36 minutes
Thu Feb 07 09:01AM
36 minutes - That is exactly how long it took some England fans to turn on Fabio Capello.
Just after the half-hour mark, with the game scoreless and England looking less than fluent, a section of the crowd decided they had had enough of this Italian character.
Their ire was raised by a patient passing move that saw the ball moved back to halfway and switched to the left, resulting in a shot on target by Joe Cole.
Where were the centre-backs lumping long balls in the general direction of the opposition box? It was all too much for some people.
Four minutes later, just as the malcontents put the finishing touches to their "Bring Back Mac" banners, England scored and all was well with the world.
Despite Eren Derdiyok's nifty equaliser (and didn't John Motson seem affronted that the teenager dared puncture Don Fabio's Catenaccio back four?) the Swiss were duly vanquished.
The Wembley boo-boys will claim that they paid their money, and had every right to down 12 pints of weak lager, disrupt the minute's silence for the Munich Air Disaster and barrack the new man in the dugout.
For a depressingly large number of people, it's what being an England fan is all about.
Who cares if it's counter-productive? Do what makes you feel good, even if it makes you look like a complete imbecile.
Mind you, Capello is used to being underappreciated. Real Madrid fans hated him, and the club sacked him despite winning last season's Liga title.
Early Doors will settle for victory at the 2010 World Cup followed by an inexplicable P45 for the man who masterminded it.
- - -
Switzerland weren't bad, but they weren't exactly good either. The Euro 2008 co-hosts' preparations are hardly going to plan, having also lost friendlies to Nigeria and USA.
All told, you can hardly imagine the touts rubbing their hands in glee at the thousands of euros being offered for a pair of tickets to Switzerland-Turkey in the group stage.
Which makes it all the more puzzling that both co-hosts were handed automatic places at Euro 2008 despite their questionable pedigree.
If two countries host a tournament, it is fairly unlikely that both are football powerhouses.
Belgium/Holland, Japan/Korea, Austria/Switzerland - to be brutally honest, only the Dutch are any good out of that rag-bag of also-rans.
The Austrians are far worse than the Swiss, having lost to England right when the Steve McClaren era was pouring lighter fluid over itself and preparing to turn into a massive fireball.
Early Doors can't pretend to be a linguistic expert, but it believes the Austrian national anthem 'Land der Berge, Land am Strome' translates as 'Like the Germans, only less punctual'.
It is fair enough to let the hosts in when tournaments are held in serious countries like Germany, France and Italy.
But the multi-country concept is inherently flawed. Early Doors suggests that 15 perennial whipping boys (Liechtenstein, Andorra, Wales and the like) table a joint bid for Euro 2016, leaving just one place up for grabs from the qualifying competition.
Don't get Early Doors wrong - it is not saying England have been robbed of their rightful place at the European Championships by a couple of alpine impostors.
It just seems a shame to give two of the 16 places to second-tier (at best) teams - and if neither side can give England much of a game, what hope do they have against the teams who actually bothered to qualify for Euro 2008?
- - -
DEBATE OF THE DAY: Yesterday's question on how to improve international friendlies brought a host of entertaining suggestions.
Early Doors has a hunch that cjg274 was celebrating a 3-0 win against Norway last night judging by this effort: "Play against the England Rugby team - They'll look like they're thrashing us during the first half with their 'naturalised' English Brazilian Ronalwilko. But by the end of the second they'll have fallen apart in true English style, we'll of thrashed them and probably left them crying like girls. Yep even Macca's team would look good, perfect scenario really."
bantamstu unveils a four-point plan for your viewing pleasure: "1) Triangular pitches, three teams, 1 ball; 2) Have a judging panel award 0.1 goals for a nifty trick; 3) Allow the refs to score. Change them every 15 minutes and award a cup to the official who has scored the most. Include them in the next England squad if they managed to outscore the national team; 4) Play them behind closed doors and just tell us they were exciting."
Finally, peter.r.nichols keeps it simple but effective: "Dogs! Throw a couple of dogs onto the pitch."
Today's talking point: Should Michael Owen and David Beckham play for England again? Like all good GCSEs, credit will be added for explaining your answer.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Ask Steve to defend!" An exasperated Fabio Capello tells Owen Hargreaves to get Steven Gerrard to do his tracking back. He may find this is a recurring theme..
FOREIGN VIEW: 'Les Bleus cracked' - Our sister website eurosport.fr laments France's friendly defeat to Spain, while our colleagues in Madrid are not much happier, looking past the result to complain about the poor standard of play. No pleasing some people.
