I am fully aware that I am late to the why-England-were-eliminated-party here, but as I’ve pored over the litany of explanations on the web, I’ve found that there is an unfair discrepancy of player blame vs. manager blame.

Sure, the England stars appeared lackadaisical and short on ideas, but these are the same players that excel for their clubs under different systems than England’s, so blaming them can only go so far.

Somehow, Capello has failed to get the most out of his players, and that rests with the manager.

1.) Formation Was it written somewhere in his contract that Capello must employ the traditional English 4-4-2 in order to manage the national team?

As has been exhaustively written, Steven Gerrard is a waste playing in an unorthodox left-side midfielder position. When England was steamrolling through a relatively easy qualifying group, everything was rosy. But forcing arguably your country’s best midfielder out of position simply to conform to an outdated formation is naive at best, criminal at worst.

Rather than marginalize Gerrard’s talents, Capello should have built a system that showcases his abilities. Gerrard’s unique (at least for the English team) versatility has always been his downfall for the national team, yet one would think that since the FA shells out £6 million a year on the Italian “genius”, he would be able to figure out one simple notion: cater your formation to your best players, not the opposite and marginalize them.

It amazes me that fans and blog-writers can figure out that the system employed in South Africa should have seen Gerrard somewhere in the middle, yet Capello only did so when his God-send Gareth Barry was out injured (more on that later). The sad part is there are a multitude of ways in which to do execute this:

Standard formation for top Premier League teams, replacing outdated 4-4-2 formation.

The above is just one example formation that Capello should have used in this tournament, but shockingly this was never fully implemented on a large scale by Capello nor his predecessor Sven-Goran Eriksson. In it, Lampard and Gerrard are utilized in formations for which they excel at club level (yes I know Gerrard had an off season this last campaign, but that could be attributed to injury and Rafa Benitez using him where? You guessed it, on the flank).

This is the primary system that Chelsea employed in the glory years of Mourinho, and the formation that Carlo Ancelotti reverted too after testing a midfield diamond. Manchester United has used it to great effect, with Sir Alex Ferguson realizing he lacked a second world-class striker to complement Rooney. Rooney went on to score 34 goals this past year for United, so it is hardly inconceivable that he would shine under such a system for England.

Because Capello was convinced that a Lampard-Gerrard central midfield pairing would not work (which barely anyone contests), Gareth Barry was always going to be in the starting XI as a holding player screening the back four. So why not allow both Lampard AND Gerrard to operate in their familiar positions?

For Lampard, the above system puts him right where he operates for Chelsea, allowing him freedom to attack the box with Barry behind, and positions Gerrard closer to Rooney where he needs to be because those two are the best England have on the ball. Gerrard could serve as a second striker in most attacking situations knowing that Lampard would carry out more defensive duties to help Barry if necessary.

Perhaps I am naive (also not inconceivable!), but does this not seem a formation that would get the best out of all the players on the field? It puts Joe Cole, Aaron Lennon, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney in comfortable positions that mirror their club responsibilities

2.) Personnel

Heskey, Heskey, Heskey. I still am not convinced starting the big battering ram was a wise choice, and it would be hard to continue to argue such after this tournament. Short tournament campaigns like the World Cup require goals to win, and Heskey simply wastes a spot.

It is shocking to me that Capello would take a nomad footballer in the doldrums of his career and put him in the biggest show on Earth. Does he seriously think Emile Heskey is good enough to make his squad, let alone configure how he would use Wayne Rooney, England’s great hope, based on Heskey? It is complete crap. No one can sit there and look me in the face and say that Peter Crouch could not do as well as Heskey in opening up space for Rooney. Crouch provides more options than Heskey. He drops deep to open up space, he can play as a target man late in matches, and, oh wait, he actually scores goals (21 goals in 38 England matches to be exact)!

But Capello’s worst personnel decision was leaving Joe Cole to rot on the bench. England have almost no technically gifted footballers other than Cole, and Capello’s asinine decision to start an inexperienced (yet promising) James Milner over Joe Cole is indefensible. Why start yet another strong, direct type of player when pretty much the whole team is comprised of such guys? Cole brings much needed guile, style and creativity that, like John Terry famously pointed out, is one of few Englishmen that can actually open up defenses. Cole was the player of the 2006 World Cup for England, and was completely misjudged and misused by a stubborn and incorrect Fabio Capello.

3.) Man Management

While Sven-Goran Eriksson gave England the Baden-Baden WAG fiasco, Capello gave England boredom and a misplaced authoritarianism. Capello must have forgotten he is no longer a club coach, and while his attempts at Mussolini-esque autocratic rule throughout qualifying (where he sees the players once every so often) were met with enthusiasm by the British press, such attempts failed him once he had England for over a month where personalities can clash.

