England suffer growing pains
A recently retired 0 celine 173823ska 18ccc press-box sage was fond of remarking that England’s post-1966 tournament performances always tended to follow the same script. Survive the group stage then depart the competition to the first decent side encountered in the knockout phase.
As a rule of thumb, it has proved pretty accurate down the years – the last two World Cups have conformed to the pattern exactly – though it is hard to judge whether it has any relevance in a tournament in which England met the best side first and outplayed them for 89 minutes. Then lost. After a start like the one England made most preconceptions go out of the window, including the one that France are the team to beat in Portugal this summer. Zinedine Zidane and his team-mates showed masterly professionalism in clinching all three points against England when most other teams would have been content to $2250 new authentic celine cabas phantom black croc crocodile tote handbag bag save one, but France needed more last-minute help from opponents to avoid an embarrassing defeat in Leiria on Thursday, and if Croatia can do it too, England might be premature in congratulating themselves on scoring a moral victory against the holders.
England’s own performance on Thursday, a laboured win against an ordinary Swiss side in sweltering conditions inevitably producing more perspiration than inspiration linked website, is an irrelevance already. England just have to hope Croatia will also be an irrelevance by tomorrow. France are not an irrelevance. France will be sticking around. England fancy playing them again in this competition and they also fancy themselves to win.
With any luck at all they might, but before England get too carried away with the Dunkirk spirit after what was a humiliating defeat at Estádio da Luz, they should reflect on two points. First, France are not playing well. They will either go out of the tournament before the final, or they will improve. Last Sunday’s game may not be an ideal benchmark for either side to use as a gauge.
Second, England are not yet playing well either. Sven-Göran Eriksson constantly complains they give the ball away too easily, and was probably correct in nominating the first half of the 3-0 victory over Switzerland as the worst 45 minutes he has seen so far. England gave the ball away a lot against France too, and invited their opponents to operate on the very edge of their penalty area, $3400 authentic celine trapeze royal blue leather medium a risky strategy that should not be encouraged just because they were able to get away with it for 89 minutes. England need to tighten up, to talk to each other more, and to play with more professionalism, and all these aspects are the responsibility of the players, not the manager.
Disregard anyone who suggests England lost to France because Eriksson tinkered with his team and made needless substitutions. With hindsight, it may not have been the best plan to bring off both Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney while England only led by a single $720 new celine us 10 eu 40 burgundy leather thong ankle strap sandals shoes box goal and it was a mistake of Eriksson’s to have Emile Heskey anywhere near the Iberian peninsula, let alone the stadium, but that is it.
An international manager is entitled to professionalism from his players and while it would be harsh to criticise David Beckham on that count merely for having a penalty saved, the rest of the catalogue of errors amounted $810 celine paris flat sandal zipper front optic white leather slingback 36 to England letting Eriksson down, not the other way around. Heskey’s lack of positional discipline and culpable clumsiness, Steven Gerrard’s lapse of concentration, David James’s rush of blood and the general inability to recover composure after the equaliser and prevent a shared point turning into nothing at all were faults of the players.
The fact that Eriksson rightly refuses to criticise his players does not mean criticism should rebound on him. England actually have quite a savvy coach for a change and should make the most of him, because if he has to put up with much more costly blundering in important games he will soon be off to find himself a group of players who can follow instructions and apply professional standards for the whole 90-plus minutes of a match. It is not true in any case that France drew new breath when Eriksson took off both his strikers. They continued to be woefully short of ideas, demonstrably getting worse with every passing minute, right $1950 nwt celine resort 2013 orange cream foulard blouse up until the 89th when Heskey offered them an invitation $2995 nwt celine phoebe philo black wool silk tuxedo dress fr 40 2 4 6 they could not refuse. Heskey makes a convenient scapegoat, but England could easily have made a mistake through tiredness had Eriksson not used any substitutes and then the coach would have been blamed for indecision or lack of imagination.
The real concern is that England are far too brittle, they are not smart enough to regroup when things start to go wrong and Eriksson is not around $1950 nwt celine resort 2013 orange cream foulard blouse to hold their hands.
What England need to learn, and learn fast, is how to be more like Manchester United. $700 celine multicolour canvas slip on trainers sneakers plaid love life eu38 With Gary Neville and Paul Scholes in the side it should not be too hard. The great thing about United is that as a team they respond to adversity exactly as their manager would. They have enough leadership and experience on the pitch to sort the situation out. Beckham said England were similarly $472 miguelina celine crocheted cotton maxi white skirt xs blessed at the start of the tournament, but they did not look it in the 90th minute of the opening game. England are not yet an instinctive team, as their patent unhappiness with Eriksson’s favoured midfield system shows. They are moving towards a club-style unity, but are not quite there yet. It is doubtful whether England could have claimed all three points in the manner France did had the roles been reversed. Manchester United did not settle for extra time in 1999, but England are not yet Manchester United.
There is hope, though. France themselves failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup when they allowed Bulgaria to score a last-minute goal in Paris. Then they went out of Euro 96 on penalties. Then they won the World Cup and the European Championship back to back, the latter after forcing the final against Italy to a golden goal with an equaliser in the last minute of normal time. They are a big, grown up team now. England have a bit of growing still to do.
There is not that much to choose between the playing ability of the top half dozen teams in this tournament; the crucial edge will be in experience, professionalism and maturity. Eriksson cannot teach that bit. Beginning tomorrow, England players have to take more responsibility for themselves.
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