COMING UP: It is African Cup of Nations semi-finals day. We've got a couple of belters for you, with Ghana v Cameroon at 5pm and Ivory Coast v Egypt at 8.30pm. They are live on Eurosport TV and right here on eurosport.yahoo.co.uk.
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IM this storyHow many mistakes did John Motson make last night, at one point he was saying players names that had been substituted about fifteen minutes before he mentioned them
From j.herbert709 on Thu Feb 07 09:13AMIn football there are fans who have played football and therefore understand football both from a players point of view, and there fans who have never played football and therefore cannot understand the game from a players and tactical viewpoint. The latter annoy me especially when I am at a match and all I hear are their negative comments without them really understanding the game. Its these ignorants who see fit to boo their own players and drag their team down and it was this lot booing last night. Idiots
From dansanders1 on Thu Feb 07 09:24AMhe also kept calling wes brown wayne brown!
From rooney_rio_united on Thu Feb 07 09:25AMMichael Owen should only be playing for England if he can put a run of games in the premiership longer than 9 games together and actually manage to score more than once. Some may say that's harsh, but nothing annoys me more than seeing 'big name stars' playing for their country when they're not even playing well.
As for Beckham? Judging by how Bentley played out of his skin (and if he can keep that form going) I really don't see how he can force his way back into the team playing in the MLS. I say playing, he's not really played has he?
From p_tolomy on Thu Feb 07 09:27AMOh god, Motty should be taken out the back of the barn and be put down. One shot to the back of the head and the world would be a better place. Get rid of Lawro, too. The man just isn't as funny as he thinks he is!
From p_tolomy on Thu Feb 07 09:29AMyou english are all the same never happy take the winning start and look forward to what capello can build
From kieran.p.kelly on Thu Feb 07 09:36AMLets face it: Playing football seems to be an automatic entrance to commentating on a game not actually known for its intelligent in put! Why do you think Linekar has done so well, he fakes an intelligent way of speaking!
From gary_parratt on Thu Feb 07 09:43AMNo - get the two of them commentating.
From gary_parratt on Thu Feb 07 09:44AMMotson has lost it, the sheepskin isnt the magic fleece that it once was.
From karlbillo on Thu Feb 07 09:45AMi think that maybe you should realise that england just arent as good as what everyone thinks! look at the group they were in and couldnt qualify! England are no better than also rans at the moment!!!!wake up and smell the coffee!!!!
From scotsuzi2 on Thu Feb 07 09:47AMAs I live abroad I didn't get to see the game so was unaware of Motty's gaffes. I don't want to say I told you so (ok, ok, I just did.....) but I recommended a form of torture for Motty and his ilk in my suggestion yesterday for how to make friendlies more entertaining. And my contribution wasn't even chosen by the ED crew as being among the best suggestions! I'm taking my ball home if that's the way it's going to be!
Looking at today's Beckham and Owen question....I think it is pretty simple - don't bring them back on any other basis except merit, which i think effectively means they are not coming back as regulars. Owen's major asset was his pace, and he is a good finisher. Now he has lost that electric pace, I don't think his finishing is sufficiently better than anyone else's to mean he gets the nod as first choice. Let the younger lads have their chance, and keep Owen as a sub who you can chuck on if you are in desperate need of a goal, because he just might poach you one. Beckham - he never had any pace but at his peak that weakness in his game didn't matter - remember the Greece game where he ran himself ragged and led by example (and scored from that free kick in the last minute after Teddy Sheringham @#$%d the ref into giving a foul)? He is way past his best and not fit. Let Bentley or SWP have their turn, with the likes of Lennon have their shot, and maybe keep Beckham on the bench. I think he is the more likely never to get called up again though. Capello won't be picking squads on some misguided sense of loyalty a la McClaren. Merit is the word (not Grease).
From andywalker269 on Thu Feb 07 09:47AMDid England turn up last night? It seemed like the whole team were sulking and bored. Once again Joe Cole was the best player by a mile. With the exception of Bentley the rest were sluggish and slow. Gerard was a disappointment as captain, failing to motivate and create. A poor show against a mediocre opposition - I feel sorry for the 80,000 who turned up to watch a turgid performance.
From indianpaganpaul on Thu Feb 07 09:56AMLeave Beckham alone he has got better things to do: new haircut, sex tape... and as for Owen, only if he scores 15 goals this season, is it even possible?!?
