The aftermath.
So, another world Cup passed us by and we are no nearer to landing the big one. I was too upset last night to write anything on the match against Portugal.
The biggest problem in that match was our tactics. When Beckham was injured at the start of the second half, I thought to myself this is the turning point of our campaign. (I have always liked Beckham ever since he got sent off against Argentina back in the 98' world cup, the way he grew up and led the team was something I admired. But time doesn't wait for no one, he's been disappointing for a number of years in an England shirt, and the way the manager kept him in the team even though he's been ineffective for 90% of the matches he's played in since was something that really annoyed me.) I said to my friends at that moment, Sven should bring Crouch on in place of Beckham because Rooney was so isolated up front, his frustrations will make him do silly things. Instead he brought on Lennon. In a game where our midfield dominated the oppositions, there was no need to play 5 across the middle. We should have sent on someone to help out Rooney and take the game to Portugal. If Sven had done that, I'm sure Rooney wouldn't have been sent off and we should have scored at least 1 goal to win the game.
The other problem we have as a sporting nation is our mentality. We always accept defeats as long as we gave our all. I'm sorry, but that's just not good enough. Why should we settle for second best when clearly we have the players and skills to win? this makes it easy for our players to just rest on their laurels and don't take the next step to be the best. If you look at other sports in this country, it's all the same, we all love Tim Henman, yet he's won nothinng of note. He's made out to be our national treasure in tennis, yet he never fail to disappoint. Frank Bruno for the longest time was the darling of the nation, but he never gave us anything to cheer about till the end of his career. It's like we are almost afraid of success. We reward failures and reject success. Lennox Lewis was the best boxer this country produced, yet the public never warmed to him like Bruno just because he moved to Canada at a very young age and represented Canada in the Olympics.
We need to instill the win at all cost mentality and not accept valiant second if we are to win anything. Like Terry Butcher said, "How can we justify calling ourselves a world football power when we are not?
We have become all Billy Big Time and become too big for our boots, and yet we have got nothing to shout about because we have done nothing."
The biggest problem in that match was our tactics. When Beckham was injured at the start of the second half, I thought to myself this is the turning point of our campaign. (I have always liked Beckham ever since he got sent off against Argentina back in the 98' world cup, the way he grew up and led the team was something I admired. But time doesn't wait for no one, he's been disappointing for a number of years in an England shirt, and the way the manager kept him in the team even though he's been ineffective for 90% of the matches he's played in since was something that really annoyed me.) I said to my friends at that moment, Sven should bring Crouch on in place of Beckham because Rooney was so isolated up front, his frustrations will make him do silly things. Instead he brought on Lennon. In a game where our midfield dominated the oppositions, there was no need to play 5 across the middle. We should have sent on someone to help out Rooney and take the game to Portugal. If Sven had done that, I'm sure Rooney wouldn't have been sent off and we should have scored at least 1 goal to win the game.
The other problem we have as a sporting nation is our mentality. We always accept defeats as long as we gave our all. I'm sorry, but that's just not good enough. Why should we settle for second best when clearly we have the players and skills to win? this makes it easy for our players to just rest on their laurels and don't take the next step to be the best. If you look at other sports in this country, it's all the same, we all love Tim Henman, yet he's won nothinng of note. He's made out to be our national treasure in tennis, yet he never fail to disappoint. Frank Bruno for the longest time was the darling of the nation, but he never gave us anything to cheer about till the end of his career. It's like we are almost afraid of success. We reward failures and reject success. Lennox Lewis was the best boxer this country produced, yet the public never warmed to him like Bruno just because he moved to Canada at a very young age and represented Canada in the Olympics.
We need to instill the win at all cost mentality and not accept valiant second if we are to win anything. Like Terry Butcher said, "How can we justify calling ourselves a world football power when we are not?
We have become all Billy Big Time and become too big for our boots, and yet we have got nothing to shout about because we have done nothing."