England went to Zagreb and beat ten Croatians 4-1.
Then they played what was virtually the Kazakhstan Under-21 team at Wembley and won 5-1.
But they did not score in the first half because they were so nervous.They were booed off at half-time.
The Wembley factor is huge because a large minority of fans are far too judgmental, impatient and tabloid-led. Some say the minority who booed Ashley Cole did so because he was Ashley Cole and would not boo the same mistake by any other England player. I’m not sure about that, although I know milllions of fans hate Cashley Cole.
The England players now think that any of them will be booed if they drop a clanger, and that makes all of them really scared of making a mistake in home games. Next time at Wembley, they’ll all remember Ashley being booed.
However, a win is a win and three qualifying wins is nine points.
Back-to-back victories against Andorra, Croatia and Kazakhstan are commendable. But nine points doesn’t mean England can beat Ukraine twice and Belarus twice. It only means that when Capello has the players for 10 days, he can improve the team. He had them for 10 days before Zagreb and he has them for 10 days before Minsk.
In my preview I ignored the Lampard-Gerrard question because, like you, I’m bored with it. I wanted to avoid the subject until after the game. And maybe this game would provide a definitive answer to that conundrum.
And now it has. Look at the facts : In a 5-1 win, Lampard and Gerrard both played 90 and neither scored and neither had a decent strike after Lampard’s early 24-yarder flashed wide. But Lampard had two assists and played much better than Gerrard. It has been proved again and again that if you play both, you get the best of neither.You’ve invented a five-wheeled motor car and you’re wondering why it’s so hard to drive.
Sven and McClaren refused to bite the bullet by choosing between them. Instead of choosing, those clowns struggled for years to find a format that could effectively employ both players. The reason various experiments failed was obvious: Lampard and Gerrard are too similar. They’re far from identical but they like to occupy the same areas of the pitch, as Reyes and Henry did for Arsenal. Of course, Lampard is more methodical, reliable and fluent than Gerrard, who is a big, explosive gladiator, more dynamic and eye-catching.
On Saturday we were told that Gerrard and Gareth Barry had been instructed to “alternate” in the anchor role. That did not work and it was 0-0 at half-time and Wembley’s 90,000 saw a six goal second half in which the Kazakhs scored two goals. One was an o.g. by centreback Kuchma to make it 2-0 to England, soon followed by Kukeyev’s goal to make it 2-1.
In truth, the first half told us more than the goal blitz. The goals were what we wanted to see but the contest was more revealing when it was 0-0. While success is self-explanatory, failure can be more interesting.
With seven new players from the Under-21s, Kazakhstan were lively bunch who hustled England and fouled them when they had to. That restricted England to shots from outside the area by Walcott, Lampard and Rooney. All those shots were wide and keeper Mokin did not have a shot to save in the first 45.
The 4-3-3 system did not work at all and Capello took Gareth Barry off at half time and put Shaun Wright-Phillips on the left. Without Barry, Ashley Cole was more exposed , so when the Kazakhs broke up an SWP-led England attack swept down the right and crossed, we saw bearded centre forward Ostapenko miss a header from three yards. His “header” became a knockdown for Nusserbayev, the quick little No.7, who hit the ball over the bar.
After that let-off, England scored in 52 and 64 from two Lampard deliveries. Ferdinand had a free header after the keeper missed Lampard’s left wing corner, and defender Kuchma headed an own goal past him in 62. Amazingly, when England were 2-0 up, they stopped playing. They stopped playing ! (Reminding me of Scotland going 2-0 up against Zaire in the 1974 World Cup, when I was screaming at Bremner and Law to stop posing and score more goals.)
Then Ashley Cole’s backpass fell 20 yards short of David James, who should have come out and made the guy go round him. Captain Rio Ferdinand had completely switched off, refusing to consider the possibility that a mistake could be made and a goal conceded. By the time Rio woke up the ball was in the back of the net.
That was where England missed John Terry. He can lead because he can concentrate. Not having great recovery pace, Terry has to concentrate. If he had played, that goal would not have been conceded.
It took Rooney eight minutes to restore a two-goal lead. He headed in Wes Brown’s cross in 79, then stabbed in for 4-1 when Beckham’s cross was not cleared. Heskey, anchoring England from the front, played the whole game. When Upson headed back a goal clearance, he stabbed the ball through for Defoe, who made it 5-1.Wigan boss Steve Bruce has revived Heskey, who has always been a team player. He has no ego and that’s why he’s Michael Owens favourite strike partner.
The authority of Rooney’s two finishes was impressive. He was far more effective in a 4-4 2, closer to his centre forward, than he was wide left in a 4-3-3. Rooney can operate wide left for Man United because they have Cristiano Ronaldo in the middle, scoring lots of goals. Heskey doesn’t score so many.
Three of England’s goals were from set-pieces. But the two from open play were tasty finishes. Arguably, we saw two 45-minute games at Wembley, a 4-3-3 game followed by a 4-4-2 game. England were poor in the first half because they were nervous and because 4-3-3 did not suit Rooney.
Both Lampard and Gerrard played the whole game but a 5-1 win does NOT prove they are compatible.
It merely indicates that Engerland took their chances against young, rapidly tiring opponents. The ancient Beckham, making an 11 minute cameo to win his 106th cap, even went past one of them and and got to the bye-line. That’s how exhausted Kazakhstan were.
I reckon that Wednesday night is a big call for Fabio Capello. I imagine that each game clarifies this thinking. He now knows that if he plays Heskey, it has to be 4-4-2. He might bench Steven Gerrard against Belarus. I hope he has the balls to bench Gerrard. It’s the way forward.