By Myles Palmer
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Dull old game, wasn’t it?
England won 1-0 in Azerbaijan.
Didn’t create much in Manchester but beat Wales 2-0, didn’t create much in Baku, didn’t convince us in either game that 4-3-3 is the way to go.
Although it’s really 4-3-1-2.
That is a club system , not an international system.
You need time to work on it.
Clubs have time, national teams don’t.
BUT LET’S FACE IT : England’s results are always better than their performances.
You can’t play fluent football with no preparation time, so you try to play winning football.
In Baku, England looked stodgy in wet and windy conditions.
The Azerbaijan players had lots of shots from 30 yards, which all went 10 yards wide.
ASHLEY COLE set up the goal in 22 minutes.
He whipped in an early cross with almost no backlift, a pinpoint cross that allowed Owen to score with a running header from eight yards.
It was a really superb assist.And a good header.
I trust Owen’s head more than I trust his feet.
ARSENE WENGER has only given Sven one player – but what a player Ashley Cole has become in the last two years.
Baku was really attack versus defence and the strange thing about it was that it was England’s weak attack against Azerbaijan’s weak defence.
Nicky Butt was as reliable as ever and mostly gave the ball to England’s best player, Rooney.
But Rooney was not as authoritative as he can be.
That was because Rooney should be the star of a 4-4-1-1 team.
FOR ME, it was a dim performance in attack.
There was nobody who could look around and say : Right, this isn’t working, what do we need to do?
England now have an excellent back six, but the front five needs to improve.
Lampard, Defoe and Jenas did not produce.
Partly because they were attacking a back eight.
But also because Jenas could not play with Rooney in the way that I had hoped.
If England had a striker with good touch and bright movement, somebody like Robbie Keane or Saviola, then Rooney and Jenas could link with each other and supply that striker.
Defoe might be our Saviola, but if he plays with Owen he will be subbed in every game.
We will never see what Defoe can do because Owen prevents him from doing it.
CYPRUS 0 ARSENAL 2 !
Vieira gave Wiltord a pass for the first goal, Henry stroked in the second, passing the ball into the net, as he does.
Sweden gave Iceland a goal start and won 4-1.
Poland gave Wales a goal start and won 3-2.
Italy beat Belarus 4-3.
I was sure Big Phil would win tonight after that silly 2-2 draw with Liechtenstein
Portugal thrashed Russia 7-1 !!!!
October 14th 2004.