22 November 2007
The England Blame Game
Thank goodness for Geoff Thompson. Were it not for him we might never have addressed the pressing root and branch problem that is so clearly blighting the England team. My only fear is that while the professional footballing tree is being nursed back to health, who is thinking about the grass roots of the amateur game? Who will nurse the green shoots of youth football? What of the tree, then?
Football has always been the land of mixed metaphors and catchphrases and when the country faces a crisis, it seldom learns from the last one preferring instead to respond with a steady stream of idioms and jargon as various people in power and privilege seek to maintain the grasp on their positions.
Managers say we was robbed and sorry for the fans.
Players say everyone supports the gaffer and we’re as disappointed as the fans (no, you’re not).
Pundits say heads must roll and institutional [INSERT GENERIC COMPLAINT HERE].
Newspapers say position untenable and the players simply aren’t good enough.
And the fans echo any number of the above sentiments and more.
It is as painfully predictable as playing for a draw gets you a loss (see this site’s preview).But what was the real reason for England’s failure? Let us assess some of the more common theories…
Wrong system
As noted in the fore-mentioned preview, one of the major similarities between the two Croatia “performances” was the change of system from 442 to 352 in Zagreb then a 4141/433/41221. Proponents of this theory note that English players cannot play anything other than a 442.
On counter side to this argument, English players managed to play a 352 with success under Glenn Hoddle and Terry Venables as well as a diamond midfield under Sven-Göran Eriksson.
Verdict: If a group of professional players cannot adapt to a new formation, it is because they have not been coached to. A professional footballer is just that; a professional. Football is his life. A change of formation cannot be beyond any of them assuming they are trained to do it and have the motivation to learn it. Twice it was changed, twice we lost.
Qualification Blame Points (QBP): 7/10
Bad manager
It is hard to argue against this one, after all the man in charge is the new, ex-England manager. McClaren must have been one of - if not The - most unpopular managers ever at appointment. In the comments after the Israel match I suggested that perhaps it was better that a manager starts with no reputation and earns the respect of the players and fans by performances rather than the normal path of initial hope and good performances followed by a gradual, slow decline.
In the end as in the beginning, McClaren never had the full respect of the players. At some level, they must have questioned his tactics, formations and certainly team selections and with early performances being so poor, McClaren’s word could never have gone completely unquestioned in the minds of the players as it absolutely needed to.
Verdict: McClaren was never wanted, never good enough, never trusted and once we lost unluckily in Russia, never going to succeed. Would we have been in that position had we not hounded out Eriksson? What if Allardyce, O’Neill, Hiddink or Scolari were in charge? It looks like the FA chose the worst possible candidate.
QBP: 9/10
Scott Carson
22 years old, one cap in a friendly, plays for Aston Villa. Weight that against Paul Robinson (whose form is gradually on the up again), 28 years old, 41 caps, Euro 2004 and World Cup experience, Champions League and UEFA Cup experience. What is more, Robinson had made only one real error in a friendly (against Germany) and though he could have done better on occasions, to put Carson in for the Croatia match was madness and terribly unfair.
I hope this does not plague Carson’s career.
Verdict: He did not exactly help but it was not his decision to play himself.
QBP: 3/10
Wayne Bridge
Dreadful positioning led to the second goal and had the worst performance I have ever seen from him (or an English full back in general). Ashley Cole - one of the world’s best full backs - stayed on the bench.
Verdict: Was one of the main reasons why the match was lost to Croatia but not why we were in that predicament in the first place.
QBP: 3/10
Lampard and Gerrard cannot play together
It does not work. What more needs to be said? Not only are they incapable of functioning as a partnership as both revert to a role neither is capable or familiar with, but both consistently under perform, consistently give the ball away, spurn chances and possession. Two of the world’s best players are two of England’s worst. Both should look at the word “England” and be ashamed.
Verdict: both were given countless chances and second chances. Gerrard even got the nod to partner Gareth Barry and play his “club position” spurning even that opportunity (responsibility).
QBP: 8/10
Too many egos
Thanks go to Mr. R. Keane of Sunderland for this one. “My opinion, looking in on England from the outside, is that there are too many egos involved in the England set-up and that has cost them dear”.
Verdict: Egos are only a problem if you cannot control them. If that is the case then only two solutions are available; the egos go or the manager goes. A quality manager who is not undermined and has the full belief of the players never has this problem.
