FIFA World Cup 2010: What Did Fabio Capello Get Wrong?

As a player, four Serie A titles with two clubs, one Coppa Italia and 32 international caps. As a coach, six Serie A titles with three different clubs, two La Liga titles in two separate spells with Real Madrid and one Champions League title.

Oh, and one World Cup failure with England.

It is sad, and silly, that Fabio Capello has suffered huge damage to his reputation (at least in England; Capello will gladly give the award of "Worst Italian Coach of the 2010 World Cup" to Marcello Lippi) because of three poor weeks. Harry Redknapp is the only person I have heard in favour of him keeping the job, though of course he may well be lining himself up for the hot seat in two years time.

Despite the accolades he has collected in his career and the experience he has gleaned from playing with and coaching the world’s greatest players, he made numerous mistakes during this tournament. The players have got to share the blame, but for now I want to outline what Fabio got wrong.

Squad

As England attempted to defend yesterday, I kept on thinking, “Surely it can’t get any worse.” I was wrong.

Then again I also thought nobody could ever pick a squad as bad as Sven.

Yes there were plenty of picks that were obvious, but Cappello didn’t really follow through on his promise of ‘picking on form and fitness’.

Firstly, why only pick four strikers? Darren Bent, Carlton Cole, Theo Walcott and Bobby Zamora all had a chance but never made it for a variety of reasons but just look at Argentina. Talk about being top heavy on strikers!

Also, with Wright-Phillips, Cole, Milner and Lennon the only wide men, (I refuse to count Gerrard) why not take Walcott who could play wide or up front?

‘In place of who’, you’re asking? A defender, especially as Carragher can play anywhere at the back, albeit quite poorly at this stage in his career.

If you’re picking on form then surely you would pick the best English defender during the season? Then why did Dawson not get a place in the original 23?

And why take so many crocked players? Ferdinand, and Ledley King barely have three knees and calf’s (or is it calves?) between them. I heard a statistic, which I cannot guarantee is true, that Ferdinand hasn’t played more than seven consecutive games in a row during the past two seasons. Great stability in defence then.

Barry was very unfit and both Coles, as well as Johnson, were recently injured.

Please learn from these mistakes. And Sven’s.

Formation

When every English Club played 4-4-2, England attempted every formation under the sun. Diamonds and Christmas Trees may sound more like a festive Jay-Z hit but we’ve seen them all. So, now that the top Premier League clubs and, more importantly the players, know how to play 4-5-1, why are we stuck with a manager who will never recant of his belief for 4-4-2?

Rooney, Gerrad and Lampard are England’s best players individually, play their own best football in a 4-5-1 formation and should be used as such. It would give England more possession, something that is essential in the international game and they have always lacked and may have helped yesterday.

As bad as things were, Mesut Ozil was able to find the space which, in a 4-5-1, would have been filled by the defensive midfielder. Even if we had beaten Germany, going 4-4-2 against Argentina would have seen us receive a double figures loss. I genuinely believe that.

  Also, after the game, one of the BBC pundits said, “Imagine what we could do if we had a player like Ozil ,” to which my mate replied, “What we would do is play him on the left.”  

Self belief is good. Hard headedness is bad. Stubbornness is worse. After it all goes wrong, still thinking you are right is wrong.

Starting Lineups

  Robert Green. Ledley King. James Milner. Emile Heskey . And that’s just from the first game.

The problem with the Robert Green decision is that, probably, David James was the number one choice until he got injured. If Capello had just stated this, even if it was a lie, James would get straight back into the side, Green could resurrect his career in the future and the manager hasn’t made a mistake. As it stands, he thought Green was the best and he was wrong.

After the game, Green relived the moment saying he misjudged the ball by a foot and that he, “...wasn’t that bad.” Maybe you are Rob. Maybe you are.

In the first game, King and Milner starting comes back to the injury point, but Emile Heskey was the right player for the wrong formation. He actually did pretty well until he had a chance to shoot.

Perhaps Capello’s ideal player would be a scurvy sufferer in the middle of a three year goal drought who has recently lost the use of his left leg.

It’s also important to add that Matthew Upson made one good tackle against Slovenia and then started against Germany. I cannot begin to describe how bad that decision was. Carragher should have started, but Dawson will feel very unlucky that he didn’t feature at all.

I actually think that King, on only one knee, would’ve been more effective than Upson .

And Terry’s not free from blame either.

Substitutions

I like Heskey . I really do. I even remember when he was at the height of his powers (in other words, when he was actually average). My favourite Heskey memory is a hat-trick he scored against Derby.

But he is now rubbish.

So why would you bring him on when you are losing 3-1 against Germany. And why, after conceding another would you still insist on bringing him on?

My confusion here is that the deficit increased and, as Heskey can’t score, he surely wasn’t being brought on to close the gap, was he? Maybe Capello really has lost it.

Gutsy decisions      

Would I have the guts to take off Rooney? Probably not.

But I’m not getting paid millions to make the decision.

This is possibly a bit harsh, but there was something wrong with ’Wazza’ (boy, do I hate that nickname) and he could’ve, justifiably, started on the bench for the last two games.

For an example of a gutsy decision, see Del Bosque tomorrow as he drops Torres, only to go on and win the World Cup. You heard it here first.

Conclusion

England were hopeless in this World Cup after performing woefully for the first two games, averagely against a poor team in the third and disastrously for all but 20 minutes against Germany.

In a way, it’s good that Lampard’s goal was disallowed as now, after failing to qualify for Euro 2008 and being so poor in South Africa, fans might realise that England aren’t actually a good team, despite having very good players.

But that’s never going to happen.

England fans are like Newcastle fans. England fans are like GB’s Davis Cup Team fans.

They demand victories based on past glory, complain when they don’t win trophies, even if they perform well, and eventually end up even more disappointed.

Just ask any Newcastle fan who travelled to Scunthorpe last year. Or any tennis fan attending GB’s next tie. Against Lithuania.

If fans, and the media, are sensible they will forgive Fabio, ask him to try again, if a little less stubbornly, and aim to get into the Euro 2012 quarter finals. But they won’t, and Capello will leave or be sacked at some point before the next game and I’ll be happy.

Why? Because then Roy Hodgson will get the job, and Liverpool will appoint Kenny Dalglish as manager and he’ll never make a mistake.

Well, at least he won’t play Gerrard on the left.