Croatia 2-0 England
In Sport | Tags: Euro-2008, Football, Sport | 1 comment | permalink
So last night was another one of those games. I think the guys from Sky Sports summed it up beautifully when they said “What started out as an experiment has ended as a shambles”. And I couldn’t agree more. But why are we using Euro 2008 qualifying games to experiment? If nothing else at least last night showed that 3-5-2 is not for us, and has also shown something else that I’ve suspected for a little while. It showed that Mclaren’s grasp of tactics and making the right substitution is far from great. At the time he was appointed I did wonder how much the FA had bowed down to the media pressure to appoint an English manager, rather than looking for the right man for the job. Last season Mclaren got his team to the middle of the bottom half of the table, and that was it. Sure they got to the UEFA cup final, but did they win it? No. I still can’t seriously believe that the powers that be at the FA truly believe that Steve Mclaren was the best person for the job bar none.
But the problems last night don’t stop there. On the pitch there is only one word I can think of that sums up the performance. Incapable. And that goes from front to back. It appears that we have a new “Calamity” James in the shape of “Calamity” Robinson. Fair enough the ball bobbled over his foot when he went to clear Neville’s back-pass. But he wasn’t under any real pressure to kick it. He could have controlled it and played it out calmly. The defence looked shocking. Gary Neville was a spectator for the first goal (hope you got a good view of it Gary). Carragher looked shocking. Ferdinand seemed more interested in doing his utmost to get sent off rather than actually playing.
The midfield didn’t fair much better. Parker looked out of his depth. Carrick confirmed that only a lunatic would pay £17m for a player who can’t pass or control the ball. Lampard looked out of sorts again. None of the midfield seems happy on the ball and none of them instilled any confidence when it came to passing. Up front I almost have to weep. If Crouch and Rooney are the best pairing of English strokers at the moment then we might as well just give up now. Rooney is in a “crisis of confidence”. Fine. Don’t play him then. I’ve always been a big fan of using a system at International level whereby the best in-form players get to play. Unfortunately Mclaren seems to prefer sticking to ineffective pairings. Crouch looked tired and disinterested. To coin a phrase, between them, they couldn’t have scored in a brothel last night (which given Rooney’s alleged off-field antics is quite something!!). It’s heartening for me as a Newcastle United fan that it was mentioned 4 times on Sky’s coverage last night that “England are missing Michael Owen and his pace”. A speedy recovery would not go amiss!
So where does this leave us? Well we’re still in the running to qualify, no doubt about that. But if we continue to “perform” the way we did last night then what’s the point? The England team currently look completely disinterested in anything, and are a team in name alone. Nobody makes good running off the ball (especially Crouch) and we’re just not good enough. Hopefully this is just a blip and normal service will be resumed in the next match against Israel.
email this | tag this | digg this | trackback | comment RSS feed
Abysmal.
Steve McClaren sends an email note out to all englandFans members after each game. This is what he had to say:
“Make no mistake the players, staff and myself are, like you, all hurting today.
We care passionately about winning football matches, not least to repay the faith and dedication of the England fans who travel with us to places such as Zagreb and the millions watching on TV at home.
The result in Croatia, following on from the draw against Macedonia, was a major disappointment. There are no excuses and I accept personal responsibility. That goes with the job.
We have to do better and I am convinced that we will. No one should doubt that we realise there is work ahead and we will be doing everything in our power to build a team that you, the fans, can be proud of.
There is a lot of football still to be played in this group. Qualification will not be won or lost in one match and we now have to look ahead. We have two friendlies before our next competitive game and we will approach them in a positive frame of mind. I know the players will be absolutely desperate to put in a good performance.
I know that there were problems endured by England fans at the ground in Croatia. We are concerned that genuine supporters were badly treated and this is something that The FA will take up with UEFA. Our fans have been terrific travelling around the world to give us unrivalled backing and it’s important that we ensure you are properly looked after.
I would like to end on a positive note by praising the fantastic achievement of the Under-21 team in qualifying for next summer’s European Championships. It was a terrific performance over two legs against Germany and Peter Taylor and the players deserve a lot of credit.”
But as England fans we can expect a rough ride. We generally don’t keep destiny in our own hands and I have a feeling that this group could end up that way when the latter stages are played.