England only just managed to scrape a narrow victory against Wales a few days ago in the Euro Championship Qualifiers, yet player for player England outclassed the Welsh players (well, with the exception of Bale and Ramsay perhaps), so the burning question on everyone’s lips seems to be why are England so inconsistent?
So far most fingers have pointed at the Wembley football stadium. No-one seems completely convinced that Wembley is in fact the arena that it once was since its re-building 4 years ago, maybe its just me but it doesn’t seem to have the atmosphere and historic feel of the old stadium. It might take a while to get used to it for the players, but this is no real excuse for the likes of the most talented English footballers who have played in far worse.
Another possible reason for the under-par performances with regards to playing at Wembley is that there have been a lot of negative vibes aimed at the team already from the short time spent playing at the arena. It seems that things have only just started to pick up under Fabio Capello, but not too long ago fans were actually booing their home nation in their home stadium – not ideal circumstances, and its unlikely that many of the England stars have forgotten this, so this may make them nervous to perform on the big stage when they realise how fickle our fans can actually be.
Personally I believe one of the biggest things holding back the England squad are the media, I guess (in a tiny sense), this blog included. By constantly questioning the managers decisions and the players performances on the pitch perhaps we’re never actually enabling any of the team to settle and relax. The newspapers are incredibly quick to turn on players, and managers, and it would be unsurprising if this wasn’t at the back of their minds and mentalities whenever they head into a match.
One of the biggest bugs of the England squad is the way in which players can perform so admirably for their team and yet seem to be completely different players at International level. Gary Neville has recently come out to state that he really didn’t enjoy or see the point in playing for England due to the level of stick they came in to receive at times – just think of how they treated David Beckham after the 98 World Cup, yet he is know seen as an idol. I think everyone can be guilty of being fickle especially when it comes to supporting football teams, but probably the underlying problem is the lack of success the national side has achieved in the past 50-odd-years.
The England players need to feel trusted and respected by the fans and media, and they need to be shown a lot of love in order to be comfortable with pulling on the shirt. Maybe this is why they underperform at Wembley, and feel that when playing away from home they’ve got less to lose in the sense that they’re likely to be booed no matter what – as after-all they’re the away side playing in a foreign country. It wouldn’t hurt if fans from Holland were hostile to them in Holland for example, but it must be so frustrating to be ridiculed in their own home. Whatever the reasons for England’s up-and-down performances, Fabio Capello and team need to concentrate on getting the players into the right mindset and to help alleviate the fans feelings towards the majority of England players, with Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard finding themselves often at the centre of a lot of bad love.
