of him if England are to win the next World Cup. We hope he’s up to it, and we hope the FA allow him to get on with it without interference, but this does not appear to be a good start. Anything however, is better than Sven.

Jermain Defoe is back in the squad. I wonder who phoned him up?
Perhaps that was Tel’s first task?
Along with Defoe come Bent & Ashton. That horse has already bolted chaps, too late to shut the stable door now.

We’ll still be there cheering them on and hoping for miracles, we have no choice. Just don’t expect us to let them down gently when they come up short.

Mr Beswick looks like he might be a busy man.
“Come on Peter say it out loud. I am a goal machine. I am not a gangly, uncoordinated biffer”.

Or perhaps he could pop round here and give us some positive vibes?

Weds June 21, Sven Goran Eriksson – Man or Mouse?

As of last night England are qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup. Well done boys.
How they did it perhaps doesn’t matter, or does it?

Anyone with an ounce of knowledge on football can see that Eriksson’s tactics have been absolutely beyond comprehension. That’s not just our opinion here at Football England – you keep telling us the same. We have not had one letter of support for Eriksson’s chosen tactics.

The time has come for Eriksson to stand up
and earn his 5 million quid.

We are only three games from the World Cup final.

The most annoying part is that we know we have the players to win the freaking thing this time, yet Eriksson refuses to even put our best players on the pitch at the same time. When they do get out there, it is all too obvious that they are playing as Eriksson wants them to play. To a man, the England players are following his orders and doing their jobs as dictated by the Eriksson policy. They have to be applauded for their loyalty to the boss.

To win this World Cup we need one of two things to happen next:

1. Eriksson picks a side that includes all of our best players at the same time. Eriksson Adopts a more fluid approach and allows the creativity of our main men to be expressed. Eriksson banishes the negativity. Eriksson changes tack dramatically, and instructs his players to attack at every opportunity and cause havoc going forward.

2. The players decide to stop listening to Eriksson.

The time has come for Eriksson to step up or step aside.
Why is he so frightened? We can accept failure if we play to our ability and lose. We cannot accept drifting aimlessly along with a system that has proven time & time again doesn’t work for England.

Our last England vote showed that to the question “Who is most important to England’s World Cup success?” Sven was clearly the last man the nation has confidence in.

117 votes, less than 10% thought Eriksson is the man who can make a difference. Beckham topped our list with 346, with Stevie G close behind. Even Michael Owen got 147 votes.

Eriksson is the only man that can now reroute our destiny. As we said before – he dictates the policy. All the years of shite will be forgotten if we win four more games. That’s all it needs – a game plan for four more games. Are you up to it Sven?

Friday, May 26
England’s Soft Underbelly

England “B” 1 Belarus 2

It’s alright everybody telling us that we shouldn’t read too much into last nights’ game with Belarus and that the result wasn’t really important but there’s only a few days left now before the World Cup begins and virtually all the players that played in the game are part of the squad that Sven has announced will win the World Cup.

I would have thought we could have expected a bit more considering. Especially as the ones playing theoretically have more to play for than those rested.

The game would appear to have confirmed what we at Football England have been suggesting all along. Once you get past the starting XI there is not much left that you would want to rely on.

England did okay in the first half and led at the break. That was only because of a remarkably bad decision by the linesman who somehow failed to spot that Michael Owen had been standing yards offside moments before sending a header against the angle which Jermaine Jenas was able to head home on the rebound.

Peter Crouch also had the ball in the net but was even more blatantly offside than Owen had been.

After the break it all went horribly wrong. Robert Green, on as a sub for David James, had already got away with one horrible blunder when he allowed a regulation shot to slip through his hands and was saved by his trailing leg. Then he made one of the most embarrassing cock ups of all time.

It’s not often you concede a goal and badly injure yourself taking a goalkick but that’s what Green managed to do last night. There was obviously much sympathy extended to Green whose World Cup is now over before it even began but I think we need to be realistic here.

Green has not even looked one of the better Championship goalkeepers this season and this incident suggested a man with little confidence in his own right to be where he was. This didn’t look like just one of those things. It looked like a man desperately trying to prove to himself he was up to the task, even though the task at that moment was only taking a goalkick.

He thundered up to the ball, planted his standing foot miles too far forward, so that he was trying to kick a ball actually behind him, and then did something awful to his groin as he tried to kick the ball to the moon.

The most ridiculous thing was that the crowd then spent the rest of the night booing the guy who ran forward and put the ball into the empty net while Green led there in agony. If you were playing for your country and the keeper kicked the ball to you in front of an empty net what would you do?

Of course it’s a great shame for Green but as an England fan I honestly believe that we are now taking a better goalkeeper to Germany. Not that I’d have much confidence in Scott Carson either if he actually had to do anything there.

Carson was also beaten late on as Belarus snatched a winner despite having been reduced to ten men. Michael Dawson had only just come on as sub and looked suitably off the pace as the attacker slipped past him to drive a cross shot into the far corner.

England could not respond despite their numerical advantage and were left hoofing high balls towards a midget forward line. Surely this is why Crouch should be left on the bench. Eriksson seemed to have found a way to actually make the guy useful but now it looks like he’s going to start it just renders him pointless.

When England are looking to play good football they have a big, cumbersome, slow centre forward who can’t really finish. When they find themselves losing and clueless they have the smallest forward line in the history of the world watching bombs fall in the box.

