England players should be ashamed of themselves

My colleague Graham touched on the England performance of earlier today with a very sharp article comparing the England team to Muppets.

Now to be honest I think those puppets have more life in them than the England team!

Controversy

Firstly let’s get this issue out of the way. At 2-1 England scored an equaliser which was a few yards over the goalline. Yet the linesman and referee seemed to have missed what the rest of the world saw and decided it wasn’t a goal.

This incident is a good case for video technology to be brought in. Incidents like these can cost teams dearly. Video technology is long overdue.

The goal could have changed the course of the game but too be honest England could have been three or four goals down by then if it hadn’t been for David James. We can’t hide the poor performance by using that incident as an excuse. Quite simply England were awful!

Shambles

At the back England were an absolute shambles. Matthew Upson had a nightmare first half but he wasn’t the only one who was underperforming. The other three defenders didn’t exactly put in sterling performances.

Every time Germany came forward they looked like scoring. Germany were dangerous going forward but England allowed them to be dangerous by giving them the space to play. They gave Germany’s main creative player Mesut Ozil far too much room to play.

The little attacking midfielder has been outstanding so far in the World Cup. I knew he was their main threat and most England supporters knew it. So why was he allowed so much space to work his magic.

Surely Fabio Capello knows the threat he can pose and should have told Gareth Barry to stay with him and not let him have the ball. This is the sort of decision that Capello is paid to make. Yet he did nothing and allowed the Germans to take control of the game.

Threat

England didn’t pose an attacking threat until the goal arrived in the 35^th minute. That’s poor for a side who were one of the top scorers in European qualification. Where has that attacking threat disappeared to?

The England team doesn’t know, the England fans don’t know and even Fabio Capello doesn’t know. It seems a team of imposters wearing England shirts have shown up in South Africa. These imposters showed no heart, passion or quality. I just hope that some of those imposters never show up again.

Midfield

England have some of the best attacking midfielders in European football, yet none of them showed up for this World Cup. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard will probably never appear at another World Cup.

These are key players for their clubs but for England they disappoint on the big stage. Both had poor World Cup’s by their high standards in Germany and they’ve had even worse tournaments this time around. It wouldn’t surprise me if one or even both players call time on their England careers after their poor showings.

Rooney

Wayne Rooney was labelled as the man to help England win the World Cup but he has struggled to have the slightest impact on the tournament. His usual confident touch and ability seems to have deserted him for the last few weeks.

The striker will no doubt be smashing goals in for Manchester United when the English season starts in August but in South Africa he has been awful. Everything is not right with the striker and he looked a shadow of his normal self.

Changes

If Capello stays on as England boss he needs to make changes. He showed today that his stubbornness has cost England. He has refused to change the formation to a formation which most English clubs sides play and has stuck to the 4-4-2.

He now has to be humble and start to listen to others or he won’t last much longer in the job. Even his substitutions today were poor. Maybe he has lost some of his tactical nous or maybe he just doesn’t have it in him to motivate this group of players.

I can see lots of changes in England’s future squad selections. This squad of players look stale and finished. It’s time for Capello to think outside the box and bring in some new blood. It’s worked for the Germans and they are now reaping their rewards.

The question is have we got anybody to replace the so called ‘Golden Generation’. Only time will tell but I can’t see another England side produce such a poor showing at a big tournament in the near future. ‘Golden Generation’ don’t make me laugh.

You should hang your head in shame and remember that playing for England is a privilege not a chore. You have let yourselves down and millions of fans. If you ever wear that Three Lions shirt again you will be very lucky.