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There isn't an England fan alive who could've come away from last night's game at Old Trafford with feelings of satisfaction after the 3-2 defeat to Denmark.
Sure, it was only a friendly. But when you take the lead so early on, and in such style, too, you cannot be expected to then go on to throw-away the lead - twice - and end up losing what could prove to be a crucial warm-up match in preparation for Euro 2004.
If we're going to lose like that against Denmark then, we might aswell just wave that white-flag before a game against a team likelike France or Gemany has even started!
Now, you can blame whoever you want to blame, but, as always, it's going to be the manager's fault for such a result, given the quality of player's on the pitch.
It may have been a fixture for 'experimenting' and trying new ideas but, once again, Sven-Goran Eriksson had, for me, taken things a little too far...
Remember that humiliating defeat to Australia when Harry Kewell single-handedly destroyed our backline? Yes, the "second-half; second-eleven" game.
For the first 45 minutes, things were not so bad. We had the majority of our `better´ players on the pitch, and looked capable of claiming victory against our once-in-a-lifetime rivals. But then came half-time, and we were - literally - a totally-different team for the second-half! Gone were the Owen's and Beckham's of our German-thumping world; and on came the likes of Jermaine Jenas and others straight out of the Under-21 setup.
If not for such a drastic change-of-pace, things would surely not have ended so badly.
It was ``only´´ a friendly, but a humiliating defeat a team of our reputation and stature could've done without (no disrespect to the hard-working "Socceroos", of course).
`Inconsitency´. The one thing that defines `Sven-Goran Eriksson´, to me.
"If it's not broken, why fix it?"
"Why change a winning formula?"
These are well-known quotations I suggest the Swede looks into if he really wants to make the most of his Swedish-to-English dictionary, and do his job well.
The one thing that bugs me, time and time again (aside from the fact that he's a foreigner!), is with his squad selections - every-single-time his latest listings are announced.
For the bigger, more important fixtures, it will always resolve around the same, much-loved `star´-players. David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerard and now Wayne Rooney. No matter how badly they're playing for their respected clubs or, how poorly they performed in last month's fixture against... Azerbaijan(!), you will always, ALWAYS see these names go top-of-the-list.
And as for the other 19-or-so spaces left, nine-times-out-of-ten, it seems like it's a case of simply 'filling-the-blanks' with possibly the only other names of English footballers he can remember!
Why else would we see 'average' players like Darius Vassell and Emile Heskey selected in favour or true, hard-working players with a real passion and talent for the game, like Leeds' Alan Smith, for example.
It seems like one, big "Popularity Contest" for him, or something.
Whichever players the fans love most, and want to see playing at every-chance - they're in the squad. He will never drop or replace him at the sake of becoming 'unpopular' for 5-or-10-minutes, and swarmed by the media for matters ON the pitch.
But if England are to stand any chance of getting somewhere in Portugal next summer, we must do what the bigger teams around us have already done; and get the 'blend' of players exactly right.
But this isn't happening right now. Sure, he seems willing to give plenty of youngsters a chance in the friendlies but, they barely last even half a match - and then we may never see them in an England shirt for months (if, even, ever again!).
And it is this "disposible camera" system that has made a mockery of our national team several times and made a once-cherishable First England Cap almost meaningless to anyone who "earns" it.
Why he never changes things when the team clearly don't perform, though, is beyond anyone...!
It is true that Michael Owen, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerard can be a dream-combination that strikes fear into the heart of any opposing team; but they cannot win you every game.
Who is David Beckham to lead any team to a final?! Again, he's just the fan's-favourite!
What we really need is a new `Alan Shearer´. Someone with a natural predatory instinct for the back of the net. Someone who can single-handedly lead a team forwards without the need of an armband. Somebody who isn't afraid to give up all that he's got in order to see his side succeed.
And, for me, Alan Smith is the man. The only have to have seen him play the full-90-minutes ONCE this season for his struggling Leeds United to see he is ``The One´´.
