England Continue to Look Woeful

Despite home advantage and a new coach, England continue to show woeful form and are as uninspiring today as they were when Steve McLaren was in charge. A coach of Capello’s calibre should by now have been able to show more positive results. However, old habits die hard and this was amply visible when England only just managed to avoid an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Czechs at Wembley.

It took a strike from Joe Cole to ensure that England did not face the ignominy of defeat in their own backyard. What made matters even worse was the inept showing of star England players and even Joe Cole’s goal was quite comically executed. In fact, Cole and Jermaine Jonas only came on the field as substitutes. It was only after their entry into the game that a marked change was noticeable in the attitudes of the England players.

What else can one say about an England team that lacked proper organisation and which played disjointedly until the introduction of Cole and Jenas? For their part, the Czechs had greater control over proceedings and, somehow, Beckham never managed to be in the attacking positions where his talents could have swung the match in England’s favour. Instead, he preferred to sit deep and sent aimless crosses.

Beckham did, however, manage one moment of genius by sending a good cross that was met by Wes Brown to help England equalise. Wayne Rooney must be profiting from his time under Sir Alex Fergusson, but although he ran this way and that, his efforts were largely in vain. His partner, Jermaine Defoe, cut a sorry and lonesome figure and his finishing was just as woeful as England’s overall performance.

The midfield was extremely mediocre with Gerrard, Lampard, and Barry not making much of a contribution. To compound matters, the defence was inept, and it only took the Czechs twenty-two minutes to show up the bad defensive abilities of the England back four.

Wes Brown was made to look pedestrian by Jaroslav Plasil who was able to cross to Milan Baros. His powerful manoeuvre got him past skipper John Terry and his deflected shot off Ashley Cole spun into the net to give the Czechs a one-nil lead. This spurred on the visitors who soon gained the upper hand, and they were, in fact, the more pleasing team to watch.

No doubt, Wes Brown made amends by equalising, but the Czechs, once again, took the lead thanks to inept defending and a beautifully taken free kick curled around the wall that entered the back of David James’ goal.

It is, indeed, lucky that Cole was able to equalise because, up until the second equaliser, England had defeat written all over their faces. Now, they need to really pull up their socks because they do not want to lose further face when they come up against bogey team Croatia on September 10th. This fixture will be played four days after England play their first World Cup qualifier against Andorra.