This was the final reckoning of a week-long inquisition, at times character assassination, and a full-blown sporting (and national) crisis for the Republic of Ireland. And Staunton, with a mix of fatigue and anger in his voice, had clearly had enough. He felt emboldened by the fact that his bruised and battered – and that was just from the public and media – team had hauled themselves together to secure a draw against the Czech Republic and with it their first point in the qualification campaign for the 2008 European Championships. “I know what it’s like,” Staunton said of the vagaries of the game “I’ve been a player The ups and downs are frightening. The unfortunate thing is that in my position it’s on a monthly basis, not every three or four days.”. Sven Goran Eriksson managed to reduce a friendly with Holland to one of the most soporific of his 67 matches in charge of England.
His successor would happily settle for a quiet night against old adversaries in Amsterdam on 15 November, but can hardly afford the sort of tactical failure that cost points in Zagreb and put Villa Park to sleep back in February 2005. On that dreary, goalless night in the Midlands, Eriksson (doubtless after consultation with his assistant, Steve McClaren) opted for a 4-3-3 formation with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Rooney out wide on either side of Michael Owen. Wright-Phillips missed a couple of the only scoring chances early on and Rooney was marooned and miserable, as he always has been when filling that role for club or country. Both went off after an hour, to allow international debuts to Stewart Downing and Andy Johnson, but the latter was also left stranded in a wide position and made only one further appearance in the remaining 16 months of Eriksson’s reign. So did 4-3-3, in the ghastly 1-0 defeat by Northern Ireland (with Rooney again on the left).. Moving to north London can have a dreadful effect on a young goalkeeper’s reputation. So Craig Gordon would do well to resist any thoughts of a move to Arsenal just yet.
The Scotland goalkeeper won the admir-ation of Ars? Wenger in a week when Paul Robinson was losing the faith of a nation, but what Gordon really has his eye on is a place at Euro 2008. He and Scotland appear to be on an upward spiral after a productive week justifying his promise in front of Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko. It would be little surprise if the Heart of Midlothian goalkeeper is earning his living in the Premiership alongside them when the finals are played in 18 months.. Max Clifford’s natural antipathy towards Margaret Thatcher presumably prevented him from making the recommendation, but in addressing media representatives in the wake – an appropriate word – of Wednesday’s defeat in Zagreb, England’s beleaguered head coach, Steve McClaren, might have taken as his text the words of one of the Iron Lady’s more memorable speeches. As long ago as 1980 she won over backsliders and those of little faith at the Conservative Party conference by declaiming: “To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have one thing to say. You turn if you want to; the lady’s not for turning.”
After having accepted rather more responsibility for the decline in national morale over the past week than Lady T would ever have done, McClaren’s message took on the same tone.
The search for an occasional alternative to 4-4-2 goes on, and 3-5-2, whatever may have been assumed from the d?cle of Zagreb, may yet be seen again.Despite now losing his expensive media adviser, the head coach is not for turning. He will continue to take the long road to try and lead England out of a depressing sequence of ending up in culs-de-sac, while warning that they are “going to trip up occasionally” and that the embarrassing stumbles at Old Trafford last weekend and the Maksimir Stadium on Wednesday may not be the last. That, he insisted, was the price for breaking with the past and the automatic assumption of a 4-4-2 system regarded throughout the world as so quintessentially English that, as Croatia’s forthright coach, Slaven Bilic, pointed out: “You have a magazine called it”.. Wembley, the sick creature of football, has suddenly taken a turn for the better, and it is no coincidence that it is being nursed along the road to recovery by the Government’s troubleshooter-in-chief, Lord Patrick Carter. The 60-year-old Labour peer had no sooner relinquished the chair at Sport England at the end of last month when, with Wembley sinking even deeper into a fiscal and farcical mire, the word went out from Downing Street: Get Carter. Michael Caine clone he isn’t, but not many people know that Lord Carter of Coles was largely responsible for saving Manchester’s eventually much-lauded Commonwealth Games from impending financial disaster, and there are several other ailing projects that were resuscitated by his prompt assistance.
He has not waved a magic wand at Wembley, but one suspects he has wagged an admonishing finger at the relevant factions whose procrastination, squabbling and apparent incom-petence have led to British sport’s biggest embarrassment No one, they say, is more adept at cracking heads together. Having conceded five while playing for Wales against Slovakia last Saturday, the keeper would have been forgiven for fearing another embarrassing afternoon, but he made a superb save plunging to his right to keep out a Rob Earnshaw header six minutes later, and that seemed to spark QPR into life.Jimmy Smith equalised midway through the half, cleverly dropping off as Norwich’s back four retreated and sidefooting a firm finish after gathering Lee Cook’s pass in space just outside the area.
