Toothless and useless

From high up in the North London sky, I watched with increasing disappointment as the clock ticked down and thoughts of if I should have kept my wallet a little heavier instead of travelling to Wembley stadium on a Tuesday evening increased. I've been to a few miserable England games, but this was one of the most regretful. At least when it was 0-0 at half time to Kazakhstan and I was trying to remember Borat's national anthem we came out in the second half and stuck five past them. This time we just hoofed it up to Peter Crouch and passed it to Adam Johnson in the hope he would do something special. Well the fight that broke out on the row in front of me almost made four hours of driving, a £30 ticket and £10 for a burger and chips worthwhile. As Wembley emptied prematurely in droves, I stuck it out to the final whistle with hope, after seeing last gasp goals from Portman Road to Bramall Lane, but none was forthcoming here.

Where to start after an eerily familiar display? Adam Johnson looked lively but is frustratingly inconsistent, not surprising considering his age. Hopefully he hasn't been labelled as our country's next saviour too soon. With leftie Adam Johnson on the right we were stuck with rightie Ashley Young on the left, who showed pace but a lack of confidence to cross - this tactical mistake slowed down play as the wingers either cut inside or delivered poor crosses. Save for his penalty box dramatics, it wasn't an awful display but hardly an inspiring one either.

In the middle, Steven Gerrard ghosted in and out of the game. He did provide the occasional Hollywood pass that our strikers failed to capitalise on, but nothing of game changing significance. Bit difficult to maraud through a midfield to goal when you have 10 other players blocking your path in a formation that may provide a tactical inspiration for Craig Levein's Scotland. Gareth Barry lacks the discipline to stay back as an anchor, resulting in Gerrard having to be restrained and nullified. Well it could have been worse - Frank Lampard could have been fit.

Left back Ashley Cole hardly bathed himself in glory either in what was a quiet night. On the other side of the pitch, Glen Johnson is becoming more and more of a liability with each game for club and country - if anyone can suggest an English right back whose last name isn't Neville then we may well have a new candidate. Rio Ferdinand looked solid enough at centre half, though it is questionable if he will remain fit to captain the team throughout the campaign. My initial reaction at hearing the name of England's second most expensive defender on the team sheet was to groan, but Joleon Lescott was not as bad as I had expected, and may even be on the way to becoming worth a fraction of his £24 million pricetag. Joe Hart was reliable at the back, though that's not saying much when he didn't have a save to make all evening.

The real problems were upfront. Despite Wayne Rooney's brief resurgence is Basle, he looks a shadow of the player who single handedly carried Manchester United to the brink of success last season after his notorious activities with certain women of the night. A bit of confidence and England would have had three points and more delusions of grandeur - instead we are left wondering why we can't beat a country with a population smaller than Leeds that has only been a footballing nation for four years. The most effort seemed to be in sprinting back to do the sort of atrocious fowl I would do when getting angry with the computer on FIFA 11, and he was fortunate not to receive a red card for that. Peter Crouch did not fare much better - he may be good to panic opposition as an impact substitute, but once they realise he is no better in the air than the average player then his usefulness soon diminishes. Crouch is better with the ball at his feet rather than his head, so it is curious why England persist in hoofing long balls up to him.

As for subsitiutes, there much hardly much shock and awe on the bench. Kevin Davies' wife cried when he received his call up, and she probably wasn't the only one. The rough'n'tumble centre forward soon lived up to his reputation of getting more bookings than goals in six of the last eight seasons, getting a yellow card and not scoring on his debut. I've nothing against the man, but how are we to build for the forward with 33 year olds getting call ups? As for Shaun Wright-Phillips - why? It's a travesty he gets near an England shirt, and would look more comfortable sat on the bench in the Championship. He continued to fall over and ping crosses to nowhere, whit supporters saying 'at least he works hard' - well give me an England shirt and £60k a week and I'll work my socks off, though I'd still be useless.

Perhaps it's time to admit England are a second rate team? Despite hope and expectation we're a long way short of the Spains and Brazils, and our lack of depth was exposed with injuries. A Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent probably would have scored at least one of those chances, John Terry would look more assured than Lescott, and a toddler would do a better job at right back at the moment. But there is no reason to despiar for the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign - England will probably still qualify, even top of the group, and in liklihood will win in Montenegro - can they possibly be that negative in front of their own supporters? Wales are next, and are fast becoming the whipping boys of the group with even more insipid displays than England, and wins in Cardiff and Wembley should be easy enough. We just need a bit more imagination, clinical finishing and strength in posession right now so as not to come unstuck against every five man midfield we come across.

