Day 14: Folly…All is Folly…
For those of you who (like me) agree with Robbie Fowler’s claim that "If England are going to upset the odds and deliver on the biggest stage of all, it will be in spite of Eriksson rather than because of him", I direct your attention to James Lawton’s excoriation of Eriksson (and his successor) in today’s Independent.
Regarding the "The potential folly of rushing to appoint Steve McClaren", a man who has been part and parcel of an "England regime which has broken every rule of intelligent football planning, and under which the requirements of individual responsibility and leadership are handed around like hand grenades after the pins have been removed", Lawton has this to say:
If ever a team needed a new man on the bridge, someone untainted by the years of waste, even outright stupidity – how else do you categorise arguably the most brainless squad selection in the nation's competitive football history? – it is this drifting and hopelessly indulged collection of English players who, for some strange reason of their own, believe they are beyond criticism.
Yowsa! How’d you like them apples, Sven?
Seriously though, while England’s World Cup adventuress have traditionally been intriguing, bewildering, relentlessly-scrutinised affairs, I don’t think I can ever recall a campaign that has teetered on the edge of farce, incompetence and disaster in quite the way this one has. Though they’ve managed to escape (as winners) a group that proved to be one of the weakest of the tournament, the three matches have been compelling viewing only because they have been such perfect examples of ‘car crash’ football.
In fact, the performances have (apart from a brief period of stability in the Sweden match) reminded me of the agonising ‘pleasures’ of watching Alex Higgins in his twilight years. You lived every shot and every moment with him precisely because of the constant threat of imminent collapse and blow-out. This England team might not have reached such an advanced stage of jitteriness just yet, but the tone, tempo, and tenor of their World Cup has (up to now) been exceptionally manic and maddening.
While they still teeter on the edge, however, then some hope remains – particularly if the exuberant talents of Rooney, Cole and (to a lesser extent) Gerrard can free themselves from Eriksson’s straitjacket and fully loose their talents on the tournament. Even if that happens, however, the man/men in the dugout will (as Fowler suggests) have had precious little to do with it.
June 22, 2006
