FIFA World Cup 2010 England Vs Germany: England player’s performance review
David James, initially James had a solid game at the back, the first two goals that went in were due to bad defending and there wasn’t much that he could have done about them, however the third German goal was due to his error, it is in explainable for a word class keeper to be beaten at his near post.
Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole, probably had similar games, they were constantly being pulled out of position and didn’t offer much attacking support like they usually do, they made the German side midfielders appear to be even better than they were.
Upson, the sturdy solid wall that he was against Slovenia seemed to crumble in front of the mighty Germans. He failed to be recognized as a professional athlete during the game, he was shaky and all over the place, he did contribute with a goal but had he performed better, that goal wouldn’t have even been needed.
John Terry, was the main culprit behind Germany’s first goal, horribly out of position and all over the place. He failed to mark any of the German strikers. He even dragged the back four out of position on numerous occasions creating gaps for the Germans to attack.
Gareth Barry, was allocated the task of preventing Ozil from tearing the back four to shreds. But not only did he do just that, he also beat Barry on pace numerous times and left him for dead with his quick turns. The most note able key to analyzing Barry’s performance was when the Germans were on the break and he had a five yard head start on Ozil, he still failed to stop him or slow him down and the move eventually ended in the German’s fourth goal.
Frank Lampard, was arguably the only English player who looked like he was providing any threat to the Germans. It would be stretching it to call his performance ‘good’, if compared to the German midfield though, but he was by far the best English player on the pitch.
James Milner, didn’t deliver the crosses he was supposed to and failed to run at Boateng who got the better of him on numerous occasions which led to him being substituted on the half hour mark.
Steven Gerrard, and Lampard were the only English players who tried to be creative. They took a lot of ridiculous shots none the less. Wayne Rooney went into the tournament as the player to watch, but left the tournament as one of the most if not ‘the most’ disappointing player. He failed to score a single goal, did not provide any creativity up front and was just terrible with his overall performance.
Out of all the strikers that England had in their squad, Defoe was the best; he scored the goal which saw them through to the knock out stages. But just like the rest of the team failed to rise to the challenge of the Germans. When the team was performing as poor as England was and they needed a creative genius up front, someone who could do it all on his own, clearly Defoe was not that man.
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