10 thoughts on England being knocked out of the World Cup

1. This worldcup just came at the wrong time for England. The clubs are in turmoil, there are hardly any English players left in the squads of the major teams. And no Arsene, Walcott doesn't count. And an unfit and off-form Rooney to top it off.
2. For a team that claims to be built from the back, the defensive performance was, simply put, a disgrace.
3. The goal from Upson was fantastic, and had that Lampard goal not been disallowed, the scenario would've been much different. England would've lost on penalties, thats the English way of exiting tournaments, see?
4. The injury to Michael Ballack has been a revelation for Germany because it gave Bastian Schweinsteiger the chance to reveal himself like he did. Ozil and Muller were great too. Muller's first goal; rarely have i seen an assist so selfless! kudo's to Ozil!
5. Beckham looked great didn't he?
6. Contrary to popular belief, there was tactically nothing wrong with England (with the exception of the substitutions made), they just had a very weak squad.
7. After the first three games, Capello should've realised Rooney isn't really working out. He's a great player, but just that he's too out of form right now, and you cant blame him, coming back from injury, its difficult. And thus, he should've given the Crouch-Defoe pairing a chance.
8. The commentator in the England-Germany match made a very insightful comment about the academies in England versus the academies in Germany; clearly, lax spending in that regard in England clubs is showing now. England do have prospects in players like Lennon, Welbeck, Rodwell, Baxter, Gosling etc., but they need to play at the highest level of European football to be as good, and as confident as the German youngsters last night.
9. Capello should NOT be sacked, ever! the formation was sound, the tactics were sound, what wasn't was the squads general fitness and the level of the players involved, none of which were Capello's fault.
10. As a cynic, I have to say: Thank God England's goal was disallowed, because if it were not, we would be looking at widespread riots all across England! Not because England would've won, they would've still lost in all eventuality, but because now the England fan can always say "What if?!..."

Wayne Rooney: Really not all that! (courtesy: football365)

Although I don't agree with all of it, but still its a very well written little mailbox article

Wayne Rooney: It's A Myth
Though it may be unwise to write on the eve of a game where I could well be silenced by the reverberations of a good performance, I thought I'd take this opportunity to ask the media and fellow mail-boxers to stop waxing quite so lyrical about Mr. Rooney.

Aware that my longer and less sensationalist emails are rarely published, I'll try to make this one shorter and unqualified by reasonableness.

1. Wayne Rooney really shouldn't be considered among the best in the world. Certainly he had a good season, but technically it is a little embarrasing to compare him to Ronaldo and Messi, who are just plain vastly better footballers.

2. Wayne Rooney had a good season for Manchester United because the team was built around his strengths. They played a wide 4-5-1 formation that focussed on crossing as often as possible, hence a) he scored an awful lot of headers; and b) Manchester United created an awful lot of own goals. This solution is not applicable to England for several reasons:

i. it would involve having wingers who can cross - and we sent Mr. Johnson home; and
ii. Our other good players don't fit particularly well into it - we'd probably have to drop Lampard, and Steven Gerrard really doesn't have the tactical discipline for any formation which isn't built around him.

Therefore don't expect miracles of him, he'll play for us like a slightly more confident version of the Wayne we saw during the Ronaldo era.

3. Finally, would people please stop advocating a 4-4-1-1 with Gerrard behind Rooney; I'm talking especially to Mr. Shearer. This proposal seems to be built on two flawed presuppositions:

i. this would suit our two most talented players; and
Ii. This has brought the best out of 'Stevie G' at Liverpool.

Erroneous, erroneous on both counts. Gerrard playing just behind a front man requires a front man who actually stays up front all the time, creates space, and finds holes. Mr. Capello tried this formation early on in his tenure, and Steve came off the pitch and said to the media it didn't work because Wayne wouldn't stay high enough. He's a good striker in his own way, but he's not the same type of striker as Fernando Torres.

Furthermore the formation which brings so much out of Gerrard is acutally a 4-2-3-1, not a 4-4-1-1. This may sound trivial, but the former requires two holding players, one of which is a fantastic deep-lying playmaker. Frank Lampard is many things, but a Xabi Alonso type player he is not. Take Mr. Alonso away from that formation and replace him with someone average and/or ill-suited to the role and the end product is a p***-poor season for both Liverpool and Gerrard.

Essentially: leave it to Fabio, there is absolutely no doubt he's already considered your ideas and ruled them out because his appreciation of the finer points of the game are derived from years of footballing experience, not from Championship Manager.

Rant over.
Luke Johnson