Welsh collapse tempers England praise

Bent's goal wrapped up the points for England after 14 minutes

It was confident. It was clinical. It was frustratingly unfulfilling.

There was much to commend about England's win at a sell-out Millennium Stadium on Saturday. The likes of Ashley Young, Darren Bent and Scott Parker all showed signs that they are finally feeling at home wearing the three lions, while Jack Wilshere offered further proof that he is not merely the future of the national team, but rather a key part of its present.

John Terry produced the kind of dominant and uncompromising display which lended weight to the arguments of both those who agree with Capello's decison to reinstate him as captain and those (like myself) who are of the view that he should never have been parted from the armband in the first place.

Capello's experimental 4-3-3 formation was also a pretty unqualified success, thanks in large part to prudent choice of personnel - the discipline of Parker allowed the more creative instincts of Wilshere to roam unchecked, while the attacking disposition of full-backs Cole and Johnson ensured England never lacked for width.

Above all, it was the steely resolve with which England took to their task in the opening moments which most impressed. In an intensely hostile atmosphere rife for intimidation, the visitors remained unbowed, and ruthlessly dispatched their opponents inside the first 15 minutes.

From the moment Darren Bent followed Frank Lampard's confidently taken penalty by sweeping home Ashley Young's cross, England never looked anything other than home and dry. The intensity among the players dropped off as they sensed victory; an instinct for self-preservation emerging as some of the Premier League's big names took the opportunity to conserve energy for crucial club battles ahead.

The only bum note struck from then on was the stupid booking picked up by Wayne Rooney for a needless foul on Joe Ledley, which rules him out of Switzerland's visit to Wembley in June.

But even that may eventually play out to England's advantage, for Capello will fancy his side's chances of seeing off the uninspired Swiss even without his star man, and suspension may grant Rooney the summer break he seemingly needs to emerge fit and firing from the most frustrating twelve months of his career to date.

After the bright opening in which the game was won, it was, in essence, a walk in the park for England. And that is the problem.

For the bottom line, harsh though it is, is this: England won convincingly and impressively, but against an opposition who were so passive, so toothless, so devoid of quality of any kind that it rendered the achievement almost insignificant. But it could have been so different. 

Gary Speed's young Wales team had a rare opportunity on Saturday. It was not simply a matter of pouring misery on 'the old enemy' in front of legions of their countrymen and heaping the pressure on Fabio Capello at the end of a week in which his stock had fallen even further with his ham-fisted treatment of the captaincy saga.

It was a matter of reassuring the Welsh fans after a disastrous start to Euro 2012 qualification that there is, after all, reason to be optimistic for the future of their national team.

It was a test which should have been a cause for Welsh inspiration; instead, it bred self-destruction - first through James Collins' clumsy hack on Ashley Young after the big centre-half had been caught badly out of position, and then through defensive organisation which wouldn't have looked out of place on the school playground as Darren Bent gleefully tapped home his third - and simplest - international goal.

Aaron Ramsey looked overburdened by the responsibility of captaincy in what remains early days after his horrific leg break last year. A bad combination of ring-rusty and overly-ambitious in possession, he toiled gamely throughout, but to no avail. There is little doubt the 20-year-old will grow into his new role, but a home nations grudge match against England was always likely to prove a baptism of fire.

And while much was made pre-match about the absence of Gareth Bale through injury, it is unlikely that Spurs' flying winger would have been able to significantly affect its outcome, no matter how devastating he has looked this season. That he would have significantly enhanced the threat of the Welsh attack is undoubted, but must also be tempered with the knowledge that the defence would have been no less porous in the face of English pressure.

If Gary Speed was under any illusions as to the size of the task facing him with the Welsh national team, he is perfectly aware now.

Out-thought, out-fought and out-played in each of their first four group matches and with their dreams of qualification already dead, the 41-year-old must now rebuild this young team's fragile confidence and try to create a new mood of optimism in the group before the race for Brazil 2014 begins. On recent evidence, it will be a long, hard road.

There is of course, the argument that England forced their opponents to play badly through superior organisation, pressure, and work rate. It is has an element of truth to it.

But Wales are a team ranked 116th in the world by FIFA. They had lost their opening three qualification games prior to Saturday's clash, and their starting XI was one which, aside from a few notable exceptions, consisted of players plying their trade in the football league. Such a team would require no great encouragement to play badly from the group of established Premier League names Fabio Capello was able to field. And, as it turned out, they didn't.

Victory at the Millennium Stadium, and the manner in which it was achieved, does not even consitute the best performance of England's qualification run thus far. Both the demolition of Bulgaria at Wembley last September and the triumph over Switzerland in Basel four days later were more comprehensive scorelines over teams vastly superior to Wales.

Those results failed to capture the public imagination for two reasons: firstly, because the games followed hot on the heels of the disappointment of South Africa and were achieved by largely the same team which had been responsible for it; and secondly, because any progress thought to have been made in those matches was quickly exposed as another false dawn by frustrating stalemate at home to Montenegro a month later, followed by a friendly defeat to France which was far more comprehensive than the 1-2 scoreline suggested.

Of course, there is plenty to suggest genuine progress is being made this time. Half the players in the squad Capello picked to face Wales were not involved at the World Cup.