Granted, John Terry’s attempted “coup” was ill-advised, but it underscored the feelings of many England players at his managerial style. It highlighted that there was a major chasm between players and management, and perhaps severe lack of communication. The blame must rest with the manager for not having the full faith and confidence of the players. There was a lack of unity in the team, and while the players should never go blameless for such disharmony, the manager should be pointed at for not getting his messages across.

At the end of the day, the aforementioned three reasons are enough for Capello to be fired by the FA. He didn’t do his job. In fact, he did worse than the much-maligned Eriksson, who took his team to the quarterfinals in every major competition.

Capello comes off as a stubborn disciplinarian whose tactical acumen (at least at international level) was grossly overrated. While the players could have and should have played with more confidence and clarity, much of England’s failure was down to poor planning and poor managerial execution of solid game plans. In the Germany match, Capello played into their hands. He should have matched their formation with a similar one like above, and should have had Gerrard in a central role (where he excelled against the USA) throughout the tournament.

In the high-stakes world of international tournaments, if you underachieve as Capello has (especially at his exorbitant salary), you should get the sack. Perhaps it is time for England to go back to an English manager.

It is almost as if the FA concede that England are not good enough to win a World Cup without a foreign, tactical “genius.” Well, a Swede and an Italian have gotten them nowhere. Maybe it’s time to go back to square one.

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Sven-Goran Eriksson sparked an apparent revolution at Notts County in July. With Tord Grip and mysterious financial backing, he set off to dazzle the Football League like one of his secretaries. He signed legacy kid Kasper Schmeichel. He lured former England stalwart Sol Campbell with £60,000 per week till age 40 and a path into coaching.

Promotion seemed inevitable. A hasty vault from League Two to the Premier League seemed quite plausible. The fervor didn’t last long.

Sol Campbell, as is customary for him in uncomfortable situations, left after just five weeks and one appearance. Blinded by the Elizabeths, he hadn’t realized the extent of the project.

“Perhaps things are not happening as quickly as he thought they might, but this is a five-year project, not a five-week project. We can’t just become a Premier League club overnight.”

“That is how it is. If he doesn’t want to play here, we don’t want him here.”

The star is gone, and now there is trouble with the top, as the new ownership may struggle with the stringent “Fit and Proper Person’s Test.”

Russell King is a senior representative for Qadbak, the consortium that bought Notts County.

King fabricated the theft of his Aston Martin in 1991, to claim the £600,000 insurance fee, while his company, Zodiac Toys, was in massive debt. He was sentenced to two years in Prison.

He had assets frozen in Jersey, £1.9m, after defaulting on debts to Channel Islands-based Close Finance. King and Nathan Willett, who negotiated with Sven, have links to the Belgravia Group, currently facing criminal charges.

Authorities could not care less about moderate human rights violations, but dishonesty, fraud and financial impropriety will cause trouble, as it affects the league itself.

We’ve yet to see how the chaos will affect Notts County on the pitch. They looked like a juggernaut in early August, beating Bradford and Macclesfield by a combined 9-0. Though, they have been less impressive since, winning only two of their last six. Given summer expectations, eighth place must be disappointing.

Notts County’s fate is uncertain. The only certain thing is that Sven-Goran Eriksson has no shame. As long as someone keeps writing the checks, he will be there to cash them.

Former England, Manchester City and Mexico manager Sven Goran-Eriksson did not become director of football at Notts County “for the money.”  Nor, apparently, did he go for the prestige or mild degree of difficulty.  Eriksson inherits a club that finished 19th in League Two last season, essentially the worst club in England that can be called professional.

Not only did Eriksson inherit difficulty, but he set his goal inordinately high.  He wants to bring the club nearly as old as football itself back to the top flight.

“I think it’s the biggest football challenge of my life, trying to take Notts County back to the Premier League, but that’s the target. The challenge is perhaps the most difficult football job I’ve had so far. But, I am looking forward to it.”

Eriksson signed a five-year contract.  He wants to bring the club up within those five years, meaning promotion in nearly every season.  The task is arduous.  Can Sven do it?

Possibly.

Lower league teams survive week to week financially.  Notts County was bought by a Middle Eastern consortium, with millions to spend.  The lower leagues have resources parity without terribly complex tactics.  Even a modest investment, could give the club a decisive advantage.  It’s not inconceivable that Notts County could spend their way to the Championship within three or four seasons.

The jump from the Championship to the Premier League, however, is bigger.  The Championship has large clubs, now including one of the largest in the world thanks to Newcastle, and seasoned clubs just down from the top flight.  Even with heavy spending and luck, promotion requires a greater level of guile.  Even QPR with its enormous financial advantage and stable building project has yet to escape.

