England top the table – just
Posted by DavidM in England, World Cup | 21 June 2006
Well they did it again – the team got the right result but put the fans through the mill on the way.
However, while I was left feeling relieved and less than overjoyed by the end of the game, it was a different story at the end of the first half. Despite the bad injury to Owen, the first half was a pleasure to watch. It reminded me of watching Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd ort Liverpool when they are on top of their game. The passing was crisp, the movement was good, we pushed forward and looked threatening. The only slight criticism was that we didn’t get as many final shots on target but the rest of the play was like watching a different team to the England side that played Paraguay and T&T.
We were deservedly a goal up and were playing confidently by the time the whistle went for the end of 45 minutes. I don’t know what Sven said at half-time but when we came out for the second half it all went a bit wrong. The passing was still good but the movement had slowed, Rooney got tired and the team seemed to get nervous.
Then Sven’s master-stroke – bring off Rooney and replace him with a midfielder to close down the game. A great idea apart from 2 things. First, having Crouch as a lone striker didn’t work against Paraguay. He’s not a good option as a lone striker and we ended up playing as we did then – badly. Second, you can only defend your goal for 25 minutes if you have a very strong defence and while we did in open play we were vulnerable from set pieces – particularly Beckham who missed the man in front of him twice.
I’m less and less comfortable with Sven’s tactics and this flight to defence. Sweden aren’t the toughest opposition we’ll face this tournament but they were unlucky not to beat us in the second half. As soon as the game gets tough Sven loses his nerve and goes too defensive.
On the positive side the first half showed that we can do it - we can play like a quality side, keep possession and build good attacks without resorting to lobbing the ball forward. We do have individual skills that can win matches (Joe Cole was outstanding again and the Rooney’s take down of that Beckham long pass was magnificent) and when we push forward we can frighten defences. Rooney lasted long enough and was disappointed to be substituted – so he’s fitter and hungrier for next time.
But we must stop this second half retreat.
