Player and manager ratings for the England – Israel match.
Paul Robinson – 6/10
Had one punch to make and executed it perfectly. Other than that, never can the phrase “had nothing to do” been applied more appropriately.
Ashley Cole – 5/10
Did very little in attack other than a few passes and was occasionally shaky in defence. Did not need to be the quality player he normally is and wasn’t.
Micah Richards – 7/10
Caught in defence out wide once or twice but centrally (where he plays for his club) and in attack was superb particularly defending and attacking set pieces. Made one superb defensive header from a free kick in the first half and score the third goal. I cannot see him being displaced by Gary Neville even though he sees his future in the centre. Without any viable right back alternatives as long as he can resist the temptation to “throw a Carragher” he should be the present and future player for England in that position.
Rio Ferdinand – 7/10
Does what Ferdinand does in an England shirt; exude calmness and competence. Made the few interventions that were necessary.
John Terry – 6/10
Cannot recall a single moment of note from the captain. Hardly needed to be good when standing next to Ferdinand but a performance of quality from him in an England shirt still eludes him.
Joe Cole – 5/10
Static and uninventive in possession, Cole looks like Wright-Phillips did when he lost Mourinho’s faith; without confidence. Dwelled in possession although his single contribution of note was the cross for the first goal. May find himself on the bench for his country too when Aaron Lennon returns to fitness and form.
Shaun Wright-Phillips – 7/10
Agressive in attack without trying to commit the full back at every opportunity which Lennon would have done. His skillset is different to the Spurs man though – Wright-Phillips finds good positions and has better technique when shooting. Scored the first goal which settled the nerves and was part of a cohesive, confident attacking unit.
Gareth Barry – 8/10
Stepped in to the midfield and gave more to the team than either Gerrard or Lampard when paired together. Passed calmly, played good positional defence and showed an excellent temperament in his first start for half a dozen years. Assists for the second and third goals, he looked like a left-footed Michael Carrick – except one who tries hard.
Steven Gerrard – 6/10
Better in defence than attack where he really added very little. As often happens in England’s midfield, released the pressure on the opposition as much as he increased it. There has to be a case for playing Lampard next to Barry in the next match. A case that will of course be ignored.
Emile Heskey – 8/10 MoTM
Nerveless, vital performance. Heskey is no goalscorer – we know this – but neither are Johnson, Bent, Defoe or Smith in an England shirt. Heskey however gives infinitely more to the team when he plays, more so even than Crouch who you would think should be as good a hold up player. Emile proved he is the best at that art available to England by repeatedly heading and chesting the ball to team mates including one outrageous chested pass of vision that bisected the defence for Gerrard to run on to. Might have scored in the first half but his all round game showed just how valuable he can be. I would contend that a Heskey/Rooney partnership would be more effective than a Rooney/Owen.
Michael Owen – 7/10
Still remembering how to play the game but moments like his goal are ingrained in his muscles and mind. Probably brought back too early and missed at least two easy (for him) chances but does what he does when he plays and is fed – scores.
Steve McLaren – 7/10
His best game as manager. Bravely brought in Heskey and Barry who were the best players on the pitch and produced a competent performance completely free of nerves. Russia are up next and McLaren must keep faith with the decision making that worked so well today.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Joe Cole a 5? Static and uninventive? SWP 7? Barry 8? (Sure he played well, but the joint highest mark!) McLaren 7? What for? For playing phil neville and then giving bentley 5 mins? Lampard start the next game?
You sir, are a retard.
He he he! Even retards are allowed to have their own opinions
Cole WAS poor. No dribbling and when he did he lost the ball. That is his supposedly his forte since he doesn’t have enough pace to get by people like SWP or Lennon.
SWP scored and played well but his final ball was poor and for a winger only rarely got in behind the defence. He played ok and scored but didn’t have the impact he has for Chelsea or what you would expect from a winger.
Barry WAS good. Better performance than Carrick has ever had certainly. Join top mark only because Heskey missed such a good chance.
As for McLaren… he made two major decisions and they paid off superbly, whether you like him or not, you can’t argue that a game that had ‘banana skin’ written all over turned out to be about as nerve-free as you can get.
And yes, I’d play Lampard over Gerrard. Gerrard is wildly overrated for his country and while he is the more complete player, we need an attacking midfielder to play with a defensive midfielder and Lampard is the better pure attacking player.
Unless you think that Lampard and Gerrard should both play in the middle… though that might be a little, how you say… retarded?
Ok, maybe I was a bit harsh! Memories of the game are blurring fast, but Cole was surely better than 5: he had a solid game. Maybe not explosive, but as good as most of the others on the pitch.
