How Poor Was That?

Well Span and Shy have already commented on the debacle in Cape Town but I woke up at 6 a.m this morning and the events of last night were still being replayed in my head. It was the FA Cup Final v Liverpool all over again, the Play-Off Final v Palace relived.

The reaction on the radio last night was swift and brutal, on Talksport Mark Saggers (formerly BBC) did a three minute rant against Capello that was one of the most vicious and personal I think I have ever heard anywhere. Nathalie has never heard the station before and when he paused for breath she turned to me and said "They don't hold back on this station do they?" The BBC, in the shape of Alan Green and Graham Taylor, were also attacking Capello, it seems the saviour of English football was the person responsible for all the wrongs in the game.

I don't want to attack Capello yet at the same time there is clearly something wrong in the England set-up, not as bad as France it must be said, because the body language on and off the field isn't great. Players are playing well below the standard expected of them. Yes you could call the pre-match hype blind optimism or faith or, in the case of numerous Scotsmen who phone in the radio phone-ins, arrogance but I don't think it's any of them. Look at the quality of players the four sides in this group have to choose from and I think that you, as an English supporter, have the right to expect more. There was a lack of spirit last night, a lack of fight and a lack of will to succeed. A team of players with club experience at the highest level should be able to beat a team which draws on Serie B and the French Second Division for its team. We knew that Algeria would be good technically, most of them have played in France and Italy where technical ability is the basic requirement of a footballer.

England looked individually and collectively bereft of ideas. It's funny but after the Spain v Switzerland match I began writing a post, which I should have finished to prove my point, about how even the best teams turn to route one as a last resort. Chelsea under Mourinho would throw Robert Huth up front, Spain the other afternoon ended the match with five forwards, one of whom was Gerard Pique and there is of course the famous incident with Holland where they fielded five centre-forwards and didn't have anybody on the pitch who could cross the ball. Last night we saw a manager in panic mode, the formation for the last ten minutes was what exactly?

Sven was criticised heavily for not being able to make decisions during the match that could turn games and I think we saw last night that it's a trait that affects all managers. Anybody who can lip read would have clearly seen Capello tell Stevie G, "No Steven, no," presumably when the England captain was pointing out that when he is deployed on the left of midfield he is, to borrow from Paul Merson, "like a fish up a tree." Gerrard plays behind Torres at Liverpool so why when he plays for England is he asked to play like Yossi Benayoun or Ryan Babbel? Shaun Wright Phillips is possibly the most right footed player to wear an England shirt since Chris Waddle and yet he is asked to play on the left, whilst Joe Cole and James Milner, who are both two footed, sit on the bench?

Algeria were well organised and as the game wore on you could see that they grew in confidence, they adhered to one of the oldest maxims in football that if you retain possession and pass the ball around the opposition you aren't likely to lose. They were organised but most importantly they played without fear.

When Manchester United struggled in Europe Alex Ferguson, he hadn't been knighted at that point, was criticised for deploying a 4-4-2 formation at a time when the only two sides playing it with any success were Brazil and AC Milan. He knew that he had to change to win in Europe and he did, a 4-3-3 that becomes a 4-5-1 when not in possession was the result and that slowly evolved over the years until the present system evolved, again essentially a variant of the 4-5-1. You can get bogged down in tactics but all coaches know there is one saying in football that remains true whatever level you are playing at: "You either choose the tactics to suit the players or you choose the players to suit your tactics," at the moment we have a squad of players who are being asked to play a way that none of them, except Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon, play at club level, you have to wonder why.

Anyway, taking all the above into account we still only have to beat Slovenia to qualify for the chance to play somebody from the Germany group not called Australia. Don't panic Mr Mainwaring, don't panic!