The end of the road

Today's beating of England by Germany was not unexpected. As I watched the England v. Slovenia game, I knew that as they were failing to get back into the group lead, Germany was going to make an example of them. There are quite a few factors here that led to this fall out of yet another World Cup.

The most obvious starting point after this game is the goal by Lampard which was not given. I could easily launch in to an indictment of FIFA and their refusal to even consider things such as goal line technology, but I think that there were bigger issues. First, it would have obviously tied the game at two, which would have brought spirts back up after going two down to a young and skillful German side. But I felt that the reaction of Lampard said it all. He was shocked and had the look of a child who was about to throw a hissy fit because he didn't get ehat he wanted. This is a talented team that can't afford to let things like this get to them. It seemed that the team did not recover from that disappointment and the offensive display they were starting to mount seemed to fizzle out as the half ended.

The next big problem is Capello. I don't really think he was ever the right manager for England. The most telling moment for him as manager was when he couldn't keep the qualification campaign focused and lost against Ukraine in fairly meek fashion. There were obviously divisions in the camp and it just was never going to work in the end as Capello wanted to exert his power and rather than listen to his team, felt it was more important to follow a more fascist direction and quash the uprising. I also look at Capello's stubbornness as a major problem as he refused to give uncapped players proper chances and relied on the 'old guard' much like another defeated Italian coach in this World Cup. As it goes for the manager situation, I believe there is only one person who could manage this nation to the next level, but I don't believe Sir Alex Ferguson would do it.

Another problem which I have mentioned here is the poor selection of the team. I say this not only referring to the selection of the starting 11, but also of the squad as a whole. There was a clear lack of width in this squad. You may say, "but Brian, he brought a bunch of wingers like Lennon and Wright Phillips and Joe Cole!" And I will simply tell you that you have named two RIGHT wingers and an attacking midfielder. There is no left side to this team. You may try again and say, "but what about Gerrard? He has been playing on the left." And I have to retort, he plays on the left for about 5 of 90 minutes. There is no width through Gerrard. Beyond the width problem, there is too much reliance on experience over class and form. I start with the most obvious example on the field. The Defense. I will say that Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson were the only choices for the fullback positions as they are by far the best English players in those spots. The central defenders are a different story. Rio Ferdinand and John Terry have had abysmal seasons. Rio played in less matches than Ledley King which I think says it all. John Terry was fortunate to have a good Partner at Chelsea and a great offense in front of him. I am biased, but I thought the winning formula was going to be King and Dawson. They are an experienced partnership with great chemistry, but in Capello's mind, Dawson was uncapped and thus too inexperienced. Jaime Carragher was a blunder as well, as he is obviously too old and slow to keep up with modern players like we saw in his performances at Liverpool, before Jozy Altidore made him his bitch in the first group game. Capello said that he would take players who are in good form and playing for their club side, but that was obviously not true as he brought Emile Heskey. And I will simply spare you from yet another rant about how poorly i think of Heskey.

England is also a weak team mentally. Surprising considering that the team is full of club captains. The team is shouldered with the most pressure to win of any team because they are considered the founders and history makers of the game as well as England having arguably the best league in the world. The team showed a great deal of inability to not only get up for games but to stay up if they have problems. They lost all of their motivation, it seemed, when Lampard's goal was not given in the dying moments of the first half. The added pressure of meeting the old enemy in Germany was too much to bear for this team and I felt that they never had a chance to win this match today.

The performance in this years cup emphasized the reason why England's bid to host the cup in 2018 is so important to the nation. Their only victory was in 1966 in England. Having the home crowd would probably actually help in England. But there are so many issues to address before the bid is even voted on at FIFA.

England Have so many great players, but now a real focus on the team is the next step. As they go into the qualifying for the European championship, I think a major overhaul needs to be made.

My squad for the future:
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Joe Lewis
Defense: Michael Dawson, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Leighton Baines, Nedem Onouha, Micah Richards, Ryan Shawcross
Midfield: Aaron Lennon, Ashley Young, James Milner, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Joe Cole, Lee Cattermole, David Bentley
Strikers: Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney(Captain), Gabriel Agbonlahor

Do we expect too much as fans?

I wonder. Are we expecting too much?

Is it too much to expect good teams to play atleast decently? Is it too much to expect referees to call a good match? Is it too much to expect FIFA to look at video technology? Is it too much to expect Fabio Capello to pick his team by form rather than by names like he promised? Am I asking too many questions?

Today has seen three games with horrible results. Germany was robbed first thing this morning by a referee who was card happy and sent off Miroslav Klose in the first half. In the second game, the USA was robbed of three points by a ref who disallowed a goal wrongly and didn't see the Slovenian players hugging several Americans to the ground. In the third game the ref was not the problem. The players for England can't seem to get over themselves to actually try and Capello can't be bothered to make tactical changes when for the England v. USA game it was apparent that Heskey was useless. Gerrard gave up around the 65th minute today. Even Rooney gave up. Capello was just lucky that David James didn't manage to lose the game for him.

