World Cup 2010 is following an all too familiar pattern for England. Hope has been quickly replaced by disappointment. Perhaps the disappointment is more acute in this instance as the qualification campaign was so emphatic. However, England are undefeated in South Africa! They performed adequately against their principal group rivals USA in their first game, and would probably have been victorious if an unfortunate Robert Green error hadn’t gifted the US an equalizer. England also contrived more penetrative attacks against the US than they managed throughout the whole of World Cup 2006! But national negativity has arisen following a dismal draw against Algeria. The performance was very flat and the players appeared to be beset by nerves: the collective showing was bereft of vitality.
The inevitable response to such situations is to apportion blame, and this usually falls on the coach. Fabio Capello fielded his Plan A against Algeria with Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard in central midfield, Wayne Rooney supported by Emile Heskey in attack, and Steven Gerrard a nominal left-sided midfielder. England are undefeated when adopting this approach and it had worked well over the qualifiers. It’s therefore something of a knee-jerk reaction to criticise Capello after one dreary showing. Following a poor performance, it’s all too easy to offer alternatives which would have worked better as these won’t be exacted to the rigours of analysis.
The regular national past time of lambasting an individual for failing to turn a group of second-tier international footballers into world beaters is a little tedious. The specific attributes of the coach are always considered a hindrance to the team: Sven Goran Eriksson was the uninspiring accountant-type, Steve McClaren the flip-flopping wally with a brolly, and now Capello will be the obtuse, autocratic Italian.
The media/public consensus suggests that playing Wayne Rooney as a lone forward is the panacea; but after his lethargic showing against Algeria this doesn’t seem to be a sound course of action. At World Cup 2006, Eriksson was actually blamed for frustrating Rooney by isolating him in attack. As with all England managers Capello will be damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t! There is also some suggestion that Capello is wedded to 4-4-2, but he has used this as a flexible framework throughout his tenure and 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 have been visible at times with players rotating positions.
The next stage of the psychological damage limitation process will be to deliberate over structural and cultural aspects of English football, such as the surfeit of overseas players in the Premier League, and unsophisticated Anglo Saxon styles of play. But perhaps more contingent and isolated factors play a part. England’s qualification campaign gained confidence and momentum following a good win against Croatia and this was facilitated in part by Robert Kovac’s (appropriate) sending off. Alas, a Robert Green error prevented England’s World Cup from starting on the right foot and, accordingly, fear of failure and vilification permeated the side against Algeria. An emphatic victory against Slovenia is required for confidence to be restored. But the wheels of doom are already in motion: for all Capello’s sound and consistent team building, it only takes one unfortunate error to kickstart the fear/blame cycle. Positive momentum could help England to the latter stages of the tournament, but a squad permeated by negativity can only flounder so far. But, of course, when England fail it will be because Capello didn’t do the obvious and play a 4-4-1-1 with Rooney in attack and Joe Cole sitting in the hole blah blah blah…
Everyone has their own opinions!
Mine is that we will struggle to win the last game. If we don’t win then Capello will have to go, and we should permanently drop the likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Terry and Ferdinand and look to the future generation of players.
But you never know. The players may respond positively to the boos, or get a last-minute winner, and then go on to do much better and progress in the tournament. I just have a bad feeling that this won’t happen.
I am worried now that Shoelaces may have had a good point about the Futsal!
This is a good, sober piece.
Capello’s plan A hasn’t suddenly become a bad idea overnight.
More generally, it seems the things he was praised for in qualification (ruthlessness, not indulging the players, keeping them on their toes, forcing individuals to conform to a team shape) are now being touted as liabilities.
One small point I’d raise is regarding your description of ‘second-tier international footballers’ – that’s a fair description of Stephen Warnock, but can’t really be applied to most of the first XI. Rooney, Gerrard, Cole = second tier? I think that expecting more consistently good performances from those guys in particular isn’t unrealistic or deluded.
Talking down their quality is generous, I think – letting them off the hook for the too-frequent poor performances.
Thanks for the comment Ben. When I mentioned ‘second-tier’ I was thinking a bit more historically. England have won the World Cup once (at home) whereas nations like Brazil, Germany, Italy and Argentina have a stronger record. And whilst Spain lack an impressive World Cup pedigree, they won a major tournament as recently as 2008.
I certainly take your point though, as the England first team is comprised of several Champions League finalists. But for whatever reason, England have seldom been amongst the very best international sides. ‘Second tier footballing nation’ would perhaps have been more appropriate.
I think England’s performance against Algeria was a case of lots of individuals having very bad games all at once. There was only one outfield player who did his job well – Ashley Cole. The rest of the team didn’t look comfortable in possession or willing to offer themselves as an outlet when another player in white was on the ball.
When a team plays poorly it needs to be spot on with set-pieces. I can’t recall any free-kicks or corners that worried the Algerians. There is little point Terry lumbering forward if the cross is going to be headed clear by the first defender.
Capello doesn’t deserve to be blamed for the draw against Algeria. If the men who are supposedly the best the country has to offer cannot motivate themselves, think and play at the same time, or use their initiative to change the pattern of play, it doesn’t matter if it is Fabio Capello or Henry Winkler standing on the sidelines.
Maybe England going out in the group stages would be better for the team and country than sneaking through in undeserving fashion only to be humbled in the Second Round.
I suspected that’s what you were saying, Ted. Just wanted to make sure.
With a few exceptions (the mid seventies, the early nineties) we have always been able to come up with a spine of top class players. Why they’ve consistently achieved comparatively mediocre results does call out for some neat singular explanation. Sadly I think that leads people to latch on to the nearest grand narrative too quickly.
Perhaps you’re right and it is just contingent factors particular to each tournament.