By Myles Palmer
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MY LIFE is measured out in England managers, going as far back as Alf Ramsey, so I have learned to accept that (1) our results are usually better than our performances and (2) the England team only becomes exciting once every fourteen years.
When Gascoigne came in for Italia 90, we were exciting. When Gazza was injured, we did not qualify for USA 94.When Rooney exploded into Euro 2004, we were exciting again.
When Rooney limped off with a broken foot against Portugal, the bubble burst. The team went pop like a pricked balloon.The deterioration was instantaneous.
The dream went down the drain in seconds. Without Rooney, we suddenly looked as if we had seven players, not eleven.
The England team, like all football teams, is an engine which needs big wheels and small cogs. It’s a piece of machinery which needs balanced components in order to function, to generate some rhythm.
Under Sven-Goran Eriksson it’s had too many big wheels because he takes a Pop Idol approach, always selecting his icons, his “go-to players”.
At first his icons were Beckham, Owen, Scholes and Gerrard, and now they are Beckham, Owen, Gerrard, Rooney and Lampard .
Sometimes the loss of players can be beneficial. In 1986 the absence of two key players triggered a rebalancing of the England team and we improved overnight.
We started that World Cup by losing 1-0 to Portugal and then had Bryan Robson injured and Ray Wilkins sent off in a 0-0 against Morocco.
Bobby Robson moved Hoddle in from the right wing, put Trevor Steven wide, gave Hoddle a short-ball partner in Peter Reid, replaced big Mark Hateley with little Peter Beardsley, and stuck Steve Hodge on the left wing.
Suddenly, we had Indians as well as chiefs. Suddenly, we had big wheels, small wheels, cogs, balance, shape and rhythm. We had four and two – four players who wanted to be on the ball, plus Hodge and Lineker who made runs into space.
So we started playing a bit of football, thumped Poland 3-0, beat Paraguay 3-0, then lost the quarter-final 2-1 to Maradona.
So now, in the autumn before the 2006 World Cup, we find ourselves at a unique and contradictory moment.
Sven has qualified with one game to spare, but is loathed by most of the country. How has this happened? How can somebody who gets such good results become so unpopular ?
Because Sven has had two tournaments and the media is bored and wants somebody new to kick around.
The unspoken truth behind Sven’s £4 million salary is that we pay him a million to pick the team and we pay him another £3 million to take the flak.
And the media vultures reckon : If we are paying him that much to take flak, let’s give him flak about his passive style, his bland manner, his spoiled brats, their mostly dismal performances, the shambles of his friendly matches, his girlfriends.
At this odd and half-bewildered moment, we play Poland at the end of a 10-match campaign which has lasted thirteen months.We don’t need a win and we don’t need a draw. We need a turning point.
Many of England’s armchair fans have become angry, inward-looking, cynical and defeatist.
The media have created those feelings as well as reflected them. The players have been inhibited because the manager is inhibited.
Sven has taken a battering and has now been crippled by the abuse and ridicule.
It’s finally got to him. He cracked and that’s why England have been so pitiful in their last four games.
However, the Poland game might be a comeback opportunity. The pressure is not off Sven, but it is off the players.
Now that Gerrard and Beckham are out, a balance might emerge and Poland could be the turning point that gives Sven, and us, some hope.
After England’s last four performances that may seem a risky prediction.
Against Austria, the team lacked pace, shape and rhythm, but Shaun Wright-Phillips can give it pace, Ledley King can give it shape, and Wayne Rooney can give it rhythm because he instinctively knows when to dribble,when to pass, when to shoot, and when to lend you the ball in a way that makes you give it back to him.
Clearly, Eriksson can no longer inspire England, but Rooney can because he can drive the vehicle and work the gearbox.
King, in the Makelele role, will make a big difference, but don’t expect too much. There is no chance of England thumping Poland 3-0 this time. We would need Hodge and Lineker for that.
Instead, we have Owen and Joe Cole, two half-players.
Even if Owen doesn’t lose possession six times in the first half hour, even if Cole doesn’t want seven touches every time he gets the ball, we will stutter for a while at Old Trafford because the cogs will need time to get the wheels working.
But, despite that handicap, Poland can be a turning point. We could, at last, play a bit of football. We might be able to play 20 minutes of football out of the 90, and get the nation back onside again, or most of it.
Now that the paralysing pressure to qualify has been lifted, Rooney can set England flying, just as Gazza did 14 years ago.
Just think : 20 minutes of football might be enough to beat the lively Poles.
If not, it will be fun for me to see Poland, one of the teams to watch in Kolo Toure’s first World Cup.
October 12th 2005