So we now stand at an interesting point. It is no longer a question of whether England or the US would finish first in the group, but more likely who of those two might actually get out of the group, but I'd even argue if either can get out of the group. Both England and the US could easily lose next week. I actually feel bad for US fans such as my partner in this blog, and English fans.

The delusion is over

The first thing I said to my co-conspirator on this blog when we were watching the game was "Capello's starting Green?!? Mistake." And all day long I was saying I saw a draw, 1-1 or 0-0, but I was leaning to the score draw. And as I saw the starting lineup I got more confident with my prediction.

There were huge errors in the starting lineup. I have been saying for weeks that I thought Crouch should start rather than Heskey. Capello has no left winger on the squad, and starting an unfit Milner was stupid. We all know that Gerrard and Lampard can't play together. And Robert Green should never been the number 1.

First let's start with the Defense. I thought the starting back four was rather decent. King and Terry seemed to work well together, and the full backs were nothing special but I felt like they didn't make any major mistakes. When Carragher came on in the second half, I just knew it would be ugly, and he was terrorized by the stronger and faster Jozy Altidore.

In the midfield, it was anarchy.I think it was clear that James Milner had not gotten over the 'bug' he had this week and was not fit to play. He was slow and out of position and all together, he never had a chance to show his quality. On the right, Lennon kept being double teamed as the US midfield and defense forced play to the left side where Shaun Wright-Phillips came on for Milner and was rather poor. Lennon never had a chance to play his game and as usual, England forced alot of play up the left because the US shut off the space for Lennon and Capello couldn't be bothered to bring a left-footed winger(like Adam Johnson) or play Joe Cole who can be quite handy over there. In the middle, I think there was a clear hole where there should have been a holding midfielder. Though I still argue bringing Gareth Barry was a mistake, I think that he would have been a big help. And as I mentioned already, Lampard and Gerrard should not play in the middle together. They are both playmakers and seemed to get in each other's way quite a few times. before the game I would have argued for benching Gerrard, but Isomeone brought up a good point that Lampard's record for England is poor while Gerrard's is very good. But in the end, Capello needs to grow some balls and bench one of the two and play a balanced team.

Up front, it was a similar story. Capello started Rooney and Heskey. I don't think there is anyone that wouldn't start Heskey, but in my opinion, Heskey should have not even made the final squad for the World Cup. Heskey did little to make me believe that I was wrong about him. He brought down a few balls and lost them, put out a poor pass which was lost, or put a horrid shot right into Tim Howard's Chest, and that was after putting his boot into Howard's chest which he must have thought would make him drop those shots. I thought when Crouch finally came on, the possession was cleaner and Crouch sharpened the attack again after the lovely build to the early goal. Rooney was not up to his game, which was surprising. Rooney could not get things going and he got frustrated and once that happened, he was never going to doing anything and Defoe should have been put on to try to sneak that winner that never came.

Finally, what can I say about the keeper? A simple "I told ya so." Or maybe a "DUH!" Or maybe to use some tact, "Bad Capello! Bad!" Of the 3 keepers he brought we have a relegated keeper (who has been amazing for the final few weeks for Pompey), a nearly relegated keeper(who was responsible for many of the goals given up by West Ham), and a midtable keeper(who was consistent all season long and was a huge factor in the team being as good as it was). Based on those kind of statements there should be two obvious conclusions. First, Robert Green is absolutely no better than third. Secondly, Joe Hart is probably first due to his consistency. And this is before we even consider that David James is known as Calamity James. I think it was a mistake to start Robert Green. Fact! But it also now makes more problems as He either has to put the arm around his shoulder and start Green again, or bench him at which point he might as well be sent home. So it's either put the team in danger for the final two group games or leave yourself with two keepers. I think unfortunately, it's time for Green to go home and Hart to begin his national team Career as he is the future for England.

So there are two more group games. Algeria and then Slovenia. I think considering that the Group D winner plays the runner up in group C, it is going to be important to win this group especially after seeing the Germans dismantle the Aussies. I think both England and the U.S. are in the same position and both know this. It is going to come down to goal difference as I think both teams will step up their games. I think considering this, i would have to conclude that the team that could score more goals is England considering the scorers that the team has. England has so much talent that the nation should be severely disappointed in the draw, although I told Skippy that I didn't think either team deserved a point from that game. The U.S. was poor but should have won with the vastly improved second half performance and England Should have scored 5 times in the first half hour. In the end, the group is wide open with Slovenia taking three points against Algeria. Time to be positive again...