Matt 1Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Steve McClaren?
October 12th 2006 09:28
Who do you think you are kidding Steve McClaren, if you think that England's through?
The pun won't be lost on fans of Dad's Army, but 1-1 with Macedonia, a country that most wouldn't find on a map, followed by an insipid 2-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia is hardly grounds for optimism after the long dour reign of Sven Goran Eriksson.
The writing was on the wall for many after among McClaren's first acts were to re-appoint failed England coach Terry Venables and to sack the captain David Beckham.
It would be easy to blame injuries, or Croatia's strong home record or even an amazing goalkeeper error to appease England's poor result but surely in Beckham, England have a player of real quality who has to be good enough for at least a squad spot.
McClaren obviously wanted to part with the disappointment of previous failed attempts at major tournaments, Sven will be remembered as the quarterfinal man but McClaren runs the risk of being the man that fails to make the bus in the first place!
England has long over estimated the ability of their nation’s footballers, they are very, very good, but so are many other nations across Europe and around the world. No one team has a divine right to win, and I feel England have yet to learn this lesson. Playing five across midfield yielded no reward for England as they starved their own talent of possession and played into Croatia's hands.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic suggested he was surprised by England's formation of a 3-5-2 as it gave his wingers plenty of room to move and ultimately lead to the first goal, which was headed home by Eduardo da Silva.
McClaren has matches against Israel and Russia coming in following months and it is now imperative he finds a more dynamic and spirited system for the sake of his job. Surely now, David Beckham has to come back into the fold as a player of such talent can't be left watching from abroad.
McClaren certainly has the ability, he had a massive impact during his spell as assistant to Sir Alex Fergusson at Manchester United but he now needs to break the shackle of being Ferguson's understudy and create the winning culture that has for so long been missing in English football.
The pun won't be lost on fans of Dad's Army, but 1-1 with Macedonia, a country that most wouldn't find on a map, followed by an insipid 2-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia is hardly grounds for optimism after the long dour reign of Sven Goran Eriksson.
The writing was on the wall for many after among McClaren's first acts were to re-appoint failed England coach Terry Venables and to sack the captain David Beckham.
It would be easy to blame injuries, or Croatia's strong home record or even an amazing goalkeeper error to appease England's poor result but surely in Beckham, England have a player of real quality who has to be good enough for at least a squad spot.
McClaren obviously wanted to part with the disappointment of previous failed attempts at major tournaments, Sven will be remembered as the quarterfinal man but McClaren runs the risk of being the man that fails to make the bus in the first place!
England has long over estimated the ability of their nation’s footballers, they are very, very good, but so are many other nations across Europe and around the world. No one team has a divine right to win, and I feel England have yet to learn this lesson. Playing five across midfield yielded no reward for England as they starved their own talent of possession and played into Croatia's hands.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic suggested he was surprised by England's formation of a 3-5-2 as it gave his wingers plenty of room to move and ultimately lead to the first goal, which was headed home by Eduardo da Silva.
McClaren has matches against Israel and Russia coming in following months and it is now imperative he finds a more dynamic and spirited system for the sake of his job. Surely now, David Beckham has to come back into the fold as a player of such talent can't be left watching from abroad.
McClaren certainly has the ability, he had a massive impact during his spell as assistant to Sir Alex Fergusson at Manchester United but he now needs to break the shackle of being Ferguson's understudy and create the winning culture that has for so long been missing in English football.
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