From kalinin.dmitri on Thu Feb 07 10:03AMAwash with aspiration and dreams of better things to come, was it really unexpected that so many people were either dissillusioned or felt deflated after expecting a confident 3 - 0 win. Taking your frustrations, if you come under this banner, out on the players or FC are unjustified to say the very least. FC had little time to orchestrate his plan or to implement his code of conduct (see the pun there?) and yet England went home with a win. Confidence is not an overnight thing and to play in a new formation with a manager who, let's not forget, does have a track record of titles unlike a certain SmC, will be a challenge to these players, primarily because from the off none of them were sure they were making the team.
Michael Owen was splashed over the back pages saying he was concerned he was being left out. Frankly I think this is a good thing. Players can no longer rely on re@#$%tions to get them into the team and Owen (and of course Becks) is a classic example of this. Although undoubtedly a talented player, Owen has not played many games recently and has lacked pace and goals (althought this could be attributed to his service at NUFC).
I guess what I'm trying to say is "give it time people!"
From tony_villiers on Thu Feb 07 10:19AMI agree that owen should not play until he is fully fit (scoring-wise). As to how england played, in the first half they were not impressive at all, however i believe Capello deserves some credit as the 2nd half saw them play a little better. It's obvious Capello told gerrald to move forward and stop tracking right back; if you didnt notice in the first half gerrald was pretty much playing alongside Barry (which is definitely not what he should be doing).
Tactically I believe the quartet of midfielders in the middle (excluding barry) shouldn't have stuck to their positions so much as they were easily marked out the game due to standing in the same areas in the first half. Allot of the passes were hurried and intercepted due to a lack of options, I put this down to the midfield players either sitting too deep or bombing forward and waiting for the ball to arrive and not creating enough space for themselves.
On a final note I would love to see Carrick return to the squad and play in the defensive midfield position, as personally I think he is far more effective than barry and hargreaves when it comes to creating space for himself and always being an option to pass to.
From nechi2001uk on Thu Feb 07 10:22AMI did try to watch the England game last night but found that BBC1 were only covering the movements of Fabio Capello. I do normally find John Motson irritating but last night he took his stupidity to a whole new level, endlessly commentating on what Capello was up to. Who cares if Capello is standing up / sitting down / talking / pointing, that's his job and yours Motson is to talk about the game, get on with it.
From stumpyfingers81 on Thu Feb 07 10:22AMHey, lets give the new boy a break. I'm still not convinced by Crouch yet, but have to agree with leaving out Beckham, even if I do want him to get his 100th. The team was for the majority very well picked, Joe Cole is a wizard and Bentley was Inspired (Apart from Lineker's Rolls Royce crack that had the tumbleweeds blowing). Lets do a Capello on the commentators, only pick 'em on merit. Who would we have left? But what do I know about football. I'm a QPR fan. Bless you Bri and Ecks.
From peter.r.nichols on Thu Feb 07 10:22AMyou all talk a load of rubbish.You would win the world cup for moaning
From jim.mchugh2 on Thu Feb 07 10:29AMas per normal a dull game watched by dullards and played by morons
From rugchewa on Thu Feb 07 10:32AMNever has there been a more iconic ambassador for English footy commentary than "Our Motty". OK, he’s fast becoming a verbal mixture of Murray Walker, George Bush and Kevin Keegan. But come on, you can’t have much grip on the English language if you can’t easily decipher what he’s banging on about – albeit sometimes random and entirely incorrect in detail and application.
I’d like to join forces with the majority of the discerning British public in condemning the ‘diabolical’ Arse Hanson and his ventriloquist puppet Lawro. ‘There’s no show without punch’ and Hanson should expect all that’s coming to him, including perhaps a long run-up. I’m certain the BBC have been craftily cut-and-pasting the same 5 comments (randomly generated by a ball-bearing rolling around 5 contacts inside his swollen empty head) for 15 years, distracting the viewer by cleverly adding and removing ridiculous moustaches to his puppet.
Images on the TV are reversed - the large capital ‘C’ embossed on Hanson’s head says it all.... Your Honour, I rest my rant.
From simondenham on Thu Feb 07 10:36AMOwen - nope. My granny could play more games without injuring her sen. Mind you, she does use her zimmer frame to protect her delicate knees.
Becks - nope aswell. He ought to apply for US citizenship and start paying for Team USA. They will give him 100 caps no probs.
From neilz101 on Thu Feb 07 10:46AMI haven't missed an England Home game for 4 years now, I have been to away games and I will be at the France match next month, and yes I booed last night, I booed at the away game at Andorra and I called for the head of the Wally with the Brolly at the Croatia match, but I did not disrupt the minutes silence for the Munich Air disaster and nor did anyone in my section of the ground so please don't lump the 2 sets of supporters together.