I think SWP had a very good game. Yes, he didn’t get behind the defence, but that’s hard to do with a team that were looking for the 0-0 for part of the match, and were “offenso-phobic” for most of it. Granted, his crosses were poor (did he even make one?), but crossing is one aspect of a wingers role: not all good wingers are good crossers.
Barry did play well, I admit it. It would be easy to overlook his performance (and I bet many will), but I still think SWP and Heskey did better by one point. He did play better than Carrick, but both will lose out to Hargreaves anyway. Heskey did well … very well (although that was a bad miss); I hope and pray he’ll carry that through against Russia.
McLaren … ah, McLaren … [sigh]. I don’t want to be grouped with the rest of the moronic population (you know it’s true) in castrating him just because England aren’t destroying the other, let’s face it, minor teams in the group; but, I have issue with some of his decisions. Definitely, Gerrard and Lampard CANNOT play together (retardation of the highest order for the person who thinks they can … sorry, this means you Shearer). Maybe when Sepp Blatter does it again and comes up with another ridiculously stupid suggestion and lobbies for teams to field 15 players on the pitch, there will be room for both of them, but until that day, McLaren has GOT to choose.
Gerrard has never played to the level that he does for Liverpool when in an England shirt, I admit, but neither has Lampard. I don’t know if Lampard is the better attacking midfielder than Gerrard … maybe he is. By goal tally, Lamps has more, but I’d still pick Gerrard and give him the free role over Lamp. Gerrard can shoot, pass, cross, has good timing, and can be pretty influential when told not to worry about defensive cover. I think he can give more to the team as a whole than Lamps.
Anyway, back to McLaren. Basically, all I want is a manager with balls (and a bit of talent of course). He stuck his head out today, which was great, but I still think he’ll get bullied back into playing both Lamps and Stevie when he KNOWS he can’t. Everyone, deep down, knows it. Also, some of his judgements are a bit odd; like why play Neville for 20 mins (when we’ve won the game comfortably) when everyone knows what he can do, and then give Bentley 5 mins? WHY?!?!? WHERE WAS THE LOGIC IN THAT?!?!?!?
Anyway … don’t take my name calling to heart … I think everyone is a retard actually (except me of course: I know all and see all) …
roofles, nice comment!
The scoring of course can be debated and part of it could have been influenced by previous expectations of the players and their appropriate competitors – Heskey for instance has NO competitor for the hold-up role (maybe Smith) and consequently we have been playing without one for years. You’d think Crouch would be but for a 7ft player he’s better on the ground.
)
SWP I actually think is still nowhere near the player he was at Citeh (for Chelsea or England) and I think a fit Lennon gives more. Neither cross and SWP has a better shot but AL gets to the byline by the 18 yarder and cuts the ball back almost as a matter of course. Against a good left back he terrorises them, against a poor one he gets them either taken off or sent off within about 30 mins. It’s almost like we look at SWP now and see him with confidence and think he is the same player he was before he went to Chelsea; he isn’t. At least yet… (but he is in my FF team
Barry did that quiet unassuming role but with effort – stark contrast to Carrick but I agree he will probably make way for Hargreaves (even though he has played more this season and is arguably in better form).
I think we can agree though that the biggest positives were SWP, Barry and Heskey though.
I look at the picking of the team carefully and player like Heskey and Barry getting a chance and KEEPING THEIR PLACES is extremely important. Have a read of my article “The Problem With England” if you want to know why I think this – it is over 3,000 words long though :/
As for Joe Cole, I think we will have to disagree on this one! I just feel that when he is playing poorly he still LOOKS like a good player. But with a player like that (a former show-pony) you can’t look at the aesthetic but have to count the contributions; one pass. 90 minutes from a player who has been our best attacking outlet for some time. After Russia Lennon will be fit, SWP scoring, on this form Cole will should his place… (assuming Lennon gets back to form)
Gerrard and Lampard though… I tell what really surprises me; Sven played them together. We doubt McLaren’s abilities but I always rated Sven before, during and after he had the England job and he ALWAYS played them together. It must be that managers believe they can play together and every one has failed.
I simply look at the defensive midfield position as the most indispensable in the midfield and take it from there…
McLaren may yet find his testicles, I have been thinking about how most managers (not Keegan) start well and with an atmosphere of hope and excitement. They talk of the honeymoon period and that the best managers keep it going. Sven qualified for every tournament, had some great results and his first few months in charge were full of excitement. Hoddle played good football and really should not have been sacked (but for his own stupidity).
McLaren’s tenure though started how most end; the press’ knives in his back. In a (perverse) way, that’s a refreshing change – public and press opinion can only go one way from there – why not try a steady upward curve instead of a steady downward one? Also as national manager, why not have to prove yourself?
And why not be allowed to learn in the job? He can’t be a complete no hoper in management surely. He must be tougher for what he has endured and perhaps he is beginning to learn how to manage England?
