The Spurs Diaries: England, Israel and the definition of shambles

Having read many, a person with some sense of healthy proportion would say too many, reports and takes on the latest effort by the England national side I am starting to wonder if I watched a different game. What is it about the England side that inspires a brand of journalism which seems to one-sidedly look for faults in the team, almost gleefully writing their every effort off as below the expected standard? 40 years without a world cup trophy? A mediocrity which clashes with the great expectations of a nation which fervently loves its national sport? A mediocrity which proves again and again that an England side is never as good as the sum of its highly-paid parts? All of the above in a demanding mixture which means that football journalism about the England national team is a different genre of writing from football journalism in general? Probably. To do anything but call the performance of yesterday a complete shambles would be a professional error. So England, according to all reports, were unequivocally rubbish again.

Qualifying is starting to look a bit tricky for England, but the sense of impending doom still seems somewhat over the top. As does laying the entire blame on the team’s performance, even if it is another disappointment in a long history of disappointments. What I mean is quite simply that if this had been a league game between, say, Manchester United and Watford the reports would have been different. Man U, the arguably stronger side, with the bigger pressure to win and the larger amount of high-profile international stars with proven abilities, would certainly have been faulted for the inability to find the net. A 0-0 draw after dominating possession, chances and pretty much everything else at Watford would have been called quite pathetic. But somebody would also have picked up on the incredibly defensive play of the opposition and faulted them for not even trying to win the game!

I listened to Israeli football journalist Shaul Adar being interviewed by Danny Kelly of The Times about his national side and their play earlier in the week. Maybe this influenced me, but his predictions were absolutely spot on. He was critical of his team, but spoke from experience when he informed the listener that aside from one defeat (against Croatia and characterised by uncharacteristic play by the team) Israel has not lost at home for 7 years. What he labelled as the ‘most boring invincibility in the world’ takes the form of draws and a something approaching national pride in the fact that ‘Israel can draw against any team’. All this according to him down to a lack of true ambition.

I of course know very little about the Israeli team, but the style of Israel’s performance yesterday proved Adar right in at least this one instance. Apart from early capitalisation on England’s initial disorganisation, as well as a few attempts when England lost the ball, Israel spent the game gradually withdrawing into their own half. At the end it really looked like they were playing 7-2-1 in an effort to hold on to the 0-0.

England were a bit feeble at first, but gradually, especially in the second half, got into the game. Adar had jokingly said that Israel’s left-back was invisible, and even if no names were mentioned, this seemed to be true when Aaron Lennon outran the Israeli defence and was repeatedly able to cross in towards the middle. His elegant crosses, however, came to a halt in the congested penalty area. Should England, with their whooping and telling 68.2 % possession, have been able to unlock and beat a 7-2-1? Probably, but there are two sides to a story and two sides to a football match. If one team appears determined to make it a goal-less draw you might very well get just that.

This is not really a defence of Steve McClaren; there might certainly be things which, done differently could have won the game. Leaving Aaron Lennon on? Starting with Micah Richards or at least adjust to the situation by putting him on a lot sooner? Putting Defoe on sooner – possibly by removing one of the midfielders instead of Johnson and playing an aggressive 4-3-3 with more spirit? I don’t know, and thankfully I’m not the England manager so I don’t have to worry, but I still think that England were less of a shambles than the Israeli’s attitude to the game.

Israel
Aouate, Ben Haim, Gershon, Ziv, Benado, Spungin, Badir, Benayoun, Ben Shushan (Alberman 87), Tamuz (Barda 75), Balili (Sahar 69).
Subs Not Used: Davidovitch, Golan, Toama, Antebi.
Booked: Benado, Ben Haim.

England
Robinson, Neville (Richards 72), Ferdinand, Terry, Carragher, Gerrard, Lampard, Hargreaves, Lennon (Downing 83), Rooney, Johnson (Defoe 80).
Subs Not Used: Foster, Barry, Carrick, Dyer.
Booked: Carragher, Rooney.

Attendance: 35,000.
Referee: Tom Ovrebo (Norway)