The side may be down (bottom of the league, infact), but he NEVER gives up. If ever there's even the slightest glimmer of hope for a goal, he will try his hardest to force his way through and find the back of the net - just like he did against Arsenal and Portsmouth, quite recently. He's a Leeds fan with a rare, 'never-say-die' attitude.
Watch him play for Leeds next weekend and you will see just how much he could benefit his country so-much!
But by playing for a team in Leeds' current state, you're hardly going to get the recognition you deserve from a blind-eyed manager like Eriksson. But moving, for Alan Smith, is not the answer. Would he really share that same desire for another team as he does for the club and country he loves?? If anything, I think it a move to Old Trafford, Highbury or Anfield would give him the bad kind of publicity that has, in time, turned David Beckham into nonced-up `Pop-Star´ with Barbie-doll hair!
And so, I shared a small amount of sympathy (for once!) with Mr.Eriksson for finally giving Smith the second-chance he deserves after a year-long exile following an outstanding debut performance for England (...and a red-card). ....Until the FA went and ruined things, yet again!!
But why was Alan Smith only part of the Sven-Goran Eriksson's "back-up" plan?
Why were "donkey's" like Vassell and Heskey, yet again, in before him??
That's the part I really don't understand...
Both he and Tord Grip have said they are looking at new players (including Celtic's Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson - both of whom could be the answers to our Alan Shearer and left-sided problems). ...But where are they now, eh??
And no matter how well a player like Joe Cole or even Alan Smith has performed in the past, he won't get a look-in ahead of Paul Scholes or Rooney.
It's like the goalkeeper situation; why is "butterfingers" David James our country's No.1? That, quite possibly, is the biggest joke of them all.
Anyone can see that Paul Robinson should clearly have the job. Anyone except "Sven", of course! What will it take for him to see that James is the bad-accident just waiting to happen? A hat-trick of blunders as Thierry Henry and co. wave, "Au revoir!"?? He has been 'quite' consistent for England; although, it's usually in the bigger games where he mucks-up the most. I've lost-count of the number of times he flapped at Man United's crosses during numorous encounters over the years! You could even go as far as to say that we beat the likes of Arsenal to the Title because of him! He did alright yesterday, yes. But if it wasn't Paul Robinson in-goal during that second-half the Dane's could've scored twice-as-many!!
But, we already know who will be in-goal next time, anyway....
I read something in the 'papers quite regularly, now, about how he is ready-to-quit over yet another mistake from our good old, unreliable Football Association, and I begin to get excited; dreaming of what I could be reading tommorow...
But he's an annoying moth or fly, to me. No matter how hard you try, or how bad things appear to get, he'll just stick-around to annoy you further!
I really wish he would just "buzz-off" and, instead, let someone with a real care for their own country come and do this job, instead of just trying to rebuild their own sliding reputation, the easy way!
Sure, it was only a friendly. But when you take the lead so early on, and in such style, too, you cannot be expected to then go on to throw-away the lead - twice - and end up losing what could prove to be a crucial warm-up match in preparation for Euro 2004.
If we're going to lose like that against Denmark then, we might aswell just wave that white-flag before a game against a team likelike France or Gemany has even started!
Now, you can blame whoever you want to blame, but, as always, it's going to be the manager's fault for such a result, given the quality of player's on the pitch.
It may have been a fixture for 'experimenting' and trying new ideas but, once again, Sven-Goran Eriksson had, for me, taken things a little too far...
Remember that humiliating defeat to Australia when Harry Kewell single-handedly destroyed our backline? Yes, the "second-half; second-eleven" game.
For the first 45 minutes, things were not so bad. We had the majority of our `better´ players on the pitch, and looked capable of claiming victory against our once-in-a-lifetime rivals. But then came half-time, and we were - literally - a totally-different team for the second-half! Gone were the Owen's and Beckham's of our German-thumping world; and on came the likes of Jermaine Jenas and others straight out of the Under-21 setup.