Certainly too early to claim that but I’m an optimist in most things and I would really love it to see such an underdog succeed (and by that I mean win a major Championships).
So perhaps he will play one or other of Lampard or Gerrard. Gerrard annoys me for England. Forget that he doesn’t play as well as he does for England, I have studied him on countless occasions and every time he has given the ball away more than any other midfield player. Supposedly one of the best midfielders in the world, passing to the opposition. All the passion in the world is worthless when you are the pressure-release valve.
Lampard should have been dropped 30 caps ago, however when the two have played together they have both been asked to play defensively and attacking. Not only has the decision been baulked over who to drop but also who to play attacking and who to play defensive. Net result – neither plays either and our midfield does nothing.
Gerrard yesterday was playing from deep again – it’s almost like he defines himself as a player for England as some hard-tackling, deep lying midfielder with his ‘raking balls’. He isn’t that player but turns into it in the white shirt.
At least Lampard knows what he is and when he plays there, he always has shots on goal and the ambiguity in the midfield is gone.
Bringing on Neville – never popular – but his options to replace a central midfielder were Bentley (who plays wide), Downing (wide and crap), Johnson, Defoe, James, Brown and Neville.
Bentley for 5 I don’t know. Perhaps McLaren wanted him to hear what the crowd had to say about his pulling out of an England team at the last minute?
I’ll bet he doesn’t pull out of a squad again. If that was deliberate on McLaren’s part (and we’ll never know) that practically makes him a Machiavellian Genius!
And I don’t take any naming to heart! Interesting to see a name-caller have some valid opinions and the ability to articulate them for once
Dammit I think I might be right about his Bentley decision!
Have a look at this: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1126121770?bctid=1172740658
Near the end, he hardly seemed as outraged as Terry did.
“Disappointed with that BUT…David Bentley’s gotta handle that”
“…he’s got the confidence and the arrogance…”
“He’s got that one out of the way”
I’ve got to be careful that I don’t start rating McLaren…
I think man of the match (and this is very hard for me to say) should be Steve Mclaren.
He has stopped pandering to the media and has finally selected a squad that is balanced and based on merit. Let’s hope he now sticks with it and makes the likes of Lampard fight for his place. If he does this people like Gerrard, Terry and Cole will have to sweat for that phonecall from the gaffer to say they are in the squad rather than packing their suitcases a week early and presuming they are playing.
Its been discussed on here before but a team needs to be based on meritocracy and not on the fact that they play in the Champions League. Sometimes even the best players (Ian Wright, Le Tissier, Andy Cole etc) just can’t cut it at international level. It may be mystefying as to why not but the reality is the manager needs to make tough and brave decisions.
Lets not underestimte what we achieved last Saturday. Sure the opposition was bad but we showed width, guille and creativity and totally nulified their attack. Under Keegan we couldn’t even pass to one another.
Top marks Mclaren 10/10 !
SWP and Lennon are both good players, but I think that SWP has got that little something extra. But, I suppose that’s personal preference: how you like a team to play, how you like wingers to play etc. I’m certainly not going to argue to anyone that SWP is an outrightly better player then Lennon (right now) because that would just be a stupid argument to make.
Cole? Yeah, it’s definitely true that you can mistake his flair for performance. But even when he doesn’t pass, he takes on and commits players, he gives the defenders something to think about, he adds an extra dimension to the team: I like that. As long as he does this, I think he has played well. Personally, I like the team to have a mix of players: I think it keeps the opposition defence on their toes since they can’t apply the same strategy to all the attackers.
I think Gerrard did have a poor game though: I expected him to be more of a threat on Saturday. The fact is that we don’t know what McLaren told him to do. If, as we all expect, he will be told to allow Hargreaves/Barry to worry about defensive duties, and still fails to be a threat, then I think you’re right: I’d give Lamps a go. Definitely, England players should earn their place on merit. I think that Shearer, at least for his country, was never the same after his big injury in 1997 and should have been dropped. The same goes for Beckham before McLaren dropped him, and (you’re right) Rooney. Maybe McLaren will stick to what his head tells him to do, but I think that they behind-the-scenes pressure will be too great, especially if they are both playing relatively well for their respective clubs. I’m not a pessimistic person, but my gut just tells me that the injury situation helped pick that squad more than McLaren did. We’ll just have to wait and see regarding this though, but I’m willing to have faith in him until he can show me he has to balls to do what’s right for the team (assuming that we’re ‘right’!).
Let’s see how the team does against Russia.
Spot on. Lampard injured, Hargreaves injured – bullets dodged.
It’ll certainly be interesting. I’ll stick up a few conclusions tonight (can’t watch it live so Sky+ will have to save me).