Engerlund 2-0 Defenders.
Despite it only being a 2-0 win for England, with the obligatory boos at half time from the morons who seem to think we have some given right to win these games 10-0 and so should be at least 5 up first half, it was telling for me that Capello had to have a go at Rooney and Cole for not playing as they were told to. Rooney in particulalr doesnt seem to have a great brain, although Joe Cole is hardly GCSE material, but the fact that two of our top players can’t follow simple instructions probably explains quite a few things.
For years now it has been often suggested (and an observation of my own) that Lampard probably can’t play to a set of orders. Hes too fond of going forward and thus removing the support that Gerrard needs when going forward himself and then Gerrard who is the type of player to track all the way back to his own area finds himself even further out of position to compensate which is why players like Barry, Hargreaves and Carrick are deemed essential to England being successful.
That Rooney feels the need to play so deep is worrying and also makes a stark case for not playing him as a striker, if at all. If he and Gerrard are our best and most creative players then yes they should probably make up the attacking midfield and play one or even two proper strikers up front. Sure you have to drop Lampard but many people have been saying that for a long while now and it seems there is a good tactical reason for doing so.
Unfortunatly we wont get that situation I would think, which is a shame as it might pay off with Walcott & Cole wide.
Lets see what happens in the proper match, England do play better against better opponents and hopefully the players wont be too intimidated by the supposed England fans and past recent history and make a mess of it. But lets remember Croatia are ranked fifth in the world, England fifteenth, a draw is a good result frankly.