Buzzin Football

At the England press conference ahead of the friendly against Hungary Fabio Capello was asked some difficult questions; but instead of using the time to agree how awful England’s World Cup was and use this moment to sound positive about a bright new start where England will look to bringing through a youthful group of players, hungry to prove themselves while wearing the three lions, he said a quick “sorry” to the fans and continued to cling onto Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany as the reason they had a poor World Cup.  What about the three games before that?

Yes it was clearly a goal, and yes it could have changed the course of the dismal England performance against Germany, and ultimately the game.  However, it cannot be used in an attempt to gloss over the fact that, apart from the first 10 minutes in their opening game against the USA England were not bad, they were shocking!

Capello should be slating his players for being absolutely crap in the same way fans and pundits have; and as a show of intent be addressing the issue by dropping more so-called ‘star players’, not just for this meaningless friendly, but by delivering a statement to all England’s young players – if you are playing regularly in the Premier League for your club, you will be considered for England!

Promoting the likes of Arsenal’s youngsters Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs from the Under-21 team is a start but doesn’t go far enough.  After England’s World Cup disappointment there should be a wholesale clearout of any disruptive personalities and prima donnas who feel it their right to play for England, rather than be proud to do so.

The international retirement of Paul Robinson and Wes Brown after their inclusion in the squad to face Hungary raises another issue.  This comes after Paul Scholes stated he may not have turned down the chance to come out of international retirement and go to the World Cup if only Fabio Capello had bothered to call him personally instead of leaving it to his assistant.

When Capello took charge of England he immediately brought a much needed air of discipline to the England camp and stated no one would be guaranteed a place in the team because of previous achievement or star factor, but that he would pick the team on merit.

I believe, for whatever reason Fabio Capello lost the players after England qualified in style for the World Cup by a series of blunders.  Firstly, he went back on his words by enticing Jamie Carragher out of international retirement after Carragher played his worst season for Liverpool for several years.  He also decided to take the almost disabled Ledley King ahead of his Tottenham team-mate Michael Dawson.  Neither Carragher or King had played for Fabio Capello.  For me that suggested panic on his part, and also a wrong signal to other defenders who had already played for Capello’s England.  How did that make Mathew Upson feel?

Why take one-and-a-half old boys ahead of young talent like Michael Dawson and Phil Jagielka?

Furthermore, with the exclusion of both David James and Robert Green from this week’s squad, and the retirement of Paul Robinson, Capello has now given England a ‘real’ goalkeeping crisis.  Ben Foster’s move from Manchester United to Birmingham will give him the chance to stake his claim as England’s no.1 while it is still uncertain if Joe Hart will be first choice goalkeeper for Manchester City, ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s excellent Shay Given.

For me, time has run out for the England players who showed no commitment in the World Cup, and time will soon be up for Fabio Capello too, unless he makes some big changes and shows he is building an England team for the future. Capello needs to return to being strong and focussed.  Forget offering a golden ticket to old or unfit players like a FastPass at a Theme Park and go all out for youth.

Move over Rover and let Jack Wiltshire take over!