Accept England Are 'Average' and Get Behind The Team

I’m glad I’m not an England player right now after the 0-0 draw with Algeria. On the pitch they are feeling the pressure, “Nice to see your own fans booing you. If that's what loyal support is... for **** sake”, cries Rooney’s to the camera walking towards the tunnel. Meanwhile, Sky Sports reporters hang outside the stadium like starved vultures armed with the boom and camera to bring us first hand the disgust of what fan’s have witness, “we travelled a long way to get here to watch that, they're pathetic”.

In the studio, Kevin Keegan, who I’m sure is statistically the worst England Manager of all time claims it is ‘obvious’ that Gerrard should partner Rooney upfront at the expense of Heskey. Graham Taylor, who I’m sure is statistically the least respected England manager of all time believes “there's a real danger of England going out. There's something not right behind the scenes. I don't know what it is."I have an idea: I don't believe the proper preparatory work is being done. Look at the body language: something is wrong." Is he reflecting on his European Champions campaign in 1992?

Then look at the scathing newspaper headline, The Sun leads with “Never in the field of World Cup conflict has so little been offered by so few to so many (with apologies to Winston Churchill)” The Mirror goes with “Cape Clowns” surely ‘Cape Fear’ would be suitable, the Daily Mail advises “Earn your corn, Capello - £6m-a-year boss loses plot as team erodes.”

Every newspaper headline, every pundit's assessment and every fans disappointment has been a vast over reaction to Friday night's performance by England. I’m convinced there’s an element of titillation which seduces our country to devour in this level of criticism and self doubt towards 23 men and their Italian mentor. It can’t be healthy. Look, we drew 0-0 with a very defensive Algerian team. Why? Well I suspect it not because Capello has lost the plot, or that squad are rebelling after being forced to go to bed at 11pm or because the players are only told two hours before kick off that they’re in starting eleven.

No, I reckon it’s more to do with the fact they are 8th in world ranking, that our history in the world cup is packed with second round and quarter final exits, we’ve got an age old problem with our major players picking up injuries at crucial times, we have a inability to keep the ball as well as our competitors and yet again we have failed to find a naturally decent left sided midfielder to balance the team. If we are honest, England are currently and traditionally an average team, and let’s face it, at every level of every sport, average teams draw with rubbish teams all the time.

The definition of ‘average’ is lacking exceptional quality or ability and though we fall into the trap of hyping ourselves up when things are going well, it’s true, ‘Average’ describes England squads past and presents perfectly. If England were a Premiership team they would be Newcastle United. An overrated team who run by an incompetent board, who have not won anything of note for half a century. The only difference is England Fans spend obscene amounts of well earn money, traipsing around the world only to boo from the stands when faced with the realisation we are not that good.

I think Algerian fans have got it spot on, they were seen dancing in the street after Friday evening’s result, not because they have managed to hold a 'great' England side to a 0-0 draw, but because they know with a win against Team USA, they will qualify for the second round, they have earned their own cup final. They know they not the best team in the world, they are intelligent enough to it is highly unlikely they are going to win the World Cup, why can't we? Algerian fans are managing their expectations better than we do in England. As a result, I suspect they're enjoying the competition more than us despite currently being in bottom of the group.

We have to put this into perspective, it has become part of English culture build our national team up when its going well, only to hammer them at the earlist opportunity. We have to ask ourselves, is a 1-1 draw with the USA such a poor result? Would we have stood a better chance focussed on the many positives from the USA performance and look to build on it?  The press and pundits encourage criticism of England because they pay their mortgage through it. Us fans struggle to resist joining in because our perception of today’s footballer are those playing without passion nor pride. Ultimately it is difficult for a normal everyday Englishman to accept the alienation and envy of over pampered millionaires representing us on the world stage in such a timid fashion. I’m sure if the players were people fans could relate to, players like Stuart Pearce, Terry Butcher and Brian Robson who go war every time they take to the field, poor results would be easier to accept. But we have to accept today’s players for who they are, yes even Ashley Cole. The press and the fans need to play our part to get the best out of them. Take the pressure off and encourage the to play without fear.

Has it stands we are in a vacuum of negativity, the press are against the team, fans are booing in the stands and the team are scared to play. This is so typically England, its Euro 1992 all over again, its World Cup 1998 all over again, its Euro 2000 and World Cup 2006, it’s the qualifying round of Euro 2008, it all going to end in tears. It’s England, losing the plot, not Fabio Capello’s. Once again we are about to implode.

It’s possible England could win the World Cup, not probable. Fans, press, pundits, have realise we do not hold a World Cup traditions of Argentina, Italy, Germany or Brazil, we are in the same league has Holland, Portugal and Spain, close but no cigar. But Spain is a great example of hope, in past tournaments they consistently fell short has soon as they faced any team of real quality. But with the belief, togetherness and a passing, attacking football philosophy, Spain defied their history has an Average team became Champions in 2008.

They are not only average team to achieve something special, look at Greece in Euro 2004, look how Fulham did in the Europa League, look how Portsmouth reached two FA Cup finals in three years. But vital ingredients for any average team to succeed, is team spirit, unconditional support from the fans and lashings of luck. We can’t do anything about the latter but we can help with former by stop publicly hating our England team, it might just encourage the players enough to believe they can beat Slovenia and qualify for the second round… after that?…well who knows.