Let's Not Get Carried Away

I don't get to say this too often, but well done England. It was their best performance for a long, long time. And without having too many chances and their 'star' striker, (I am not entirely convinced), Wayne Rooney. To top it all off, a win against Spain is a magnificent feat any day. Plus, to think we won that game with Darren Bent up front just makes the achievement that much more mind-boggling. Despite the victory, however, I don't think we can call ourselves capable of becoming world, or even European champions, just yet.

"Can't let Darren Bent be the hero..."

I was expecting a Spanish onslaught but what we got was an English masterclass in the defence. I've never seen Jagielka and Lescott play that well; maybe they're both not as overrated as I thought they were. You can bet that Everton would be in Europe year after year had they kept Lescott and Jagielka stayed fit. What could have been...

No-one could doubt Spain's strength in depth before the game. To have a bench with Fabregas, Mata, Puyol (and Fernando Torres) almost seems unfair. Our bench had some good players, but Stewart Downing is no world beater. Especially judging by his crossing; I thought his left foot was the good one? Perhaps not. The players who started for England tonight, however, were playing a terrific game from start to finish. I was impressed with Jack Rodwell when he came on too, he played some good stuff with Welbeck late on and may in the end slot into Arteta's vacant role at Everton - it only makes sense, he has bags of talent, and he's only 20.

I don't care who he plays for, I have always rated Scott Parker. Even when he was at Charlton. His West Ham days were the best of his career and made people take notice. I'm glad that he didn't let Chelsea ruin his career like they have to other once-great players (Shaun Wright-Phillips, Fernando Torres, Andriy Shevchenko - remember him?) The list goes on... 

He was our best player on the pitch by a mile, so much so I would replace Lampard with him and play him alongside Gerrard, which looks like a midfield match made in heaven - the only negative is that we won't get many years out of them, but Wilshere will fill any hole that they make when they eventually leave. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if he's England's No1 central midfielder once he comes back from injury. He'll be on that plane the Euros, no doubt. And before anyone makes an argument, Phil Jones is much better as a right back, I could see him linking up with Walcott really well. The chances of Capello deploying this team selection is minimal, though, because, I don't know about you, he comes across as a bit thick to me...

A great team performance it was, but not on all areas of the pitch and there is a considerable amount of work to do before the Euros if we're ever going to win it. Spain will be lethal in the final tournament, make no mistake about that. For all we know, they could be in our group. That sounds a lot scarier than playing them in front of our own fans at Wembley.

Darren Bent was useless all game; we might as well have played with no strikers, because it certainly felt like that. Just his luck to have a goal stolen by Frank Lampard, who, as world-class as he is, can't keep up his level of appearances for much longer. The Euros could be his last decent chance of a national trophy to his ever-growing list of accolades. He won't be a guaranteed starter for England, probably not ever again, but as I say, he's still got a couple of world-class years left in him.

Still the striker dilemma will rumble on right 'til the death before the finals. People are thinking about who Capello should replace Rooney with but - why do we have to replace him? I'm pretty sure Daniel Sturridge is more than capable of leading the line for his country, or even Andy Carroll, who was completely ignored for some reason. I'm looking forward to seeing Sturridge against Sweden on Tuesday; if he can transfer his Chelsea form over to the national side, we might not even need Rooney.

To sum it all up, one win against Spain won't change anything. Spain will be red-hot favourites and England will be expected to crash out on penalties in the quarters again. What's more if we don't win against Sweden, it'll become worthless - back to square one and a wasted experimental stage for Capello and England. It's important we gain some team confidence between now and finals or we won't have a hope in hell in Poland.

I've been thinking lately about this, and I'm considering posting more often - I know this blog isn't really Football 24/7 but I think I'll start doing it soon. By the way, the blog's just reached 500 views which is great. Thanks to all who have read so far and I hope you continue to. I've worked out the 500th read came from Russia, so a big shout out to my Russian reader(s)! I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy making it, JK of course you are!

Come On You Reds!