I know nothing can make up for a team that just isn't playing well but there are a couple of things that did really get on my nerves about the "non - performance" of the England 2010 squad. Simple, time-proven elements should have been avoided and would have been if Fabio Capello wasn't so stubborn and inflexible. He stuck to his tried and tested rules by announcing team selection as the players boarded the bus to the game, two hours before kick off! How that must have motivated / demotivated those pampered, costeted, overpaid stars!
Why was Emile Heskey even there? Why was he even considered for the squad in the first place? He's just a big bruising English centre forward in the Nat Lofthouse mould (without Nat's goalscoring record!) with the stature and guile of a fully laden supertanker. Capello's masterstroke during the Germany game was to bring on Heskey when England were already losing 1 - 4! How is a striker with only seven international goals in over sixty appearances going to suddenly change the course of England's World Cup? His non existant goal scoring record for England meant little to Capello who saw him as the perfect partner to Wayne Rooney. Unfortunately Rooney lost the form that so lit up his season with Manchester United. Emile and Wayne simply didn't click. But neither did anyone else!
Peter Crouch was brought along to unsettle defences with his ungainly playing style and height. Unfortunately his cameo performance against Algeria confirmed his lack of international class - he should not have been on the field, especially playing international football for England. He unbalances the team. The most unlikely, six foot nine plus English footballer with little ball control has only ever scored in the past because Beckham could pick out his head. Without Becks and far superior opposition than he meets in the Premiership, Crouch remained a poor attacking option for England in South Africa.
Why didn't he do the obvious? Take Michael Owen instead of Heskey! Admittedly Owen has a sketchy injury record but he has scored amazing goals throughout his career and could have been brough along as an impact substitute! His appearance near the end of a game may have created something spectacular. Then, instead of Crouch, Agbonlahor should have been there, maybe even as first choice striker with a proven goal scorering record in the Premiership.
Another factor is we all know that Lampard and Gerard cannot play on the same squad as they are the same player! They should have been subs for each other. Plus, playing Gerard down the left wing was not his best postion. We all know that his role should have been in the hole just behind Rooney! It's a position that England have never been able to properly fill, ever since John Barnes. Then finally in 2006, Joe Cole (the most under utilised English player at this World Cup) came along, an attacking midfielder with buckets of skill and speed for the wing fitted the slot perfectly. Yet, Gerard was placed on the wing and Joe Cole just sloppily bought on 70mins into a game that was already lost. He went into Rooney's position and was expected to pull off a miracle.
So as I ponder all the options with my feet propped up on my favourite footstool I look forward to the 2018 World Cup in England! By then members of the victorious England Under 17 side who have just been crowned European champions will be established regulars in the senior England team. Just like the Germans who have promoted many of their best young players during this World Cup, England will become a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately we will have to wait another eight years for the emergence of the next "Golden Generation".
The author has over 20 years experience running companies involved in furnishing fabrics and furniture manufacturing in the UK and writes extensively about footstools, contemporary British furniture and football.
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