If not for such a drastic change-of-pace, things would surely not have ended so badly.
It was ``only´´ a friendly, but a humiliating defeat a team of our reputation and stature could've done without (no disrespect to the hard-working "Socceroos", of course).
`Inconsitency´. The one thing that defines `Sven-Goran Eriksson´, to me.
"If it's not broken, why fix it?"
"Why change a winning formula?"
These are well-known quotations I suggest the Swede looks into if he really wants to make the most of his Swedish-to-English dictionary, and do his job well.
The one thing that bugs me, time and time again (aside from the fact that he's a foreigner!), is with his squad selections - every-single-time his latest listings are announced.
For the bigger, more important fixtures, it will always resolve around the same, much-loved `star´-players. David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerard and now Wayne Rooney. No matter how badly they're playing for their respected clubs or, how poorly they performed in last month's fixture against... Azerbaijan(!), you will always, ALWAYS see these names go top-of-the-list.
And as for the other 19-or-so spaces left, nine-times-out-of-ten, it seems like it's a case of simply 'filling-the-blanks' with possibly the only other names of English footballers he can remember!
Why else would we see 'average' players like Darius Vassell and Emile Heskey selected in favour or true, hard-working players with a real passion and talent for the game, like Leeds' Alan Smith, for example.
It seems like one, big "Popularity Contest" for him, or something.
Whichever players the fans love most, and want to see playing at every-chance - they're in the squad. He will never drop or replace him at the sake of becoming 'unpopular' for 5-or-10-minutes, and swarmed by the media for matters ON the pitch.
But if England are to stand any chance of getting somewhere in Portugal next summer, we must do what the bigger teams around us have already done; and get the 'blend' of players exactly right.
But this isn't happening right now. Sure, he seems willing to give plenty of youngsters a chance in the friendlies but, they barely last even half a match - and then we may never see them in an England shirt for months (if, even, ever again!).
And it is this "disposible camera" system that has made a mockery of our national team several times and made a once-cherishable First England Cap almost meaningless to anyone who "earns" it.
Why he never changes things when the team clearly don't perform, though, is beyond anyone...!
It is true that Michael Owen, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerard can be a dream-combination that strikes fear into the heart of any opposing team; but they cannot win you every game.
Who is David Beckham to lead any team to a final?! Again, he's just the fan's-favourite!
What we really need is a new `Alan Shearer´. Someone with a natural predatory instinct for the back of the net. Someone who can single-handedly lead a team forwards without the need of an armband. Somebody who isn't afraid to give up all that he's got in order to see his side succeed.
And, for me, Alan Smith is the man. The only have to have seen him play the full-90-minutes ONCE this season for his struggling Leeds United to see he is ``The One´´.
The side may be down (bottom of the league, infact), but he NEVER gives up. If ever there's even the slightest glimmer of hope for a goal, he will try his hardest to force his way through and find the back of the net - just like he did against Arsenal and Portsmouth, quite recently. He's a Leeds fan with a rare, 'never-say-die' attitude.
Watch him play for Leeds next weekend and you will see just how much he could benefit his country so-much!
But by playing for a team in Leeds' current state, you're hardly going to get the recognition you deserve from a blind-eyed manager like Eriksson. But moving, for Alan Smith, is not the answer. Would he really share that same desire for another team as he does for the club and country he loves?? If anything, I think it a move to Old Trafford, Highbury or Anfield would give him the bad kind of publicity that has, in time, turned David Beckham into nonced-up `Pop-Star´ with Barbie-doll hair!
And so, I shared a small amount of sympathy (for once!) with Mr.Eriksson for finally giving Smith the second-chance he deserves after a year-long exile following an outstanding debut performance for England (...and a red-card). ....Until the FA went and ruined things, yet again!!
But why was Alan Smith only part of the Sven-Goran Eriksson's "back-up" plan?
Why were "donkey's" like Vassell and Heskey, yet again, in before him??
That's the part I really don't understand...
