Maybe Wayne Rooney can lift Wembley tonight.
He’s relaxed, sharp, scoring freely, and happy with his game.
The fans certainly need a boost, having seen England draw four games at Wembley this year.
Many of my friends don’t watch England any more, don’t care, never talk about it.
England really need to play some slick football and beat Wales convincingly.
Their hardcore supporters were gutted in South Africa and many will have wondered whether they fancy another tournament. Engerland had become a rhythm-free team, very mechanical, a machine with a grinding gearbox, a side that stuttered and stumbled and collapsed in a shocking, ghastly and embarrassing manner.
The nation watched in disbelief as our best player let the ball hit his boot and bounce seven feet away. When Rooney was bad, England were terrible.
We were all astounded by how awful Rooney was. The ball had always stuck to him. He might be good, great or average in any given game, but the ball always, always stuck to him.
A tournament virgin in 2010, Fabio Capello got everything wrong in South Africa, lost the fans and alienated the press. Too rigid, we all said.
Now Capello has loosened up, abandoned Heskey and Bent, and got them trying to playing interchange football with fast players switching around – and Rooney running the show.
That worked well enough against a pub team like Bulgaria.
You can see why Dimitar Berbatov retired from international football. A poor country, a small and shrinking crowd, an FA who could only sell 15,00 seats up front and took to selling tickets in petrol stations,
Being Italian, Capello still likes a double-anchor formation.
He used to employ Barry-Lampard, telling Lamps to sit back.
In Sofia he used Parker-Barry, benching Lampard, who came on in the last 10 minutes, and the 4-2-3-1 system worked very well. But it looked as if John Terry was playing from memory, as if Joe Hart has a lot of improving to do before next summer.
The first goal came in 13 minutes when Gary Cahill, thinking he was offside, controlled a crossfield ball in the box and guided it between the legs of the advancing keeper.
In 21, Gareth Barry\’s inswinging corner was headed in by Rooney, who didn’t have to jump and didn’t really celebrate. He had scored a goal by standing still. He just pushed JT out of the way as the ball flew straight onto his head. That header ended the game.
When Ashley Young made a low pass across the penalty area, Rooney tapped in at the far post for 3-0 in 46.
Second half, not much happened.
Today it\’s been hinted that Lampard may start against Wales, who are better than Bulgaria and will not play with a big inferiority complex.
With Craig Bellamy suspended, England should only have to worry about Gareth Bale, who will be marked by Chris Smalling and, probably, James Milner.
Aaron Ramsey has a big engine and a good shot and is cute enough to get away from Lampard and Barry a few times.Ramsey scored against Montenegro on Friday and Wales did England a big favour by winning that game.
Without the injured Jack Wilshere, it\’s all down to Rooney to create things tonight.
When Rooney plays well, England are OK and make chances.
We\’ll see. Walcott is doubtful with a hamstring.
Fabio Capello’s England have only kept 13 clean sheets in 38 games. A 2-0 victory would be two clean sheets in a row.
Montenegro v England is on October 7.