well, at least when you're that cynical you can never be disappointed.
as you will have probably seen/heard/read by now, england were terrible. an absolute shambles.
the only hope i have at this point is that capello won't tolerate this anymore. when mcclaren - an incompetent manager, completely out of his depth, with absolutely no track record of success - was rightfully sacked, i was right behind the appointment of fabio. this is a man, i thought, that won't pander to egos as his predecessors had done; that might not have the players playing the most thrilling of football, but who will have a team committed to winning. we haven't seen much of that so far, but if there was ever a case to be made for revolution, it would've been last night's shapeless mess.
but what depresses me - to the extent that i'm now convinced the above passage is absolute self-delusion - is just how confused and plain wrong last night's selection was. england had a midfield triumvirate in barry, lampard and beckham that offered precisely nothing in the way of width, pace, defensive abilities or creativity. steven gerrard was again squandered, whilst rooney roamed across the pitch, trying to make something happen. defoe, in fairness, was in a desperate situation, but still failed to convince he is ever going to make either an adequate foil for rooney or an international class striker. england have good players throughout this squad, but there is a need to create a system that allows them to play to their strengths.
what england need is a proper defensive midfielder to anchor the team. this would allow the others to push further forward and, combined with a deeper playmaker, would create a much more effective shape for the team when we need to keep the football. also, it would fundamentally improve the team's defence, which looked incredibly unreliable last night despite the quality in the back four.
the problem is, whilst england have the players for that complementary position - michael carrick should be first choice due to his metronomic passing and all-round awareness, but gareth barry is perfectly capable of standing in and we also have tom huddlestone as a potential alternative - they lack options for the anchorman. owen hargreaves should surely be the choice, but he is currently injured and the tendinitis he suffers from restrict him from being an automatic selection. what this means is that the challenge now for capello should be to find the second choice, but a quick glance around the premiership reveal the paucity of options facing him. united excepted, none of the big four have englishmen in the position. spurs have huddlestone, but he's less adept at the dirty defensive work required. everton relied on lee carsley to effectively fill the role for the past few years, and judging by their performance against blackburn on saturday are yet to find a sturdy replacement. at city, michael johnson is a great prospect but another player more suited to filling in for carrick. at newcastle, danny guthrie might be an option in about five years, whilst lee cattermole at wigan and fabrice muamba at bolton are both worth watching.
where does this leave us? well, how about nigel reo-coker? a virtual ever-present at villa last year, he played very well, making more tackles than anyone else in the premier-league, with a higher success rate than javier mascherano. i'm not saying he's the most talented player in the league, but if there has ever been a time to for picking the right players for the right roles, then that time is now.
still, this is one problem amongst many. capello needs to stop bothering with jermain defoe and provide a proper partner for rooney. he needs to start joe cole and drop lampard and beckham. he also needs to institute a proper playmaker capable of retaining the ball.
who knows if this will all happen. judging on what has passed, i doubt it.
i am - legitimately i think - very very scared about what happens to us against croatia next month.
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