(Picture courtesy of The Daily Mail)

Capello blunts critics' axe

In the aftermath of the 'disasterous' South Africa campaign, the inquest and nfinger pointing was qucik to begin. Of course, it was all manager Fabio Capello's fault. It had little to do with the players that neither Steve McClaren nor Sven-Goran Eriksson could inspire to the glory we have come to expect of them. Too much time spent along in hotel rooms. Deprived of their families - despite the complaints of their presence in Baden Baden in 2006. The FA shouldered some of the blame for rushing into ensuring Capello remained in his post after June by remlving the break clause that could have seen him flying dirctly back to Milan. Now it would cost in excess of £6 million to boot out the cold foreigner the proud Brits didn't want in charge - money the FA could ill afford given that they are penning as many dates in the Wembley calendar as possibe to repay the construction debts and seemingly relaying the farm field of a pitch every week.

And so, with the calls mounting for Capello to 'show some dignity' and quit - after two competitive defeats - he had the perfect opportunity to silence his critics in the best way possible - with football. The display against Hungary last month has hardly been a cause for optimism - the only positive not was that stand in captain Steven Gerrard had performed his Liverpool role of dragging a lifeless team to victory with a virtuose individual few minutes. And there were mixed feelings with so many of the old guard - captain Rio Ferdinand and Chelsea stalwarts John Terry and Frank Lampard - absent through injury. Perhaps it really was time for the new dawn of English football?

Whatever mistakes Capello made during his time in South Africa, he got almost every decision spot in for these two games. What better way to respond to criticism than with a resounding win over Bulgaria? Only 12 months ago sucha result would have been taken for granted but now, after the summer and a crushing defeat to Germany, who finished third in the tournament, we were back to the doom and gloom of expecting insipid displays that earned nothing against these teams.

Instead we were treated to another fine display and soon forgot about the absence of the old guard. There were refreshing changes, both in terms of who was playing and the new roles for the old timers. Gerrard looked anew in his preferred central role, picking out the pinpoint passes that were largely absent in a World Cup campaign that saw the strikers left isolated or falling back deep to get involved in the play. Jermain Defoe was clinical in putting his chances away to bag England's first competitive hat-trick since Theo Walcott's memorable night in Zagreb. Defoe has always been one of England's best finisher - he does fall shot in other departments, rarely making chances himself or getting involved in play to the same extent as Wayne Rooney, but given chances he will score goals.

Walcott himself was welcomed back and seemed to prove evidence that he should have flown out to Bloemfontein as one of the 25. Joe Hart also showed why he should have been in goal for that campaign, instead of the error-prone Rob Green or the past-it David James. Hart's development over the last several seasons has been phenomenal, turning from a reserve keeper loaned out to lower Premier League or Championship sides to the first choice for his country and the highest spending team in the league. Phil Jagielka is another strong candidate to be regularly making the starting XI after two near flawless displays, the Everton defender showing the form that made his side pay £6 million to sign him from Sheffield United after the Blades' relegation.

Adam Johnson was restricted to a substitute's appearance, but wasted no time in showing his class. The winger is one of these players that seems to have been born to play for England and effortlessly made the step up in class. His goal was speculative, but it was good to see a player with confidence to take that sort of shot on. His rise has been meteoric and similar to Hart's, signing from Championship contenders Middlesbrough in January for what now looks like a bargain, believed to be around £7 million. With both him and Hart aged 23, both are exciting prospects with great potential. If they can stay injury free and keep improving then, along with the likes of Walcott and others, perhaps we can have a whole new 'Golden Generation'? How ironic that of all the hundreds of millions spent at middle Eastlands, it it the two players from the lower English divisons - Hart just £700,000 from League Two - that have established themselves as two of the team's stars in amongst all the 'galacticos'.

After trouncing Bulgaria, the sheepish critics were now saying this was expected against a team ranked a lowly 43rd in the World Rankings. Switzerland would provide a sterner test - they were the only side to have beaten World Champions Spain in Durban, and surely could give England the run around. The 17th placed team were seen as England's main competitors in a group we were again expected to top.

