England team: showdown show?

“Like fish washed ashore.” With this phraseological synonym, the former midfielder of Arsenal and the England team Paul Merson described the game of his compatriots in Zagreb, where the “team of three lions” on Wednesday suffered a humiliating defeat - 0: 2. With the help of the Google search engine and the lexical storehouse on www.phrases.org.uk, you can find a dozen more biting definitions, but this, Merson's, describes the picture of the British fiasco as well as possible.

"STEVE GOT INTO CLOWNS"

The British press, as always, turned out to be quick to hand, having fiercely criticized the team coach Steve McLaren with his failed experiment from 3-5-2. Got on nuts and football players who spent a mediocre match. The most caustic “hat” came out in the Daily Mail: “Steve went into clowns.” Neither “fish” nor “shore” are in the heading, but it also gives an exhaustive description.

McLaren’s immediate flogging began everywhere and everywhere, but now, after the steam has already been released, it’s time, as Maclaren himself proposed in his post-match interview, to extract something positive from the first defeat in the selection of EURO 2008. Alas, no positive sounded. Generally nowhere!

Of course, it’s hard to resist the temptation to “kick” the unlucky coach. As well as turning a blind eye to the fact that McLaren - a victim of his own hoax - decided to change the game scheme, embarking on experiments in the most crucial duel of the qualifying cycle. Although Alyosha Asanovich, the ex-midfielder of Derby County, and now the assistant coach of the Croatian national team, was sure that England would not dare to take such a step. But after the guests from foggy Albion really applied a reckless tactical formation, playing, as the helm “checkered” put it, in the hands of his team, Slaven Bilich did not hide his joy.

But Croatia for its albeit not so long history in official matches has never lost in its own walls, so this game for McLaren’s wards could not be considered a priori an easy walk. Even that part of the optimistic English public, which, as a rule, has the most unjustified hopes for its national team, did not expect victory from it - a draw seemed a satisfactory result. But she (the public) expected that the coach would approach her first truly difficult test with more seriousness, and the team would really fight. However, the fact that Paul Robinson, to one degree or another guilty of both goals conceded, turned out to be the best in the national team, says a lot.

NOT TIME AND NOT LOCATED

But, with difficulty overcoming the desire to "dance on the bones", we will try to return to positive. So, what can be done to get England out of this not yet dead end, but rather difficult situation with honor?

The assumption, of course, is controversial, but if the “second draft number” (McLaren was appointed as the national team coach after he could not persuade Phil Scolari) had a full set of players, then he would not have had to change the game scheme. After a draw with Macedonia (with the usual arrangement of 4-4-2), it turned out that Stephen Gerrard was disqualified, and Ledley King was injured. However, the latter already “on the flag” replaced Rio Ferdinand, who returned to duty on the eve of the match with Croatia, so that Maclaren on the eve of the Zagreb rendezvous, in fact, lost only Gerrard.

If the English mentor made a mistake with the roster due to the lack of a single player (right midfielder), then this is the most inability to manage the team. In this case, the argument “due to personnel losses, the corrections were forced” is not accepted - the team worked out 3-5-2 all week, so it is obvious that the change of placement was planned in advance.

All this, whatever one may say, again confronts us with the strange decision to “experiment”. Experiment in the hardest match of the group! There are various explanations for this. Starting from “he was pushed by the influential assistant Terry Venables, who already had successful experience using a similar scheme while working with the England national team on EURO-96,” and ending with “another example of McLaren’s zeal in trying to distance himself from the Sven-Goran Ericsson regime, part which he was. " In any case, this was a gross mistake of the coach, who did not have the appropriate selection of players to fit into the desired scheme.

On the other hand, it is always good to have a “Plan B” if the match does not develop according to the intended scenario. But - it should be on time and to the place. Zagreb, however, was in no way suitable for this!

HOPE FOR INJURED

England will hold the next qualifying match only five months later - on March 24, away with Israel, and by this time the coach of the “three lions team” should, in theory, have at its disposal those long-absent players of the team who until recently were key.

Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves at the 2006 World Cup proved to be the best player in the English national team. Opornik was the pivotal player of the team in the first three matches under the leadership of McLaren (all, by the way, were won), before breaking his leg in one of the September matches of the Bundesliga. The 25-year-old Manchester United hunting subject is expected to return to service in six weeks.

One of the few characters in the English national team whose reputation in the German summer has not suffered is Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole, who has established himself as a solid base player in the position of the left attacking midfielder. Due to a knee injury, Cole has never had a chance to make his debut in the McLaren team, but he announced that he is ready to play for his club in the next round of the Premier League. A West Ham graduate has almost fully revealed his potential at Stamford Bridge, and his ability to beat an opponent one-on-one is what the national team lacks so much.

Aaron Lennon of Tottenham Hotspur is another dodgy winger sitting out in stock. Those let not lasting, but incendiary moments of a speedy and intricate game on the right edge in the Ericsson team should be enough to continue his career in the national team of the new convocation.

No one canceled the problems in the attack, where McLaren was about to check on the case of West Ham striker Dean Ashton, but the former youth player broke his ankle in training.

Michael Owen is also incapacitated. The Newcastle striker tore both cruciate ligaments of the knee during the World Cup match with the Swedes and seemed to have dropped out before the end of the season. Despite the fact that he no longer needs crutches, he can appear in the national team no earlier than June. Owen's game uniform before the injury also raised questions, but the man who scored 36 goals in 80 matches of the national team cannot help but come in handy.

With the return of the majority of key players to the next match of the qualifying campaign and the improvement of the form of Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard, McLaren will have an optimal composition and a great opportunity to stop sliding down and return to the winning course.

So, with a little effort of will, fans of the English team may well convince themselves (or mislead) that the future is not so bad. Although the test of their hopes for justification cannot be called easy - Israel stepped on the heels of France during the entire selection for the 2006 World Cup and did not lose at home in the last 13 matches. Well, the fans of the “team of three lions” can only pray that before the March match, McLaren again would not come up with the idea of ​​experiments.

If the ex-Boro coach ruins everything again, then the fans will be able to console themselves with the fact that before Croatia with a two-goal difference, England last lost the Dutch team in 1993 under the leadership of Graham Taylor.

Translation by Andrey KARNAUKHOV