Disappointing England….AGAIN!
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by Jgiuffra
It all started so well. Micah Richards was playing like a veteran steaming through the depleted German defence to set up the hapless Frank Lampard for the opening goal on 9 minutes…then Paul Robinson happened. He lost his balance and palmed the ball into the danger zone leaving Kevin Kuranyi by himself to tap it home. To be fair, there was nothing he could have done about the second goal; we have the England captain, John Terry, to blame for that. A very poor clearance to the middle of the park left the England defence exposed. Christian Pander, in his first appearance for the Germans, hit a shot with a venom reminiscent of a Roberto Carlos free kick…certainly Robinson couldn’t see it until it was in the back of the net. Robinson was seen near tears at the end of the half with his head in his hands along with many England fans.
There were some good individual efforts. Micah Richards, Alan Smith and Sean Wright Phillps all played well. Gareth Barry and Nicky Shorey played OK too. The fact that Michael Owen played 60 minutes and didn’t injure himself also bodes well for England. Beckham was mediocre, but no one was expecting anything more with his still injured ankle. He did actually run at a defender, though, which was good to see. Unfortunately, he was so knackered by the burst, his cross was a weak effort that went right to a waiting Lehman. At least he tried.
Even after Germany took the lead I still felt that England would get a result and stop the rot of 6 consecutive losses to Germany at Wembley. I was seriously disappointed. What disappointed me most was the way England played the last 20 minutes. The German midfield closed England down like it was the first 20 minutes and looked the more likely to score on the break. What made it worse, England didn’t seem that bothered by it.
So here is the million dollar question:
Does McLaren know what he’s doing? If not, what team would you play faced with all the injuries?
Any and all comments will be greatly appreciated as I am at a loss.
