Moan, moan, moan…!
by Herr EdThe negative post-match reaction to England’s World Cup warm-up fixture against Hungary was highly predictable. But somewhat paradoxically, it’s still amazing that a 3-1 victory can be portrayed as a shambolic tragedy. Whatever Sven Goran Eriksson does he is lambasted for it, with The Independent’s James ‘You don’t wanna do it like that’ Lawton leading the way!
But nothing Sven attempted in the Hungary game was dangerously radical. He tried Steven Gerrard as a support striker - and imagine the fuss if England went to the World Cup without Sven deploying him in this position at least once. Sven also experimented with Carragher at the base of midfield, which was a surprise, but if he isn’t convinced that Carrick is ready for the first XI, then surely it makes perfect sense to try others for size in this role. The defensive midfielder berth is not settled, and it would be inappropriate if a number of options were not explored in the hope of resolving this potentially problematic area.
To summarise, Sven’s calamitous dismantling of England’s World Cup chances consisted of:
- Trying Gerrard as a support striker
- Exploring options for the holding role
- Beating Hungary 3-1
Therefore, I think James Lawton is right – it is clear that England’s World Cup bid has become a joke!
All is not lost, however, for journalists and their peculiar brand of retrospective omniscience. Sven will probably fail to decide on a defensive midfielder and will revert to 4-4-2 for the World Cup, thus enabling England to play with their usual shapeless lack of craft and imagination. Everyone can then have a good moan about poor old predictable Sven Goran Eriksson!
June 1st, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Had to double post this:
Check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96eSrFlUVh0&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b
and
http://www.anfieldred.co.uk/2006/05/30/crouchie-does-the-robot-again
Apparently Crouchy debued the “Crouch Computer” at Beckham’s party.
Does anyone else think that he looks frighteningly like the late lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis?
June 1st, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Not sure what this has to do with the article but thanks for bringing it up anyway. I saw Crouchy doing the dance on the tv coverage of the Beckham’s party and was more than pleased to see it again on the pitch at Old Trafford.
The only way to please the press would be to play ten John Terrys and have Terry Venables in goal.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:43 pm
What is the plural of a Terry?
Terries?
June 1st, 2006 at 4:12 pm
And also, to disagree wholly with the original point…..Sven should be questioned for experimenting with the holding role when he has had countless friendlies and a number of years to deal with injuries and thus tactical alterations. (Instead he gives England 45-minute appearances to all on the tip of the current tongue. It is a joke and I think if we look at other teams then an injury to one of their biggest players would have been theoretically covered and tried before this point no???). Not 2 matches before the World Cup.
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:34 am
Again, not linked to the article per se but further to Fouldsy’s posting; the Crouch robotics are apparently a tribute to the Arctic Monkeys’ “I bet that you look good on the dance floor” in which there is the lyric:
Well I bet that you look good on the dance floor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
from 1984!
Crouchy is a massive fan it seems.
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:05 am
A massive man certainly.
June 3rd, 2006 at 6:42 am
Arctic Monkeys. Great.