To make matter more difficult before kick off in Basel news broke of Rooney's happy times spent with different ladies of the night. Would he be able to play effectively? Had this ruined his World Cup? The two thoughts seemed contradictory given his hand in all four goals against Bulgaria at Wembley. Gerrard gave an assured press conference about how Rooney would be ready to play and how others were not in a position to judge him. After all, if England chose players based on the accuracy of their moral compass, would we even be able to field a starting XI? Defoe has been caught up to no good in a car, Gerrard was cleared of his pub punch up, Ferdinand was too busy buying jumpers to attend a drugs test, Ashley Cole relaxes by sending naked pictures of himself to other women and John Terry committed the henious crime of having an affair with the ex-girlfriend fo a team mate, who obviously still thought he should have a say in what his ex-partner got up to. Even St Beckham had the whole Rebecca Loos incident.

This time it was Rooney who promptly answered his critics, firing home the opening goal in just ten minutes. The incident was somewhat ruined by Walcott's tumble, though it is welcome news to hear that he is only likely to be out for two weeks. Another concern is why so many of Arsenal's players seem to be made of glass? Each season they seem to have at least ten of their starting XI missing half of the campaign, and each season at least one player has a leg snapped like a toothpick by one of the rough'n'tumble teams. While the latter is not the club's fault for others taking an agressive approach, why they have a disproportionate number of players absent through niggles and minor injuries is surely concerning to fans.

After struggling to make the Swiss crumble (pun intended) with the second half wearing on, Adam Johnson again showed his class and cool composure to round and slot past Diego Benaglio to double England's lead. It was another sublime pass from Gerrard that created the opportunity as England were gelling well. Hart made a few blunders that could have cost England but was helpless to stop Xherdan Shaqiri's spectacular goal reducing the deficit. Glen Johnson looked strong going forward and was unlucky not to score, though like many others I have reservations about his defensive capabilities - would he not be better as a right winger? Gareth Bale has turned from mediocre to world class by moving a few yards further up the field.

Joleon Lescott looked able but still short of the £24 million City paid for his signiture. Milner is another who looks able of holding his own at City, who have made a mockery of the suggestion theya re ruining English football by frequently fielding seven England internationals in their starting XI. Ashely Cole is another class performer who has been consistantly brilliant for England. Even Gareth Barry looked like he may have ability he forgot to bring to South Africa, and if he can remain the anchorman with Gerrard pushing forward we could have a dangerous midfield (minus Lampard, of course).

England were somewhat fortnate with the referee, not giving red cards to the Three Lions players or giving penalties while assisting them by dismissing Stephan Lichtsteiner. I was glad to see Darren Bent again show good composure and finishing to wrap up the win for England. He has been a top player for Sunderland but always failed when given the rare opportunity to shine on the international stage. This time he seized it, taking an important goal well, and can hopefully grow from that to become a compeitive striker for England.

However, after these two wins lets not get carried away with a wave of euphoria and optimism. Yes, England should have won these games and did. Did the World Cup humbles us that much? Unlucky against the USA, admittedly dire aganst Algeria, should have scored more against Slovenia and then hammered by a vibrant and strong German side that finished third, and even in that the team were unlucky with a few decisions. England are ranked seventh in the world - so to often reach quarter finals is a fair reflection.

England are like Andy Murray, usually doing the job and sweeping aside lower rank sides but falling short against the better sides. Murray, with the odd exception, will beat the players below him to steadily progress to the semi finals, but will invariable fall short agianst the Rafael Nadals and the Roger Federers of tennis. Especially on the big stage of the Grand Slam - even if he beats one, he falls short against another. Just as England beat the lower ranked sides in qualifying, they fall short on the big stage against the Germanys and the Portugals of world football.

It is difficult to assess Capello's success at international level - he is not the failure the tabloids deem, and I feel was both unlucky and unfortunate at a world cup where expectations were unrealistically high. One supporter said his record compared to club football would see England with a win ratio to win the league, but that's unfair as clubs regularly face teams of similar ability while international teams only play other top sides at the latter stages of biannual tournaments due to the seeding system, so arguably we will not be able to assess England again until Poland and Ukraine 2012. Hopefully we can see the side progress and be strong for that competition - the critics will at least have some relief knowing that Capello will step aside regardless of how we perform in the tournament. Hopefully now the country can be united in support and measured in cautious optimism, if not expectation.

