England vs. Germany 2010 World Cup: England's Failure Their Own Doing

Good morning, I trust I find you well this morning? Pleasant night's sleep? Dinner went down well I hope? Family ok? I ask these questions because normally I'd be leading in to the main Arsenal news of the day in these opening sentences, but I think "sod all" might be a fair assessment of the news on that front this morning, so I'm rather at a loose end. Obviously though, I won't let that perturb me too much and I'll muddle through as best I can.

The principal reason that there is no news worth speaking of this morning is because the media are of course rather distracted dissecting England's rather graceless exit from the World Cup at the hands of Germany yesterday. In fairness to the press, I expected them to be having a much bigger tantrum than they are about the disallowed (or rather, simply not given) goal that Frank Lampard "scored" that would have levelled the game. However, I don't think there can be much disputing the final score. I know it's impossible to say for certain what would have happened if the equalising goal had stood, but in my opinion Germany were going to win that match comfortably regardless of which way that decision went. Even the British media would be hard pressed to make an "England cheated out of victory!" story out of yesterday's game. England were too disorganised, too poor at the back and they paid the price. They were beaten by the better team on the day.

I'm not an England fan, I don't have any great liking for them, but I can sympathise a little this morning. I know a lot of Arsenal fans will have been behind England in this World Cup and as such I'll set aside my own reservations to do a little talking about the state of England's national team this morning.

As an Arsenal fan, in the last year or two I've seen Arsenal beaten like England were yesterday not once but many times by teams we consider ourselves to be the equal of. Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona have all beaten us out of sight in the last two seasons. It's not a nice thing to have to sit through, and it makes you angry. There certainly is a lot of anger being directed at England's players and staff this morning, and not without reason.

However, I must say that I don't agree with what appears to be the imminent sacking of Fabio Capello. I think he's done the best job anyone can with that group of players. Their problems as a team are many, and it would take someone more knowledgeable and more interested than me to go through them all, but the bottom line is that if Fabio Capello, one of the very best managers in the game can't get them near the trophy then nobody can. I've heard it suggested that the players don't like his style, and his tactics have been criticised left, right and centre but if the players can't handle being in a disciplined squad, if they can't behave in the professional manner that their manager is entitled to expect of them then they are never going to win a major trophy. Not with Capello and not with a manager who mollycoddles them and massages their egos, because they will always meet a team who are as good as them, and have the right attitude to dispatch what are eleven talented individuals rather than one talented team. As for the tactics, Alan Hansen of all people said it best - it wouldn't have mattered what the tactics were because they were that poor yesterday. Those players should be able to play in the positions their manager tells them to, and not spend the game sulking because they want to be in the middle, or up front or out on the wing.

Again, I see similarities with Arsenal. Our manager has had his tactics criticised regularly over the last few years, but the difference is with Arsenal we can play our best eleven all in their best positions and a lot of times we don't so the manager gets criticised. England aren't in that position, they're in a position where in order to get their best players on the field some of them have to adapt to a different role than their usual position, and yes they might not be quite as potent as they are for their clubs but they ought to be able to make that adaption to their game.

It has been talked to death on television and in the newspapers as to why England's players can't play as well for their country as they do for their clubs. For my part, I don't think that's true of all of them. Ashley Cole, unmitigated fool though he may be, has been as good for England in this World Cup as I've ever seen him for Chelsea or Arsenal. Steven Gerrard played better for England in the last couple of weeks than he did all last season at Liverpool. Some haven't lived up to their hype. Wayne Rooney most notably has failed to meet expectations, John Terry wasn't at his best (I know he was on the opposite side of central defence than he's accustomed to, but come on, a player like him ought to be able to make the adjustment with a minimum of fuss) and neither were a few others. But when you're looking for reasons they don't function particularly well as a unit, you have to look at the teams that they're used to functioning in. Steven Gerrard is used to having Fernando Torres in front of him, and until last season Xabi Alonso beside him. The Chelsea players are used to having players like Micheal Essien or Didier Drogba (spit) around them, at Manchester United, Wayne Rooney has had service from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Antonio Valencia and Ryan Giggs. These sorts of players bring things to the table that are singularly absent from the England team - technique, hard work and class.

England are going to enter a transition now before the next World Cup. Established names are heading toward the end of their careers and new names will have to step up. There's a good chance Arsenal could be where some of those new names come from. Theo Walcott will surely earn his recall before too long, and I imagine that England will come calling for Jack Wilshere and Kieren Gibbs at some point in the next couple of years. We have more coming too, Henri Lansbury looks an impressive young prospect, Craig Eastmond has already played first team football for us, and we know the manager seriously rates young Sanchez Watt and Kyle Bartley. These are players that have been brought up and trained in the Arsenal way of playing. In time, they could provide some of the missing pieces for England. Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have been maligned in the past for a lack of English players, and for not giving young English prospects a chance. The fact is English youngsters simply aren't trained in the way that we play. It's taken us this long to get English youngsters that we've trained from a young age in our way of playing. English youngsters who've done more work on technique and passing than their counterparts at other clubs. As much as Arsenal sometimes lack that bit of steel and experience, England often suffer for a lack of technique, of close passing ability and perhaps, just perhaps, Arsenal are beginning to find an answer to that problem for them.

I personally couldn't care less if England keep on this way for the rest of my lifetime. Sacking managers, carrying on with blind faith, arrogance and a lack of humility unbecoming of a nation that hasn't got anywhere near the World Cup trophy in decades, or to a European Championship final ever. To win a trophy again I think England have to give up their reliance on so-called "English grit" and look very hard at the way youngsters are trained in countries like Spain, Brazil and yes, even Germany because at the moment they've all got what England have, plus a bit more. And as much as Arsenal sometimes get found out playing one way, England play in competitions where they will always, without exception get found out if they don't act to change their approach. I think Fabio Capello is an ideal candidate to introduce a new generation of English players but I doubt he'll get the chance. Whoever follows has a daunting task.

In closing, I wasn't kidding, there really is no Arsenal news this morning, so I've had to spend my whole entry talking about England. I need to go shower that off, and then it's off to work. Talk to you tomorrow.