Both he and Tord Grip have said they are looking at new players (including Celtic's Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson - both of whom could be the answers to our Alan Shearer and left-sided problems). ...But where are they now, eh??
And no matter how well a player like Joe Cole or even Alan Smith has performed in the past, he won't get a look-in ahead of Paul Scholes or Rooney.
It's like the goalkeeper situation; why is "butterfingers" David James our country's No.1? That, quite possibly, is the biggest joke of them all.
Anyone can see that Paul Robinson should clearly have the job. Anyone except "Sven", of course! What will it take for him to see that James is the bad-accident just waiting to happen? A hat-trick of blunders as Thierry Henry and co. wave, "Au revoir!"?? He has been 'quite' consistent for England; although, it's usually in the bigger games where he mucks-up the most. I've lost-count of the number of times he flapped at Man United's crosses during numorous encounters over the years! You could even go as far as to say that we beat the likes of Arsenal to the Title because of him! He did alright yesterday, yes. But if it wasn't Paul Robinson in-goal during that second-half the Dane's could've scored twice-as-many!!
But, we already know who will be in-goal next time, anyway....
I read something in the 'papers quite regularly, now, about how he is ready-to-quit over yet another mistake from our good old, unreliable Football Association, and I begin to get excited; dreaming of what I could be reading tommorow...
But he's an annoying moth or fly, to me. No matter how hard you try, or how bad things appear to get, he'll just stick-around to annoy you further!
I really wish he would just "buzz-off" and, instead, let someone with a real care for their own country come and do this job, instead of just trying to rebuild their own sliding reputation, the easy way!
Page:
It's a friendly and a chance to test out the new crops. Yes, nobody likes losing any match whether it's a friendly or what, but that friendly brought out some positives.
It showed that Rooney, Joe Cole and Lampard are worthy of their England spot, but also showed that people like Glen Johnson and Matthew Upson are not ready to play for England yet.
I think that if teams are to be successful, they have to keep a manger in for a long time. If you keep getting rid of managers within 2 years the team is not gonna go anywhere. Okay, I'm not keen on Sven and he's not English, but lets face it, he ain't going anywhere yet.
He's testing out players and getting to know them, just like Fergie and Wenger.
We were facing Denmark with a very weak defence. Campbell, Ferdinand, Woodgate and Southgate all out. Our midfield looks very strong when everyone is fit and available, but it's getting the formation and tactics to work.
For me this would have to be the England squad in Euro 2004 providing everyone is 100% fit:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GK.James - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - CB. Terry - - CB. Campbell - - CB. Woodgate - - - - - - - -
- RWB G.Neville - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LWB A.Cole -
- - - - - - CM. Beckham - CM. Gerrard - CM Lampard - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - ST. Owen - - ST. Rooney - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBS
It showed that Rooney, Joe Cole and Lampard are worthy of their England spot, but also showed that people like Glen Johnson and Matthew Upson are not ready to play for England yet.
I think that if teams are to be successful, they have to keep a manger in for a long time. If you keep getting rid of managers within 2 years the team is not gonna go anywhere. Okay, I'm not keen on Sven and he's not English, but lets face it, he ain't going anywhere yet.
He's testing out players and getting to know them, just like Fergie and Wenger.
We were facing Denmark with a very weak defence. Campbell, Ferdinand, Woodgate and Southgate all out. Our midfield looks very strong when everyone is fit and available, but it's getting the formation and tactics to work.
For me this would have to be the England squad in Euro 2004 providing everyone is 100% fit:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GK.James - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - CB. Terry - - CB. Campbell - - CB. Woodgate - - - - - - - -
- RWB G.Neville - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LWB A.Cole -
- - - - - - CM. Beckham - CM. Gerrard - CM Lampard - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - ST. Owen - - ST. Rooney - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBS
Meka Dragon wrote:
> Denmark are underrated.
Lets not forget that the great danes won Euro 1992?
As usual Solskjaer an excellent in depth post worthy of the read.
