What is wrong with the England football team???

Russia 2 England 1

What a disaster it was for the England football team last nite(this morning, local time)! Having gone ahead by a good goal from Wayne Rooney on the 29th minute in the 1st half, England should have wrapped up their place in the European championship finals by scoring one or two more -something which they had the chance to do.

But they didnt.

Instead, they allowed the Russians to claw back the 1 goal deficit, and within a matter of 4 sublime minutes, totally turn the tables on the hapless visitors.

Watching the match "live" from my comfy sofa, it was easy to spot the schoolboy's errors made by the English lads. They basically had a strikeforce who were out-jumped time and again, and then always second to the ball; a midfield which didnt know which way to go, and decided to keep passing the ball to the opposition rather than to their own (equally lost) strikers; and a defence which panicked everytime the Russians counterattacked.

In my opinion, England's midfield performed the worst last night. Gerrard was the main culprit, as not only did he consistently squandered possession with his mis-passes, he also squandered probably the best and most clear-cut scoring chance in the entire game. Barry's performance was also below expectations. For all the talk about him providing a foil for Gerrard's attacking instincts, I felt that Barry at times sat too deep to offer England any support in the attack department. He looked more like an out-of-sorts defender.
Let's not even talk about Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole... The normally dynamic wingers were shadowed and stalked all night by the gritty Russian backline. With the exception of one promising run (by Cole) which ended in nothing, all those runs to the flanks merely led them into cul-de-sacs.

Without a strong midfield to carry on the attacking impetus, and to protect their back four, England was always going to struggle. In fact, had the Russians been more clinical in finishing, England would have been trounced by a couple more goals. The fact that they had a butter-fingers goalie certainly didnt help! (what's Paul Robinson doing at England's goal anyway????!!)

Yet, for all their lousy and uninspiring performances in this and some previous matvhes, the English team does boast of some world class players. No one can deny that Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, John Terry, etc.. are probably amongst the top players in their respective rights. So, what went wrong?

I think for a start, Steve McClaren, who clearly isnt good enough to be a national coach at this level, should be replaced. Just take a look at the records and achievements of his opposite number last night - Gus Hiddink. This is a guy who REGULARLY brings supposed "no-hopers" into World Cup finals. And this time round, he has masterminded the downfall of a team whom he admits (and which most critics would agree) is "a level higher" than his own team. What does that tell you? On the other hand, Steve McClaren has spent a couple of years as Alex Ferguson's 跟班, then the next few as the manager of Middlesborough - a team which regularly occupies the mid-table spot in the Premier League. And that's where he SHOULD be. He just isnt good enough to manage a group of world-class English players, whose huge talents are matched only by their EGOs.

So there....

*gosh.. i am really regretting staying up to watch the dreadful England display last night.. got this bloody headache..*