The players have arrived back home. The manager's job is in jeopardy. England are once again trophy-less. Now all our sporting hopes have been pinned on Andy Murray and the inquest has well and truly begun into what was a 'disastrous' campaign. So, where did it all go wrong? Was it the manager's fault? Or maybe the players are to blame? Could it be that the responsibility lies with the FA? Or perhaps simply, it just wasn't our year. Here's my view on things.
Well let's start with Fabio. The man was touted as one of the best in the business when he became England manager after the short-lived reign of Steve McClaren. Capello's popularity hasn't nose-dived that far...just yet. Before he accepted the £6 million pound a year job, he was winning all sorts of trophies and accolades with some of the biggest football clubs in the world: Real Madrid, AC Milan, Juventus etc... He came into the England job with a reputation for being one of the most strict disciplinarians out there: hard-nosed, ruthless and firm. Exactly what England needed if they were to focus solely on the football and compete at the highest levels. So what could go wrong? I mean here was a guy with some serious experience under his belt, with a strong enough character to deal with the players should they step out of line (e.g. the whole JT thing) and his presence is big enough to command respect. Okay, so his English was pretty much non-existent when he arrived, but he's worked on that. During his reign, and before the World Cup, England had lost only twice to France and Spain prompting a renewal of his contract until at least 2012.
After beating both Mexico and Japan, it was time for SA. Ah, the hopes and expectations of the nation were carried with Capello and his boys with a real sense of anticipation...this could be it! Our year. 44 years and counting but the golden generation were going in with one of the best managers around. Except it didn't quite pan out that way did it Fabio?
Let's start with the 23 man team selection. Capello was heavily criticised for one major surprise omission: Theo Walcott. Having previously used him from the start in the friendly games, it was a major shock to discover that he would not be travelling to SA. I said it before that if England's tournament was a failure, then people would look back on this decision, reflect upon it and might decide that that was where Capello had taken the wrong road. And, if I'm honest, then yes, Capello should have taken Walcott. Yes, he hasn't been entirely fit during the season and his final ball might not always be there. But he's fast, pacy, runs at defenders and makes a big impact even if you choose to bring him off the bench (remember Barcelona at the Emirates?). Furthermore, did Capello make the right decision in the final selection of players? Ledley King and Gareth Barry were major doubts. Jamie Carragher had also returned from retirement - instead of going for youth, Capello chose experience.
So, anyway aside from that, what went wrong for the manager in SA? Well, we didn't get off to the greatest of starts after those 2 disappointing draws. First there was the whole goalkeeping situation debacle. Then we had the whole JT 'big mistake' shabang. Many people i.e. pundits, analysers and fans were calling for a change in system after those 2 draws as well. Capello's willingness to keep using Heskey despite him not having scored in what feels like decades was also another thing to criticise. No one was really happy to see Gerrard out there on the left either, but Capello never once changed it or tried something different and maybe that was where we also suffered. I mean you can't really blame the players for that, as they had to listen to orders and do what they had been told. If it was me, I'd have utilised the player's strengths to my advantage and taken a few risks - it's the World Cup after all. So I would have had a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Gerrard in behind Rooney, or maybe even a 4-1-3-1-1 with Barry in that holding position. Therefore some of the blame has to lie with the manager for refusing to change things and shake it up a bit. England became a bit too predictable in the end, and Gerrard and Rooney would have most probably preferred things in a new formation where they could both get forward, in particular, Gerrard.
Most people seem to think that Capello will stay and despite his obvious mistakes at the World Cup, I'm kinda glad. Why? Well because he is still one of the best in the business. And also, I don't think it helps England to keep having a change in manager and a change in the way things are done. It's better to have a stable foundation and we must now look to the future and getting ourselves a place at Euro 2012.
