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

The name game

I heard the expression 'the name game' used for the first time during the England world-cup selections for the 2002 World Cup. I consider myself something of a tactician, true, that most of my tactics haven't worked out, but still I'm better than most others because I've tried a lot of times. Selecting a workable team for the World Cup seems like an easy enough process doesn't it? But seeing how so many England managers have got it wrong, there really must be some catch to it! Apart from all the bureucratic FA bull, an England manager still has a lot of power and authority, but the system isn't working.
The time has come now for an armchair manager to step up and take the reins! (namely myself). So lets name a properly subjective and biased 30-man England side for once;

Goal Guardians (yes, i coined this just now): David James, Joe Hart, Paul Robinson
Defenders: J. Terry, L. King, G. Johnson, A. Cole, R. Ferdinand, L. Baines, R. Shawcross, P. Jagielka, M. Dawson, Johnson (Birmingham), M. Upson.
Midfielders: F. Lampard, S. Gerrard, J. Cole, S. Parker, A. Johnson, A. Lennon, J. Milner, D. Bentley, G. Barry, P. Scholes, T. Walcott.
Forwards: W. Rooney, P. Crouch, J. Defoe, G. Agbonlahor, B. Zamora. D. Bent.

These are all in order of preference, so, for the 23-man squad, we keep the three keepers, lose the last two defenders, lose the last two midfielders, lose the last two forwards and we still have one extra man. The only area to trim in lose one of the four right midfielders, or accept that Scholes wont be joining us. Even if Scholes doesn't join us, we should take another striker with us. Walcott can be deployed as one, but its really difficult to comprehend what Walcott is about, he was found wanting in the last world cup, and he has been found wanting on most occasions during Arsenal's mediocre season (enough of the team average-age, and long-term plan nonsense, burn Arsenal, BURN!). Milner works his socks off and runs about the field like a headless chicken, but to excellent effect i must say! Aaron Lennon is the best impact winger we could have, and Bentley throws in the most lovely crosses in from the right.
But the real problem with the last paragraph is that I don't see any of our fine right midfielders making their way into even a five-midfield starting outfit. With the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, Parker, A. Johnson and J. Cole, you can't see any of the above mentioned RM's breaking through. The only chance any of them have is if A. Johnson plays like Saeed Ajmal would in Englands friendlies, or if J. Cole asks out Terrys ex.
Another question is wether or not to deploy Rooney as a lone striker. Does Rooney really need someone holding up the ball for him after his spectacular season for United? Its a question I can't answer. The only reason why the Heskey-Rooney love affair works is that only Heskey, of all the potential hold-up strikers, is ready not to be the target man. And its natural, why would Zamora, who's having a fantastic season for Fulham, hold up the ball for Rooney? Crouch could do the job well if he was ever given a starting position, because contrary to popular belief, Crouch really isn't as good with his head as he is with his feet.
This article is giving me a headache! you go Capello!