QBP: 0/10
Injuries
John Terry (a blessing in disguise), Rio Ferdinand, Ledley King, Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Aaron Lennon, Owen Hargreaves, Kieran Dyer, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey.
Verdict: It may have papered over the cracks or have been responsible for the poor results, loss of belief in McClaren. Either way, that is quite a list of talent that England had to do without. Just look at the defence against Croatia; what choice centreback would Lescott normally be?
QBP: 8/10
Players not good enough
Gerrard cannot pass the ball properly. Lampard never gets in a position to receive the ball with which to lose it. Wright-Phillips seems incapable or unwilling to try and dribble past a defender (yet is hailed as that type of player), Terry is slow and mistake prone. Robinson has no confidence in himself and neither does his defence. Yet if you assess these players in the Premiership as football writers do every year then Liverpudlian heart-beat Gerrard is one of the world’s best midfielders. So is Lampard who regularly scores 15-20 goals from midfield.
Robinson IS the best English goalkeeper and would probably play as such if the press and fans tried supporting him. In Terry, Ferdinand and Ledley King England have three truly world class centre backs (I contest Terry’s claim however…). Ashley Cole is arguable the finest defensive left back in world football (in the top three at worst) and is pacey and skilful in attack. Gary Neville still has something to offer defensively as well as his enormous experience and Micah Richards makes up for his defensive frailties with a strong attacking game and versatility.
Aaron Lennon is one of the most promising wingers in world football if he can stay fit, Ashley Young, Joe Cole and Wright-Phillips provide a combination of pace, skill and invention to a group of young wingers. Add to that the world’s best crosser and free kick specialist who is quite literally the living embodiment of the will of every fervent England fan; David Beckham.
Wayne Rooney is among the best young strikers in the world and Michael Owen, Balon d’Or winner is still one of the most lethal finishers in the world game.
Verdict: Seriously; not good enough?! Few, if any international teams can boast a squad of that quality with such an equal distribution of abilities. Brazil have great attacking midfielders and fullbacks but average strikers and central defenders. Italy have a great defence, decent midfield and decent attack. Spain; brilliant midfield, good attack, reasonable defence. France; decent defence, decent midfield, excellent attack. The teams that win things do so as a team and not individuals. England have not been winning because they do not have the team rather than not having the players.
QBP: 0/10
Too many foreigners in the Premiership
The only logical conclusion of this is that the English players are not good enough - see above. Gerrard, Lampard, Terry et al win awards each year in spite of all the foreign players. If you remove the foreign players then their opposition is not as good. I simply cannot see how the argument holds any water.
Verdict: Terry and Ferdinand have to defend against Henry, Drogba, Berbatov etc. Gerrard and Lampard have to play against Essien, Fabregas, Ronaldo etc. Rooney and Owen have to score against Cech, Vidic and Toure. Not only do all of these English players excel, but they are surely better players for it.
QBP: 0/10
Player apathy (club over country)
The clubs pay the players fortunes. Every (other) week they are lauded by sycophantic supporters and coddled by managers and team mates. For England, they are pressurised like they have never experienced, crushed by expectation (instead of emboldened by it) and criticised mercilessly for failure (see, Robinson, Lampard, Beckham etc.).
It is no real surprise that most of the players look delighted to get off the pitch and back to the club womb.
Playing for your country should be the greatest honour. Years of underachievement, criticism and pressure brought on by continual poor man management by people with experience of failure make it a chore to pull on the jersey. This is not a hard thing to reverse however. With the correct selection policy instituted by a manager who instinctively commands the unquestioning respect of the players and playing for England will be the greatest honour and responsibility for more than just David Beckham, again.
There is little doubt this has an influence. The Croatia match showed just how little the players cared which will be reinforced no doubt by their continual brilliance in the Premiership. The fix is simple though.
QBP: 5/10
Fan apathy (club over country)
What would you rather; your club wins the league, or England wins the World Cup?
Personally, I would take the World Cup every time. Look at what winning the Rugby World Cup did for the country (even losing it). Look at what the Ashes did.
Now image how the country would be were we to win the World Cup of football. The reason most fans pick club over country is because they have long assumed that we never will never win another major tournament.
Verdict: The fan apathy is a direct result of every failure of the England team. Nevertheless, the fans at the Croatia match supported the team even at 2-0 down.
