One More Post-Mortem
I was chatting with the Gator and he and I were wondering when was the last time that England went through a qualifying group with a fit first choice 11 players.
I decided to go back through the EQ games to remind myself of who was available and when. Here are the results of that research.
9.2.06 Home to Andorra -- Won 5-0
Robinson, Pip Neville, Cashley, Terry, Brown, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lamps, Downing, Crouch, and Defoe.
9.6.06 Away to Macedonia -- Won 1-0
Robinson, Pip, Cashley, Terry, Rio, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lamps, Downing, Crouch, and Defoe.
10.7.06 Home to Macidonia -- 0-0 Draw
Robinson, Gary Neville, Cashley, Terry, King, Gerrard, Carrick, Lampard, Downing, Rooney, and Crouch.
10.11.06 Away to Croatia -- Lost, 2-0
Robinson, G. Neville, Cashley, Rio, Terry, Carragher, Carrick, Lamps, Parker, Rooney, and Crouch.
3.24.07 Away to Israel -- 0-0 Draw
Robinson, Pip, Rio, Terry, Carra, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lampard, Lennon, Rooney, and Johnson.
3.28.07 Away to Andorra -- 3-0 Win
Robinson, Richards, Cashley, Terry, Rio, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Downing, Lennon, Rooney, and Johnson.
6.6.07 Away to Estonia -- 3-0 Win
Robinson, Brown, Bridge, King, Terry, Becks, Gerrard, Lamps, Joe Cole, Crouch, and Owen.
9.8.07 Home to Israel -- 3-0 Win
Robinson, Richards, Cashley, Rio, Terry, Gerrard, Barry, Joe Cole, SWP, Heskey, and Owen.
9.12.07 Home to Russia -- 3-0 Win
Robinson, Richards, Cashley, Rio, Terry, Gerrard, Barry, Joe Cole, SWP, Heskey, and Owen.
10.13.07 Home to Estonia -- 3-0 Win
Robinson, Richards, Cashley, Rio, Campbell, Gerrard, Barry, Joe Cole, SWP, Rooney, and Owen.
10.17.07 Away to Russia -- 2-1 Loss
Robinson, Richards, Lescott, Rio, Campbell, Gerrard, Barry, Joe Cole, SWP, Rooney, and Owen.
11.21.07 Home to Croatia -- 3-2 Loss
Carson, Richards, Bridge, Lescott, Campbell, Gerrard, Barry, Joe Cole, Lamps, SWP, and Crouch.
Interesting reading isn't it?
posted by gooner71 @ 2:22 PM
8 Comments:
Here's another bit of info that caught my eye.
Total England Goals Scored in EQ Qualifying -- 24
England Goals Scored by strikers -- 14
Is that enough output up front? Doesn't seem like it.
Now here's how consistant Croatia's 11 were through their qualifying.
9.6.06 Away to Croatia - 0-0 Draw
Pletikosa,Kovač,Čorluka,Sabljić,Šerić,Kovač,Modrić,Kranjčar,Rapaić,Klasnić,da Silva
10.7.06 Home to Andorra - 7-0 Win
Pletikosa,Šimić,Šimunić,Kovač,Čorluka,Kovač,Modrić,Klasnić,Kranjčar,Petrić,da Silva
10.11.06 Home to England - 2-0 Win
Pletikosa,Šimić,Šimunić,Kovač,Čorluka,Rapaić,Kovač,Modrić,Kranjčar,da Silva,Petrić
11.15.06 Away to Israel - 4-3 Win
Runje,Čorluka,Šimić,Kovač,Šimunić,Srna,Kovač,Modrić,Kranjčar,da Silva,Petrić
3.24.07 Home to Macedonia - 2-1 Win
Pletikosa,Šimić,Šimunić,Ćorluka,Rapaić,Babić,Balaban,Kovač,Modrić,Kranjčar,da Silva
6.2.07 Away to Estonia - 1-0 Win
Pletikosa,Šimunić,Kovač,Ćorluka,Babić,Kovač,Srna,Modrić,Kranjčar,Petrić,da Silva
6.6.07 Home to Russia -- 0-0 Draw
Pletikosa,Ćorluka,Šimić,Kovač,Šimunić,Srna,Kovač,Modrić,Kranjčar,da Silva,Olić
9.8.07 Home to Estonia -- 2-0 Win
Pletikosa,Šimić,Šimunić,Kovač,Ćorluka,Kovač,Srna,Modrić,Kranjčar,Petrić,da Silva
9.12.07 Away to Andorra -- 6-0 Win
Runje,Srna,Kovač,Ćorluka,Knežević,Kranjčar,Modrić,Leko,Babić,Petrić,da Silva
10.13.07 Home to Israel -- 1-0 Win
Pletikosa,Šimić,Šimunić,Kovač,Ćorluka,Srna,Modrić,Leko,Olić,Kranjčar,da Silva
11.17.07 Away to Macedonia -- 2-0 Loss
Pletikosa,Šimić,Šimunić,Kovač,Ćorluka,Kovač,Srna,Modrić,Kranjčar,Petrić,da Silva
11.21.07 Away to England -- 3-2 Win
Pletikosa,Šimić,Šimunić,Kovač,Ćorluka,Kovač,Srna,Modrić,Kranjčar,Petrić,da Silva
The starting 11 are remarkably consistant.
