McClaren Sacked! Even Beckham Couldn't Save Him
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by Jgiuffra
England Out of Euro 2008 Beckham Almost Saves the Day…Gulp!
Worst match ever. The tactics and the team were all wrong. McClaren rolled the dice and it came up craps and the FA bareley waited 12 hours to give him his walking papers--along with an estimated pay-out of £2.5 Million!
I reported yesterday that Steve McClaren made some difficult decisions ahead of the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier—they all blew up in his face. I also said in another post that I would leave the boss man alone as long as he got the result that would send England through to the cup being held in Austria and Switzerland next summer. As you all probably already know England was eliminated last night by Croatia and all bets are now off. McClaren is again open game for anyone who wants to have a pop at England’s hapless ex-manager.
Can I start off by saying, OH MY GOD! I have never seen an international performance like it. I think England would have lost to Andorra last night they were that bad. The only exception among the starters was Peter Crouch. He did exactly what he was supposed to do; he won headers, held the ball up, showed amazing quality with his feet and finished with class when Beckham provided an opportunity for the gentle giant to score. Everybody else on the pitch, bar none, would have been lucky to start in a Sunday League side with the form they showed on a battered Wembley pitch last night.
From the back…
Scott Carson couldn’t have had a worse start. In the 7 th minute Micah Richards allowed Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar to line up a shot from 30 yards out—he didn’t close him down at all, not one bit. The strike was hard and low, but to say Scott Carson should have handled it easily is an understatement like Brazil has decent squad or Pele was a pretty good striker. He didn’t get behind the ball and basically let it bounce right by him. Shocking to say the least.
The second goal came as a result of some slack defending from Chelsea’s own second stringer Wayne Bridge. Bridge was painfully off the pace the whole match. The whole defence was mesmerised by Arsenal’s Crozilian—thanks PG—Eduardo Da Silva’s run to the 18 yard box; so much so that Bridge didn’t pick up the run of Ivica Olic when he made a dash from the edge of the area that was well spotted by the Arsenal danger man. He slipped a perfectly weighed ball into Olic’s path who went around Carson and slotted the ball into the far corner. 2 nil with only 15 minutes gone, woeful start to any match to say the least.
The midfield…
Let me start by saying I have never seen Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard play quite as badly as they did last night. I’ll start with the captain. I won’t say much about his touch, skill or defence other than that I have seen headless chickens with more purpose to their runs. Enough said about that. What really bothered me about the stand-in captain’s performance was that he showed no signs of leadership. When Carson let in the howler no body, and I mean nobody, went over to pat him on the back or try to raise his spits in any fashion. Instead they ignored him. When the easy pass was back to the keeper they would pass to the full back. Sol Campbell actually sprinted back to intercept the ball from Carson before he could lay his cursed hands on it. I have never seen anything like it. It was quite upsetting to watch the total breakdown in team spirit on the new Wembley pitch so early in such a crucial game. Granted, it was a horrible mistake, but England knew they were going to have to score to go through. It would have been a perfect time to show some guts and solidarity but no one stepped up. It was like each player was in his own world and had no concept of the bigger picture. They were poring men forward like it was the injury time when only 10 minutes gone. This left them exposed at the back and very susceptible to the Croatian’s swift counter attacks.
Frank Lampard was Frank Lampard, pointless unless your team is winning. He took a good penalty, but that was it. He gave the ball away cheaply in dangerous areas and had no interest in tracking back on defence. Shaun Wright-Phillips had one good chance which came by way of a Crouch pass that he blasted right at the Croatian #1. Other than that, his runs lacked purpose and he was always in the wrong place for Crouch’s attempted set ups. Joe Cole was mediocre at best. Somehow neither of the wingers figured out that Crouch always sets his headers to his left. Crouch won the ball in the area virtually 100% of the time. He would knock the ball down to no one, because no one was committed to the cause. None of the midfielders made the runs they needed to to make a 1 striker system work. That is just inexcusable at this level. Whether it was down to poor coaching or not is irrelevant. The players certainly should know better. The less said about Gareth Barry the better. He provided no cover for the back 4 at all and had none of the passing class that he had shown in earlier England appearances.
The lone striker….
I have nothing at all negative to say about Peter Crouch. He was excellent with both his feet and his head throughout the match. He held the ball up when he needed to and made life difficlt for the Croatian centre backs. His control and finish on his goal was top drawer. Beckham sent a perfect cross into the lanky assassin and he dispatched it with true style taking the ball on his chest and smashing a volley into the back of the net with his right foot. I don’t see why Raffa doesn’t start him all the time. Maybe Benitez thinks it’s boring watching him score…I certainly don’t. We’ll have him at United if you don’t want him anymore!
Beckham did very well as a second half substitute setting up Crouch’s goal and taking some good corners. I still think he’s well past his prime, but he did bring some class to an England side that was severely lacking it. This was the former England captain’s 99 th cap, 1 more will bring him to a milestone only achieved by 4 other players. After last night I remove my objection to him getting that. I wish all the best to Golden Balls in whatever he chooses to do.
If you were to ask me who I think is to blame for this performance I think equal credit should go to the manager and the players. McClaren thought he was doing the right thing by giving some untested players the start in what amounted to a cup final. Hindsight will allow everybody to put forth their two cents regarding the malaise that surrounds the national team. Some will blame the youth system. Others will blame the FA. Still others will blame the management and the players. Maybe all of them are to blame. Nothing positive will happen if people get mired down in the nuts and bolts of the McClaren year. Maybe all of England should wake up to the fact that no one deserves to go through unless they are good enough on the pitch. There is no guarantee that just because they invented the sport they should qualify for all major tournaments by right.
I will sum up this article with a few thoughts and praise for the Croatians. England should look to their conquerors as a template for teamwork. They were energetic in midfield and hungry for the ball even though they had nothing to play for other than pride. They all understood the system they were playing in and instrumented their manager’s plans to a tee. They were organised and direct, exactly the opposite of McClaren’s men. I wish them well in Austria and Switzerland next summer.
It is a very sad day n England. One saving grace from my point of view is that none of my Red Devils were out on the pitch for what will surely go down as one on England’s worst performances of all time.
