Blog

While I’ve been here I’ve written very little about the football itself. Those watching at home have had countless slo-mo replays and pundits’ explanations whereas I have only had my own failing eye-sight, my fellow fans’ reactions and text messages from home. However following the defeat by Germany, I now feel the need to get my feelings off my chest.

Once again we have had a brilliant trip spoilt only by the football. Firstly I’ve questioned the choice of team and of substitutions several times. David James should have started the tournament; he had the experience and the form. James Milner should not have started the first game; he was clearly not fit. After that it was an uphill struggle.

Many of the substitutions puzzled me, especially Jermain Defoe off to bring on Emile Heskey when we were chasing the game (don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Heskey at 0-0 or when we’re winning but he has never been a prolific goal-scorer). Talking of goal-scorers, how come the guy who has scored the most goals in recent years didn’t feature?

Tactically, when the first decent high cross into the area had brought a goal against Germany, why did we not bring on Peter Crouch for the second half and exploit the only weakness we had found in the opposition? Why did we over commit ourselves to attack when only two goals to one behind and still with lots of time left?

How many times did James want to deliver a quick clearance but have no-one to feed the ball to? In fact, when was there any movement off the ball at all?

Why did our players look tired from the start of this tournament when Premier League players from other sides, Tevez and Belhadj for instance, did not?

Why did our team play like 11 individuals despite having mostly been together for years, when the 11 youngsters from Germany played as a team?

Why were other teams distraught at the end of the games that sealed their elimination, when ours showed little emotion to their defeat other than Gerrard dropping to one knee for about 20 seconds?