France (1) 1 Ribery 32 (pen)
England (0) 0
Att. 78,000
Entrance: £16
Programme: None issued
Mileage: 475/5,318
New Ground: 222 (32nd abroad)
Match Report
Another England international passes by with an unsatisfactory conclusion. The defeats we can take, let’s face it at club and country I’m well used to it, but it is the nature of the performance that for far too long has lacked any sort of enjoyment.
David Beckham took centre stage with his 100th cap and it is to the credit of the French that he received a superb reception from the home crowd both prior to the game and especially upon his substitution.
Mr Capello saw in this England performance an improvement from his first game against Switzerland. He’s paid to have a educated eye, but mine obviously missed what his saw. A lacklustre performance with very few plusses was the conclusion that I drew. England had more than a fair share of possession but barely threatened to get behind the French defence and hardly forced Gregory Coupet into a meaningful save.
Why do England play so slowly and why do so many passes have to go sideways? Perhaps in his pre-match team talk Capello should show on the white board that the goals are on the end of the pitch not the sides. So many England moves seem to end up with the ball back at the goalkeeper after 20 passes that failed to get the ball forward and once it is back with the keeper a long punt gives away the possession. The French similarly passed the ball around, but when there was a forward pass to be made there was a pace that was always threatening. How England could do with a energetic midfielder in the mould of Franck Ribery, Owen Hargreaves is the closest we have, but in his deep-lying position he is far less effective.
In the end it was just a penalty that separated the sides. Defensively it was a poor goal to give away with Anelka’s pace taking him behind the back line, he prodded the ball beyond the onrushing James who slid into him, bringing the forward down. Ribery slotted home with ease.
France did not appear to me to be any great shakes but there was no Henry or Viera present so perhaps they can cite a weakened side.
Once again Capello went with Wayne Rooney as a lone striker and as with the first game it patently does not work. Rooney is not an out-and-out front man and England looked marginally more potent in the second half with Crouch and Owen in tandem. Filling the hole behind Rooney, where most would think Rooney should play, was Steven Gerrard, who had a really poor game.
Upon the final whistle my first reaction was that I could no longer suffer these performances. Mr Capello assures us that come September and the World Cup qualifiers everything will be OK, he has three more friendlies to convince myself and I’m sure many others.
The Stade de France was an impressive arena, but perhaps stadia have moved on since it was built 10 years ago. In particular the toilet facilities available to the 7,000 England supporters stationed in the lower tier were little short of appalling. From where we were seated we could only access eight single cubicles, four of which were for the disabled. There was no separate toilets for females, much to Ann’s disgust. By the end of the game, their usage was not for the faint-hearted.
So ten years on, if the Stade de France can learn from Wembley with regards to the toilet facilities then in reverse we could learn from them with their transport links which were spot on.
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