Its official, England under Steve McLaren are a shambles. England produced another below par performance again against Israel, and one that a lot of people were expecting. McLaren has to be big enough like he was with the Beckham situation and drop Frank Lampard.
Only three players can walk away from Tel Aviv with any sort of credit for there displays Aaron Lennon, Owen Hargreaves and Steven Gerrard were involved in all that was good about Englands performance.
From day one i thought the English FA made a huge mistake in appointing McLaren to the post and sadly he is proving me right. This is a man who learned a lot from Sven-Goran Erikkson and that alone taints his managerial credentials. Remember all the talk a few years back of the `GOLDEN GENERATION´ of footballers that were to lead England to glory, well this is that team of players and right now they should be reaching the pinnacle of their careers but crazy mismanagement all the way from the head of the FA down to McLaren are ensuring that this generation of English footballers will pass like countless before them and never win anything at international level.
McLaren will not be fired because its not the English FA`s way of doing things half way through a Euro qualifying campaign and to be honest no great manager would touch the poison chaliced job right now.
McLaren has made two monumental mistakes since taking over the hot seat and they both involve Steven Gerrard, number one was not making him captain, John Terry is a good captain for club and country, but Gerrard is better... much better. No player in the world can rouse and drive his troops on and lead by example like Gerrard, no one can take the game by the scruff of the neck and turn things around when things are not going to plan, and if you do not believe me, hop over to Milan and ask the AC superstars to explain the reasons for that second half in Istanbul, and he does this week in week out at his club Liverpool Fc.
The other mistake is wasting Gerrards talents by playing him on the right, he can play there as he does for Liverpool, but the Liverpool situation is different they have Alonso in the centre who is more than capable of replicating Gerrards defence splitting passes, and Gerrard also has more of a free role where he can come inside to do the damage, but even still at his club most fans would prefer to see him always in the middle.
McLaren`s reluctance to play Gerrard in the centre stems from the fact that he wants to play his 11 most talented footballers in every game, which all managers should do but this is leading England to try and force square pegs into round holes, i was all for trying to fit Lampard and Gerrard into the same team but it has been obvious for a long time now that this is not working..the results prove that.
So something has to be changed someone has to get the chop, and it can only be one man, Lampard has to go, he is a good player for Chelsea but has never set the international scene alight, he is the most overrated player playing in world football today and he is a major obstacle in Englands quest for glory.
All these media stories about Europes top clubs chasing his signature are just that....stories. The likes of Barcelona know he wont move from Chelsea and they dont want him,and a player with Lampard`s ability would add nothing to their team, he simply is not up to that standard of football, he looks good at Chelsea simply because he is surrounded by great players.
With Lampard out of the way England can play Gerrard and Hargreaves in the middle, Gerrard driving forward and Hargreaves protecting behind him is a recipe for success
Lennon can then play in his natural position on the right of midfield. England are blessed with great defensive players so it only leaves the left of midfield and up front. Downing should be given a fair go on the left and Crouch and Owen `when fit´ are the perfect foil for Rooney. So there is hope for England if the right decisions are made at the management level.
In Gerrard England posses probably the best player in the world for driving his team on and turning a lacklustre performance as we seen in Tel Aviv into a resounding three points win, if Gerrard is released and allowed to do what he can do then England can once again become a team to be feared but i think McLaren lacks the wisdom and bravery to make Gerrard the emphasis of the English team, instead expect to see him try and force square pegs into round holes for the remainder of his tenure as England boss.
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