WEARY WAYNE
Rooney treads water as England just about manage to stay afloat
WELL, at least England’s players covered the cost of the tickets for the supporters who remained here long enough to see this.
They were generous in other respects, too. Particularly when it came to the frequency with which they gave the ball to Poland.
But this was a painful, at times pitiful, display. A performance that leaves Roy Hodgson facing what looks like a difficult passage to Brazil in an increasingly difficult group.
In the four games his side have so far contested in this qualification campaign, they have won the easy ones against Moldova and San Marino and made alarmingly hard work of the encounters with ukraine and Poland.
Hodgson insisted England played well when they dropped two points against ukraine at Wembley. But England’s manager has also developed a habit for reminding his audience that he is still unbeaten in his 11 matches in charge. unbeaten in 90 minutes, yes. But unbeaten? No. Here at the National Stadium last night at least he acknowledged that his side were well below par.
Their passing, he agreed, was poor; their lack of fluency and composure a real cause for concern.
He blamed the postponement and he blamed the pitch and James Milner complained of sleep deprivation. But the conditions were the same for both sides and so was the disruption. Poland seemed to cope with the extraordinary circumstances far better than their visitors.
Collectively, individually, England were disappointing. Wayne Rooney might have scored the opening goal, his deflected effort actually coming off his shoulder, but this was among his worst offerings on the international stage.
Gary Neville had said he needed to improve and he responded with passing so erratic he became a complete liability. In the end Hodgson hooked him. Rightly so.
Joe Hart was at fault for Poland’s goal but to blame himself for losing two more points was being far too kind to his colleagues. Milner and Glen Johnson did not do an awful lot wrong and Steven Gerrard impressed on occasions, but beyond that England were dreadful.
They were too hesitant, too cautious. The decision by Hodgson to deploy Tom Cleverley as a leftwinger left England lacking pace and width against opponents who did not demand such respect.
A draw leaves England top of the group but only until Montenegro meet San Marino next month, at which point they are sure to win and go into 2013 clear of England.
Montenegro have now become the biggest threat to Hodgson’s World Cup ambitions.
They held Fabio Capello’s England to two draws in the Euro 2012 qualification campaign and on Tuesday night went to ukraine and beat the team England could only draw against at Wembley.
They will host England in March — a real opportunity to put some distance between themselves and Hodgson’s men. Hodgson might not like to refer to certain fixtures as ‘must-win’ games but there will be no getting away from it five months from now. If they are already two points down and still have to go to Kiev as well, three points would certainly be welcome.
under the roof of the National Stadium here in Warsaw they never looked capable of taking all three points — even when Rooney scored his rather fortuitous goal.
Sure, the ball was moving much slower than it should have, the sheer volume of water still sitting beneath the playing surface causing too many passes to come up short. Hodgson
was clearly unhappy before kick off. He spoke of the pitch being ‘perfectly playable’ but far from perfect. That attitude seemed to permeate the minds of his players.
England lacked confidence, with Rooney’s ineptitude causing problems. He is such an important player for England and when he is as off his game as he was here, it has a massive impact on the team.
Poland were having their own issues with the speed of the ball, but were much quicker to adapt.
Robert Lewandowski created problems from the start, combining well with the excellent Kamil Grosicki. In fact it was only when Gerrard moved from his deep position in midfield into a more attacking role that England advanced with anything like the same urgency. It was thanks to Gerrard that England earned the corner that led to their 31stminute goal. The skipper then delivered the ball that an unmarked Rooney met more with his shoulder than his head. A deflection off Lukasz Piszczek and Poland goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton was beaten. It was a most undeserved lead for England. But it was a goal that should have enabled them to settle and improve.
In fairness to England, they did create chances after the break. In fairness to Hart, he made a brilliant save to deny Ludovic Obraniak. But England were treading water deep in their own half, with Hodgson switching to a 4-1-4-1 formation designed to protect their advantage.
An opportunity fell to Jermain Defoe, but he sliced his shot, and when his replacement — Danny Welbeck — was sent clear by Milner he managed to wrestle his way past Tyton only to hesitate.
Rather than shoot, admittedly from a tight angle, he passed back to Rooney, whose effort looped hopelessly over the crossbar.
No sooner had Rooney missed than Poland scored, Hart flapping hopelessly at an Obraniak corner and allowing Kamil Glik to surge ahead of Joleon Lescott and head the ball into an empty net.
Deeply disappointing, yes. But a minor part of a much bigger problem for this England team.