For all the credit Crouch continues to receive I can’t see anything but a man who still surprises people by the fact he can control the ball. Nine times out of ten he takes two touches and then lays a two yard pass off to the nearest midfield player. In effect he has just stopped play for two seconds and left the ball exactly where it was. All this does is allow the defence time to get organised. Everytime he attemted anything beyond that last night he was dispossessed.

Other players who failed to impress were Owen Hargreaves, Jamie Carragher and Stewart Downing.

Hargreaves was being played out of position at right back but cannot really use that as an excuse because Sven apparently picks him for his versatility. The alarming thing was that it was not just defensively that Hargreaves struggled. His control and passing were also sub-standard. Those are things a midfielder should do better than a normal right back.

The incident in the second half when he looked like he was panic stricken just taking a free kick and sent it straight to the feet of their centre forward was less than encouraging.

Carragher just does not impress me as an international footballer, at centre half, full back or in midfield. He’s a good, solid journeyman Premier League player and that’s about it.

Downing is supposed to have pace but I think he is only fast against slow opponents. There is nothing subtle about his wing play either. I cannot really see him making the difference when the going gets tough in the World Cup.

Although I have picked on these four none of the other fringe players really enhanced their claims except for Aaron Lennon.

Carrick and Jenas were generally tidy without suggesting they were willing to stick their necks out to make a real difference. Sol Campbell does not convince although he at least seems to have got over his really bad spell.

Michael Owen looked physically fit enough but not match sharp. When Carrick did produce one truly telling ball in the second half Owen’s lack of control instantly wasted the opportunity.

Which leaves us with Aaron Lennon. He showed genuine pace, trickery and confidence and was a constant thorn in the Belarus side. He drew a lot of fouls and was the man responsible for the sending off. A definite plus. Of course he plays in David Beckham’s position and, barring injury, Beckham will play every minute of our World Cup campaign so it is doubtful Lennon will be given much chance to shine.

If he does come on Beckham will simply be shifted into the middle and Steven Gerrard will get shoved to some remote part of the field. Not what we really want, is it?

Anyway, the one good thing about this game is that it leaves you feeling things can only get better from here. Let’s hope they do in the games against Hungary and Jamaica, when the big boys will be featuring, and in the World Cup itself.

Of course the fringe players will also have a better chance of impressing when they have a few of the big names alongside them so all hope is not lost yet. We certainly don’t want any more injuries to the first team though.

Saturday, May 6
The FA Get Their Man (Apparently) At Last

The identity of the next England manager was finally revealed this week and at the end of a long and mainly depressing process you had to feel there was some kind of method behind all the FA’s madness after all.

In the end they were able to appoint a man who most people in this country feel is an assistant rather than a manager, who is not particularly liked by the fans and who few would have chosen if it had been up to them and scarcely heard a dissenting voice. Everyone had become so sick and tired of the whole thing that they would have probably not complained if Ron Atkinson had been appointed.

It’s right though. If the FA had just come out and appointed Steve McClaren as Sven’s successor right at the start everyone would have been up in arms. Have the past three months made McClaren the right man for the job? Was he the right man all along? Or was he never the right man?

Results can make a hero out of any manager but my personal feeling is that McClaren is not the best manager in the world and not the best of those who the FA could actually have got to do the job.

I think he was the only credible English candidate, however, and this in itself makes the increasing clamour for an Englishman in the post seem truly ridiculous.

I think it was telling that this clamour hardly ever came from the fans. I certainly remember how optimistic we all were when Kevin Keegan was swept into the role on a tidal wave of public support. That appointment remains sound, it was the logical thing to do at the time.

Unfortunately Keegan proved not up to the task. That was not his fault and we can be thankful that Keegan himself was a big enough man, and a big man who genuinely had England’s best interests at heart, to walk away himself when he realised he was not the man to take us forward.

The Englishmen demanding an English leader now strike me as self important, self promoting pricks (for want of a better term) who spend their time dreaming of how they would have made great England managers and imagining how their careers have been usurped by foreigners.

Graham Taylor was particularly irritating. He even moaned about the fact that former England managers had not been consulted about the appointment. Is the man unaware of the embarrassment he was at international level? Do the names Carlton Palmer and Andy Gray mean nothing to him? Why would anyone want to consult you Graham?

Big Fat Sam maintained his shameless self promotion to the last. He even started giving us an insight into what the England team would be like under his expert guidance.

Heartened by Bolton’s second decent display in three months, albeit another defeat at Spurs, Allardyce gave us a tantalising glimpse of his tactical genius.

He had played Kevin Davies against the midget Spurs full back Young-Pyo Lee and seen him win a fair amount of headers. This, he declared, is how I would use Peter Crouch. Magnificent stuff.

He then went on to assure us all that it would not be long ball and that he would use him differently if Michael Owen was actually playing. Jesus. What does actually go on in Allardyce’s head?

Firstly, you’re playing Crouch on the wing but you’re not playing long balls. Does that mean you’re playing to Peter’s feet or just playing short passes to his head? Surely at his height you cannot play a short ball to his head, it has too far to travel in the first place.

Secondly, if Crouch is only playing on the wing if Owen’s not playing then who on earth is playing up front? Willy Wonka? This surreal situation was supposing Wayne Rooney to be injured.

Allardyce then let everybody know just how massive a disappointment it was for him not getting the job. I would not be surprised to hear the FA come out with the news that Big Sam had never been interviewed in the first place and the whole thing, as he used to write in his stories at school, had all been a dream.

Which brings us back to Steve McClaren. I have cleverly shown just how he has been able to take his place at the top table while all the fuss centred on others.

