England v Paraguay
by Herr Ed
Ahh, a classic game of two halves! In the first-half England looked mighty impressive. Several players put in eye-catching performances. Joe Cole looked very dangerous going forward and will be a key player in this tournament. Steven Gerrard put in his best 45 minutes for England for some time - he was strong in the challenge and his distribution was intelligent. Gerrard’s level of involvement was reassuring considering his attacking role has been curtailed somewhat within Eriksson’s formation. Peter Crouch played well again and is proving to be a consistent performer for England. If England build on this form they could go all the way! However, despite dominating this half and linking well as a team, they didn’t create an array of chances and were fortunate with the goal.
In the second-half England were seemingly a different side. Right from the outset they made mistakes, failed to retain possession, and allowed Paraguay to shape the game. It will be claimed that England lost their rhythm after Owen was withdrawn for Downing on 56 minutes. But England had already looked very shaky during the first 10 minutes of the half: Owen’s departure was not, therefore, the catalyst for structural collapse. And whilst it may have made sense to give Owen 90 minutes of football in this game to aid his fitness, he made little contribution in the first period. The searing heat was touted as a factor that affected the team’s performance, but the inability to build upon, or hold onto a narrow lead is becoming a core feature of England’s approach. Against Argentina in 2002 we clung bitterly to a 1-0 advantage, and we unsuccessfully tried the same ruse against both France and Portugal in Euro 2004. I think the problem is attitudinal rather than tactical: England need to play with more belief - whatever the opposition!
Whilst it would be imprudent to get overexcited about the first-half performance, neither should the second-half prompt excessive gloom. Paraguay came back into the game but didn’t fashion any real scoring opportunities - and it must be remembered that England held on to win! I’ve rated the players’ first-half performances below. In the second-half the team was a homogenous, undifferentiated 5.6!
8/10 - Gerrard: A performance full of energy and guile.
Crouch: Posed a real threat and was involved in many of England’s promising moves.
J. Cole: Full of confidence and was lively on the left-flank.
7/10 - Beckham: A committed performance with some good distribution.
Lampard: Composed and efficient, linked up well with team-mates.
6/10 - Neville: Defensively sound.
Terry: A strong performance despite one error on the edge of the box.
Ferdinand: Fine, but no longer inspires the confidence that he did four years ago.
Robinson: Not much to do [flapped at one cross in the second half].
5/10 - Owen: Struggled to get into the game, and his touch let him down on the rare occassions that he did.
A. Cole: A couple of very shaky moments. Wayne Bridge anyone?
June 11th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
I thought the referee had a shocker. He seemed to buy every dive and roll the Paraguayans were selling him.
Without jerking my knee too much, I think Sven should be sacked now and McLaren installed as manager with Stuart Pearce as his assistant.
His failure to bring five strikers to Germany, let alone two fully fit, experienced strikers will no doubt cost us dear. Jermaine Defoe was made for the second half of games like that.
June 11th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Job done, but the usual worries linger – one dimensional in attack (even when they were on top in the first half), terrible ball retention, tactically awful.
Let’s hope they put it right… after watching Argentina and Holland, we’re no where near them
June 12th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Same old, same old - as Herr hippo says we should not be surprised as that kind of performance has been standard fare for Enaglnd over the last two tournaments. We go ahead - look dominant then let the opposition back in by defending deep and then try and hang on till the whistle goes. If we end up getting to the QF I cannot see us beating any of the real contenders playing like that. No imagination - why not bring on Walcott, at least we could have seen what he can do and possibly have pinned them back a bit
June 12th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Everything will be ok when England play games later in the day.
June 12th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
I was thinking that if the sun continues to be a problem then perhaps some sort of official fifa sunhat might be given to the team - anyone know the rules on this? This might also get round the problem of taking on liquid as the hats could be modified with twin bottle holders and straws.
June 12th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
No sunhats are allowed according to Law 2 of the Offical Laws of Association Football. Handkerchiefs are permitted to be worn on heads as long as they show the FIFA logo (the hankies that is!).