Fabio orders fingers on lips

While a fan that confused the England dressing room with a toilet goes on trial this week in South Africa much of the country is still holding court about that performance against Algeria on Friday.

At the least Pavlos Joseph has an excuse for his wanderings; the stench coming from the England team dressing room after that game probably resembled that of the dirtiest of public lavatories.

It was a truly woeful performance from Fabio Capello’s side, most definitely the worst under his tenure. But what’s changed between the side that cruised through qualifying and the one now trying to stagger blindly into the World Cup’s knockout stages?

Some lament the long hard slog of a European season that has seen not only England but France, Spain and Italy also falter in the opening games, while some say the Italian disciplinarian’s hard line approach is too much for a month long tournament. Other notable mentions include the climate, the Jubilani ball and a simple loss of form.

Whatever camp you fall into the most likely answer to England’s failings would be a combination of the lot; however the dominant and recurring theme seems to be falling at the feet of Capello.

Those in and around the England camp seem keen to point out that the players don’t seem to be enjoying being in South Africa and this ultimately is affecting performances. This is of course in stark contrast to the same group of players who apparently did not enjoy Sven’s gentlemen’s club either.

But is this true and what do the players actually want? John Terry’s Sunday press conference seemed to suggest they’d have lots to say about the style and selection used in the previous group games but according to reports the Italian allowed none of this came to fruition in the subsequent team meeting when he told them not to speak.

“The manager spoke and addressed the Algeria performance” was the view of events expressed by Frank Lampard this morning. By that it seems Capello will continue to keep his strict distance from involving the players and their opinions in his way of doing things by seemingly ordering the players to keep their fingers on lips and cross their legs.

With Matthew Upson set to resume his unbeaten six game qualification partnership with John Terry in the absence of Jamie Carragher, England should once again be able to keep it tight at the back. What we really need is our more forward thinking players to lose their shackles and express themselves.

But what of the introduction of Joe Cole? Time will only tell whether the Italian takes the opinion of not only the team but nation on board and give him a chance on the right, left or even behind Wayne Rooney. I don’t think I care where he plays at this stage, England need some of the intelligence and craft that Cole possesses to try and open up opposition defences that have so far been difficult to penetrate.


After identical results so far the whole country are now hoping for a repeat of what happened in the group stages at Italia 90 when Mark Wright’s goal against Egypt put England through to the knockout stages. Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard must once again try and emulate the likes of Lineker, Gascoigne and Waddle in order to see the team through.

Back in the present day the worrying talk of a mutiny in the camp for the moment seems to have been put to one side. Let’s hope this now silent and hidden discontent doesn’t manifest into the explosion of fury that saw the French in meltdown over the weekend. Anything less than a win against Slovenia could well be the catalyst for it. Not that it will happen of course, this is England and we’re still going to win the World cup; aren’t we?