Lets be honest England were poor last night, 3 players (Cole, Rooney and Bentley) showed the effort and commitment that England expects, Wes Brown was Awful, so was Gerrard for the vast majority of the match, Gareth Barry was poor again, and Jermaine Jenas was indecisive and out of his depth. I have played footbal and I have coached football so please don't give me any of this "You don't know the game garbage" I go to a match to be entertained, especially a friendly where nothing is at stake, I expect some attacking football when we are at home, not constantly looking to see if David James is unmarked so we can send another off target back pass to him.
England have 7 months to play the sort of football that gets the fans, the paying fans!! back on side, come on Capello show us how good you are supposed to be, and come on Englands "Superstars" live up to your price tags!!
When it costs over £80 per home game and well into the hundreds for away matches (All including travel, parking etc.) I will cheer and scream for my time when I want and I will show my displeasure when I see fit, that is my right!
From mark_cottrill on Thu Feb 07 10:54AMgood to see the old enemy picking up a win. Capello will bring out the best in these overpaid sportstars and put England on the map as a competing force once again. Getting past quarter and semi finals is the best to be expected so anything further would be a bonus. Us Scots know our place. Getting to any championships is a bonus despite being able to compete with and beat some of the best teams in the world, like France etc........
From allengillies on Thu Feb 07 10:55AMI wouldn't bet on him getting 10, but hey, who knows, modern day miracles and all that. As for Becks, he might still be good for a bench start, gives him more time to look good anyway.
From bkm265 on Thu Feb 07 10:55AMBeckham and Owen have both served their countries extremley well in years gone by and deserve the respect and credit for doing so, both players will always give 100% effort. But the decision to choose neither of them was correct, both players are currently not at the standard needed at international level. Owen will play again for engleand for certain and as for Becks, well he deserves the 100 caps and should get them, a very nice sub to have on the bench in the future in my opinion.
As for the first game under our new leader, yeah we didnt play that well, but there is obviously a new system involved and this will not be mastered within a 3 day training period that led up to this game, also there were a lot of combinations of players that have either never or rarely played alongside each other so that also takes a bit of time to understands your teammates way of playing.
And one last thing, we, Joe Public are called SUPPORTERS for a reason, to SUPPORT, otherwise there would be comments like "with over 60'000 Negative thinkers here today this should be a loud booing session" rather than "With over 60'000 Supporters here today, it should give a real lift to this England side". How about it people, 90mins of cheering, chanting, singing, banter with the opposition fans, aint that what supporting your team is all about!!From samspringall on Thu Feb 07 10:59AMIf McLaren had still been manager last night, the press would be slating him and parts of the team for a boring victory over the mighty Switzerland.
if Mclaren had started with just one lone striker against the Swiss, can you imagine the comments from the pundits ? - 'negative and boring' ?
Man of the match - Rooney ??? Missed 2 chances that Micheal Owen would have buried and then started trying to showboat.
England will do nothing until all the players can pass and contol a ball and a 60+ Italian is not going to change that in a few get togethers even if they were in a boot campFrom ken.e.peers58 on Thu Feb 07 11:00AMTo Mark Cottrill (Post 22), another example of a spolit England fan. Booing when England are underperforming against one of the worst teams in world football i.e. Andorra, is one thing. Booing England after 36 mins in a first game under a completely new management with new players and a new formation etc is just plain stupid and ignorant. What did you expect? England to play like Brazil? You say you're a coach....well you can't be a very good one. If you want entertainment go to the theatre. If you expected to pay £80 and England to play champagne football and beat Switzerland 5 - 0 in a friendly then you're a deluded. People like you are as much responsible for Englands failiure to qualify for the Euros as the players themselves. Sort it out!
From dansanders1 on Thu Feb 07 11:07AMwhat the hell they were all crap there not thinking of the football its just money thats why footballs changed from the 80s the were proud to were the shirts then pepeole like linker barnes butcer all heros in my eyes not cole or rooney tell me what u think
From mozkiddy on Thu Feb 07 11:08AMsorry to go on but thisover payed twats are people to look up to but there not in my day we had a england team of men not twats
From mozkiddy on Thu Feb 07 11:12AMI think I know the problem with the English team - the FANS!! They are NOT fans just a bunch of beer swilling morons. Perhaps the England internationals should all be played in Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle where fans know how to support their team. Just another thought - with the huge influx of immigrants into the South of England maybe all those 'English' fans are foreigners - a fifth column designed to disrupt the England team?
From gwales2 on Thu Feb 07 11:13AM
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