(Picture: Reuters)

Four-four-who?

Four-four-two doesn't work. Well, that's what all the 'experts' say anyway. Experts like ITV pundit Adrian Chiles, whp prides himself on not being able to differenciate between new goalkeepers Scott Loach and Frankie Fielding - just what you want from your pundit, eh? Why a man who was never anything more than a sofa warmer on the One Show could pretend to know about football for ITV is beyond me.

But hold on....don't Spain play with Torres and Villa? Brazil with Robinho and Fabiano? Didn't Tottenham clinch fourth last season by playing an adventurous two up front last season? Didn't Man Utd outclass Chelsea in the Community Shield with two up front? Is 4-5-1 that effective anyway? Is it much different to 4-3-3? Talk of 4-4-2 being a redundant system is futile - many argue their club operating such a system. The belief is often that a team must have a strong midfield in order to dominate a game an play possession 'tiki-taka' football.

But is this really the best style of football? It's one perfected by Barcelona and Arsenal, and Spain at the World Cup. However, it has been shown how easy it is to counter this type of football by any Mourinho-esque team - one that is well disciplined and organised. Such teams let the opposition pass pass pass pass all game long and then use their few chances to break quickly and score. They don't even have to be good teams to do this - as Switzerland proved in South Africa. Inter Milan proved to be ruthlessly effective against Barcelona in last year's Champions' League. Arsenal often complain that the likes of Stoke and Bolton get a result against them by playing defensive and aggresive football.

And unless a team is the best there is at passing football, why attempt it?Arsenal were torn to shreds against Barcelona for trying to play the same style as them. And doesn't pass pass pass get boring? Football is about scoring goals, and Spain scored eight in the entire World Cup, progressing through the kock out stages with four 1-0 victories. Personally, my favourite style of football is fast and direct - moving the ball into the attacking third and creating chances as quickly as possible. Chelsea and Man Utd perfected this to crush a naíve Arsenal last season. Germany perfected this art to cruch both England and Argentina, taking the lead and then providng ruthless on each counter attack. For all the excitement of adopting a 4-5-1, the commentators quickly highlighted that Wayne Rooney looked isolated with little support, a direct result of the new formation they were praising!

Anyway, that's how I'd like to see England play. But they didn't get on too badly last night. Though I won't get too carried away with a narrow win over a team ranked 62 in the world, it was pleasing to see the new team of Arsenal's 12 year olds get the result. It seems ironic that the North London team, who for so long seem to have acted as a front for French immigrants, is now supplying the new youth of the England team.

The pundits didn't hesitate to overblow the importance of the game - the black and white highlights of Hungary's 6-3 win in 1953 was becoming almost as tedious as hearing about North Korea's 1966 heroics when Eusebio inspired Portugal to come from three goals behind to beat the Asian country. But Hungary have since declined, though still never looked too troubled by what FIFA believes is the world's seventh best team in the first half.

After the break, England still looked complacent. It took a fluke of a goal by the visitors to inspire them. Ironic that they were awarded a goal that didn't cross the line after England exited the World Cup largely due to a goal that did cross the line going unrewarded. That goal made Steven Gerrard believe for five minutes that he had a Liver Bird on his breast instead of Three Lions, and two moments of brilliance inspired England to victory.

Of the players that came along, they at least looked promising. Though I wish this fans' attitude of 'as long as they play with heart it's okay' would end - I would play 'with heart' for England but I'd still be hopeless and most fans (I'd hope) wouldn't be happy. Yes we want heart, but skill is more important. All the wingers that played last night didn't look fantastic - too often to Ashley Young and Theo Walcott do a Wright-Phillips and run to the byline, look confused, then either hit a cross straight into the nearest defender or try and dribble it in and lose possession. We need another Beckham who can send in a pin point cross and create chances. Though I'm not sad to see his enforced retirement, a story gained from Capello mumbling an answer that looked like he didn't understand the question but felt obliged to answer rather than say 'pardon?'.