> Denmark are underrated.
Lets not forget that the great danes won Euro 1992?
As usual Solskjaer an excellent in depth post worthy of the read.
God that post was atrocious.
What a pun.
You shoukd work for The Sun.
ANd that rhymed. Boo-ya.
And yus, I agree with most of what you said.
You shoukd work for The Sun.
ANd that rhymed. Boo-ya.
And yus, I agree with most of what you said.
Denmark are underrated.
At the last World Cup France could have still qualified for the knock out stages, but Denmark gave them a thorough beating. They play well as a team. and have a swift attack.
I'd rather make the mistakes now, and work on fixing them, than make them in Portugal when it's too late.
At the last World Cup France could have still qualified for the knock out stages, but Denmark gave them a thorough beating. They play well as a team. and have a swift attack.
I'd rather make the mistakes now, and work on fixing them, than make them in Portugal when it's too late.
Chill Winston.
I was encouraged by the performance. Rooney showing Heskey how it's done, a decent performance from Joe Cole in an England shirt, Lampard growing into his role, Heskey showing once again why he doesn't deserve to sniff an england shirt, much less wear one, and Gary Neville once again proving (thanks to Glen Johnson's god awful display) how much we miss him when he's not there.
The defence was always going to be a shambles, with Terry (who has only a few caps at this level so far) and Upson (who looked well off the pace) playing in place of the ideal central defensive partnership. This is partly out of Sven's control, so you can hardly blame him for it.
Both A.Cole and Bridge did competent enough jobs, Beckham was injured and it showed. In fact, the only player I was seriously disappointed with was Butt, who hardly seemed to touch the ball.
I was encouraged by the performance. Rooney showing Heskey how it's done, a decent performance from Joe Cole in an England shirt, Lampard growing into his role, Heskey showing once again why he doesn't deserve to sniff an england shirt, much less wear one, and Gary Neville once again proving (thanks to Glen Johnson's god awful display) how much we miss him when he's not there.
The defence was always going to be a shambles, with Terry (who has only a few caps at this level so far) and Upson (who looked well off the pace) playing in place of the ideal central defensive partnership. This is partly out of Sven's control, so you can hardly blame him for it.
Both A.Cole and Bridge did competent enough jobs, Beckham was injured and it showed. In fact, the only player I was seriously disappointed with was Butt, who hardly seemed to touch the ball.
There isn't an England fan alive who could've come away from last night's game at Old Trafford with feelings of satisfaction after the 3-2 defeat to Denmark.
Sure, it was only a friendly. But when you take the lead so early on, and in such style, too, you cannot be expected to then go on to throw-away the lead - twice - and end up losing what could prove to be a crucial warm-up match in preparation for Euro 2004.
If we're going to lose like that against Denmark then, we might aswell just wave that white-flag before a game against a team likelike France or Gemany has even started!
Now, you can blame whoever you want to blame, but, as always, it's going to be the manager's fault for such a result, given the quality of player's on the pitch.
It may have been a fixture for 'experimenting' and trying new ideas but, once again, Sven-Goran Eriksson had, for me, taken things a little too far...
Remember that humiliating defeat to Australia when Harry Kewell single-handedly destroyed our backline? Yes, the "second-half; second-eleven" game.
For the first 45 minutes, things were not so bad. We had the majority of our `better´ players on the pitch, and looked capable of claiming victory against our once-in-a-lifetime rivals. But then came half-time, and we were - literally - a totally-different team for the second-half! Gone were the Owen's and Beckham's of our German-thumping world; and on came the likes of Jermaine Jenas and others straight out of the Under-21 setup.
If not for such a drastic change-of-pace, things would surely not have ended so badly.
It was ``only´´ a friendly, but a humiliating defeat a team of our reputation and stature could've done without (no disrespect to the hard-working "Socceroos", of course).
`Inconsitency´. The one thing that defines `Sven-Goran Eriksson´, to me.
"If it's not broken, why fix it?"
