Early Days of a Better Nation

My prediction was correct. There has been wailing and there has been gnashing of teeth……….and it continues.

Well, we were bad, but no has been good. Germany looked good against a toothless Australia, then lost to Serbia, Holland have won two without looking remotely convincing, Argentina looked sharp, but apart from that, what? Very little, from anyone. History tells us that England are more than capable of finding some form when they need it most, and there is no reason to suppose that we cannot do it again. Mind you, it might require the manager to be a bit more flexible, and he may not be capable of that, although he did change his mind about Beckham when he was at Madrid.

Everyone seems to have decided that Capello is a bad man, stubborn, joyless, unyielding. David James was interviewed and without actually saying anything, seemed to be in a bit of a sulk with Capello. The radio this morning was full of people saying that the players need to have more fun, and maybe the occasional shag, a consensus seems to be growing that the Capello regime is too strict and too regimented. Capello is not a friendly person. The players are missing their loved ones. Most of these people were saying as recently as last week that part of Capello's strength was that he had no wish to be anyones mate,  and that there were clear and consistent guidelines on behaviour. And the WAGS had been banished. I suppose if we beat Slovenia he will be a genius again.

It could be worse, we could be France. Not only are they a shambles, but Domenech is clearly insane. I like him.  Apparently he and Malouda came to blows in the week and now he has had a huge barney with Anelka, who, if reports are correct, will be on the next plane home.

It's Ghana 1 Australia 1 as I type, with half an hour gone. Kewell has been sent off for Australia having handled the ball on the line. It was clearly the correct decision, but that didn't stop Kewell squealing like a stuck pig. This type  of nonsense is fairly typical of footballers and really gets on my nerves. Kewell knew the ball hit on the arm, it was impossible for him not to have known, why couldn't he just accept that today, fate was against him? Why did he have to lie so blatantly? Poor show by the chap.

For a bit of light relief, have a read of an interview Tommy Docherty did with the Scotsman.