England 3-0 Belarus: What We Learned

October 15th, 2009 | by: Daryl |

Decent embeddable highlights of England’s 3-0 win over Belarus have been hard to come by. If you want to watch again, then The FA’s YouTube channel has a solid five minutes available here though.

With qualification assured long ago, and Gerrard and Rooney absent, this game was all about learning. Here’s what I learned:

1. Peter Crouch is a goal machine. But only against the lesser nations. Still 18 goals in 35 games, and I’d be very happy to see him on the plane to South Africa. Final four strikers will likely be: Rooney, Heskey, Defoe, Crouch.

2. Gabby Agbonlahor is decent, but dispensable. Will definitely have a role in England’s future though.

3. Gareth Barry is class. His pass for Agbonlahor was perfect and he put in an impressive display.

4. SWP can’t play wide left. It’s just not natural.

5. The rigid 4-4-2 doesn’t work anymore. Our usual 4-4-1-1, or whatever it is, with Rooney dropping deeper than Heskey and Gerrard floating in from the left, is clearly the way to play.

6. David Beckham is still useful from the bench.

7. Fabio Capello has a sense of humour. Here’s what he said about Beckham’s 30 minute cameo earning man of the match honours: “I was a bit surprised,” Capello said. “I just thought it was like Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize after eight months as president. Beckham gets the man of the match after 30 minutes here . . . .”

8. The English public don’t watch Major League Soccer. How do I know this? Because everyone was talking about Beckham’s beard. The one he’s been sporting in MLS for nearly a month now.

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http://littlemissdiana.blogpsot.com diana

Daryl, there is a spelling error regarding No. 1. I thought it is suppose to be Rooney?

‘Because everyone was talking about Beckham’s beard. The one he’s been sporting in MLS for nearly a month now.’
I just hope it does not start a trend. Whatever happened in the 2002 World Cup with his haircut is enough to remind me.

And regarding No.7, how Capello reacted had left me chuckling. So you are not alone.
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

Typo fixed Diana, thanks.
http://www.vacationrentalsad.com/florida-vacation-rentals-s10 edwin sanchez

3-0, but not impressive. Most teams would run rings around that slow bunch I saw against Belarus. And will we ever get over Beckham? It doesn’t seem like it from what you guys write. But surely, there is a midfield player in the UK that can do what Beckham does well, and maybe even better. If that is not the case, maybe England should stay home.
Andy

Is it really fair to say that Crouch only scores against lesser nations as if it is some kind of criticism when he pretty much only gets picked to play against lesser nations?

And he did manage to score against Ukraine in the first England vs Ukraine match. Ukraine may not be Spain or Brazil, but they were of course the only team to beat England in qualification, and none of the England players on the pitch in the second match managed to score…
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

I’d agree to some extent Andy. But would you really pick Crouch ahead of Heskey to play against a big team? He’s a smart player, but for me his lack of pace means someone like Heskey will always be preferable when chances are few and far between.