da pixbet： There is little doubt that England put on a poor performance against Switzerland at the weekend and in the aftermath of this game there has been the suggestion that the players were tired after a long and hard Premier League season. But isn’t it time England came up with a new excuse? Bearing in mind that this seems to be the line that comes out whenever England put on a lacklustre performance.
da supremo： Yes, there might be something in it because as we all know the Premier League is played at a high level at a very high pace. However, if it was 100% responsible for the performance then you would expect it to affect every player in the England squad and come to that every player that has played in the Premier League this season. But we don’t often hear of internationals that play their football in the Premier League putting on lacklustre performances for their countries. However, plenty of players have been outspoken about the need for a winter break if England are ever going to win the World Cup again – but that is really an argument for another day.
The real issue is why was it that Ashley Young, Jack Wilshere and Leighton Baines all seemed to be full of running? Let’s remember that Jack Wilshere is the player that had Arsene Wenger and others cry for him to be withdrawn from the England U21 squad over fears of burnout – so surely if anyone should be tired it should be him? But he wasn’t, he was full of energy and with some really quality on the ball. In fact he had a vital part to play to get England back in the game by winning the penalty to get the game back to 2-1. Ashley Young also looked full of energy when he came off the subs bench to score England’s equaliser and Leighton Baines was making some useful runs that were causing problems.
Fabio Capello felt the team looked tired and didn’t have the energy to press – but could the problems be more mental than physical. It seems like most of the England players were thinking about their holidays rather than a vital Euro 2012 qualifier. Then there is the issue of if the players really want to play for Capello – after all more and more players are announcing that they don’t want to be selected for England. Now surely that has to have something to do with the manager?
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John Terry did not agree with the manager and didn’t feel that the players were tired and wasn’t interested in making such mistakes. As the match showed the two goals that were scored were as result of mistakes that England must sort out. Different people will have different ideas about what the precise reasons are for the poor performance by England. However, I don’t think we can keep saying that it is all down to a long and hard Premier League season, because if that is the case then why doesn’t it affect all the players? Also it does seem to be funny that it only seems to have an impact on the established internationals.
When other players are given opportunities either from the bench or in friendly games these problems don’t seem to be so evident. Peter Crouch has never really let England down but in important games he rarely gets the opportunity to impress. But if the established England players can’t handle a Euro 2012 qualifier at the end of the season then maybe we should let the fringe players have a go.
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