Scotty for England
Well, Scott Parker's first performance for England has come and gone...and obviously, his presence didn't have the impact that I was hoping it would. In fact, the editors of skysports.com gave Scotty the worst rating on the field today. (Ironically, the fans gave him one of the best, but that only proves that he's very well liked - unfortunately you can never depend on the fans to give true ratings of players.)
McClaren went with the 3-5-2 formation, possibly a crazy experiment intended to show that he's more flexible than Sven was, and although I appreciate experimentation, especially in early stages of the Euro qualifications, this was CROATIA AT CROATIA. A team who's NEVER lost in a qualifying match at home. And starting with Ashley Cole in the 5-man mid in front of SWP and Jenas, that's questionable at best.
I think the main problem of the England squad is the immense doting that follows them everywhere they go. It seems as though since the Premier League is held in such high regard in England and these players get treated like kings each in their respective club, that they feel that same reverence should follow them to the international stage. They believe that since 19 year old kids look up to them on the pitch, so should every international player, and that's just not realistic. And they feel that these international matches will be like friendlies. And that's just not the case at all.
Obviously the very base level of quality of player also has something to do with it. I mean, Paul Robinson isn't one of the top 6 keepers in the World. Besides John Terry and Ashley Cole, how many England defenders are in the top 15 or 20 in the world? (And playing the best defender in a midfield role just seems silly to me)
As always, there's a striker issue...Defoe is too short, Crouch is too uncoordinated, and Rooney just isn't playing up to his potential. The midfield is absolutely average, barring Gerrard and Lampard, and Gerrard was out and Lampard hasn't played like himself since 2004. So while the entire football-loving world looks up to the England squad, really looking at it, it's not a huge surprise that they were embarrassed when they traveled to Croatia, is it?
McClaren went with the 3-5-2 formation, possibly a crazy experiment intended to show that he's more flexible than Sven was, and although I appreciate experimentation, especially in early stages of the Euro qualifications, this was CROATIA AT CROATIA. A team who's NEVER lost in a qualifying match at home. And starting with Ashley Cole in the 5-man mid in front of SWP and Jenas, that's questionable at best.
I think the main problem of the England squad is the immense doting that follows them everywhere they go. It seems as though since the Premier League is held in such high regard in England and these players get treated like kings each in their respective club, that they feel that same reverence should follow them to the international stage. They believe that since 19 year old kids look up to them on the pitch, so should every international player, and that's just not realistic. And they feel that these international matches will be like friendlies. And that's just not the case at all.
Obviously the very base level of quality of player also has something to do with it. I mean, Paul Robinson isn't one of the top 6 keepers in the World. Besides John Terry and Ashley Cole, how many England defenders are in the top 15 or 20 in the world? (And playing the best defender in a midfield role just seems silly to me)
As always, there's a striker issue...Defoe is too short, Crouch is too uncoordinated, and Rooney just isn't playing up to his potential. The midfield is absolutely average, barring Gerrard and Lampard, and Gerrard was out and Lampard hasn't played like himself since 2004. So while the entire football-loving world looks up to the England squad, really looking at it, it's not a huge surprise that they were embarrassed when they traveled to Croatia, is it?
Labels: Football
posted by darkred at 7:21 PM
1 Comments:
I don't think the England squad is lacking persay, I think that the England Manager is poor at picking his squad. he has TONS of talent in England to choose from and it seems that they play favoritism too much. Defoe is a solid striker in the world and I would probably pick him over Crouch on any given day. There are some very good defensemen for england as well but they never get calls because mgr's like over the hill, "capped" players instead
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