Fear and rubbish in Capetown
In 1982 I was outside the Victoria Ground before a home game against Liverpool. The Stoke team bus came and the players got off in bits and pieces. Many larking about and preferring to finish their game of cards on the bus before going into the dressing room to prepare for the match. Five minutes later the Liverpool bus arrived. As soon as the bus pulled up their players were up and ready to enter the stadium and win the game of football. Focussed and ready, they all stepped off the bus, eyes filled with the focus of European Champions. Single file they were ambassadorial and shook a few hands and signed a few autographs on the way, but all they had in mind was winning the game of football. And they did. They thrashed us 5-1. Few sides in Europe could handle Liverpool in those days but the game was won as soon as they arrived at the stadium.
Compare this to the England team bus that arrived at Capetown’s Green Point Stadium for the game against Algeria. As our players left the bus to enter the stadium they had fear in their eyes. They didn’t look focused they looked frightened. The weight of expectation wasn’t an inspiration it was a burden. But why? There weren’t there to face a firing squad they were there to play a game of football, a game they expected to win. In his autobiography Steve Gerrard admits that much of the extra time against Portugal in 2006 he played in a daze such was his fear of taking a penalty in the shootout. This is despite the fact in Istanbul the year before he took a perfect one and only six weeks before had executed one in the FA Cup Final shootout. Fear.
The fear was demonstrated by much of the performance. It’s to Gerrard’s credit that in these two games he has been one of the few to carry the games to the opposition, yet twice against Algeria, he was through on goal and instead of shooting chose to square the ball and the move was snuffed out. Similarly Emile Heskey was through and didn’t take responsibility and chose to try a pass. England’s inability to make the most basic passes was painfully clear for all to see, as was the inability to control a ball. Wayne Rooney may want to, er, ‘Write the future’ but to be remembered with fondness you must perform on the biggest stage. In the two games so far Wazza has been hopelessly inadequate, unfit? Instead of berating the fans who have the audacity to jeer the team for their dull trudging, perhaps he should consider applying himself to his game and trying to justify his status. You know, like an adult would. Can he complain about the pressure on him when he willingly did that advert about writing the future? And what reaction can he expect? Those supporters have spent thousands to be there. Is he so detached he can’t relate to that frustration?
The problem is in the head. While England are far from a World Cup winning team beating Algeria shouldn’t have been a major obstacle. The fear has engulfed the squad. Brian Clough used to say that being relaxed was the key to everything and that nobody can achieve anything with fear in their heart. Seeing our players lunging from one misshaped bodge job to the next and feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders old big eds words are unfathomably wise. After the game Capello was clearly exasperated by his players crumbling under pressure. Of course they will be hurt by that but instead of getting precious it’s make more sense for them to consider his words and respond to them instead of reacting to them, like adults would.
When they get off the bus before Slovenia, for the last chance we don’t deserve, they need to take responsibility, show the arrogance, discipline and psychology Liverpool showed 28 years ago – like adults would.