"Why change a winning formula?"
These are well-known quotations I suggest the Swede looks into if he really wants to make the most of his Swedish-to-English dictionary, and do his job well.
The one thing that bugs me, time and time again (aside from the fact that he's a foreigner!), is with his squad selections - every-single-time his latest listings are announced.
For the bigger, more important fixtures, it will always resolve around the same, much-loved `star´-players. David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerard and now Wayne Rooney. No matter how badly they're playing for their respected clubs or, how poorly they performed in last month's fixture against... Azerbaijan(!), you will always, ALWAYS see these names go top-of-the-list.
And as for the other 19-or-so spaces left, nine-times-out-of-ten, it seems like it's a case of simply 'filling-the-blanks' with possibly the only other names of English footballers he can remember!
Why else would we see 'average' players like Darius Vassell and Emile Heskey selected in favour or true, hard-working players with a real passion and talent for the game, like Leeds' Alan Smith, for example.
It seems like one, big "Popularity Contest" for him, or something.
Whichever players the fans love most, and want to see playing at every-chance - they're in the squad. He will never drop or replace him at the sake of becoming 'unpopular' for 5-or-10-minutes, and swarmed by the media for matters ON the pitch.
But if England are to stand any chance of getting somewhere in Portugal next summer, we must do what the bigger teams around us have already done; and get the 'blend' of players exactly right.
But this isn't happening right now. Sure, he seems willing to give plenty of youngsters a chance in the friendlies but, they barely last even half a match - and then we may never see them in an England shirt for months (if, even, ever again!).
And it is this "disposible camera" system that has made a mockery of our national team several times and made a once-cherishable First England Cap almost meaningless to anyone who "earns" it.
Why he never changes things when the team clearly don't perform, though, is beyond anyone...!
It is true that Michael Owen, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerard can be a dream-combination that strikes fear into the heart of any opposing team; but they cannot win you every game.
Who is David Beckham to lead any team to a final?! Again, he's just the fan's-favourite!
What we really need is a new `Alan Shearer´. Someone with a natural predatory instinct for the back of the net. Someone who can single-handedly lead a team forwards without the need of an armband. Somebody who isn't afraid to give up all that he's got in order to see his side succeed.
And, for me, Alan Smith is the man. The only have to have seen him play the full-90-minutes ONCE this season for his struggling Leeds United to see he is ``The One´´.
The side may be down (bottom of the league, infact), but he NEVER gives up. If ever there's even the slightest glimmer of hope for a goal, he will try his hardest to force his way through and find the back of the net - just like he did against Arsenal and Portsmouth, quite recently. He's a Leeds fan with a rare, 'never-say-die' attitude.
Watch him play for Leeds next weekend and you will see just how much he could benefit his country so-much!
But by playing for a team in Leeds' current state, you're hardly going to get the recognition you deserve from a blind-eyed manager like Eriksson. But moving, for Alan Smith, is not the answer. Would he really share that same desire for another team as he does for the club and country he loves?? If anything, I think it a move to Old Trafford, Highbury or Anfield would give him the bad kind of publicity that has, in time, turned David Beckham into nonced-up `Pop-Star´ with Barbie-doll hair!
And so, I shared a small amount of sympathy (for once!) with Mr.Eriksson for finally giving Smith the second-chance he deserves after a year-long exile following an outstanding debut performance for England (...and a red-card). ....Until the FA went and ruined things, yet again!!
But why was Alan Smith only part of the Sven-Goran Eriksson's "back-up" plan?
Why were "donkey's" like Vassell and Heskey, yet again, in before him??
That's the part I really don't understand...
Both he and Tord Grip have said they are looking at new players (including Celtic's Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson - both of whom could be the answers to our Alan Shearer and left-sided problems). ...But where are they now, eh??
And no matter how well a player like Joe Cole or even Alan Smith has performed in the past, he won't get a look-in ahead of Paul Scholes or Rooney.