Bobby Zamora came close to capping a debut with a goal, and Rooney looked sharp to finish his early chance, albeit offside. And he had maintained his sense of sarcasm, clapping himself when substituted as nobody else in the 70,000 strong crowd would. Joe Hart made a good late save, but you know if that had been any other Engliash goalkeeper that ball would have deflected back to Zoltan Gera for an equaliser. The irony was that Gerrard, the player who said even he would have booed England, was the one to leave to raptorour applause. We also need to remember that players like the exiled Walcott and retired Wayne Bridge, Paul Robinson and Wes Brown aren't going to get any better now that they're not playing, as many players seem to improve in their absence.

Despite the large number of fans, there were still around 18,000 empty seats with the prawn-sandwich brigade always returning from half time after 60 minutes instead of 45. So some parts of Wembley seemed to resemble the DW Stadium when the 12 or so Wigan residents who couldn't get tickets to Old Trafford had to put up with the standard fare offered closer to home, where they toss a coin to see if they will witness their team beat the title challengers, get hammered by a mid table side or narrowly lose to gift one of the promoted sides their first and only away win of their season. Though despite the empty seats, there were still more England fans at Wembley than other teams' supporters at their friendlies - and the players say they need more support!

One problem for this performance is, how do we know if England are any good? We stormed through World Cup qualifying, humbling the 'mighty' Croatia - twice -before folding on the big stage. Even if we easy to Euro 2012, can we expect the team to perform there?

In my opinion, the main two problems were the lack of a creative midfielder and a defensive midfielder. Gerrard and Frank Lampard are both great at making surging runs, but neither can make those pin-point passes that Beckham could or have the support they do at club level. We need a Xavi, whose selfless passing sets others free. We also need a good defensive midfielder - Gareth Barry's positional sense gave Mesut Ozil acres of spaces in Bloemfontein. Owen Hargreaves filled that role, but his injury problems mean he may never play at the top level again. Another issue is the lack of total football - the players seem to have insufficient positional space to adopt to different formations and systems. Fans say Gerrard and Rooney, our 'World Class' stars, must play in their club positions. But real World Class players - David Villa, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo - adopt to any position and work effectively there to support their team.

Obviously we saw no passion from Capello when England equallised and went ahead - he looked like he'd just been told about Italy's score the day before. And of course, now he isn't untouchable, we care about these things. Some say we should have an English manager, but how quickly people forget how that turned out last time! We're stuck with Capello due to the bankrupt FA - now lets hope he can restore his reputation and turn England from a farce into a force.

(Picture - Reuters)

Keeping an eye on Premier League transfers, Stoke splashed a record £8 million signing Trinidad and Tabacco striker Kenwyne Jones from Sunderland. Also, Ricardo Carvalho will be able to fulfill his wish of 'swimming across the sea' to join old mentor Mourinho and his Real revolution.

And we're off!

And so the rollercoaster of football has begun...all before the Premier League has even kicked off. Players have been abandoning England faster than the Titanic and Martin O'Neill became the first managerial casulaty.

There was also the small matter of the Championship kicking off. Ipswich have already started better than last season's debacle after coming from behind to beat Middlesbrough. I was keeping an eye on the score on my phone while at New Croft and when I saw the half time score thought that was that - perhaps they could taken even longer to get a win this season than they did last season? But they showed some spirit to fire home three times after the break to win at the Riverside, with Jon Stead scoring, who I always findly remember for his virtuoso goal against West Ham for Sheffield United in ther Premier League to win 3-0 while Bramall Lane sang 'That's why you're going down' - how cruel irony can be. They followed that up with a 3-2 extra time win at Exeter to advance in the Carling Cup. Now Roy just needs to keep them at the top end of the table and away from the dogfight they were embroiled in last season.

I was obviously quite disappointed to see Sheffield United finish opening day with a meagre point. However, a 1-1 draw at least season's play off finalists can't be seen as a bad result.