This will not last for long, however. Once he is in charge, perhaps even earlier, McClaren’s every move will be the subject of intense scrutiny. Every decision he makes, or does not make, will be reviewed and analysed a thousand times.

Experts like Graham Taylor will be pointing out all his many mistakes and explaining how they would have done things differently.

The pages of Football England will be as forthright as ever. We do, however, genuinely wish him all the best. We will be all too happy to give him praise if we think he merits it. He certainly has talent at his disposal so he should approach the job with every confidence.

He will need to be strong as well as astute to succeed, however. In many ways the England managers job is a thankless one and he is at a disadvantage in that the press are already armed with so many things to throw at him if things go wrong.

Good assistanst, good coach but always the man behind the manager. Wasn’t even the first choice, got in by default. Too negative, doesn’t have the respect of the big players. All these things are just waiting to be thrown in his direction whether they are true or not.

It is impossible not to feel that McClaren is a sitting target. His recent time at Middlesbrougfh has seen a series of fall outs with his “star” players and only last week his captain Gareth Southgate seemed to be suggesting he was not ready for the job of England manager. Southgate later denied the implication but this was hardly a vote of confidence.

Whether he was the preferred man of the majority of the selection panel, as they have now claimed, we will never know but we do know that he was not the first man offered the job.

The FA, probably in an attempt to deflect criticism from David Dein, have also now come out and said that Arsene Wenger was approached about the role but was not interested. This also undermines the claims that McClaren was always their first choice.

Yes, he certainly has his work cut out, especially as we are getting tired of respectable failure and are beginning to demand, perhaps unreasonably, outright success. My biggest worry about McClaren is that he looks like someone who might keep us ticking along nicely but is not someone who can inspire our side to real heights of achievemnet. Only time will tell, however, and at least the whole sorry saga is over for the time being.

Sunday, April 30

Why Is It Always Us?

Just about the worst week in the history of English football, barring actual disasters (touch wood), culminated in one of the most gut wrenching incidents most of us will have had to sit through when Wayne Rooney went down in agony clutching his broken foot at Stamford Bridge.

Apparently if everyone in Japan jumped up and down at the same time it would cause a tidal wave that would swamp America. Somebody should check if Ireland is still there because the collective groan that must have escaped across England at that moment might well have had a similar effect. I’ve no hope at all for the Isle of Man.

So a week that had descended into farce ended in tragedy.

The Scolari episode was simply a messy embarrassment for a ruling body that seems to revel in its’ own incompetence. Although the FA’s crass refusal to respect the wishes of the man they wanted to appoint as the next England manager has probably cost them him this was damage that could be mended.

After all, Rooney’s injury puts all the fuss about who the manager is into real perspective. At the end of the day the man in charge is not as crucial to the cause as the men he leads (unless, God forbid, that man turns out to be Sam Allardyce). There is no adequate way of replacing Rooney. Many, perhaps most, England fans will feel that any hopes we had of winning the World Cup ended with his injury.

In the previous piece on this page, which was rendered instantly redundant by Scolari’s announcement, I mentioned that he might find the excesses of our press not worth the hassle and his early taste of it, from which he should have been protected, will certainly have helped his decision to distance himself from the job.

More important, and damning against the FA, was the way in which Scolari’s apparent acceptance of the post was paraded when the man himself had declared that he would make no decision until after the World Cup so as not to compromise his position as Portugal manager in that tournament. Outstanding ineptitude.

If Scolari is now determined to keep clear of the England job it seems as though the selection panel will now be forced to choose from one of the “closer to home” options on their original shortlist. As this saga rumbles on, however, it becomes harder to believe that any of these people were ever truly wanted by the suits at the FA. In fact I am tempted to believe they were only approached in the first place to placate the calls for an English appointment. Now we have the prospect of the FA being cornered into appointing someone they don’t actually want because of their own mis-management.

As for the prospect of taking on the world without Rooney I have designed my own strategy. I would go with a 4-5-1 formation with Michael Carrick holding, Beckham and Joey Cole out wide and Lampard and Gerrard both given licence to get forward in support of the striker. Good, eh?

Of course there is every chance that Michael Owen will not be ready in time for the tournament either and that would leave us with nobody to play up front. In that case I would go 4-6-0 with Downing coming in on the left and Joey Cole moving inside to bomb forward alongside Lampard and Gerrard.

Do you think I’m going to get a call from the FA?

Friday, April 28

Big Phil Scolari, Not Even English

Having argued against the wisdom of appointing an Englishman as the next England manager, and having admitted to not knowing enough about the foreign possibilities to cast judgement, we are hardly in a position to start complaining about the apparent appointment of Luiz Filipe Scolari by our wonderful FA.

We would not be English if we did not react with some scepticism to the arrival of another Johnny Foreigner to take up such a position of responsibility and power, however.

All the signs now are that Scolari will be the man to succeed Sven Goran Eriksson after this summers’ World Cup finals. Having set out in the stated quest of finding an Englishman to take on the job the FA’s selection panel are believed to have offered the job to a man born in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. You’d need a pretty big envelope to send him a Christmas card, or a big, fat redundancy cheque.

You have to despair at the stupidity of the selection panel which was originally comprised of the FA chief executive Brian Barwick, the international committee chairman Noel White and the Premier League’s FA board representative Dave Richards. By coming out at the start and declaring they were looking for an Englishman they made a massive rod for their own backs which they have been trying to slyly rid themselves of ever since.

Of course this has proved impossible.

