Terry faces the music without Gerrard

June 20th, 2010 | by: SoccerLimey |

It is difficult to find anything positive to talk about when discussing the current state of the England camp. Following their disastrous 0-0 draw against Algeria on Friday, media and fans alike, me included, have been berating the players and manager on what may prove to be, the defining moment in another failed World Cup campaign, I did however, today, see a small indication of a positive development peek out of the fog.

Back in February, England captain John Terry was stripped of his role following allegations of infidelity with the girlfriend of potential England team mate, Wayne Bridge. Fabio Capello ruthlessly replaced Terry with Rio Ferdinand as leader of his team from that point forth. With Ferdinand injuring his knee before the tournament began, Steven Gerrard became the new team captain with Frank Lampard stepping up to vice-captain.

Today, at the first scheduled press conference since the Algerian debacle, up steps Terry, not Gerrard, to face the English media. He handled the questions calmly, and wasn’t rattled even as some of the questions were designed to trap him into saying something controversial. He gave an account of how the players feel, along with a few suggestions for Capello, some more tongue in cheek than others.

For me, Terry’s presence indicated a couple of things. Firstly, that he was quick to shoulder the responsibility on behalf of the squad in the public eye despite his ridiculing in February which takes courage, and the fact that he’s not just there to lose. Secondly, that he is still seen as the team leader despite Gerrard’s position as captain.

joe_cole

I think this will pay dividends on Wednesday as it seems to be an indication of a rift between players and manager in the England camp, and maybe this squad needs to develop an “us against them” attitude to reignite this campaign. There was a definite suggestion that Joe Cole should be added to the starting line-up which I wholeheartedly agree with, and the confidence with which Terry handled the questions is definite food for thought that possibly Capello removed him prematurely and certainly against the wishes of the players.

Kudos to the Chelsea defender for having the strength of character to do what he did today. I can only hope that Algeria was the bottom of the barrel and we can now move on to beat Slovenia next Wednesday and get to the knockout phase of the tournament.

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1966 Martin

A great piece. There is something going on in the camp and since Terry's demotion the team has lost something. As far as I am concerned Terry should be Captain. How many other players have played away, Ash Cole a prime example. Capello himself in the spot light, will he stay with the team after getting Offers from elsewhere. Rio of course out, King in my opinion a question mark on his inclusion on the 23. All these things have disrupted the team.
Respect to Terry but it should have been Gerrard who faced the music.
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Advocate15

The usual excuses!! Lets face it – England are just NOT GOOD ENOUGH!! The fact that England can't even find a manager from its own ranks – says it all! They have no sense of pride – no dignity – nothing! England needs a foreigner to coach the team and work out strategies?? And all this crap about they need “intelligence”, or “hunger” etc etc. codswallop! Do you honestly think that Fabio Capello will be as keen for England to do well as an English coach?? If you are paying me millions of quid, I would take the coaching job at Timbuktoo for God's sake! And I wouldn't give a toss if the team did well or not – doesn't the FA get it?? This is human nature! Yeah, so I won't be in my job for long – so what?? For starters – by then I would already have pocketed all the money I could possibly need to see out my life – and for another – there are loads of Timbuktoos left who will still have me – despite the failures that managers can blame on a hundred and one factors – except themselves!

This is what you get when you allow the English FA to be run by a bunch of friggin morons! Instead of blaming all and sundry – English football as a whole should look at changing the powers that be at in the FA. Thats where the real problem is. There ought to be a far more democratic process to appointments to the FA. Fix that problem – and the rest will fix itself.
VanWolfie

I tend to agree with this view, although much of the English media has characterized Terry as leading a coup ( a failed one) against Capello. Read James Lawton in the Independent for instance. My view is that someone has to step forward and be counted and at least Terry has done that. With Gerrard as captain, England have, sadly, begun to play like Liverpool, i.e., the manager has lost the plot and the otherwise talented players are confused.
http://japan.worldcupblog.org/ Aidan

It was 0-0 in the version of the match I watched – not 1-1!
http://www.participationmarketing.co.uk WeAre4England

er, it was a disastrous 0-0 against Algeria
Mickael Cape

England – why the heck is Heskey in there? We are speaking about England here – who goes with an old fart like him – Defoe, Crouch, etc,
vN

After this press conference, SL, I think it appears more and more likely that you were right in saying that the major problem seems to be the squad's interaction with the manager (or at least the general circumstances of the coaching setup). The impression I get from Terry's words is that there is a certain amount of pent-up frustration in the way things are being done by the manager and/or coaching staff; mundane things that like just having a pint of beer (partly from the Guardian article). Mentality is everything, here, so these small frustrations have possibly just built up over time and have now come to a head.

I'm not a big fan of Terry's (alleged) character, but credit to where it's due: he's stepped up and took some responsibility. I'm behind him in what he's come out and said so far, and I just hope the whole squad get behind him too, because at the end of the day the squad interaction is FAR more important than the interaction between the squad and the coach: they should triumph together or fall on their swords together. I also hope Capello comes to understand the English attitude and English customs, be it on pre-match preparations or player interaction with the coaching staff, before it's too late.
grumpy and bored

Let's face it, we have a bunch of overpaid, under-performing primadonnas, who have an enormously over-inflated view of their own brilliance. Now the poor petals claim they are bored. My heart bleeds. Give them all a kick up the arse someone and tell them they are not nearly as important or talented as they think they are – that might make them produce something noteworthy for a change. Personally, I would cut their pay by 95% and only give them a bonus if they actually won something.
PamelaDThornton

he did not shoulder responsibility!!he didnt say that it was the poor performance of the players on the field that was the issue…”players need to get things off their chest”" ???baloney!!!they need to get their soccer act together not engage in “poor me ” chat.
a sad reflection on the art of journalism that the line of their questioning was all directed towards blaming the manager not the players..
christine mosharrafa

Im proud of our team, they always do there very best, no one wants to loose at any leval. I am sick and tired of people going on about what they earn, thats just jealousy.If they wernt brilliant players they simply wouldnt be earning the wages. Why dont they refer to Cappellos wage six million pounds a year now thats crazy.Under his management all he has done is instill fear, you can see the players are stiff with fear, I wish them all the best, and as for that fan that booed Rooney when the team were leaving the pitch he should be ashamed of himself, everyone needs positivity in there life. Not abuse from some twit that felt cheated because he payed a lot of money to get there, no one made him.