Let's not kid ourselves with what might have happened if Lampards goal would have stood! England were poor. Not just this game but the whole tournament and the friendlies before. How can a large bunch of talented players put in such inept displays after such an encouraging qualification?
My own assumption is that something must have been wrong in the camp and I have a feeling that if Fabio leaves, someone will start to reveal what actually happened. During qualification the players are only away from their clubs for a few days and Fabio does not have any time to put in place any strict procedures for morale to start to drop. However this group of players had been together for well over a month which is more than enough time for problems to start to surface.
The players never looked particularly happy and I put it down to Fabio. This is just speculation of course but there were a few events that I felt were strange. The fact that Fabio told the players the team a couple of hours before the game was strange including who was playing in goal. It smacks of bad communication between management and the players. David James was interviewed after the Algeria game when he was told that Fabio thought the players were scared and nervous. He answered 'did he' in a tone which suggested that there was a reason for the bad performance but it wasn't that! Then there was John Terry's strange press conference when he was suggesting who should be playing in the final group game and that there should be a change of tactics which I took as a guarded message that the team were not happy with Fabio's strategy. Frank Lampards equally strange press conference the following day when his jokey and smiley attitude seemed to be so over emphasised that it looked false to me.
Finally there is Wayne Rooney. a revelation for Manchester United who was totally anonymous in all four games in South Africa. Why?
Finally there is Wayne Rooney. a revelation for Manchester United who was totally anonymous in all four games in South Africa. Why?
3 comments:
Its the players 100%, blame Sven, McClaren etc etc and now Capello...nope its the same lack of passion and effort from the players.
Made to look much better than they actually are at their clubs by the foreign imports.
People are forgetting we didn't qualify for Euro 2008, Capello was nothing to do with that, but Rooney et all sure were!
Trouble is the English players are so pampered these days they believe their own hype and think they know best. Doubt we'll ever get the best out of players like Terry, Cole , Rooney etc who all play for themselves and their own interests whether it's another buck or their egos.
Can't see another foreign coach being any better than Fabio unless they've some idea of the Premiership mentality
A non English manager is never going to have the same passion as a home bred manager no matter how much you pay him!
Saying that, the players never looked like they were fully committed either.
Altogether a very poor show in my opinion!!
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