International Friendly England 2 Slovenia 1:FABIO CAPELLO has a long history of being right. This explains why he still holds a lucrative post at the age of 63.
The England manager’s praise for his men is firmest when anyone suggests an alteration. “[Glen] Johnson is one of the best right backs in the world,” Capello said on Saturday. “This is my opinion,” he added, staring down the sceptics.
It would be unlike him to shock anyone with his team selection for Wednesday’s qualifier against Croatia at Wembley, where victory will clinch a place at the 2010 World Cup finals. There is conviction in Capello’s appraisal of the squad and a rickety victory over Slovenia in a friendly cannot unsettle him.
When a person’s judgments are as reliable as his, this is a boon. Unkind as it is to rake over Steve McClaren’s tenure, it is remembered how his changes of tack took England on to the rocks. Defeats by Croatia stopped the side from going to Euro 2008.
The first came in Zagreb, where he abruptly opted for a back three. McClaren quite often made that particular switch at Middlesbrough, but the squad there were used to it. The effect on England was harmful. In the home match with Slaven Bilic’s side, McClaren felt moved to give the goalkeeper Scott Carson his first competitive outing. Misery ensued.
Capello is old-fashioned in his fairly consistent belief that it ought to be tough to break into the line-up. Eight of the men who started against Slovenia are 28 or over. At 25, Glen Johnson can therefore be classified as a young buck. His defending is sometimes gauche and Nejc Pecnik outfoxed him in the 84th minute to send in the cross from which Zlatan Ljubijankic scored after getting in front of the substitute Joleon Lescott.
Ditching Johnson would not, in theory, be difficult since Wes Brown was trusted enough to be Capello’s right back when Croatia were swamped 4-1 in Zagreb. However, he has only lately recovered fitness and was a sub at Wembley.
Capello was in the mood to applaud Johnson, even though his opposite number Matjaz Kek admitted that Slovenia’s plan had been to exploit the space he leaves when pushing so far downfield.
There were no reservations from Capello about the trial to come against Croatia. “I think it will be [Niko] Kranjcar who will be worried about Johnson,” he said.
Johnson’s capacities in attack may be what matter when England are seeking to beat Croatia, although we could also see him receiving a little more cover than he had on Saturday.
Emile Heskey’s showing had overtones of his lacklustre form at Aston Villa, but Capello reaffirmed the point that he opens up space for Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. The manager is unlikely to reconsider now, even though Jermain Defoe did score after coming on for the second half.
The Tottenham striker racked up an eighth goal in his last nine outings for England after an exchange of passes with Aaron Lennon and a quickly taken drive that deflected off Aleksander Radosavljevic in the 63rd minute.
“Perhaps he would be tired if he played from the first minute,” Capello jested. He has allowed Defoe to start a competitive match just once and the forward was removed at the interval in Barcelona last September, when the match with Andorra was goalless.
Fielding him at kick-off on Wednesday in preference to Heskey would be more than a tweak. It would require England to play in a different style. Any such experiments will surely be postponed until a spot at the World Cup finals is clinched.
Capello was exasperated that patterns of movement practised in training were not used against Slovenia, but the team performed to a tolerable level and might have had other goals, with John Terry coming close as he headed a corner against the bar.
England’s opener came when Rooney went down in an incident where he seemed to be fouling Bostjan Cesar but appealed for a penalty. His wish was granted by the referee Jonas Eriksson. Frank Lampard duly converted the kick after 31 minutes.
Guardian Service