Sven-Goran Eriksson has proven with cash he can construct a team, but he has never overseen the development of an academy and scouting infrastructure required for the top level.  Eriksson can be successful with Notts County’s raw material, but it’s an endeavor alien to his track record.

The Notts County project would be interesting in football manager.  Though, for a figure of Eriksson’s stature who would be in the mix for a Premier League or top-level European job come the first round of firings this fall, his decision to accept it seems curious.

When Mark Hughes agreed to replace Sven Goran Eriksson last summer, no doubt he knew things would be interesting at Manchester City, it very rarely isn’t in the sky blue half of Manchester, but I doubt he’d have expected anything like the events that ultimately played out. What with the takeover and the crazy final day of the summer transfer window, with City making 10 bids of over £15 million for players, it was probably the maddest 24 hours the City faithful could remember in years.

After that, he’s coped remarkably well with the media speculation, both about transfer targets and his own future at the club, showing a calm and assured exterior throughout the season. Of course there have been hiccups along the way, the F.A. Cup defeat, losing 3-0 at home to Forest probably the lowest point along with the embarrassment of being kicked out of the League Cup at Brighton on penalties. Yet, this is a team still trying to find its feet and he has added some excellent signings along the way.

Shay Given is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, as hard as that signing was on the promising Joe Hart, Wayne Bridge a consistent and dependable left back. Vincent Kompany has long been touted as one of Europe’s most promising players as is Nigel De Jong and Stephen Ireland has been magnificent all season. Of course, question marks were raised over the signing of Craig Bellamy, but if anyone can get him playing to his full potential, it’s Hughes, their relationship built during his time as Wales and Blackburn manager.

Now the owner has laid down the aim for next season, a top 6 finish, which for a manager who took Blackburn to the UEFA Cup twice and had 3 top 10 finishes in a row, should be a piece of cake with the resources at his disposal. Mubarak’s statement released on Tuesday was a vindication for Hughes and the work in progress that Manchester City should be classed as. It seemed a reasoned and balanced indication of what the owner wants for Manchester City, regardless of the rubbish and speculation that you can read every day about them, such as this nonsense!

City have had some dreadful press this year, with so many lazy journalists writing rubbish about them because it fills space in empty papers. Here in the UK, we have a couple of papers who are renowned for being so far of the mark with transfer stories as to be laughable. Suffice to say, if you see a transfer story printed in either the Daily Express or the Daily Star, chances are it’ll never happen. Last season, they had a success rate of 8% for transfer stories, the lowest in England by some distance.

That’s not to say they’ve not been their own worst enemy at times, Chief Executive Gary Cook has said some eyebrow raising things during his time at Eastlands, the comments about Richard Dunne were especially unkind, “China and India are gagging for football content to watch and we’re going to tell them that City is their content. We need a superstar to get through that door. Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing. Ronaldinho brings access to major sponsors and financial reward.”

Now that may be true but players like Richard Dunne win you titles by allowing the superstars to play and thankfully Cook has calmed his comments down over the last couple of months after the rather choice words used toward Kaka and A.C. Milan. He needs to deliver the players to move City up a level from where they’ve been the last couple of years. A consistent goal scorer is key, as is a fit and skilful left sided midfielder to add to four or five signings to strengthen the squad. Hughes will be looking to shift some dead wood out too as well as tie Stephen Ireland down to a new long term contract.

Hughes now knows his goals, no doubt his list of transfer targets already is on Gary Cooks desk and as soon as the season finishes on Sunday, City will begin the search to add some more quality to the potential they already have on their books. With Tottenham, Everton and Aston Villa all showing flashes this season, we could finally get a season to remember in 2009-2010 and not just the same 4 clubs sharing out the trophies once again.

Where were you when the news of Scolari’s sacking broke this afternoon? I saw it on facebook, followed by a text message from a friend who works at ESPN. I can honestly say that the decision by Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea board has stunned me, after only 7 months in charge at Stamford Bridge. Did I see it coming? Not all, I commented last month that Chelsea weren’t playing well in my opinion and had little chance of catching Manchester United and Liverpool in the race for the Premiership but to remove Scolari so soon caught most people I know by surprise, even the Chelsea fans I know were shocked over the events. I don’t think anyone expected Aston Villa to be surging past them as we entered February but thats the state of the top 4 in the Premeriship come Sunday evening. I know the fans were booing the Chelsea team, for about the third home game in row but lets be fair, Chelsea should be destroying teams like Hull City and Stoke City, no offensive Tigers and Potters fans, but for you both to have almost stolen wins at Stamford Bridge is unthinkable in modern Premiership history.