That pronouncement was almost immediately shot to pieces as it became obvious that Martin O’Neill was one of the panels’ favoured options. Among the majority of football fans it was already well known that O’Neill was in fact an Irishman. That is something we can only assume Barwick, White and Richards found out the next day when their morning papers arrived.

The biggest absurdity of all in saying that they were looking for an Englishman was the fact that if they were determined to have one they should have been in a position to make the appointment immediately. Surely they should have known enough already to decide who they felt was best suited for the job. They should have been able to take an extended lunch break down the local pub, have a few quick shandies and stagger back to the office ready to make an announcement.

Instead it began to appear as though the panel was simply waiting to see which of the English managers’ involved got the best results between then and the end of the season. Therefore Sam Allardyce looked the best option at first but then slipped away as his Bolton Wanderers side proceded to go on an unprecedented losing streak. I would imagine that the members of the selection panel had no idea that Allardyce’s side play with all the grace and finesse of a Sunday morning pub team until they were obliged to watch Match of the Day a couple of times to help them with their decision making.

Likewise Stuart Pearce, never really a likely candidate, and Alan Curbishley also drifted to extreme longshots as Manchester City and Charlton faltered.

In contrast Steve McClaren came right back into contention. Abused and abhorred at Middlesbrough when the selection process was getting underway Eriksson’s assistant came back into the reckoning as Boro embarked on two excellent cup campaigns. It was not enough to convince, however, and ironically the apparently decisive meeting with Scolari came only the day before McClaren led his side into a European final.

None of this should have been relevant. As the saying goes, form is temporary, class is permanent. If there was an Englishman out there worthy of the role then a few defeats here and there would not be reason against appointing him. Especially as the men involved manage teams who cannot be expected to win every week in the Premier League.

Brian Clough was in a similar position throughout his career and it is unlikely that he would have been able to command the success he achieved in the 1970’s in the modern game at clubs like Derby and Nottingham Forest. If he was around today, however, he would certainly stand out as a man capable of taking on the England job. Just as Allardyce, Curbishley and McClaren stand out as people who are not.

Stuart Pearce offers hope for the future but his time is at least two years away, maybe more.

Therefore the appointment of another foreigner does make sense. Reservations about the cultural differences in the football played in Brazil and England are natural and Scolari will need to show that he can adapt to the English style and mentality. If he can infuse a little Latin panache and confidence on the ball then that is fine. I certainly believe that English football needs to stay true to its roots, however.

We give ourselves too much of a hard time about liking a challenge and coming off the pitch sweaty. Steven Gerrard epitomises everything that is best about English football and he is unmistakbly an English footballer. Nobody can tell me that he is not a world class player and I would imagine there are few players who other players look forward to playing against less.

Doubts about Scolari’s pedigree will also need answering. He is a World Cup winner but it is correct to say that with Brazil that is more expected than exceptional. And although he led Portugal to the European Championship final in 2004 he did so as manager of the host nation, always a massive advantage. Managing England seldom throws up any kind of succour.

Scolari might even find the pressure and intrusive attention on himself beyond that he encountered while leading Brazil. It will undoubtedly be the acid test, if he does take it on.

But why exactly was Scolari chosen when the selection panel decided against keeping it at home? The answer, it would appear, actually had nothing to do with the original panel. Apparently the idea came from David Dein, the Arsenal chairman, who joined the decision making panel later on, presumably in order to have someone on the panel capable of making a decision.

Scolari was Dein’s choice and the original three musketeers were eventually agreed on one thing, that Dein knew better than them. That’s fair enough, everybody thinks D’Artagnan was the best musketeer, even though he wasn’t one.

Most fans, if they were not allowed an Englishman, would probably have gone for Mourinho or Wenger. Whether either of these were sounded out we may never know. Dein is certainly too shrewd to throw Wenger’s name in as a possibility. Indeed he might have got himself involved specifically to keep the Frenchman out of the running.

As per usual the whole process has been a bit of a shambles with nobody coming out of it with much credit. Barwick, White and Richards have maintained the common perception of the FA as a collection of bumbling, privileged incompetents while the English candidates have struggled to maintain their dignity.

Pearce, as usual, managed this comfortably. Steve McClaren did well to end up looking a whole lot better than when he started although his earlier troubles at the Riverside probably helped him stay apart from the fuss and bother. Alan Curbishley ended up speaking somewhat out of turn, although his comments were completely justified. Sam Allardyce was appalling. Throughout the process he has come across as a bullying, self serving, raving egotist. Whether he has actively sought the support of his several lobbyists we cannot say. It would not be a surprise if he has, however.

The reaction from John Barnwell, some kind of managers’ representative, and former English managers such as Graham Taylor and Howard Wilkinson has also been embarrassing. Taylor in particular should keep his mouth shut. We had the misfortune of having him as England manager once upon a time. Oh for a foreigner then.

The comments of these people smack totally of self interest and not of the general good. All that matters is the welfare of the England team and if a foreigner is the best man to get the best out of them then so be it. Let’s hope that Eriksson ends on a real high, after all he hasn’t done a bad job and still has the chance to make himself a hero, and that Scolari can not only get the best out of the squad he looks like inheriting but brings something new and exciting to it as well.

At least that is a possibility. What exciting things would Sam Allardyce be bringing to the role?

Wednesday, March 1
England 2 Uruguay 1

England: P.Robinson, G.Neville, W.Bridge (J.Carragher 30), M.Carrick, R.Ferdinand, J.Terry (L.King 45), D.Beckham (S.Wright-Phillips 64), S.Gerrard (J.Jenas 45), W.Rooney (P.Crouch 64), D.Bent (J.Defoe 81), J.Cole.