QBP: 0/10
Systemic incompetence amongst FA Mandarins
It was their dictate that the next manager had to be English (why?!). The best decision the FA ever made was Adam Crozier employing Sven-Göran Eriksson. They are the richest football association in the world; why not employ the best manager in the world? It will not guarantee winning a World Cup or European Championship but not getting the best manager you can probably (and so far, demonstrably) does.
If the rules are that International teams are allowed foreign managers, foreign managers are better than English managers and we have the money to get them, then why shoot ourselves in the foot? Some may say it is not in the spirit of football, well neither is diving, paying off officials, feigning injury and getting opposition players sent off. In that context, surely a foreign manager is the slightest of moral crimes…
The FA will not make the same mistake this time. Lippi and Capello are available and I see no reason to look any further. It does not guarantee a win, but if we keep picking great managers then eventually, we will.
Verdict: The FA appointed McClaren for non-footballing reasons; they pandered to media pressure. So they are as much to blame for the failure as McClaren is but unlike the ex-manager will have the chance to learn from their mistakes.
QBP: 9/10
The English press
Paul Robinson was criticised mercilessly and unfairly for the ‘bobble’ in Zagreb and for every other less-than-perfect moment in his England and Tottenham shirts. It has been both terrible and terribly predictable to see such a clinical and persistent assassination of a man’s pride and confidence. On Wednesday, the England fans and players reaped what the press had sown.
However this is just one in a long line of paper-selling assassinations. Take Sven-Göran Eriksson for example; a man who could qualify for a major tournament in his sleep. Fake Sheik, countless stories about his personal life, visiting a Premiership team’s chairman. When the press finally got him, they had stripped him of the authority he needed in his last major tournament.
For all of this, the greatest managers can use negative press and pressure as a positive to increase player performance but even then, not even the greatest can last for ever. Woe betide the England manager who fails to win.
Verdict: The English press does not help. They never do. They will also never change and their handicap is not an insurmountable one. After all, there can be no criticism when England are winning and playing well.
QBP: 4/10
Deadly earth rays
The lack of which meant that Steven Gerrard remained on the pitch. Or perhaps the presence of which explains where Frank Lampard was for the vast majority of the match.
Verdict: Reaching.
QBP: 0/10
We failed to apply Schrödinger’s Cat/Quantum uncertainty
Had we done so by neither attending nor watching the match, we would currently be in a superposition of win and loss which would mean either that we have the draw we need or the superposition will collapse into either a win or a loss when Michel Platini calls us up for the result. Either is preferable to our current state of certain loss.
Verdict: Uncertain.
QBP: both 0 and 10 out of 10
Expectations too high
My absolute favourite.
So what about lowering our expectations like I have heard mentioned so many times on the radio? Should we not be more realistic in our hopes for the England team?
Answer; yes. Yes if you want to minimise the pain of failure. After all, whoever achieved something by being unafraid of failure? True accomplishment is achieved by allowing the fear of failure limit your ambitions. I am sure the likes of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Nick Faldo, Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pele, Maradona, Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson, Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton, Michael Schumacher et al would all articulate just important it is to limit the heights of your ambition below an unachievable level. That acceptance of mediocrity is far more important than aiming for brilliance.
Of all the proposed arguments for England’s failure, this is surely the most asinine; voiced by those with a rubber spine and fearful hearts ruled not by what can be gained but what might be lost. Life does not need such people.
England however needs a specific person. Someone whose ability and credentials are beyond reproach in the minds of the players he picks. A man who, when he asks a player to do something, it is done without question. Someone who is as brilliant in handling people as he is handling tactics.
We have a continual stream of promising players - more so than Greece and probably more than Italy or France or Spain. Even without this level of talent, success can be achieved only when that group of players learn to play as a team, greater than the sum of its parts achieving more than they can logically achieve.
Most of all, the mentality in that England dressing room has to be changed. Englishmen know how to lose. They know how to accept defeat given a decent excuse; the lottery of penalties, a sending off, a freak goal. This is wrong. This is the worst lie perpetuated in the English psyche.
There is no excuse that makes up for failure.
But what do England do? They find one. They reach a point where they have given it a ‘good shot’ and have a reason for acceptable failure. They limit their achievement by imagining what failure can be deemed enough to avoid personal criticism.
Expectation dictates achievement.
Please Mr. Mandarins, forget your roots and branches.
Just pick a great manager.
The blame games is a favourite sport of ours. I think you have to look at the leadership, we havent had a good manager since Venables. We need to look their.