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Capello will tinker
FABIO CAPELLO will carry on
experimenting to find the right
blend in his England team in
time for the World Cup qualifying
campaign.
That was evident from England's
1-0 defeat against France
in Paris, a setback which must
have made Capello realise the
size of the task he has taken on.
That and the fact the Italian
is no more immune from the
pressures exerted by the Premier
League than Steve Mc-
Claren and Sven-Goran Eriksson
were before him.
The 61-year-old admitted he
made four substitutions at halftime
against France as much to
rest Steven Gerrard, John Terry,
Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney
ahead of the Champions League
quarter-final matches next week
as to study other players.
The wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson
clearly stretches into the
minds of even the steeliest of
coaches.
Capello explained: My interest
is trying things with the
team in order to be ready for the
qualifying campaign.
The four subs at half-time
were made because I wanted to
see other players play against a
good team like France.
And because we have players
who play many games and they
have to play in the Champions
League as well.''
So they were not substituted
because of poor performances?
Absolutely not,'' said Capello.
The point is they easily could
have been. Terry's lack of pace
was exposed. Joe Cole squandered
possession too cheaply,
Gerrard was largely ineffective
in his role of strike support and
Rooney looked a shadow of the
player who is so potent for Manchester
United.
Quite how Capello could conclude
he was happy'' with such
a sterile performance was a mystery,
solved only by the assumption
that yet another coach was
steering the good ship England
down a river of delusion.
Yet let us not judge Capello too
harshly too soon. The fact is he
has enjoyed no more than four
full-out training sessions with
his England players before the 2-
1 win against Switzerland and
this defeat combined, barely time
to put names to faces.
Enough time, however, to suggest
England supporters will not
be witnessing too much beautiful
football under his reign.
They had better get used to the
sight of two holding midfielders
in Owen Hargreaves and Gareth
Barry, especially when even then
the defence struggled to hold
firm.
Capello, however, was
adamant: I saw players play
with better confidence compared
to the Switzerland game. We
were playing away against a toplevel
team and we played right to
the end.
I know I saw what I can get
out of players. It is in these type
of games that you see the worth
of players and the team.''
It's true, many teams
could and will lose at
the Stade de France,
even to a French side
shorn of top stars
such as Thierry
Henry and Karim
Benzema.
France, with
Bayern Munich
star Franck
Ribery a revelation
in midfield,
will be a
force at the European
Championships in the summer.
But the football
on show from England
was depressing
and unimaginative,
suggesting
the teams were
separated by
more than the
C h a n n e l
tunnel.
T h e y
lack a crea
t i v e
s t r i n g -
puller in
m i d f i e l d
and while
David Beckham
produced
the
one raking
pass of pure
quality, as
well as a couple
of his
trademark crosses, no longer at
almost 33 is he the dynamic force
around which England can build
their future.
Much better that he is an impact
substitute, which no doubt
is how Capello would have used
him if it were not for the fact that
he was winning his 100th cap.
Capello insisted he substituted
Beckham for David Bentley after
63 minutes because he wanted to
view the Blackburn wide man
against top opposition.
His only disappointment, however,
appeared to be with his
side's lack of firepower.
He said: We did create
chances from the wings but we
didn't go in centrally and this is
one of the things I told the players.
We didn't shoot on goal from
the centre.
We carried on playing even
after conceding the goal. We created
chances, a good chance with
Stewart Downing.''
8:45am Friday 28th March 2008
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