Uruguay: F.Carini (S.Viera 45), C.Diogo, D.Lugano, D.Godin, P.Lima, D.Perez (I.Gonzalez 88), O.Pouso, G.Varela (C.Valdez 90), M.Regueiro (J.Martinez 83), G.Vargas (M.Pereira 76), D.Forlan (A.Medina 86).

Well, if it wasn’t already certain it is now. Barring injury Peter Crouch is going to Germany as our official plan B. Despite his consistently abject performances for Liverpool this season I suppose his brief international appearances have backed up Eriksson’s opinion that he offers a viable option if the game needs changing. All I can see in my minds eye is one gilt edged chance that has to go in and we would rather it was Owen on the end of it but it’s up to him to put it away.

It’s a scenario I would liken to having to watch David Batty step up to take the last penalty in a shootout. Still, I mustn’t get paranoid.

England approached this friendly, supposedly the last game before Sven has to announce his squad, with two of the starting line up under pressure to claim a place, Michael Carrick and Darren Bent. They had deeply contrasting nights.

England started with a good tempo and were obviously intent on keeping the momentum gained in beating Argentina going, which is not that easy with the games so far apart. Uruguay soon showed that they were not here for the ride, however. Getting men behind the ball, challenging keenly and breaking quickly with some neat passing movements. Typical Uruguay really.

It was also typical that in the main they did not really seek to penetrate the England box and would generally end up trying a hopeful shot from distance. Paul Robinson probably thought they were welcome to do so.

Forlan put a couple of shots on target that were no trouble to the England keeper before chances began to appear at the other end.

Darren Bent perhaps should have got on the end of a fine Beckham through ball but allowed it to bounce and the chance was lost. This was a pity for the skipper as well as the new boy as it would be his most telling contribution of a fitful evening.

Then Carrick began to influence proceedings. He had been nicely efficient from the start but now he began to edge further forward and his probings were more to the liking of Rooney and Joe Cole than either Beckham or Gerrards’. He had a shooting chance himself and will have been disappointed to send his shot a couple of yards wide before he linked well with Cole who might well have done better than force a save out of Carini after showing a fine first touch.

Then Cole turned provider by slipping Beckham clear and he should certainly have done better than scoop hurriedly over as the keeper advanced.

There had been moments of anxiety at the back for England, with Ferdinand giving possession away twice in dangerous areas and Neville looking uncomfortable when run at, but the Uruguayans had looked unlikely to punish such errors when they suddenly took the lead on 25 minutes.

John Terry’s headed clearance from a left wing corner was possibly the most confident piece of England defending yet but as the ball dropped almost thirty yards out Omar Pouso sent a lazy looking volley arching straight back into the corner of the net. It was a stunning goal and everybody was, appropriately enough, stunned.

Minutes later there was more danger for England and also confusion which saw Robinson collide with Wayne Bridge as the left back cleared. Bridge stayed down and was unable to continue. He looked to have landed badly but the greater worry was obviously whether or not he had suffered a recurrence of his leg injury of last season. Carragher came on to replace him.

With England’s attacks increasingly faltering John Terry decided to try to go through alone and came mighty close to pulling it off. He needed a lucky break to set his run in motion but from then on he did well to go clear inside the box. One extra touch allowed Carina to deflect his shot behind for a corner though.

The last chance of the half fell to Darren Bent and the Charlton man sent his cross shot wide, although it was a half chance at best. Bent had not shown up to advantage in this half, however. It is one thing making runs in behind the opposition defence but someone has to be in a position to make the pass when you set off. Bent kept going early and was continually finding himself in offside positions. In more close passing movements he was always moving one way as the ball was sent another.

Michael Carrick, on the other hand, had probably been England’s best performer in the first half. In truth his defensive qualities had not been overly tested but his movement to support and link up play was excellent and his use of the ball good. He was not content just to play the easy ball, either, which is always welcome and generally the sign of a player with that bit of extra class. He certainly looks more naturally suited to the role than his club colleague Ledley King which should not really come as a surprise to anyone.

Half Time: England 0 Uruguay 1

England made two changes at half time with Jenas and King replacing Gerrard and Terry.

There was less cohesion about England’s play at the start of the second half than there had been in the first although the better players of the first half, Carrick, Cole and to some extent Rooney, continued to offer sporadic hope. Rooney linked well with Carrick to bring a decent save out of the Uruguayan sub keeper Viera but wasted a better chance with a sloppy finish.

Uruguay fashioned their best chance of the night as England struggled to maintain their tempo but Perez hit his shot too close to Robinson and he parried to safety.

Beckham was given a free kick opportunity by the unpredictable referee but his shot across the face of the wall was never going in. I know he doesn’t play in England anymore but it does seem a long time since we saw one of his free kicks actually go in.

With England looking to be running short of ideas it was certainly time for plan B and both Crouch and Wright-Phillips entered the fray with just under half an hour remaining. Boy, the words freak and show didn’t half spring to mind as they stood next to each other waiting to come on though.

Initially the changes did nothing to improve England’s rhythm but steadily they did begin to push Uruguay further back. Wright-Phillips was certainly not afraid to run at the defence and his arrival seemed to energise Gary Neville who now began raiding forward with more conviction than at any time while his best mate was in front of him. On the other flank Joe Cole was becoming an increasing threat with his direct running and thoughtful prompting.

There had been little hint that an equaliser was imminent, however, when there suddenly was one. Cole took the ball down the left flank before cutting inside to deliver a fine centre to the back post where Crouch got up early to direct a good header back across goal into the bottom corner.

