Embarrassing World Cup exit....

I've never witnessed such an abject, embarrassing performance in my life as the one dished up by the England side today. Frankly the 4-1 defeat at the hands of Germany was flattering to us to say the least. The Germans could have scored double that if they had put away all their chances. OK, we had a goal that wasn't allowed and shame on the officials for not spotting it and Lampard hit the crossbar with one of the few efforts we had on goal, but over all we were a disgrace. I have never seen an England side roll over and surrender a game in the fashion this lot did. Whatever has gone on behind the scenes with the squad over the last few weeks was shown up today. They played like a Sunday league side totally bereft of any ideas and gave the Germans the space and time to exploit all our deficiences. Capello's inability to respond to the way we were playing highlights the need for a complete change from top to bottom. He must resign forthwith and a clear-out of the under performers should take place straightaway. Why Capello continued playing the out of form Rooney, when he soon ditched Green because of one poor save is beyond me. So too was his choice of playing Heskey (who's goal scoring record for England is terrible) instead of Crouch up front is beyond me. And why bring on the headless chicken in the guise of Wright-Phillips, who up until now has had the impact of a deflated tyre. I could go through all the team today and one word would describe their collective performance and that is EMBARRASSING. They and the manager should hang their heads in shame and apologise to the country for what they did today.

England go through.

Well, our World Cup campaign continues after a much improved performance against Slovenia. Although the score suggested a close run game, England had enough chances to make it a more comfortable ride. Capello made three changes bringing in Upson, Defoe and Milner and it was the latter two who created and finished the deciding goal. The only disappointing thing about the game was the performance of Wayne Rooney. Again it looked a shadow of the player he was a couple of months ago. I think his form peaked too soon and when he picked up an injury in the Premiership he's not been able  to replicate the form he had then. He looks nervous on the ball and when an opportunity came his way he scuffed his shot, which allowed the Slovenian goalie to get his fingers to the ball and onto the post. Instead of chasing up the rebound, he just held his head in his hands and gave up. This has been a common theme with him so far. I was glad to see him substituted during the second half, but his replacement Joe Cole, did not live up to the hype given to him by his admirers. In fact he too had a disappointing game, but it might be a bit harsh to critisize him too much given the lack of match play he's had so far. Our next opponents on Sunday will be our old adverseries, Germany, who also finally booked their place in the last sixteen tonight by beating Ghana 1-0. For once I do not fear this current German team. They appear to be an ordinary looking set of players compared to previous German sides, but nevertheless they will still be  formidable opponents. Personally I would have been more worried  playing the unpredictable Ghana  than Germany. Come on England let's win it in style without it going to extra time or penalties.

England expects.....

By tomorrow evening  we will know if our World Cup hopes are still alive? We go into the last game knowing that only a win will guarantee a place in the knock-out stages. Up until now our performances have left a lot to be desired, but on a positive note we are still unbeaten. So, even though we are told that there is no rift in the camp, we get John Terry thinking he is still the voice of authority in the team giving a press conference questionning the manager's omission of Joe Cole in the team. So if there is no rift, why give the conference without the manager's knowledge. He then puts both of his flat feet in it further by saying only Rooney and Cole are capable of opening teams up. Not only has he upset the manager with his comments but his team mates as well. My advice to Terry is leave the intelligent bits to people with intelligence.  I hope we do manage to get the win and progress to the final stages. Come on England.

World Cup yawn.....

Well, if our result against the USA was poor, this performance against Algeria was abysmal. I don't even take solace from the fact that France, Spain and Germany have been beaten. This is not about other national sides, it's about England. Unlike a lot of pundits who have played up the possibilities of us winning the World Cup I have always had my doubts. Our results prior to the competition have been on the whole very positive. My impression of Fabio Capello was also positive. He brought along a more discipline style of management to the job, which had been missing for a long time. Unfortunately, despite this new stricter regime too many of his first team players not only let themselves down with their off-field antics but the manager too. I think this helped to undermine the workings of the whole squad. In particular the Terry / Bridge debacle, which caused Terry to be dropped as England captain. Tonight's game was a disjointed affair. Too many established players were collectively poor. Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Johnson, Terry, Cole, Wright-Phillips  and Lennon were just not good enough and I think Rooney was the worst of the lot and should have been subbed. I am sorry to say this but I fear Capello has too many favourites who he will not drop irrespective of how they perform. He seems to prefer Heskey to Crouch, and yet Crouch's goal to appearance ratio is second to none, whereas Heskey's is next to nothing. We now go into our last game against Slovenia looking for nothing short of a victory to guarantee a place in the knock-out stages. I must admit I am not feeling as positive as I should be, but if we do not make it then the manager and players must take the blame.

England 1 USA 1

I apologise for not writing recently, this has been due to me being extremely busy and not having time to put “pen to paper”. I am still in a state of euphoria following the Mighty Seasiders success in the play-off at Wembley. So much so, England's World Cup preparation has taken a back seat for me. Nevertheless, there I was tonight with my England shirt on looking forward to the boys beating the American lads. Before going into what I thought about our performance tonight I have got to say how much I dislike ITV's coverage compared to the BBC's. I find the constant commercial breaks just disrupts the flow and your enjoyment. To make matters worse I watched the game on their HD channel and guess what happened? They had a technical problem and lost the picture and when it returned we were 1-nil up, they missed Gerrard's goal. That should have acted as a warning to how the game would go. Even though we led for most of the first half we never quite controlled the game enough. So when Robert Green dropped his almighty clanger the Americans couldn't believe their luck. But for me he wasn't the only one who flopped on the night. Despite what the so called TV pundit experts say I cannot think of one English player who stood out. Rooney was never in it, in fact I thought he was a liability and I would have taken him off. Lennon was a joke. His final pass was just as bad as Walcott's, who failed to make the squad. Wright-Phillips is another who's final pass leaves a lot to be desired. I could go through all the team and be critical of them, but credit has to go to the Americans for the way they played and how they restricted us to very few chances. Are we good enough to win the World Cup? After tonight's performance I think it's going to be very difficult. Perhaps our expectations have been too high and we'll end up disappointed again. OK, I might be over reacting especially after just one game, but performances like this don't leave you feeling very up-beat. Still I live in hope.