The Fugitive

On Wednesday 7th February 2007, England were beaten 1-0 by Spain in a friendly at Old Trafford, making it four games without a win for Steve McClaren, who to put it mildly is hardly turning out to be the Albert Einstein of international football management. And to make matters worse, it was a below par Spanish performance – otherwise they would have been in real trouble.

Where did it all go wrong? Many good judges have pointed to the team selection as the source of the problems. Phil Neville at left back when Gareth Barry was available. The presence of Gerrard and Lampard, who rarely pass to one another, in midfield. The absence of specialist left sided players. Toothless up front. And a nebulous formation described before the game by the England manager as “a 4-4-2 with a bit of flexibility” but looking remarkably like an amateurish 4-3-3 in practice.

Were there any plus points? Of course there were. It was heartening to see Steven Gerrard given the opportunity to captain the side, and to witness his obvious pride in doing so, which combined with his performance in the first half made it all the more peculiar that he was removed at half time. It was also encouraging to welcome Jonathan Woodgate and Kieron Dyer back to international duty, and Woodgate in particular did enough to suggest that he can be a positive asset at the back. And for the first 6 minutes of the game, England gave the impression that they were really up for it.

After that it was feeble, and embarrassing - so it was no surprise when substitute Iniesta lashed in a 63rd minute winner which Foster had no chance of saving. All that remained after that were the justifiable boos and the exasperating excuses.

Steve McClaren announced gravely that “Obviously, it is disappointing to lose” and added a further revelation - “I don’t feel the players are letting me down.” Apparently, the whole thing can be attributed to the absence of key men like Terry, Rooney, Hargreaves, the two Coles and Lennon – which is a clear testimony to England’s strength in depth.

It is perhaps significant that McClaren seems to have adopted “tempo” as his buzz word. Interestingly enough, ‘tempo’ is derived from the Latin word ‘tempus’, meaning ‘time’, as in the expression ‘tempus fugit’ – time flies. And there are legions upon legions of English football fans who simply can’t wait for the day when the F.A. come to their senses and it is Steve McClaren who does the ‘fugiting’.

The sooner the better.