Anyone who regularly fails while blaming others needs to learn to look at them self. Scapegoats are a lot of fun, and can offer short term consolation, but the problem wont go away until you address the root cause. You. You are the problem.
England fans have had more than their share of scapegoats over the years; Beckham, Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, Philip Neville and David Seaman to name but several. After penalty shootouts the faithful fallback is to blame the manager, but the common denominator on each occasion is the fans. Specifically the fans' expectations.
England fans shouldn't be blamed for their high expectations, there's nothing wrong with optimism or patriotism in small doses, and raised on a diet of insipid diplomatic and ill informed punditry it's forgivable that people get carried away. England are and always were outsiders for the World Cup, the 8th best team in the FIFA rankings so a par finish would be being the worst team in the Quarter-Finals.
The manager is ultimately culpable should England fail to reach the latter stages, and his main failing is the insistence of accommodating Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney in the same team. The Brazilian squad boasts the two best right-backs in world football, but you cannot play with 2 right-backs getting in each others way so Dani Alves is left on the bench. Spain regularly leave out Fernando Torres from the first eleven when it benefits the team. To crowbar Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney into the same side handicaps three players who are all used to being the free-roaming focal point of their club side.
Its not a unique or original problem, football is littered with
examples of players who have shone for one side only to fail when their big move comes and they are no longer the big man on campus. It's particularly prevalent among South American wonderkids who having moved to Europe as stars of their clubs back home, struggle to adapt when they become just another team member.
But don't other nations cope with this problem? What about the Brazil sides featuring the likes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and co? Well the instinct of Brazil's stars was to create chances for Ronaldo, who could be trusted to finish. Gerrard and Lampard are not naturally creative players, their best quality is their finishing. Rooney is a creative player, but England's equivalent of Ronaldo is Emile Heskey - and Heskey cannot be trusted to finish.
The solution must then be to drop two or all of Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney in favour of a more balanced side with players in their correct position. Easy in theory, but will Capello agree? International tournaments are not the ideal place to experiment, but necessity is the mother of invention.
Some food for thought. I agree that Lampard and Gerrard shouldn't be in the same 'flat' midfield. Personally, I'd play a 4-3-3 formation giving Rooney support but allowing him to play in a role that bombarded premier league defenders this season at United. We cannot leave Rooney out, but at the moment it's not working. As Einstein once said Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure England have the personnel to play like Manchester United - if only Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes were English! Given Rooney's current form/fitness concerns would you put all your eggs in his basket?
ReplyDeleteYou're not the only person who feels this way - rumour is that Lampard and Heskey are to be replaced by Carrick and Cole in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. Personally I'd leave Gerrard and Rooney on the bench too and start with Crouch and Defoe - they're fit and hungry, Slovenia will bee food and drink for them.
Setbacks like this are a nice way of levelling out our expectations and historically plenty of teams have found their best formation or line-up during tournament play. Last night's result will be quickly forgotten if we qualify.