Seriously, has anyone noticed the a difference between England under the latter stages of Sven's reign (when he had run out of ideas*) and the beginning of Steve McClaren's period as England manager? Nope, me neither.

After watching 60 minutes of dull football followed by a goal for a fairly uninterested Spain, I made myself an ultimatum. If England didn't at least get a draw out of this game I would ban myself from watching any further England friendlies for the next year. 30-odd minutes on and I've freed up a couple of Wednesday evenings to do something far more worthwhile.

I've grown tired of watching inept performances and bizarre team selections. Crouch, upfront, on his own? On his day, he can trouble defences, but for that he needs a partner, as well as a regular supply of decent crosses. The latter were missing all evening, but regardless of that he has neither the pace or the technical ability to beat opponents on his own. And despite being one of the tallest players in top-flight football, he still can't win headers legally. Someone should sit him down with a video of Jan Koller on repeat for a few days.

I'll leave out Wright-Phillips this time, suffice to say that relying on a player who has barely had a game for Chelsea since he moved there is wildly optimistic. Why not choose an in-form player such as David Bentley? He may not have international experience yet, but at least he has the match-fitness, ability and confidence of a player who is playing regularly.

Meanwhile, watching Lampard and Gerrard trying to form a partnership four years on is like observing an Israeli and a Palestinian in an arranged marriage. It just won't work. Here's a thought for Hansen, Lawrenson, Lineker, etc. (not to mention Eriksson and McClaren): drop one of them. They are two players who perform relatively similar roles for their clubs and would ideally like to do so for England. There simply isn't the space for the two of them in midfield. After 4 or so years of repeatedly giving them chances, it's about time Steve tossed a coin and dropped one of them, just to see what might happen. Drop one of them Steve. There, do you think he got the message?

I'm not buying the absentees argument either. Sure, the team was missing Rooney, Cole, Terry and Hargreaves, but only one of them might have kickstarted the game for England. Rooney hasn't done done something special in a Three Lions shirt since Euro 2004. In any case, he's been injured plenty since, so it'd be nice to see a back up plan there Steve. Woodgate had a decent game as Terry's replacement, ditto Phil Neville for Cole/Bridge. In a competitive international they might have had difficulties, but Spain weren't too fussed about stretching their opponents tonight. Hargeaves is missed, and sorely. He may not have Carrick's alleged "playmaking" ability, but he does have bite and an engine to get things going.

A night after Scolari's Portugal beat Brazil, the tabloids will be hounding the English manager they really wanted after having driven away the best man for the job. Is that irony or just tragedy?

*Apart from taking three forwards (one of them injury-prone) and Theo Walcott to the World Cup.

Labels: England Spain friendly

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 at 23:51. You can skip to the end and leave a response.