England, oh dear, another failure on the worlds biggest stage and much of the media have run out of clichés by now. And it was all so positive, we weren’t overly sure of ourselves coming in, but that was translated as quiet confidence and the rest of the worlds media were putting us down as one of the favourites, it was all going so well. Things started to change, however when England were playing their pre-tournament friendlies, we may have beaten Mexico but we were fairly patchy and unconvincing in the process while we were lucky to beat Japan in a game where the English probably deserved to lose and would have done, had it not been for two own goals. Whatever happened to a team that had sailed through qualifying in those two games remains a mystery to many but whatever it was continued throughout the tournament.
So what was it? Poor tactics, individual failures and the fact that other teams are that much more organised than us? Enter all of the above as well as bad luck with Rio Ferdinand’s injury.
Fabio Capello’s squad selection can come into it too, making some questionable decisions on who he took to South Africa in the first place. Taking Shaun Wright-Phillips for example and leaving out Theo Walcott is one that nobody saw coming. The old argument of taking five strikers was another one, and something that was probably a mistake, only taking four strikers, two of which are Crouch and Heskey. Why was Heskey taken in the first place when he’d only scored 3 goals in a handful of starts all season while Darren Bent scored 24 Premier League goals and starting every single game. Jamie Carragher’s inclusion was another debatable one, why should a man who turned his back on the national team be given the right to come back to play some of the biggest games there are. Capello would argue his versatility but then again players like Joleon Lescott and Wes Brown can play in just as many positions across the back four.
England were also unfortunate at the back with injuries, Rio Ferdinand being the big miss having suffered an injury to his knee ligaments but also with Ledley King, another inclusion in the squad that has come under the microscope. At club level he generally plays no more than one game in a week, so to expect to play in a world cup following a hard fought season was a big ask, and one that King couldn’t handle, playing only 45 minutes of England’s first match before being subbed at half time. His replacement in that first game was Jamie Carragher who picked up a yellow card in that and the following game, leading to a suspension and another central defender having to come in for the final group game against Slovenia. Add into that the fact that Wayne Rooney had failed to score in any game since limping off in the last minute of the Champions League first leg against Bayern Munich and you’ve got yourselves a heck of a mess.
Individual error can also come into the equation, Robert Green’s howler against the USA being the stand out but poor performances from so many England players, many of whom perform superbly in the Premier League week in week out, were also costly. The aforementioned Rooney had problems with his form since sustaining his ankle injury and matters weren’t helped by his reaction to the booing from England fans after the draw with Algeria, causing great frustration to the star striker. The lack of consistency from any central defensive partner for John Terry caused havoc and that was shown up by the first two goals conceded against Germany where Matthew Upson was caught woefully out of position. Frank Lampard, such a superb performer for Chelsea every week in the Premiership, also misfired throughout the tournament.
Major questions also need to be answered on the tactics used by Fabio Capello, with the main point being the formation to play and where Steven Gerrard fits into it. As it stood Gerrard spent most of his time out on the left hand side of midfield, though generally moved himself inside as the game wore on. For a start this left Ashley Cole at left back under more pressure as he had to cover for Gerrard being out of position, something that you might get away with against the more defence minded sides like Algeria but against teams like Germany, you can‘t give one man the job of keeping those players at bay, especially when it gives a full back with the attacking qualities of Phillip Lahm the free range to come forward at such regular intervals. Though Gerrard was a willing captain who would play wherever asked for his country he’s not a left winger and not in fact at all left footed, it is simply a waste to play someone of his class out of position and yet Capello couldn’t see what the rest of the world could. Even in the first game he had Gerrard and Lampard playing in the centre together, something which we all know won’t work, it has been tried before and failed before and even against an average international team like the USA it showed. The fact that Gerrard plays just off the striker at Liverpool and does it so well just goes to add insult to injury, open your eyes Signor Capello.
Then there’s the decision to play Emile Heskey. I’ve already his mentioned his scoring record in this article and so I’ll talk about why he was played. It’s been stated by many observers that Emile Heskey has the potential to bring the best out of Wayne Rooney and first up against the USA he had a superb game, he did what he was asked of him and did it to great effect. The problem remains however with the fact that he is there to compliment Rooney, not to score his own goals and thus you’re pinning the success of two players on the shoulders of Rooney as opposed to sharing the load and allowing the team to be more versatile. Eventually Jermain Defoe came into the team in Heskeys place and did a fantastic job, scoring an important goal against Slovenia, but against Germany he hardly got a sniff as there was no-one around him to bring the ball down and feed him, the same with Rooney to some extent, so wasn’t someone like Peter Crouch, who has a very good record at international level, used more often.
England’s performances left a lot to be desired at this world cup, especially after the quiet confidence among it’s people and we can only hope that in two years time they can improve develop and blood a couple of new youngsters, here’s hoping.
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