OK maybe it isn’t quite as simple as that, but we can hope can’t we?
First of all, I want to say that I didn’t think England underperformed in the summer, where our dismal displays saw us ranked as the 13th best team out of 32, the nation’s worst ever result at the tournament. But the reason I don’t see that as underperforming is because I don’t actually think we were ever as good as everybody made us out to be in the first place. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t gutted when we lost to Germany though. I was, I nearly cried.
Weight of expectation
The levels of expectation the media puts on the players is ridiculous, especially the current hot topic, Wayne Rooney. The World Cup this year could not have come at a more perfect time for Rooney. He’d just had his best ever club season, scoring 34 goals for Manchester United and rightly being spoken about in the same breath as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Yet for whatever reason it didn’t happen in South Africa. You can’t help but think that these latest revelations about him getting jiggy with a lady of the night were playing on his mind, as well as being away from his baby son for a whole month.
Not knowing what was to happen, we rested all our hopes on Rooney, forgetting that football is a team game. True, England have arguably 3 world class players, and a lot of very good players. The three for me are Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole (all excellent role models I’m sure you’ll agree). But you don’t win games by simply shoving a load of players on the pitch and crossing your fingers. You’d be forgiven for thinking that judging by the nearly flawless qualifying campaign, but maybe Fabio a bit lucky in the fact that we didn’t really have any great teams in our group, bar Croatia. Look at Spain, their team is littered with world class stars right through the team. Casillas, Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Torres. All of them would walk straight into almost any club and national side in the world BUT, they also know how to play as a team. In Spain, the kids are taught to play possession football right from the moment they learn to kick a ball. The same philosophy is used up through all the ages groups and ultimately to the national team. This is why the players know the system so well and why Spanish football is now the pinnacle of the sport, both internationally and, I hate to say it, but domestically too.
Fresh Start
Ok rant over, and on to what this post started off talking about. England have just launched a new kit, first seen in the home game against Bulgaria last Friday. Now, England kits are normally revealed every March or April, so I can’t help but think that maybe this is meant to symbolise a fresh start for the team. If so, it’s not done bad so far. Sure, it’s only been two games, but we won them both comfortably while at the same time using a sprinkling of new players. In my eyes the team has a fresher and quite a different feel to it. Joe Hart has to wear that number 1 shirt for the next decade. God knows it’s time for some continuity between the sticks, which we haven’t had since the seemingly untouchable David Seaman was playing. Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill, Michael Dawson, James Milner and Adam Johnson have all come in and played and while some of these were due to injuries to other players, they haven’t done themselves any harm at all for the furute. Fat Frank might find it a bit tricky getting back into the midfield of a winning team, especially as I’ve just watched Adam Johnson get his second goal in as many games.
I’m really happy that Fabio has stuck to his word and introduced some new faces to compliment the more talented members of the failed World Cup squad. The midfield has needed a shake up for a long time and I do think Milner and Adam Johnson are here to stay. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we’re suddenly going to turn into world beaters overnight, cos we aren’t, but we’re taking baby steps in the right direction.
Oh, and the kit’s pretty nice too.