Doubtless inspired the beanpole striker than set Cole away with a neat piece of play and although Cole should probably have scored it did take a fine low save from Viera to deny him.

Shortly before he was finally replaced by Jermain Defoe, Bent had his best opportunity of the night after a good move between Wright-Phillips and Neville saw the full back whip a dangerous ball into the near post. Sharp defending denied Bent his chance but it seemed typical of a sluggish performance.

As the minutes ticked away and a whole spate of late Uruguayan substitutions disrupted the flow of the game still further tempers began to flare and a couple of ugly scenes were threatened. The Uruguayans seemed to take exception to Wright-Phillips for no apparent reason and we were treated to the bizarre spectacle of the referee bodily barging several Uruguayans in turn as they looked to argue with the tiny winger.

Amid the unrest England conjured a fine last minute winner, just as they had in their previous match against Argentina. Carrick began the move by sending a quality crossfield pass out to Neville who moved possession on sharply to Wright-Phillips. This time the winger declined taking his man on and simply sent a quick ball into the near post where Cole arrived to score with a deft finish into the roof of the net.

If England deserved to win then it was certainly an appropriate scorer.

What Eriksson had learnt about his two most obvious fringe men you can never be sure. Carrick was excellent but so he had been on the tour of America last summer and that seemed to count for nothing. Darren Bent had a tough time on his debut, but that hardly means he cannot play at this level. South Americans know how to defend and he had a lot riding on his shoulders. Somehow, if Eriksson fancied Bent above Defoe, he should have been introduced earlier. For my part it all seemed very harsh on Defoe who has not let England down when called upon in the past. Bearing that in mind I feel he should have been given this chance to show his worth.

Now, however, we will just have to wait and see. All that is left to say is Bring It On!

Full Time: England 2 Uruguay 1

England: P.Robinson 6, G.Neville 7, W.Bridge 5 (J.Carragher 5), M.Carrick 8, R.Ferdinand 5, J.Terry 6 (L.King 6), D.Beckham 6 (S.Wright-Phillips 7), S.Gerrard 6 (J.Jenas 5), W.Rooney 7 (P.Crouch 7), D.Bent 4, J.Cole 9.

Monday, February 6

The Next England Manager

Right, so Sven is going. Not as soon as many would wish but he will no longer be the England manager after this summers’ World Cup finals. No the question becomes “Who’s next?”

Obviously speculation has been intense ever since the announcement that Sven was going was made. It will continue to fill column inches until his successor is revealed.

Football England will give it consideration here this one time and then leave it to the FA, except for a few choice words of wisdom from Norbert Wartle and Percy Piranhafish perhaps.

Obviously there has been a widespread clamour that the next man should be English from around the country. I do not go along with this view at all.

This is really just a kneejerk reaction to Sven’s spectacular fall from grace in the second half of his term in office and has as much to do with non football reasons as it has with the shortcomings he has also shown in his actual job.

Everybody should also remember that his predecessor, Kevin Keegan, was not only English but a wholehearted, brave, honest, extremely patriotic Englishman. Unfortunately he was also an incompetent international manager.

With the luxury of having almost the whole world to choose from it is important that we simply get the best manager, not the best English one.

If there is little to choose between the leading candidates and one or more of them happen to be English then the choice should undoubtedly be the native. Are there any Englishmen who deserve serious consideration though?

For a long time the leading home grown contender was Steve McClaren but his hopes appear to have dwindled during a season of turmoil at Middlesbrough although you never know. He looks a smarmy type who could well have stroked a few egos at the FA in his time.

It is also still possible that his season could end in better shape than it is now. His side are still in two cup competitions and their FA Cup draw is not the worst.

Plus he will be in Germany in the summer and if things do go well it could count in his favour. Having said that the FA seem to want to make the appointment before then anyway.

Basically we do not want McClaren. His work at Middlesbrough has been fine in general but he does not come across as a tactical genius or particularly charismatic. Plus he has been too close to Sven and surely we would all prefer a clean break after the summer.

The next English candidate, and the one with most support at present it would seem, is Bolton’s Sam Allardyce.

If you have read any of our Premiership coverage it will not surprise you to find out that the prospect of Sam Allardyce getting the England job scares me rigid.

A lot of comment has been made about how Eriksson’s position going into these finals is the same as Bobby Robson’s was going into the 1990 finals. What would be the same is if Allardyce took over from Eriksson, as Graham Taylor took over from Robson. And what a disaster that was.

Just like Taylor, Allardyce has taken a small, unfashionable club from obscurity and turned them into a hard working, physical, long ball team who are hard to beat.

Just like Watford under Taylor, Allardyce’s Bolton play a relentless long ball game and look to profit from long throws, free kicks and corners. They play nothing resembling international football and Allardyce exists in a world of strapping, committed athletes who, like himself, have no pretensions to playing football.

Would this style work for England? It didn’t under Taylor and I see no reason to believe it would under Allardyce. At Bolton Big Fat Sam can do what he wants and everyone’s happy because they’re as high in the league as they’ve basically ever been.

As manager of England his methods would come under far more scrutiny than they’ve done at club level in the media and it is doubtful the supporters, unlike at Bolton, would put up with his way of playing.

Would we really want to see Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham and Joe Cole watching balls flying over their heads for ninety minutes? Gary Neville would be made up of course. He’s got a decent throw on him.

You could argue that Allardyce would play a different way if he was England manager and working with better players. Why would you trust someone to succeed using totally different methods to the ones they have used in the past though?

