Football Food For Thought / David Croft / 26 October 2007 /

The BBC's David Croft on where it all went wrong for England

What a week it was for English sporting fans then. A week that could have been one of the greatest in living memory turned horror show as one by one our reasons to celebrate disappeared into thin air. Not that you could blame Lewis Hamilton for his gear box freezing or the England Rugby boys who were up against 15 burly South Africans and a referee who seemed to have Springbok leanings. No, they did their best. Unlike the football team of course, who I have to admit I didn't see against Russia - for some strange reason Brazilian TV as lovers of the beautiful game saw no reason to show the match in Moscow - but on returning home I did canvas the views of my mates and their criticism ranged from dire to dismal to pathetic to.......? Well words I couldn't possibly print on a family website.

England's situation is now as bleak as a Siberian winter and to be honest it's as much as the manager deserves. Not because of a defeat in Moscow, that just served to compound a disaster that had been brewing ever since Steve Mclaren was chosen as Sven's successor. Here was the man who dropped David Beckham like a stone without first employing a plan B to replace his contributions from dead ball situations.

How the nation rejoiced when the former captain was recalled in the summer and how the team rose to his inclusion. I'll acknowledge that the manager was then unlucky that Beckham got injured but doesn't this make the decision to drop him look even worse? And tell me this: do we ever look like scoring from a free kick when he's not in the side?

Here was a man that persisted with the accident prone Paul Robinson, a keeper who is fast making Calamity James look like a safe pair of hands and here is a manager that brought us that dreadful goalless draw at home to Macedonia which was then compounded four days later with a tactical reshuffle in Croatia that resulted in a 2-0 defeat.

The three recent wins gave a nation hope that despite their side's shortcomings they would still qualify for Euro 2008 next summer but the defeat in Moscow slammed that hope straight back in our faces, and who's to say that wily old campaigner Gus Hiddink hasn't got a few more tricks up his sleeve to make sure the Russians go through, therefore turning England's final match in Group E into no more than a funereal farewell to an England manager that at times has looked so far out of his depth the only humane thing to do is call for the lifeboat.

Hiddink claimed that England are tactically naive and panic under pressure. An observation so spot on that it should awake those in Soho Square once more to his credentials for a job that should have been his after Sven left. In fact, for all his faults, at least Sven would have found a way to navigate England out of this tricky little group. It's a credit to Steve Mclaren's tenure in charge of the national team that he's made Svens record look extremely good.

Of course my doom laden rant may prove incorrect if England do somehow make it Euro 2008 but I just can't see the Russians falling in Israel whilst a victory against Andorra must be a given. England also need to beat Croatia, which is possible although not probable. For those who still have the faith, and god bless you if you do, you can back England to qualify from Group E at 3.15 on Betfair. But for those cynical old boys like me whose faith disappeared some time ago the price to lay England in Group E is 3.2; guess which one I'm having?

To read more about England go to:

www.thefa.com

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