France Exposed England at Wembley
England had one unbeaten record left under Fabio Capello, their home record, but now, after losing to France at Wembley 2-1, that is gone too.
The performances of their so called young stars of the future weren’t that appreciative either. Andy Carroll and Kieran Gibbs did okay while Jordan Henderson, the man from Sunderland had a difficult debut.
This time, England had no excuses. Nobody from their team was sent-off, all the goals did cross the goal-line and made the net move and the Three Lions were definitely not exposed by any moments of magic by the opposition.
Not even the fact that the English were outplayed, out-thought and completely out-fought by a superior opposition would do the team any justice.
The English team is playing in exactly the same way before they got themselves into a big mess (A.K.A World Cup 2010).
It can be considered easy and very naïve to just dismiss the fact that a bunch of youngsters who were untried at ‘international’ level were beaten by seasoned veterans. That however was never the case as Laurent Blanc, the manager of France,
ever since taking over the reins of the controversial French team has introduced new faces to the French team, revamping the whole national squad structure.
The driving force behind France’s victory was the presence of Yann M’vila, Joann Gourcuff and Sami Nasri, all three who haven’t 50 caps for the French team put together.
It can be called as a good argument if someone says that the England has a squad missing some key players but it’s not always about the competence of players. Fabio Capello is still baffling or perhaps blundering with his tactical selections.
Pairing Walcott with Phil Jagielka on the right side was a good decision before Walcott started getting inside whenever he had an opportunity rather than picking out And Carroll whose effect on the game was nullified due to this.
When he runs, Theo Walcott can probably give Usaine Bolt a run for his money but the lad has to realize that pace alone will never make him a deadly winger. Always running at the defenders and getting inside all the time will not give
him the goals. He has to learn being a decent winger first and start making goals for his team whether it’s Arsenal or England.
In contrast, Theo Walcott should have seen Bacary Sagna, his teammate at Arsenal play. The Frenchman was a potent attacking threat coming from the defence and his work rate was supreme in helping out the three attackers.
The persistence of playing Gareth Barry was incomprehensible as he has proved to be slow and uncreative. But one cannot blame Fabio Capello for this. England has always had a problem with having a good holding midfielder since the turn
of the millennium. After the retirement of Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves came into the English set up but the former Bayern Munich man has been able to play a total of only 10 minutes in two years and might never return as the same player who was so influential
for England in Germany 2006. What would Fabio Capello not give to have the Manchester United man back, everyone knows!
Steven Gerrard’s decline is shocking and very sad for all football fans. The Liverpool man was the heart and soul for club and country 2 years ago but against France; Gerrard was seen spraying over-ambitious passes all around the place
with no end product. No one can doubt the heart and work rate of Steven Gerrard, the guy is always going to give his best but sadly, these qualities are alone not enough to guide a team to victory for a man of his age.
Dark ages of football returned by the way England used Andy Carroll. Put the beast header in the world and keep on pumping hopeful long balls at him but in this age, matches can’t be won like this.
England has to come up with a way to let go of these deeply ingrained habits of tossing the ball to a tall striker mindlessly. Until then, English team will remain where it is, an average team that lacks a killer instinct.
The progress of the English youth team has proved that these habits are learnt and not encoded in the genetic framework so it’s vital and very important that new players like Carroll, Henderson and all those who will come in the future,
learn only the good habits.
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