The first England friendly of the year produced a two one away win in Denmark after going behind early on and a goal either half from Aston Villa pair Darren Bent and Ashley Young. On paper it's a good result and I feel like I should be writing a real positive blog entry on the performance and how it shows hope and improvement... but I'm still far from convinced over the future of England under Capello.
I will start with a positive - how impressive is Jack Wilshire?! You would not believe that was his first England start! It really shows that he already has Champions League experience and has played in the biggest and most competitive matches in the Premiership against all the top clubs. To me that is vital for a young player and there are not enough young players in this country who have this experience! Joe Hart is perhaps the only other young International player to consider himself a regular starter in such high profile games.
For this Arsenal and Arsene Wenger deserve a lot of credit for the way Jack has developed and become such a quality player already at still only nineteen years of age! His first touch is fantastic, he gets his head up quickly and uses the ball in a confident fashion. One attribute that stands for me already is his ability to use both feet and not the outside of his foot like Gerrard and Lampard constantly have done for years! The ability to use both feet instantly opens up the pitch and his awareness of what is around him is first class! You can tell he plays in the same club side as Cesc Fabregas who I rate the best and most complete central midfielder in the Premiership! This can only be a positive for Jack and England in the future.
There were three more players who impressed me in this friendly and they were Darren Bent, Ashley Young and Scott Parker who finally got a chance to prove to Capello they are good enough when fans have been saying this for nearly 18 months! Ashley Young took his goal very well and Darren Bent got into the positions you expect him to get into as a number nine; as shown by his goal. Scott Parker stood out for me in midfield in the second half! His ball retention is second-to-none, he dictates the way the game is played and as usual when there was an opportunity to get forward he did and supported the front players well. In my opinion all three players should of gone to the World Cup.. End of!
The reason I'm not seeing more than a couple of positives from this performance from this performance is simple.. this is a friendly and when it comes to the next qualification game this game will be forgotten by everybody but the fans! Yes Capello will have been impressed with players who have not featured much under him and here comes that word... BUT! Capello will still go with the try and trusted players of his reign and every other manager England have had since Sven Goran Erikkson. Gareth Barry and captain Rio Ferdinand (if fit) will all return to the team for competitive matches alongside Terry, Lampard, Rooney and Ashley Cole and we probably won't see players such as the three previously mentioned and Stuart Downing who showed real signs of intent when he replaced Theo Walcott on the right hand side and may be disappointed he did not produce a better final ball to Ashley Young on the counter attack.
England's place in the Euro's in 2012 is already in the bag. England will qualify at a canter and Capello will be happy and seek improvement for the 2nd major tournament of his reign - and of course all the hype will come from the media mentioning England's chances. But fans have heard it all before - if Rooney fires we score goals, Gerrard is the main man and we have four of the best defenders in Europe... YAWN! After such disappointment in the World Cup they will be a lot less expectation from fans about us really being good enough to beat teams such as Spain, France and Germany. Because let's face it.. England fans will always remember the World Cup group stage and how embarrassingly easy Germany teared us to pieces with an absolute master class performance!
I hope I'm wrong about Capello! Jack Wilshire will continue to grow and impress, Darren Bent will continue to score goals from less than 6 yards and I hope players such as Young, Dawson, Parker, Wilshire, Bent, Baines and Downing continue to perform and ask questions of England players who have more than there fair share of opportunities to win competitions and have no performed when it matters!
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