And of their 26 goals for tally, Petric and da Silva accounted for 16 of them. Proper striker's haul, wouldn't you say?
Yeah, it is interesting, isn't it? The reason I brought it up is that I'm fed up to the gills with all the blather in the past few weeks about how English football is behind the times and how England isn't producing enough quality footballers. My contention is that if we had reasonably close to a starting XI, we'd do well. I'm not saying that our starting XI could beat Argentina, Brazil, Italy or Spain but I think we'd give anyone else a game.
This is not to say that I'm ready to forgive McLaren's or the FA's incompetent tactics and behavior. Nor do I absolve Gerrard and Lampard for not figuring out how not to cancel each other out. Nor will I forgive many of the inclusions in the revolving door for strikers for doing the job when asked.
But when you look at it, this inconsistent series of starting players has to have played its part as well.
Just to reinforce the point of your research Gooner, here's the number of starting XI players available for each match:
9/2/06 vs. Andorra - 6 of 11 available (Robbo, Cashley, Terry, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lamps).
9/6/06 vs. Macedonia - 7 of 11
(Robbo, Cashley, Terry, Rio, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lamps)
10/7/06 vs. Macedonia - 7 of 11
(Robbo, G. Neville, Cashley, Terry, Gerrard, Lamps, Rooney)
10/11/06 vs. Croatia - 7 of 11
(Robbo, G. Neville, Cashley, Rio, Terry, Lamps, Rooney).
3/24/07 - vs. Israel - 7 of 11
(Robbo, Rio, Terry, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lamps, Rooney)
3/28/07 - vs. Andorra - 7 of 11
(Robbo, Cashley, Terry, Rio, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Rooney).
6/6/07 - vs. Estonia - 6 of 11
Robbo, Terry, Gerrard, Lamps, Joe Cole, Owen).
9/8/07 - vs. Israel - 8 of 11
(Robbo, Cashley, Rio, Terry, Gerrard, Joe Cole, SWP, Owen.)
9/12/07 - vs. Russia - 8 of 11
Robbo, Cashley, Rio, Terry, Gerrard, Joe Cole, SWP, Owen).
10/13/07 - vs. Estonia - 8 of 11
(Robbo, Cashley, Rio, Gerrard, Joe Cole, SWP, Rooney, Owen).
10/17/07 - vs. Russia - 7 of 11
(Robbo, Rio, Gerrard, Joe Cole, SWP, Rooney, Owen).
11/21/07 - vs. Croatia - 6 of 11
(Carson, Gerrard, Joe Cole, Lamps, SWP, Crouch).
Notice that our 3-0 wins against Estonia, Russia and Israel in the summer and fall came with almost a full side (8 of 11) whereas our worst result came against Croatia where five were missing. On average we had four starters missing for each game. Even more importantly, in that crucial fixture vs. Croatia, we were missing the entire starting back four (Neville, Rio, Terry and Cashley) and our best starting front pair (Rooney and Owen).
So, my answer to the critics is that it's not an issue of producing good players but keeping them fit. We all know that the Premiership is the most competitive league in the world of club football but its grueling nature means that the national team will continue to struggle.
And John Terry is still on my list for being such a fundementally flawed center back. Not tracking the moving forward at set pieces, miss-judging leaps in the penalty box, and falling over when faced with anyone trickier than the Jermaine Jenas of Macedonia, whoever that benighted creature may be.
If Rio ever falls off the wagon and goes back to his ganga-smokin' ways, Terry would be found out big-time.
Obviously that should read, "for NOT doing the job when called upon." That's you Defoe, Johnson, and whisper the heresy, Rooney.
I agree with your criticism of starters such as Rooney, who doesn't have the scoring record he should for the national side, and Rio and Terry, but wouldn't you love to see what England could do with an extended run of matches with the following:
1. Goalkeeper TBA
2. Gary Neville
3. Rio
4. Terry
5. Cashley
6. Hargreaves
7. SWP
8. Gerrard
9. Rooney
10. Owen
11. Joe Cole
We only had our first choice front pairing for two of twelve games!
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