No surprise then? We expected to lose at some point, possibly in penalties, there was some injustice though. If we ignore the absurdity of Frank Lampard’s “none goal” and the shabby performance by the Uruguayan officials then what can England fans say about the game, the tournament, the style of football as a whole?
Those who know English fans and even the stupid ones, will know that there is an obsession and a myopia that England deserve to win the World Cup or the European Championships every two years. Looking back over the past decade it has been completely inconsistent: Keegan in Euro 2000 was appalling, World Cup 2002 was a strange tournament in general and perhaps England did better than people expected, Euro 2004 will be remembered for the remarkable performances of Greece; but many will wonder what would have happened if Rooney hadn’t limped off in the quarter-finals, WC 2006 was dreadful and saw Sven’s men lose to Portugal on penalties again, a no show at the last Euros and then fast forward to South Africa.
An extremely confident qualifying performance against some fairly mediocre teams, but remember this was an England who had missed out on the previous tournament. Lampard and Gerrard clicked, Rooney was the leading scorer in the qualifiers and we played a form of football that destroyed an extremely competent Croatia team. What went wrong then?
I think it is extremely unfair to blame Mr Capello, though some of his decision making was questionable, going into the tournament he was hit by some immediate blows: no Beckham, no Rio and what looks like now a half-fit Barry and half-fit Rooney. Questions of burn-out? I would beg to differ, look at Tevez, Mascherano, Kuyt, de Jong, they didn't appear to be tired. This almost seems to rule out that the Premiership is too quick as well. Most of England’s players are competing against the world’s best every week in the Champions League, so these players and styles are hardly alien to them. What I think does matter is that many of the teams know what to expect of England and can therefore shackle their style and target individuals. Think Ozil against Terry, Klose was happy to run at Upson. I don’t think you can criticise the team for trying but they seemed clueless and lacking intelligence. They didn’t know what move to make, this shouldn’t necessarily fall on the manager, though the personnel he was bringing on didn’t help. Where was Carrick, J. Cole, I even think despite Capello’s frustration, Walcott threat of pace disorientates other teams. England just didn’t know what to do next. Tactically naive some would say.
Defensive football isn’t new and ‘parking the bus’ isn’t either but straight lined football and limited movement does not help you find the gaps. We can be frustrated by Lampard’s none goal and wonder what could have happened; but we could have also wondered if England’s players had done what their foreign colleagues do for them in the Champions League every week.
Those who know English fans and even the stupid ones, will know that there is an obsession and a myopia that England deserve to win the World Cup or the European Championships every two years. Looking back over the past decade it has been completely inconsistent: Keegan in Euro 2000 was appalling, World Cup 2002 was a strange tournament in general and perhaps England did better than people expected, Euro 2004 will be remembered for the remarkable performances of Greece; but many will wonder what would have happened if Rooney hadn’t limped off in the quarter-finals, WC 2006 was dreadful and saw Sven’s men lose to Portugal on penalties again, a no show at the last Euros and then fast forward to South Africa.
An extremely confident qualifying performance against some fairly mediocre teams, but remember this was an England who had missed out on the previous tournament. Lampard and Gerrard clicked, Rooney was the leading scorer in the qualifiers and we played a form of football that destroyed an extremely competent Croatia team. What went wrong then?
I think it is extremely unfair to blame Mr Capello, though some of his decision making was questionable, going into the tournament he was hit by some immediate blows: no Beckham, no Rio and what looks like now a half-fit Barry and half-fit Rooney. Questions of burn-out? I would beg to differ, look at Tevez, Mascherano, Kuyt, de Jong, they didn't appear to be tired. This almost seems to rule out that the Premiership is too quick as well. Most of England’s players are competing against the world’s best every week in the Champions League, so these players and styles are hardly alien to them. What I think does matter is that many of the teams know what to expect of England and can therefore shackle their style and target individuals. Think Ozil against Terry, Klose was happy to run at Upson. I don’t think you can criticise the team for trying but they seemed clueless and lacking intelligence. They didn’t know what move to make, this shouldn’t necessarily fall on the manager, though the personnel he was bringing on didn’t help. Where was Carrick, J. Cole, I even think despite Capello’s frustration, Walcott threat of pace disorientates other teams. England just didn’t know what to do next. Tactically naive some would say.
Defensive football isn’t new and ‘parking the bus’ isn’t either but straight lined football and limited movement does not help you find the gaps. We can be frustrated by Lampard’s none goal and wonder what could have happened; but we could have also wondered if England’s players had done what their foreign colleagues do for them in the Champions League every week.
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