Moreover, these new faces have not just been included to make up the numbers - Hart, Dawson, Wilshere, Young and Bent are making compelling arguments to become permanent components of the spine of the team, and it is to be hoped that the likes of Parker, Carroll and Adam Johnson can go on to do the same in the coming weeks and months.

But it is frustrating that Fabio Capello's brave new faces were not significantly tested on Saturday, and that the match could not tell us anything substantial about whether they or the tactics employed could work against more formidable opposition.

Perhaps Ghana at Wembley on Tuesday, friendly though it is, will provide a better indicator. What is certain, however, is that sterner examinations must be passed by Capello and his men if England fans are truly to be convinced that better times lie ahead.

'New' England look frustratingly familiar

Four months on from the debacle in South Africa, and disappointment once again reigns supreme in the minds of England fans everywhere. Convincing performances and results against Bulgaria and Switzerland had encouraged some to hint at a revival for the national team, but last night's frustrating draw at home to a gritty Montenegro side has placed such thoughts firmly into context. England were lethargic for large periods, and worryingly short of ideas as to how to break the resistance of stubborn but limited visitors. It was a performance which evoked memories of a summer best forgotten for the thousands of England fans who filled the seats at Wembley, and they duly made their dissatisfaction known at the final whistle. At best, last night's offering is indicative of the fact that Fabio Capello's men still have a long, hard way ahead of them on the road to redemption after the World Cup. At worst, we may now wonder whether they have even started on the journey at all.

First, lets start with the positives. Or rather, positive. There was genuine signs of progress on the wings, with Ashley Young and Adam Johnson catching the eye with their pace, trickery and willingness to commit defenders. The Manchester City wideman was a genuine live wire, providing England's likeliest source of a breakthrough in an otherwise tepid first half. He is the best homegrown player in the country on current form, and it is imperative that he plays every game on the right flank. Villa star Young still has to improve his final ball in an England shirt, but this will come naturally as he grows in confidence and experience. It can also be argued that the threat posed by both men was tempered by repeatedly having to cut inside, but as long as they are supported by overlapping full-backs and have people to link up with in the middle of the pitch, there are no problems.

England's tactical difficulties resulted from the fact that too much of the creative burden was placed on Young and Johnson. Steven Gerrard was the architect of his own poor performance, playing so deep in the midfield that he couldn't influence play in the final third of the field. Instead of moving forward to join up with Rooney and the wingers, the Liverpool captain and his midfield partner Gareth Barry acted as the footballing equivalent of quarterbacks, attempting 30 and 40 yard passes inside the opposition full-backs and into an isolated Peter Crouch.

Everyone knows that England's midfielders have a great passing range, but such a risky pass is unlikely to succeed more than a couple of times in a game. Moreover, by playing so many long passes, Gerrard and co. completely played into the hands of the big Montenegro defence, by eliminating their own technical advantage. It is no coincidence that England's best passages of play occurred in the second half, when Gerrard began charging into the opposition half as the hosts searched for a breakthrough.

Wayne Rooney, as so often recently, was an anonymous and frustrated figure up front. Almost inevitably, given his lack of first-team football with Manchester United of late, England's number 10 looked nowhere near sharp in and around the penalty area. Nor was Rooney's cause helped by Gerrard's deep-lying role in the first half, which forced him to repeatedly come deep in an attempt to influence the game, and led to him attempting a few 'Hollywood' passes himself.

There is no denying that the United frontman is far from his imperious best right now, but this would not be a national crisis were it not for the blunt reality that he is our only top level attacking player. It is impossible to expect Rooney to carry an otherwise unspectacular frontline in every England game, but this is precisely what England's striking situation dictates. When he is below par, our lack of alternatives is highlighted in stark terms.

Undoubtedly the most depressing aspect of last night's performance was the crippling lack of urgency and tempo which undermined whatever there was of England's good work, particularly in the first half. Given that every single member of the squad plays in the most high-tempo league in the world week-in, week-out, the source of the problem is difficult to understand. Top players are also naturally adept at finding space even when it is at a premium, and yet it was a lack of movement from England's Premier League stars which allowed Montenegro's defensive gameplan to work.

And work it certainly did. Aside from a couple of good chances for Rooney, and an early headed chance which Peter Crouch should have made more of, Montenegro were reasonably comfortable. No one can accuse their Croatian manager Zlatko Kranjcar of being over-ambitious with his tactical set-up, but his side showed the defensive discipline worthy of a point, and almost stole a victory with Milan Jovanovic's thunderous half-volley late on. That said, England should certainly have had a penalty for Jovanovic's blatant handball a few minutes earlier, but the strength of the protests from every corner of Wembley highlighted the desperation of the home side.

Fundamentally England were poor. But worse, they exhibited many of the same flaws which undermined any hopes of success in South Africa, in spite of claims by Capello and the FA that the results and performances against Bulgaria and Switzerland had illustrated that progress was being made. The result - a draw at home to Montenegro - is certainly not catastrophic for England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2012, although it has made a group which previously seemed straightforward now appear potentially awkward. The performance, however, has given no credence to the belief that the national team can achieve anything significant once they get there. It seems that we are as far as ever from troubling the world's best.