Its 11:40 in the morning, none of you are on, and(Spain ftw, =D) I'm highly amused by the fallout from yesterday. So why are England out?
Firstly, lets give credit to exactly who they were knocked out by. Quite frankly, the Germans were as awesome as England were awful yesterday. Stunning off the ball movement from Ozil and Muller, the speed at which they attacked England. The first goal was down to poor defending, it was a shambolic goal to concede. The second, caused by awful defending from Upson, letting Muller simply run into the space, and quite happily putting it into Podolski, who thanked Upson with a goal. Germany then fell asleep, they got too cocky, England got one goal and then for the next 20 minutes of the match, 10 before half time and 10 after, were the dominant side going forward. 20 minutes of the match. 20. So for all the english who claim "We had Germany, their defence was poor", "England were robbed by a disallowed goal". A) Germany dominated this match, B) Karma-is a bitch, 1966 anyone? Germanys next two goals were absolutely brilliant, the third Schwein and Muller countering England ruthlessly, and the 4th Ozil absolutely ROASTED Barry for pace, watch the replays and he's 5 yards behind him when he starts running, before holding the ball up and playing an embarrasingly easy ball across for Muller to condemn Englands humiliation.
England were doomed from the start of this match. Taking shoddy, and quite frankly embarrasing defending out of the equation, midfieldwise they were overrun. I commented on this when the formations came out at the start of the game, England had a big problem, Lampard and Barry were being forced to deal with Khadeira, Schwein and Ozil. Quite honestly they did a much worse job of it than I expected them to, for the first 20 minutes of the match Barry was playing in Lampards position and vice versa, Lampard not being a defensive player meant Ozil wasnt picked up at all, and Barry in a reserved CM/AM speaks for itself, Rooney got no balls through. Lampard and Barry were outnumbered though, Schwein ran the show from the midfield, he was absolutely brilliant and made the "world class premiership midfielders" look like three year olds attempting to fend off a scorpion. It was pitiful.
Fabio Capello must be blamed for this. For me, he's the reason England are out. Yes, you can have poor performance from the players, you can have a dodgy disallowed goal, you can have the fact that the goal difference system is completely flawed, as much as I would like to see the higher scoring team go through, it connotes the message that attacking is more important than defending, hence the USA and England finished the group on the same goal difference, USA scoring less but conceding more, but going through top anyway. But at the end of the day Capello acted like a complete asshat with his formation. 4 4 2 is outdated, and so are many of Capellos managing methods, as I pointed out before the start of this tournament, he's an asshat. You cant run a dictatorship, and it's plain to see for everyone that 4 4 2 for this England side just doesnt make sense. First he tried Lampard and Gerrard together in CM, this was inevitably going to fail because playing a 4 4 2 the two CM's have to be disciplined enough to attack AND defend. That is the role reason Frank Lampard plays poorly for England, at Chelsea he's a dynamic AM with the option to ping balls over the top at will and influence the game. In England, he's a reserved CM with little option to go forward, if Gerrard is bombing forward Lampard has to stay back, if Barry is in DM Lampard is expected to cover him, it just doesnt work. There are so many options for England formationally but Capellos is possibly one of the worst that could of been picked. What's the point in playing Gerrard out on the left? It's just an absolute waste. The question also has to be asked as to why Rooney has to have a strike partner? Why does he? At Man Utd this season he played up front, on his own, flanked by Nani and Valencia, in a 4 3 3, and it worked a dream. 4 3 3 would be perfect for England IMO. Defensively yeh there's issues but they can be addressed, but midfieldwise there's the option of playing Lampard, Gerrard and Barry, in which instance Barry is holding, giving Gerrard and Lampard the option of going forward more freely, but still retaining discipline, with someone to cover them both. Lennon/Cole/ SWP/Walcott(as a backup, backup, backup choice because he's not a footballer) on the wings, Milner can also play on the wing or in CM, with Rooney at CF. Simple.
I said at the start of this tournament Fabio Capello would screw England over with his tactics, there's a reason almost every big team in the world has changed from 4 4 2 to far more flexible and dynamic tactics, his are outdated and he needs to change, or go.
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tl:dr
Here's my opinion why England is out of the world cup: they lost
Here's my opinion why England is out of the world cup: they lost