Only thing shocking about England

World Cup 2010: Wayne Rooney blasts booing England fans after drawing to Algeria.

is that people were shocked by it.

Why, what has really gone before from this same group of players that made people think it was all going to turn around in one game. Was it just because Gareth Barry was back? No one pointing out that since he hasn’t had to fight for his place Barry hasn’t been the same player.

I have to admit even I got it wrong as I vastly underestimated how inept this side could get. Yesterday before the game I said they’d probably scrape it, after coming in at half-time nil-nil, well I got that right. But I thought Fabio was a lucky one and they’d sneak in by the odd goal, 2-1 well they don’t keep clean sheets – ah there was a positive last night.

This was so bad that even ITV couldn’t really bring themselves to tell everyone how great England were.

Yes the one player who came out of the game with some credit – David James – and that credit is all due to the fact he didn’t throw the ball into the back of his own net? Well done that man. Though of course this wasn’t the big occasion, that has now to come, the must win against Slovenia and Calamity saves the big balls up for the big games.

The clean sheet can also be put down to Barry, his real contribution, as he proved to be the best England defender on the night. As the central pairing were split so wide, with Carragher playing right-back and Terry missing, Barry was there when it counted, also helping Cole on the left as Gerrard wandered aimlessly all over the place. One plus was Carragher getting his second yellow, though of course it’ll mean Upson will come in.

But it was the same old same old. Lampard disappearing, Heskey losing the ball and falling over -step-overs Emile, what were you thinking? – everyone else losing the ball, no one on the left, hopeless substitutions, Gerrard glory balls, aimless humps up the park from the back.

Ah a little Twitter disagreement with Darren Gough, one time England & Yorkshire cricketer – we’ll forget his spell darn sarf. He didn’t like my reply that he should stick to cricket after he stated Lennon was the worst player on the park. Now he wasn’t great, I know I’m biased but even I’m not going to go that far but he was no where near the worst. And it’s a real problem with him, the perception. The perception that he should be skinning every fullback, which he can do, and getting crosses over, which he can do.

But the people around him have to play their part, if as last night and so many games before for England he has to constantly come back for the ball, or stop and turn around for balls played behind him he isn’t going to produce in the way people want and expect. To be in full flow he needs the right service, it’s not just the front players that require it. And he was the only one that played any half decent balls into the box, from two crosses. Goughie seems to think because the second one was just tipped by an Algerian from landing on Rooney’s head it was a crap cross. I stand by my first statement. Stick to cricket.

So when the midfield disappear, and give the ball away as easily as Barry, Lampard and Gerrard did last night it’s no wonder Lennon doesn’t shine, but because of the inability of others he is singled out, as by Fabio after who dragged him off after that good cross for Wright-Phillips, who played his usual game of running up cul-de-sacs. That is the one time he was actually given the ball.

And then after all that Rooney traipses off the field slagging off the England fans for having the audacity not to appreciate the fare placed before them…

Nice to see your home fans boo you, that’s loyal supporters Wayne Rooney

A man who should have no financial worries, will earn through his basic club salary, before all the extras are added in, more in a week than the average fan out there gets in five years thinks they should have no say about that performance after forking out a fortune in these desperate financial times to go out there. Well no uncomplimentary say, obviously they would be allowed to say how great England and in particularly Rooney were on the night.

In other words arse kissing bullshit is allowed and that pretty much sums up this lot. Being told how great they are, they believe it and sadly so many others do.

But coming from Rooney made it even more priceless as he put in a shocking display. When have you ever seen Rooney brushed off the ball so easily and so frequently during a game? When have you seen Rooney ponce out of 50/50 challenges as he did last night? When did you see Rooney lose the ball chase after the bloke who took it off him and then give up before scything him down in a completely reckless challenge? If he is injured as many think then he shouldn’t be playing and he should be honest enough to the manager, the rest of the players and more importantly to the fans to admit this.

Oh how we laughed at France a couple of nights back, well we made France look good, I mean they played Mexico who weren’t half bad, should have beaten us in the recent friendly, whereas Algeria were somewhat limited, with no cutting edge, though of course better ball retention than England, who have all the ball retention of a kilt.

Well it still has the look of Italia ’90 about it, but back then the boss was approachable about changes that should be made, where Fabio has a go between to keep him from the dirty business and things he doesn’t want to hear.

Don Fabio: We were promised Don Corleone, Vito or Michael, what we’ve got is Fredo!

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