Thursday, August 17, 2006
Here we go again
Well done England for winning last nights game. Good performances from the boys and a sensible structure.
However we must remember the standard of the opposition was particularly poor in the first half. These were no Greek gods - but merely an ageing group of players who conquered Europe in 2004 only to see their Fifa world ranking slip to 32nd this week.
Expectations were low after the World Cup, so McClaren was always on to a winner barring any real disaster. No pressure on the players and they seemed to perform better ( No surprise in that)
Next up are Andorra and Macedonia (twice) before McClaren's first proper tests away to Croatia in October and a friendly in Holland in November.
Perhaps then we can cast a more realistic eye over proceedings.
The best thing for me was not any players performance but that McClaren has vowed to take all England matches more seriously when it comes to making substitutions.
Eriksson enjoyed nothing more than trying to keep the Premiership managers happy by making 11 changes at half-time during previous friendlies.
This time, McClaren's only interval switch was to introduce Chris Kirkland in goal. Admittedly, more substitutions followed but that was fair enough with the score at 4-0 and the Premiership kick-off almost upon us.
John Terry proved himself a good Captain he will only be great when he wins something for England.
J
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However we must remember the standard of the opposition was particularly poor in the first half. These were no Greek gods - but merely an ageing group of players who conquered Europe in 2004 only to see their Fifa world ranking slip to 32nd this week.
Expectations were low after the World Cup, so McClaren was always on to a winner barring any real disaster. No pressure on the players and they seemed to perform better ( No surprise in that)
Next up are Andorra and Macedonia (twice) before McClaren's first proper tests away to Croatia in October and a friendly in Holland in November.
Perhaps then we can cast a more realistic eye over proceedings.
The best thing for me was not any players performance but that McClaren has vowed to take all England matches more seriously when it comes to making substitutions.
Eriksson enjoyed nothing more than trying to keep the Premiership managers happy by making 11 changes at half-time during previous friendlies.
This time, McClaren's only interval switch was to introduce Chris Kirkland in goal. Admittedly, more substitutions followed but that was fair enough with the score at 4-0 and the Premiership kick-off almost upon us.
John Terry proved himself a good Captain he will only be great when he wins something for England.
J
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly
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