McClaren's England must do better
Posted by DavidM in England | 16 November 2006
Listening to the commentators last night you'd have thought that England had been on for a glorious victory until the Dutch equalised 4 minutes from time. But that wasn't the game I watched.
England certainly improved on the woeful performance against Croatia but we were far from a great team.
Joe Cole was excellent for much of the game, lively and quick, and the cross for Rooney's goal was perfect. The Lampard/Gerrard combination worked better than it has in the past but wasn't world class still.
Micah Richards had a good game overall, tackling back and pushing forward. Although he gave away two free kicks in a dangerous area you have to bear in mind he was playing against Robben who was Holland's most dynamic player and is difficult to compete against.
I like Andrew Johnson and although he didn't achieve much, his work-rate with Rooney was good and I think without Crouch up front England don't look for the easy, less effective high ball so much.
And finally on the positive side, England took the lead and defended it for the majority of the game.
However, we were far from in control of the game. Holland were, to be blunt, rubbish. They had the ball far more than England but did nothing with it. The heyday of Dutch football was a distant memory last night with poor passing, lethargic play and limited decisive action.
But against such a poor display by the Dutch, England sat back, defended deep (and effectively to the extent that Holland rarely troubled the goal) but had no way out.
Most of the time when Holland came forward and the move broke down, England punted the ball downfield, back to the Dutch to start again.
We got away with it last night because the Dutch were poor, but continuously playing the ball back to a stronger side would have put England in a lot of trouble. We still seem unable to pass the ball out of defence and trouble the opposition.
Maybe that's partly down to confidence which will have been helped by last night's result. It was certainly a step forward but we have some way to go before we can get hopeful about any silverware.
Comments
Yeh England have a habit of starting well and then going on a downward spiral.
Still i support my team in as many ways as I can, I own all their shirts, scalves, shorts, socks etc as well as a football credit card. Mine is a england credit card, however you can get credit cards for all major teams.
Basically I say stick with em and support them and they will shine because without our support they would be nothing.