Besides, Allardyce has some quality players at Bolton, he just doesn’t let them play. Jay Jay Okocha was the talk of the Premiership a couple of seasons ago. All the skill and trickery of that time has disappeared though. Now Okocha is just another of Allardyce’s artisans whose only special gift to the team is the length of his throw.

The other thing against Allardyce is he thrives on the intimacy of club football. Having his players around him day in, day out. Drumming into them exactly what they must and must not do and working them until they are fit to run through brick walls.

That does not happen at international level. You get your men for a week here and there throughout the year and you spend that time trying to mould the countries most talented individuals into a shape that best suits their talents and coaxing the best out of them.

Allardyce’s idea of a plan B is to kick everything longer and harder than you already have been doing.

The right man for England? I certainly hope not.

That leaves Alan Curbishley who plays better football but has also never managed a big club and is not used to handling superstars and, apparently, Paul Jewell although that suggestion seems faintly ludicrous to me. A decent six months in the Premier League with Wigan and you’re England manager? Surely not. We should not overlook his “achievements” at Bradford and Sheffield Wednesday before crowing him England boss.

Then there’s Stuart Pearce. He laughed at the suggestion himself on the grounds of his inexperience but if I was forced to choose an Englishman to do the job he would be my pick.

As a player, of course, Pearce had infinitely more exposure to the international arena than the others (Curbishley did play for the schoolboys), he would have the respect of the players and seems to know what makes players tick without being one to pander to egos.

But, of course, we don’t have to pick an Englishman. I am not going to pretend to know enough about the possible foreign candidates to go into detail but there are obviously several candidates who have vast international experience and know what it takes to do well in major tournaments.

I would definitely take one of these. The best thing to come out of the FA in the wake of the Sven fiasco is that in future England managers will serve from major tournament to major tournament and be assessed after each, allowing them to be replaced if there is cause for concern.

Two years of Guus Hiddink and then, if he’s not showing himself to be a world beater, the option of Stuart Pearce with a couple of years experience under his belt and raring to go as England manager. Sounds alright to me.

Friday, January 27

Tricky Euro Draw For England

England have been handed a reasonable draw for the 2008 European Championship qualifiers but one that has genuine dangers.

Also drawn in our group are Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia, Macedonia and Andorra.

Trips to Croatia and Russia are never to be taken lightly and Israel acquitted themselves well in a tough World Cup qualifying group including France, Switzerland and Eire.

It should also be remembered that Macedonia took points off us in our recent World Cup qualifying campaign.

I would suggest that slip ups like that and the one in Northern Ireland would probably prove costly in this group in which two teams go through but there are no play offs.

All in all a decent draw, but one that could have been better, especially for the fans. There are not too many places there that would be top of your visiting wish list.

At least it’s not the Eurovision Song Contest though, we’d be knackered against that lot all voting for each other, a definite Nil Points.

Tuesday, January 24

Three Cheers For The FA; Another £5 Million Well Spent

What an absolute shambles.

Who are these people who run English football and how do they get to do it?

Do they go down the job centre and apply for these things like the rest of us? Some of them might well just be on work experience given what goes on.

The only one of these FA bods I’ve ever been aware of in a previous existence is David Davies, press officer or something.

When I was a kiddie Davies used to be the second string presenter on Look North, the regional news programme in the north west of England.

He was Stuart Hall’s straight man. Surely if one of those two freaks was going to end up running English football it should have been Stuart Hall, a man with a genuine interest in the game, a man with some independent thought (albeit completely deranged thought) and with a vast experience of European competition thanks to It’s A Knockout.

But no, we are left with the Davies’ of this world, men who exist behind closed doors away from reality who emerge every so often with sombre looks on their faces which are meant to suggest wisdom and knowledge and wreak havoc on the game we love.

After a day of intense negotiations yesterday these people and Sven Goran Eriksson, our wonderful national team manager, managed to reach an agreement whereby Eriksson will leave his post two years early after this summers World Cup (he was going anyway) with the Swedish money making machine pocketing a cool £5 million for walking away.

Absolutely unbelievable.

We are supposed to work out for ourselves that he’s been sacked but why, for once, can’t they just get it out into the open and deal with it properly?

The FA is still like a Gentlemens Club, where it’s bad form to sack someone, it reflects on all of us, old chap, so pretence and facade is all you’re ever likely to get.

It’s an environment where mercenaries, cads if you like, such as Eriksson can flourish, and boy has he done well.

When the next woman who asks him, “Is that a wad of cash in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?” she’d better get ready for the answer, “It’s just cash, dear”.

Of course he may well then add, “But leave it till half time, it’s only the World Cup.”

Yes, I know this is a bit over the top but these dealings make me angry.

All around English football there are good and honest people trying to improve the game, maybe in small ways, in whatever way they can, putting in time and effort for little or no reward, struggling with financial constraints and you see money like this being hurled at a bloke like Eriksson just to get him to go. Ridiculous.

So he will be taking us to the World Cup, it seems, and, of course, he can make me look stupid by leading us to victory.

Let’s hope he does, but I don’t think I’m being unfair when I say that virtually everyone in the country would put the credit for that down to the players more than the manager.

He has certainly done nothing to mark him out as up to the task in his two previous finals, quite the opposite in fact.

In Japan and in Portugal he filled the side with fear and negativity with terminal consequences. Sure, he’s got a better side this time around but does he have the bottle, or just the basic intelligence, to get the best out of these players?