It's like the goalkeeper situation; why is "butterfingers" David James our country's No.1? That, quite possibly, is the biggest joke of them all.
Anyone can see that Paul Robinson should clearly have the job. Anyone except "Sven", of course! What will it take for him to see that James is the bad-accident just waiting to happen? A hat-trick of blunders as Thierry Henry and co. wave, "Au revoir!"?? He has been 'quite' consistent for England; although, it's usually in the bigger games where he mucks-up the most. I've lost-count of the number of times he flapped at Man United's crosses during numorous encounters over the years! You could even go as far as to say that we beat the likes of Arsenal to the Title because of him! He did alright yesterday, yes. But if it wasn't Paul Robinson in-goal during that second-half the Dane's could've scored twice-as-many!!
But, we already know who will be in-goal next time, anyway....
I read something in the 'papers quite regularly, now, about how he is ready-to-quit over yet another mistake from our good old, unreliable Football Association, and I begin to get excited; dreaming of what I could be reading tommorow...
But he's an annoying moth or fly, to me. No matter how hard you try, or how bad things appear to get, he'll just stick-around to annoy you further!
I really wish he would just "buzz-off" and, instead, let someone with a real care for their own country come and do this job, instead of just trying to rebuild their own sliding reputation, the easy way!
Sure, it was only a friendly. But when you take the lead so early on, and in such style, too, you cannot be expected to then go on to throw-away the lead - twice - and end up losing what could prove to be a crucial warm-up match in preparation for Euro 2004.
If we're going to lose like that against Denmark then, we might aswell just wave that white-flag before a game against a team likelike France or Gemany has even started!
Now, you can blame whoever you want to blame, but, as always, it's going to be the manager's fault for such a result, given the quality of player's on the pitch.
It may have been a fixture for 'experimenting' and trying new ideas but, once again, Sven-Goran Eriksson had, for me, taken things a little too far...
Remember that humiliating defeat to Australia when Harry Kewell single-handedly destroyed our backline? Yes, the "second-half; second-eleven" game.
For the first 45 minutes, things were not so bad. We had the majority of our `better´ players on the pitch, and looked capable of claiming victory against our once-in-a-lifetime rivals. But then came half-time, and we were - literally - a totally-different team for the second-half! Gone were the Owen's and Beckham's of our German-thumping world; and on came the likes of Jermaine Jenas and others straight out of the Under-21 setup.
If not for such a drastic change-of-pace, things would surely not have ended so badly.
It was ``only´´ a friendly, but a humiliating defeat a team of our reputation and stature could've done without (no disrespect to the hard-working "Socceroos", of course).
`Inconsitency´. The one thing that defines `Sven-Goran Eriksson´, to me.
"If it's not broken, why fix it?"
"Why change a winning formula?"
These are well-known quotations I suggest the Swede looks into if he really wants to make the most of his Swedish-to-English dictionary, and do his job well.
The one thing that bugs me, time and time again (aside from the fact that he's a foreigner!), is with his squad selections - every-single-time his latest listings are announced.
For the bigger, more important fixtures, it will always resolve around the same, much-loved `star´-players. David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerard and now Wayne Rooney. No matter how badly they're playing for their respected clubs or, how poorly they performed in last month's fixture against... Azerbaijan(!), you will always, ALWAYS see these names go top-of-the-list.
And as for the other 19-or-so spaces left, nine-times-out-of-ten, it seems like it's a case of simply 'filling-the-blanks' with possibly the only other names of English footballers he can remember!
Why else would we see 'average' players like Darius Vassell and Emile Heskey selected in favour or true, hard-working players with a real passion and talent for the game, like Leeds' Alan Smith, for example.
It seems like one, big "Popularity Contest" for him, or something.
Whichever players the fans love most, and want to see playing at every-chance - they're in the squad. He will never drop or replace him at the sake of becoming 'unpopular' for 5-or-10-minutes, and swarmed by the media for matters ON the pitch.
