Historic Irish win finds Eriksson under fire

Northern Ireland's first win over England since 1972, their first at Windsor Park since 1927. Denmark's first win at home over England since 1948. Winning qualifiers is proving something of a tricky affair,as we constantly go to shoot ourselves in the foot, remedy the wound reasonably enough to only have it reopened again. So far we are involved in setting records, negatively.

Was this another win that meant more for the hosts than for their guests? With all due respect, we are seen as able enough to accomplish topping the group after the 10 matches but in reality remaining second for the play-offs. Now we rely on winning our remaining games against Austria and Poland to top the group, and fortunately Poland's last remaining game is against us so we have our destiny tightly in our hands. We don't need to rely on other sides for good results, like we could have done with in Warsaw last night.

Amongst the arguments about the appropriate formation is the fact that no-one outside the England camp, with the exception of Wayne Rooney, are content with the current formation if it means playing Rooney out of position. Nothing has been confirmed but I'm certain his frustrations were borne from not being at least tucked behind Michael Owen. Why can the England coach not see this? If he sees Rooney is positioned where he shouldn't be, as was stated by John Motson during commentary, then instructions should be sent immediately to re-position him. That could have made the difference between his contribution and his eventual frustration.

Word has been said about Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, though Gerrard has been the more industrious of the two since Wales. I don't know why. Beckham was far more involved than before but he couldn't cajole the two centre-midfielders enough with his play. His "postage stamp" freekick and Gerrard getting forward to set up Owen for an acrobatic effort were the only two chances to speak of in the first half. But Rooney loves to play his football from his more centre forward position, it was where he was when he latched on to the pass to score the consolation against Denmark. Where he was when he latched onto the Joseph Yobo mistake to score at Everton. Where he was when he jumped onto the hesitation by Jean-Alain Boumsong to score at Newcastle.

We had a good non-productive first half, having the majority of possession , yet Northern Ireland giving us enough to keep us aware and on our guard. In the second half we came forward but wouldn't guide the kind of final ball that we are known to thrive on, that takes a touch or finish from one of many talents we have. The Irish treated most of the balls into the box as rejects, heading them out with clearance and determination. England were not on the end of those balls enough to even cause a scare, cause panic. We were not playing in Windsor Park, we were playing somewhere below par.

The goal came because Northern Ireland kept their pressure on us with hope we'd buckle somewhere while we kept ours on them with no focus. Having gone into the break 0-0 without England having any more than two hearted chances on goal, coach Lawrie Sanchez had that to recall for inspiration in the dressing room. When Aston Villa's Steven Davis came forward on attack, we backed off, no central midfielder going to Davis, no Beckham in his holding role, Davis was allowed to pass through to David Healy on the right. The defence had stepped up but Rio Ferdinand is clearly playing Healy onside and the Leeds man went on to finish like England should have done. Add to that an almost carbon copy effort by sub Warren Feeney afterwards that skimmed across Paul Robinson.

Graeme Le Saux correctly mentioned that Joe Cole would be introduced if nothing came within the first moments of the second half, and early enough he came on for Shaun Wright-Phillips with barely 10 minutes gone. SWP was key on the right hand side and with time and some insight could have used his pace eventually to get behind the Irish defence, albeit they had two defenders on him at times.

Almost immediately after the goal Owen Hargreaves comes on for Gerrard, five minutes later Jermaine Defoe came on for Lampard. Hargreaves is not England material, much less central midfield material. He lost possession deep in our half and almost gifted Northern Ireland a chance. When he was on the ball in our half they pressured him to almost good effect. The shape of the side is mish-mash, Beckham is right midfield but cannot run with Rooney struck in front of him, Joe Cole equally with Defoe, Owen is the sole striker to aim for. Our response was one of desperation. Not even four minutes injury time could muster an effort of quality on target, Maik Taylor kept cool command in goal.

I thought the Denmark game was the kick on the backside we needed. But, having just scraped past Wales through a deflection and now lost to a side ranked 116th in the world, who hadn't won a competitive match for four years, never beaten us for over 30 years, never beaten us at their national ground for over 75 years, it seems we need more than a kick. Sven Goran Eriksson shouldn't be sacked now or quit unless England fail to qualify. Eriksson said it was up to the media and the FA as to whether he stays in his coaching role, but it's not. It is up to the players he selects.


RedsMan.