….and not that great. As usual the media have overhyped the England team, many of us (including myself) believed Capello‘s team would come out firing from all cylinders and smash our transatlantic counterparts into oblivion. Well we kind of did as we scored within 5 minutes of kick-off but fromthere, it was all down-hill from that point. More after the cut.
follow me on twitter, add me on facebook
I won’t go into detail about the actual happenings within the match but I’ll highlight the key points.
The goal; it was very well taken by Stevie G and a good assist from Heskey. I don’t think USA were quite ready at the start, hence why we scored so early on but after the goal, they settled down quickly and got into gear. Whereas we just sat back and attacked every now and then, but my main gripe with the attack was the lack of end product. The crosses and final ball were so wayward, especially from Aaron Lennon. I don’t believe he’s better than Walcott as they’re both exactly the same; all pace and no footballing brain. He had a few good moments where he managed to get in behind the left-back and deliver a dope cross but no one was ever in the right place to smash it in. It’s a shame Beckham isn’t fit, he would have delivered that killer cross straight onto Crouch/Rooney’s head.
Robert Green obviously wanted his Green card when he gifted that goal to the Americans. We don’t have a great selection of keepers to chose from: Robert Green, Joe Hart and David James. Hart has had the best season, the other two are so prone to errors. Maybe it’s time to take a risk and give the rookie a chance?
Heskey. 3 goals in 31 appearences for Aston Villa last season. He hasn’t managed to get into their starting eleven yet he manages to get into England’s starting line-up. I don’t understand why people were defending his performance, yes he’s mobile and can win a fair few headers. The only reason he was chosen was because of his pace. He can’t finish and falls to the ground way too easily for someone of his size. He had the best chance to win the game for us when a slip-up in the defence allowed Lennon to provide a through ball to Emile who fucked it up with a shot straight at the keeper.
Those kind of shots only work against England/Arsenal keepers. Any quality striker would have finished that off or at least aimed towards the side of the keeper not straight fucking at him. He went for power over accuracy, you’re not going to beat a quality keeper like that.I don’t see him starting the next game. I believe he is part of the reason that Rooney was so invisible during the game; he doesn’t make the runs to open-up the defence whereas someone like Defoe or even Walcott *cough* would have provided.
Rooney needs to be pushed up forward which will give more space to the midfielders to run into. Gerrard and Lampard most definitely need the space to run into and they’ll have more time to conjure a pass or shot. Lampard has been one Chelsea’s most consistent players for the 4-5 seasons but yet has never managed to recreate that form for England and yesterday was just another one of those performances. He doesn’t show up, it might be an ego issue? too many individual greats for their clubs but together they just don’t work well. I say give Barry a chance to play the defensive midfielder role which entice will allow Gerrard to play in his desired role.
We’ll see how it goes next Friday but expect some changes to the squad. I sound way too pessimistic but England have a habit of starting slow at World Cups. COME ON ENGLAND.
About Yin