Elsewhere, the Villains kept the focus on the Premier League as Martin O'Neill stormed off. The reasons why still haven't been clarified, with most speculating it has something to do with transfer requests that he opposed being accepted. Barry left for Man City mediocrity after O'Neill blocked him the year before, and £12m with a year to go didn't seem a bad offer. Likewise if the amount being suggested that Eastlands will pay for Milner, around the £24m mark, are accurate, then that's double the figure Villa paid the year before. Other suggestions have been of Friedal and Ashley Young moving on - wikipedia proudly, albeit briefly, stated that Young 'plays as a winger or second striker for Tottenham Hotspur' though this has now been corrected to 'Aston Villa'. Could there be any truth to this? I got excited when I read 'Liverpool in talks over Young', only to sigh that is was Luke Young instead. And if Spurs sign Young, what will Bale, Modric and Krancjar think about it? I thought their days of signing miniature galacticos, regardless of how they would fit into their system, were over.

On another note, who will be the next manager to go? And how long will it take the managerial merry-go-round to get into full swing? I think Roberto Mancini will be the next to face the axe after a thumping defeat in their first home league game.

A lot has been made of O'Neill's relationship at Villa Park, and the troubles of the new 'sell to buy' policy. But a question remains, just how possible is it to make a football club a sustainable business? Abramovich has poured million into Chelsea, and with the club making annual profits that Sir Fred Goodwin would be proud of, there will be people living on the moon before they break even. Barcelona have been sweeping trophies and winning all before them for the last two years, but despite their success they can't pay the salaries of their squad. Arsenal seem to be a sound business model, but have yet to win anything for five years. Fans despise the debt-laden systems of Liverpool and Man Utd, but the vast expenditure of Chelsea, Madird and City are in no way sustainable. So what is the attraction to top businessmen? Can football be a successful club and business? It seems that was what Randy Lerner sought to accomplish at Villa, and now he may have lost his manager for it.

It seems the only way to be successful as a club is to make a loss as a business - for a fan to buy the club and accept that the owner will not be able to make an operating profit from running the football club. Teams that come up already plan for relegation - teams like Burnley and Blackpool do not spend big for fear that when they get relegated they will make a loss, so instead of signing quality players on high wages to stay in the Premier League they instead sign mediocrity on low salaries and feel doomed. It seems those who come up take a gamble - keep wages and fees low and prepare for relegation, or spend big and hope to stay up. At the higher end, this applied to European qualification, with top teams assuming Champions' League qualification to build their budget, and those below having to gamble and hope to qualify to make the money - effectively spending the cash before they have it and hoping they will. When this goes wrong, the results are clear to see, with Leeds the classic example.

Elsewhere, Fabio Capello was forced back into the tabloid firing line as he had to pick his first squad since the World Cup, and England's supposed homecoming parade against Hungary has descended into a parade of professional managers all moaning and bickering about the time of the game, from Sralex Ferguson to the never outspoken Neil Warnock. Players sought to abandon ship and disassociate themselves from the farce that the England team has become - first Brown and then Paul Robinson, while Michael Carrick showed that although injury may stop him from the immense pride of donning and England shirt, it won't keep him away from helping Man Utd to win the Community Sheild. The team is on such a high that even the captain says he would be booing them from the Wembley stands tonight.

But the big question is, who cares that Brown and Robinson won't be appearing for England? Glen Johnson is, admittedly, a liability as right back, and would sturggle to defend a sand castle from a toddler. But was Brown any better? He has played as 'utility man' for the Man Utd defence - an euphemism for someone who isn't quite good enough to fit into any one position consistantly. And what fond memories of Robinson will we have? His Croatia air kick is no doubt his defining memory, but lets also remember his other comedy blunders such as providing the assist for Russia's 2-1 win, and my favourite was during a Tottenham game when he caught a long ball and fell backwards into his own goal - unfortunately his Spurs exploits were soon eclipsed by Gomes' weekly attempts to kill Vedran Corluka. Though with Calamity James' numerous blunders, Wally Carson acting as a ramp for a Croatian backpass to send them to Euro 2008 and Green-fingers hopelessly palming the USA into the lead, it seems we have a rich and recent tradition of comically bad English goalkeepers. Hopefully Joe Hart will put an end to this.

Anyway, we'll see how good England are looking when they entertain the Hungarians tonight. At the very least we'll just have to hope the players are all up for it and hungary. It should soon be revealed why Martin O'Neill left - and what he plans to do with the Liverpool and England vacanice recently filled. And of course, come the weekend we have the resumption of the Championship, the football league, and Premier League kick off to anticipate.

(Picture - Press Association)