More Failure - masterjb - @ 20six.co.uk

More Failure

It's always strange when England get knocked out. It's like I expected it but even in the face of defeat I can't help feeling bitter about the way it happened. Mahybe it's because I spend to much time reading articles where another columnist has an attempt at explaing just why England went out. The most interesting one though was one I read from an old newspaper sitting on the 179 bus coming from Barking.
It was a refreshing article reinstalling my faith in some of our writers as up till then everyone seemed to have the same arguement or perhaps they had interests in protecting certain players from a slaughtering. It had a refreshing opinion that seemed to differ from other neanderthal arguements. I just wish I could remember who wrote it. The only thing is I was unsure if I agreed with it. I'll break it down for you.
Point 1- Expectation was raised by the medias constant need to overhype players who in all honesty are pretty average.
I agree with this sentiment as I believe some of the players have very limited ability and merely have a very good PR person. One of those is Frank Lampard, a player who's game revolves around his ability to be able to bring goals from midfield. In my opinion he isn't much better then Kevin Nolan, his better long distant shot edges it for me. Outside of that Frank's passing isn't that great and his tackling is just not up to standard though I did enjoy his rape of a Portugal player which he got away with. Sometimes I often feel my big problem with him is that he's not Steven Gerrard
David Beckham is another player who benifits form good PR. After all the so called best free kick taker in the world managed to flunk most of our deadball oppurtunities onto the first man and was saved from a savaging by two free kicks out of a possible thirty actually doing enough to cause a goal. The rest were poor and barely beat the wall. He proved he couldn't beat a player, even with a big stick and most of all he proved he's pretty useless unless he has 10 yards of space to exploit. His reputation was surely the only thing that kept Aaron Lennon on the leash.
Wayne Rooney was another who suffered from a sickening backing from the media. Rushed onto a plane bad foot or not he was expected to carry the nation to victory. As he come on against Trinidad he was hailed as our saviour from mediocrity, our shining light from all the darkness and all that shite. When the match finished he changed the game. This despite the fact it was always inevitable England would score and that eventually the genius came from Sven and Gerrard.
Straying for a moment that Trinidad game showed Sven does have something about him. The inclusion of Downing and Lennon brought width to the side which terrified Trinidad. With Sven realising Trinidad can't attack us he put Beckham at right back freeing up room for him to deliver crosses in his preferred ten yards of space. The width created made more space in the middle made room for the likes of Lampard and Crouch to exploit. Somehow though Rooney hogged the credit because he was fortuanate enough to come on with the real star of the show young Lennon.
That day and again after the Sweden game I told anyone that would listen that the fact Rooney wasn't himself, as the injury had more bearing on his game then the media would let you think and the fact he wasn't as good as everyone kept saying he was meant that the first decent opposition he came against would mean he would get shown up. Cue the Portugal match and the rest is history.
But no he didn't deserve to get sent off and yes he did show the glimpses of class which proved that he is a player of great potential. But unlike Stevie Gerrard he isn't Mr. Right now.
Back to the topic at hand and we have John Terry, who with Frank Lampard apparently give us an unbeatable core. Though I've already touched on Lampard I believe the Chelsea players suffer because they play for Chelsea. They are meant to be this great English core who are given all the credit for a Chelsea victory and are hyped up by thier manager, colleagues and journalists alike. It's just when they play for England they suddenly look ordinary.
The rest of the squad doens't get much better. Downing's in because he has a left foot but is otherwise another average player. Gary Neville is an automatic choice yet considering Danny Mills at the last world cup and Carragher and Hargreaves at this world cup, he doesn't actually offer anything they don't. However there is another BUT.....
Point 2- The claim this England side is the best we've probably had since 66 is a joke! Thats why Sven isn't to blame.
Here is where me and the writer differ. The pool of English players we have now is the best since I've been alive. Though there is certainly a weakness in some positions like Right back, in goal and on the left there is still an abudance of strength in other positions. For starters our fourth choice centre back has starred for Liverpool in the last two seasons yet plays anywhere but centre back for England. Despite a relatively young squad thier is masses of experience there. Half of the squad were at Euro 2000 for example.
In central midfield some players would walk into other sides. Why Carrick doesn't get a game is beyond me. Ultimately it is down to Sven to pick a team. For me the way forward is to have a team who attacks like germany have at this tournament. The stale Italian style Football doesn't suit England and thats been Sven's downfall. Gerrard has been criticised for hitting long balls, yet Sven has England deep and pegged back in your own half to get forward you have to hit one of the isolated front men its the only way.
Sven's decision to pick Walcott was baffling as was the decision to take Jermaine Jenas. Neither of them got a look in to the first team even in the friendlies. Wouldn't it have been a better idea with Rooney and Owen suffering from injuries to take Defoe and Bent who didn't go mainly because Sven doesn't really fancy them that much. That way you have five strikers two who you can call upon should disaster strike Owen or Rooney. Against Portugal we needed a livewire up front but instead we had Crouch who wasn't ever going to score. The last thing we needed was a striker whos game revolves around bringing midfielders into the game when we're down to ten men. But he's all we had as it was all Sven brought with us. When the Premiership is dubbed one of the top three leagues in the world you have to trust strikers who are scoring don't you?

5.7.06 10:55

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Boso / Website (5.7.06 14:50)
I for one think that when Rooney went off against Portugal, and Crouch came on, England finally managed to get some fluidity in attack, however, being down to ten men, it was never going to happen.

Frank Lampard was RUBBISH at this world cup, and if I was Sven, he'd be on the bench, and Hargreaves would have played in the middle with Gerrard, so that Gerrard could go forward a bit more. And as for the Theo Walcott saga, I really feel sorry for the poor boy, but as everyone has said, taking him was really really really stupid. With Owen and Rooney not fully fit, the last thing Sven needed was a someone taking up space on the bus !!

Jonathan (5.7.06 19:50)
Lampards performance at the world cup confirmed what I had always thought about him. He's still very much the player that played for West ham. He has a good long range shot and in other areas he does just enough. Without a goal scoring performance its hard to see why he merits a place in any top level team and its hard to see him getting many games for Chelsea next season if Ballack hits the ground running.

I think it should be Gerrard and one of Hargreaves or Carrick. Theo Walcott is devoid of blame and he's probably the only one that benifited from the experience. He got to watch England from free right where the action was.

All thats left to settle though is who the next England captain is. It has to be between Terry and Gerrard. The media clamour is behind Terry and fair enough, but the team now has to be built around these two without a doubt. Whoever loses out should be vice captain.

If Owen gets anywhere near it.....