Is it possible for the players to respond to him now anyway? There is no doubt they will be desperate to succeed, but even if things go well in a World Cup there are critical moments when it is vital that everyone is pulling together, that everyone has confidence in each other and when, above all, you need clear and correct instruction from the man in charge.

That man will be Eriksson, is he the man to stand up and be counted at the vital moment? He has never been so in the past, he has preferred to sit passively and watch our hopes and dreams disappear.

His use of substitutions have sometimes helped us on our way out. Why will he do better this time? Especially after all this nonsense.

Much will be made of the fact that Bobby Robson was in much the same situation when he led us to the semi finals in 1990, everybody knowing he was on his way out after the finals.

Bobby Robson, however, was a man who palpably had no other interest than in seeing England succeed.

He may have made mistakes, he was certainly crucified in the press for his running of the side, but all of his considerable energies went into his job, coaching, selecting, motivating.

Eriksson wants England to win the World Cup, sure he does, but he gives the impression that he would like it just to happen, without much fuss and without it troubling him too much.

Robson went into the 1990 finals feeling he had something to prove and desperate to prove it.

Let’s just hope that Eriksson is roused to something similar.

Funnily enough, England’s progress in 1990 actually became a source of embarrassment to the suits at the FA, who had treated Robson so shabbily.

The concerned parties emerged from yesterdays meeting presenting an uneasy truce.

The FA chief executive Brian Barwick said, “This is the right outcome. It’s been a long and fruitful day.”

Fruitful for who, Brian?

Sven himself said, “I am happy that we have reached this agreement.” There’s a surprise. Five million quid to walk out of a job you’re unfit to do, I think that’s reason enough to feel pleased.

He added, “I have always enjoyed the incredible support of the fans.”

Are you sure about that, Sven? The English turn out in their millions to support their team, their country.

Their presence and backing is not neccessarily a show of support for you.

All I would say now is that you’ve taken a lot more out of English football than you’ve given back. Now you have a short space of time in which to redress that balance.

Get your head down and get on with it.

Tuesday Jan 3 – 2006.

Formations, formations, formations….

Happy New year to all followers of the England football team. We’ve just wrapped up the first of our fans votes and the response was as follows.

The question we asked was “What do you think is the best formation for the England Team?” The results for our 6 alternatives are as follows:

1st – 4-4-2 (49.8%)
2nd – 3-5-2 (26.9%)
3rd – 4-4-3 (20.9%)
=4th – 4-4-1-1 (3.0%)
=4th – 4-2-4 (3.0%)
6th – 4-5-1 (1.5%)

So no surprises then, 4-4-2 is the formation with the most votes. Just about half of you voted for 4-4-2, which obviously means half of you didn’t.

Perhaps most noteworthy, (write this down Sven) is that half of us would like to see a more attacking line up, with 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 attracting 47.8% of the vote between them.

I think above all, this shows that when it comes down to the World Cup, we at least need a plan B for our England team. Recent events – Michael Owen being crocked shows how we need to be prepared.

Mind you, Peter Crouch is banging them in for fun now. You don’t think he’s been sticking pins in his “Little Michael” voodoo doll do you? Let’s hope he’s not got a “My Little Wayne” as well…

Saturday, December 10.

Bring It On

How exciting are World Cup finals draws? Almost as exciting as they are confusing.

Anyway, out of the confusion came a pretty good draw for us. No Holland, that was the main thing, and no Czech Republic.

Okay, we got Sweden again and everybody can worry about how long it is since we beat them. If they want to.

We got Paraguay and people can dig out their atlasses, work out they’re South American and conclude that they’ll have to be respected. If they want to.

Surely not even Sven can lose any sleep about Trinidad and Tobago, although I might be doing him a disservice.

I shouldn’t start already, but Eriksson really does worry me. He seemed to be shooting concerned looks around the hall as the balls were being opened, already seeing pitfalls, banana skins and his own demons at every turn.

Open your eyes, Sven, there aren’t any. Would Brazil think twice about walking out of our group?

Perhaps he was just keeping tabs on Heidi Klum and making sure none of the boys at the front were getting too friendly with her.

He does strike me as a man who will start finding all our opponents that bit more difficult every time he thinks about them, and there’s a lot of time left for pondering between now and June 10.

The team needs to be confident and positive come the summer and to be so they need a confident and positive manager.

This is important Sven.

We’ve gone out with a wimper under your leadership twice already, apparently content to have done alright.

We can’t guarantee or even expect to win this competition but we are not likely to have too many better chances.

Let’s get playing and really go for it this time.

It’s foolish to look beyond the group stage really, but almost impossible not to.

If we win our group it will probably be Poland or Ecuador in the second round, Argentina or Holland in the quarters and Brazil in the semis.

If we finish second in the group it will probably be Germany in the second round, Argentina or Holland in the quarters and maybe Italy or France in the semis.

I know what you’re thinking, let’s finish second in the group.

I’m not so sure. I’d like to see the boys really firing from the off.

Quite honestly, if we were to lose to Brazil I wouldn’t really care if it was the semis or the final. But as I say, all this is pure conjecture anyway.

After all, there’s no guarantee Argentina and Holland will emerge from this years’ Group of Death.

I must just give my Dad a mention at this point. A devout cynic, he was adamant the draw would be fixed and repeated his opinion with increased conviction every time one of Germany’s opponents were revealed.

“Look at him,” as the camera panned on to Jurgen Klinsmann, “he knows what’s coming out already.”

Germany, Poland, Ecuador, Costa Rica. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I personally can’t wait for the next big event in the countdown to the finals.

The release of the Panini sticker book.

BRING IT ON!