But if England are to stand any chance of getting somewhere in Portugal next summer, we must do what the bigger teams around us have already done; and get the 'blend' of players exactly right.
But this isn't happening right now. Sure, he seems willing to give plenty of youngsters a chance in the friendlies but, they barely last even half a match - and then we may never see them in an England shirt for months (if, even, ever again!).
And it is this "disposible camera" system that has made a mockery of our national team several times and made a once-cherishable First England Cap almost meaningless to anyone who "earns" it.
Why he never changes things when the team clearly don't perform, though, is beyond anyone...!
It is true that Michael Owen, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerard can be a dream-combination that strikes fear into the heart of any opposing team; but they cannot win you every game.
Who is David Beckham to lead any team to a final?! Again, he's just the fan's-favourite!
What we really need is a new `Alan Shearer´. Someone with a natural predatory instinct for the back of the net. Someone who can single-handedly lead a team forwards without the need of an armband. Somebody who isn't afraid to give up all that he's got in order to see his side succeed.
And, for me, Alan Smith is the man. The only have to have seen him play the full-90-minutes ONCE this season for his struggling Leeds United to see he is ``The One´´.
The side may be down (bottom of the league, infact), but he NEVER gives up. If ever there's even the slightest glimmer of hope for a goal, he will try his hardest to force his way through and find the back of the net - just like he did against Arsenal and Portsmouth, quite recently. He's a Leeds fan with a rare, 'never-say-die' attitude.
Watch him play for Leeds next weekend and you will see just how much he could benefit his country so-much!
But by playing for a team in Leeds' current state, you're hardly going to get the recognition you deserve from a blind-eyed manager like Eriksson. But moving, for Alan Smith, is not the answer. Would he really share that same desire for another team as he does for the club and country he loves?? If anything, I think it a move to Old Trafford, Highbury or Anfield would give him the bad kind of publicity that has, in time, turned David Beckham into nonced-up `Pop-Star´ with Barbie-doll hair!
And so, I shared a small amount of sympathy (for once!) with Mr.Eriksson for finally giving Smith the second-chance he deserves after a year-long exile following an outstanding debut performance for England (...and a red-card). ....Until the FA went and ruined things, yet again!!
But why was Alan Smith only part of the Sven-Goran Eriksson's "back-up" plan?
Why were "donkey's" like Vassell and Heskey, yet again, in before him??
That's the part I really don't understand...
Both he and Tord Grip have said they are looking at new players (including Celtic's Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson - both of whom could be the answers to our Alan Shearer and left-sided problems). ...But where are they now, eh??
And no matter how well a player like Joe Cole or even Alan Smith has performed in the past, he won't get a look-in ahead of Paul Scholes or Rooney.
It's like the goalkeeper situation; why is "butterfingers" David James our country's No.1? That, quite possibly, is the biggest joke of them all.
Anyone can see that Paul Robinson should clearly have the job. Anyone except "Sven", of course! What will it take for him to see that James is the bad-accident just waiting to happen? A hat-trick of blunders as Thierry Henry and co. wave, "Au revoir!"?? He has been 'quite' consistent for England; although, it's usually in the bigger games where he mucks-up the most. I've lost-count of the number of times he flapped at Man United's crosses during numorous encounters over the years! You could even go as far as to say that we beat the likes of Arsenal to the Title because of him! He did alright yesterday, yes. But if it wasn't Paul Robinson in-goal during that second-half the Dane's could've scored twice-as-many!!
But, we already know who will be in-goal next time, anyway....
I read something in the 'papers quite regularly, now, about how he is ready-to-quit over yet another mistake from our good old, unreliable Football Association, and I begin to get excited; dreaming of what I could be reading tommorow...
But he's an annoying moth or fly, to me. No matter how hard you try, or how bad things appear to get, he'll just stick-around to annoy you further!
I really wish he would just "buzz-off" and, instead, let someone with a real care for their own country come and do this job, instead of just trying to rebuild their own sliding reputation, the easy way!
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