England 2 Switzerland 1
Jenas 39, Derdiyok 58, Shaun Wright-Phillips 62
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Fabio’s England team is a work-in-progress.
First 35 minutes, they were ridiculously nervous.
Last 15, ditto. Very disjointed.
David Bentley did enough to keep his place after a shaky start in a nervy team.
Upson said they’ve done a helluva lot of positional work.
He will get used to that. Might even learn to enjoy it.
If England can acquire tactical solidity, they can win games. If they can win games, they can acquire belief. They have desire now but no belief. They need much more belief.
4-5-1 didn’t work in the first half.
But then Joe Cole destroyed the fullback and gave Jenas a tap-in from five yards.
After that we improved. Second half, more relaxed, knocked it around more fluidly, Rooney was our best player, Ashley Cole was a hollow man, Gerrard looked more like himself, Crouch came on and gave us a better shape.
Obviously, we need an Anelka to play with Rooney. Or a Torres, a Berbatov. But we don’t have one. Could Agbonlahor develop into a centre forward in time for 2010?
On Sky, Glenn Hoddle said that when he was at Monaco in 1989, Capello once came into the dressing room to talk to Arsene Wenger, and he spoke decent English then.
Ray Wilkins said languages get harder to learn as you get older.
Hoddle said he didn’t like seeing Rooney playing left side in the last 20. Neither did I. I hate seeing him on the left for Man United.
End of March, we play France in Paris.
This Switzerland game has told Capello a lot. To him it’s worth 20 training sessions. He’s learned a helluva lot tonight.
He’s learned that some England fans start to boo after 37 minutes if their team is playing crap.
Jenas scored after 39 and turned the crowd round.
When Erin Derdiyok scored the best goal of the game in 58, England replied with a good Route 1 goal : James goal-kick, Crouch headed on, Rooney flicked on to Stevie G on the left, he squared across the six yard box for SWP to tap in the winner.
After that goal in 62 we did some good things, then got nervous again and David James came out 15 yards to flap at a corner when he should have stayed on his line.
Does Derdiyok want to play for Arsenal ?
He has scored seven goals in five Under 21 games. With shooting like this, I’m not surprised. Here he came on as a sub and drifted off Rio Ferdinand and smashed a superb first time shot to make it 1-1.
Can Senderos ask him if he’d like to play for Arsenal?
He’s 19 and would enjoy London.
ENGLAND (4-1-4-1): James (Portsmouth); Brown (Manchester United), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Upson (West Ham United), Ashely Cole (Chelsea); Barry (Aston Villa); Bentley (Blackburn Rovers), Gerrard (Liverpool), Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), Joe Cole (Chelsea); Rooney (Manchester United). Subs used: Wright-Phillips (Chelsea) for Jenas, 57; Crouch (Liverpool) for Joe Cole, 57; Bridge (Chelsea) for Ashley Cole, 73; Hargreaves (Manchester United) for Barry, 73; Young (Aston Villa) for Rooney, 87.
SWITZERLAND (4-2-3-1): Benaglio (Wolfsburg); Lichtsteiner (Lille), Senderos (Arsenal), Eggimann (Karlsruhe), Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt); Fernandes (Manchester City), Inler (Udinese); Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Gygax (Metz), H Yakin (Young Boys); Nkufo (Twente Enschede). Subs used: Behrami (Lazio) for Lichtsteiner, h-t; Derdiyok (Basle) for Nkufo, h-t; Vonlanthen (Red Bull Salzburg) for Gygax, h-t; Grichting (Auxerre) for Senderos, 55; Margairaz (Osasuna) for Yakin, 65; Huggel (Basle) for Fernandes, 83.