England Expects

After all the hype, after all the adverts, after all the flags - the so-called golden generation, touched down in England yesterday - minus the World Cup.

The Rooney sending-off, and the penalty shoot defeat should not overshadow the fact that this side with all the talent at its disposal should not be back contemplating what might have been. The simple fact is that they have underachieved; they certainly were not hard done to, or unlucky.

At this World Cup, this side has seldom played with the skill and verve required for a team to compete at this level. Instead they played well below that level, one that belied their pre-tournament billing as one of the favourites to win the competition. Owen Hargreaves and Joe Cole aside, the players in the squad have done little to enhance their reputations in Germany.

Tiredness was trotted out as a reason for underperforming at the last few tournaments but this can be discounted on this occasion as the Premiership fixtures where rejiged at the behest of the England Coach Eriksson for the latest mission impossible, but seemingly with little effect.

This brings us to the coach Sven. Here is a man who was installed as the country’s first foreign coach, who was charged with the job of bringing something of the continental to the England side.

Bizarrely Eriksson, leaves with best competitive statistics of any England manager, though the feeling is that as of yesterday, we are no further on from the debacle that was the Kevin Keagan era of international management.

There has been something of Stalinist rewrite of history with yesterday’s papers highlighting the times he has been lucky. The Greece qualifier – with Beckham’s heroic performance trotted out as one example of his lucky streak. This is something I don’t subscribe to, as most managers have some luck down the years.

What has baffled is his lack of tactical know-how; his lack of a clear vision and seemingly the fact he didn’t seem to know what he was doing. He had the air of the Civil Servant underling promoted above his ability, but thought he could muddle through. Muddle through is what he did.

He has seemingly shackled the creative force that is England’s midfield and replaced it with a group of players playing beneath themselves and with fear. Steven Gerrard is a rampant force in a Liverpool shirt – but the timid version in the England shirt is a shadow of the Steven Gerrard that plays for Liverpool.

David Beckham must have something over Sven – maybe some photographs with Sven in uncompromising situations. This would explain the repeated selection of Beckham, despite him not justifying his shirt in the last twelve months. These days he is lacking pace and this is more apparent when Aaron Lennon replaces him on the right flank.

The selection of only four strikers for this World Cup was highlighted as a monumental disaster from the outset and was made more and more apparent over time as two of those players were carrying injuries, one was an untried youngster and the other was Peter Crouch.

The lack of a plan b and his use of substitutions have also highlighted Sven’s weaknesses further. For someone with a string of affairs to his name – he is something of a passionless creature, that certainly wouldn’t inspire in the heat of battle.

Three quarterfinal exits is not a good return, for a £4million a year salary. Goodbye and good riddance. And you’d think I gave a toss about the England side after writing all that.

Roll on the Premiership!!