So we come to the players: well all the big-name stars of the Premier League, in the so-called 'golden generation' were quite simply nowhere to be seen in this tournament. Take Wayne Rooney: for all the good form he has had during his time at Man U, we did not see even a glimmer of how good he is in SA. It was a really poor tournament for him, and there is no one that will know that more than him. Since England made their exit, he has come in for a lot of criticism, and rightly so. I mean, he is supposed to be one of the best players in the world and where else are you meant to prove this than on the world's biggest stage? But, to be fair he didn't look fully fit. He looked tired and it seemed that everything was an effort. He probably wasn't helped by the system Capello employed, and the rigours of the PL but he needed to do much, much better. It was a shame that Capello was too scared almost, to substitute him when things were not going our way.
John Terry and Matty Upson were no better at the back. For all JT's experience, he was responsible for some pretty poor defending against the Germans. As for Ashley Cole, well he's had better games. It's that old saying - if you're team's playing well, then you automatically play better too. I think Glen Johnson and Upson were both slightly out of their depth against Germany, and England's defence was left wildly exposed for all to witness.
I think Milner was half-decent, but again Lampard failed to make any real impact during the tournament. Barry was struggling, after only just coming back from injury and despite Gerrard's efforts to rouse the spirit of the team, he had nothing really to show for it. Joe Cole could do nothing to change the game when he came on and both SWP and Aaron Lennon were really disappointing. Defoe did well to get that goal against Slovenia but remained largely anonymous in the defeat to Germany.
It was a shame Peter Crouch wasn't given the opportunity to score a few of those late goals either. All in all, the players have as much to be criticised for as the manager. For all their reputations and accolades with their respective clubs, they were a shadow of their best and will view SA 2010 as a completely missed opportunity - a World Cup that held much promise, but fell desperately short of expectations. Criticism has been levelled at the amount of money they are paid and how the performances that they displayed at the World Cup have not matched up to how much they earn. I gotta admit that this is true. I have always called for a cap on wages, and maybe the FA will now review the situation.
England were not helped by things going wrong either. We had the Rio injury which spelt trouble from the off. Then the press made things harder by exaggerating the meaning of what Terry had said in the press conferences. Ledley King had his injury troubles. James Milner got a virus. We got put into the tougher part of the draw thanks to our friends, the USA. Need I say more about the "ghost goal"? Jorge Larionda and his mate Mauricio Espinosa have no doubt blown their chances of officiating in the final ... there is still hope for England to reach the finals yet!!! And, to cap it off, the England players had their undies stolen as well as £7000 worth of other things including football memorabilia by hotel workers at their hotel complex. (It was all returned...undies and all...so don't worry).
Finally, the finger has also been pointed at the FA who have been criticised for failing to nurture enough home-grown talent in a proper youth system. Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has ridiculed the FA as amateurs, and insists that the team could be properly managed by the Premier League. Not sure, I entirely agree with that one. It's true, no one can deny that the PL is one of the best, if not the best in the world so how is it possible that it's success cannot translate to international success? Some people have pointed to the influx of foreign players but if you look at Tottenham - they finished fourth and supplied a quarter of the players to the final England squad. So, although that may be a factor, it's not the sole factor. There's also been a demand for the FA to review the idea of a 'winter break'. Most other European countries have the break before they get underway for the second part of the season and most of the PL players seem to be in favour of it as well. Traditionalists don't like the idea as it ruins the whole Christmas/New Year clog-up and is what makes the PL unique. I get that, but if that was what was responsible for the fatigue we saw in the players during the World Cup, then perhaps we do need to do something about it. At least, consider having a winter-break every 2 years, in time for the big summer tournaments. Chris Waddle believes the solution is to encourage the PL players to ply their trade abroad - using his own experience in Marseilles, he stated that sometimes players learn more outside the PL and that's what makes them prepared for big tournaments such as these. Well, I'm not entirely sure I agree with him on that one either. It wouldn't be good for the PL to suddenly have a mass exodus of English players as it is an English league after all. As much as I hate to admit it, perhaps old Beckenbauer was right about the players being "burnt out". He did subsequently apologise about his "negative" views of the English team, but it appears he was sort of right in what he had to say.
So at the end of it all, what can we say? Not a lot really.
England will be looking to forget all about this tournament and concentrate on the next.
To be honest, who can blame them?
For England, the World Cup tournament of South Africa 2010 was a tournament that promised so much but produced so very little...
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