‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I’m very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.’ – said Bill Shankly in the late 60’s. Of course it’s not, but once every four years it can almost feel that way.
Dear Mr Eriksson,
I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to be wrong. Once. Thankfully the way the World Cup Group stage works, it seems FIFA agree with that philosophy. You, Sir, have had that one chance. A one-one draw in a match we should have had comfortably won by half time is not, repeat not, acceptable.
Today your tactics were dreadful. No, they were abysmal. I accept a couple of the England players aren’t there because of long-term injuries, there are players not yet fully recovered from injury and you were forced to select second/third choice players (Danny Clueless Mills). But riddle me this:
What is the fucking point of selecting for your squad some of the very best midfielders in the world as well as extremely fast * but diminutive* strikers and then have our clod hopping defence lump the damn ball into the pockets of 6’+ Swedish defenders – our friggin midfield spent most of the game staring at clouds before trying to retrieve the ball from those Swedish defenders.
Why, after this long in charge, is there as much balance, as much shape, as much fluidity, as much sense of working as a collective to a flexible game plan as there was in the darkest days of Graeme Taylor’s tenure. The team today was lost – it wasn’t even football dammit.
So you like the early ball over the defenders shoulders for the nippy forwards to run onto. Great. We know that, the Swede’s know that, the whole damn friggin planet knows that. Is there a Plan B ? No, there bloody isn’t. It’s a one-trick team and everyone knows the damn trick !!!
I might be wrong but I think it was the 61st minute before Seaman finally rolled the damn ball out: Isn’t the idea to keep possession and then try to do something with it, what about exploiting those huge holes down the right that we by-passed for most of the match, what on earth did you say, or more exactly, not say at half time, how about working the ball in from wide to try and give the forwards some angles to play with…I dunno…It’s what you didn’t do at half time that, in some ways, worries me the most – didn’t you have a clue about how to remedy things ???/
I’ve always had my doubts about your tactical savvy. One chance, that’s it. You’ve had that chance. Sort it out and quick, Mr Eriksson or be gone – let the team play to its strengths, any strengths will do at this stage. They deserve better, the country deserves better, football deserves better and I’m about to burst a blood vessel. Thank you.