Only gaining 3 wins in the last nine Premiership matches is surprising, but to only score 9 goals in that period too tells you a lot about what Chelsea’s problem is. This is an old team, with very little quality in depth if any of the first 11 get injured. Of course the first team is, on paper, one to rival most sides in Europe but I shudder to think what the current Barcelona side would do to them on present form.  A team with no real wingers, only two top quality strikers one of whom clearly doesn’t want to be there, 8 central midfielders and no young players banging on the door of the first team squad. Scolari seems to have to have had his hands tied with no new players coming into the side since Deco’s arrival in the summer until Ricardo Queresma joined on transfer deadline day. Quite what he makes of things right now, heaven only knows.

The loss of Michael Essien became a major burden, his effervescent performances have been the driving force for Chelsea over the last 3 seasons and the midfield failed to sizzle without his power and strength to take games by the scruff of the neck. To chase games, Scolari consistently turned to Belletti, a wing back who occasionally filled in at Defensive Midfield. Chelsea have the most expensive youth and scouting network in the world but it hasn’t delivered any players of any note coming in, unlike Manchester United and Liverpool. John Obi Mikel has shown he is no Essien, or even a half fit Claude Makelele. Teams had worked out how to stop Chelsea by pushing on to Bosingwa and Ashley Cole and packing the midfield, narrowing the playing field even more than normal. Once Manchester United had gone to Stamford Bridge and stopped Bosingwa and Cole pushing forward, the rest of the Premiership realised that if you could do that, Chelsea had no Plan B under Scolari.

Chelsea, lacking players comfortable on the wings, were suffocating themselves with an overloaded midfield and running consistently in to dead ends. Steve Clarke has never looked more important to Chelsea’s recent history as he does today, if anything the reason Chelsea did so well last season after Mourinho left was Clarke’s presence on the training ground in the majority of Avram Grants time as manager. Clarke’s hunger to move onward saw Chelsea lose a major asset that they probably didn’t appreciate in the boardroom as much as the players did on the training ground and in the dug out.Over recent weeks, his importance to the Chelsea cause shouldn’t underestimated.

So where now for Chelsea, who can come in a give this team a lift. The team needs a major overhaul, this is an aging side that needs extensive surgery in most areas of the team if they want to compete at the top end of the European football table. I would rule out Guus Hiddink immediately as I can not see Abramovic testing his popularity in Russia by stealing the national team manager, He may be joint favourite with the bookmakers but the Russian connection would rule him out for me. Sven Goran Eriksson is another one I can’t see coming back to England from Mexico, though he would have the experience to deal with the ego’s of the dressing room after his time at Lazio when they were throwing money around like confetti at the turn of the century.

The two big contenders for me are Frank Rijkaard and Roberto Mancini, both recently employed at two of the biggest clubs in Europe at Barcelona and Internazionale respectively. Neither has a contract to break, can start immediately and can cope with the massive burden of expectations from thousands of fans. Mancini took over at Europe’s most consistently underachieving side with Inter and Rijkaard took over the worst Barcelona side in living memory in the Summer of 2003. Both are used to big players and their ego’s and entourages, big demands from fans and chairmen and consistently challenging the biggest sides in Euope for the top prizes. Both delivered in the following seasons but both saw their reigns snatched away from them, Mancini was cruelly treated for Inters failure in Champions League whilst Rijkaard lost the dressing room war between the Ronaldinho and Eto’o camps. That shouldn’t detract from either mans suitability with the job but I’d wager a couple of pounds on a cheeky flirt with Jose Mourinho in this season of comebacks and returns!! Ultimately though, the key to Chelsea’s problems lie with the Chairmans willingness to sanction a wholesale clear out in the Summer. They need hungry young players to add to the likes of Ashley and Joe Cole, Bosingwa, Lampard and Anelka, get some width to the side and get them playing football with a bit more canniness to it, to have more than a plan A. For Chelsea to succeed again, Roman Abramovic has to fall back in love with the Chelsea blue.

I’m On Setanta Sports is back with a highlight reel of the best clips in 2008 as well as some new content such as which special manager received the 2008 Manager Of The Year Award.

It’s quite an accomplishment for Mario Rosenstock when a weekly five minute program is more entertaining online than some of the 90 minute football matches on offer (yes, I’m talking about you Everton who looked extremely mediocre in their 1-0 win against Macclesfield on Saturday!).

Enjoy the clip and be champions!

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The craze that’s hitting the nation. Listen to the beat, I’m a striker on the street, Alright like like like like. And watch out for Jose’s exclusive news about the whole Drogba tapping up incident.

It makes me wonder what a hypothetical episode of “I’m On Sky Sports” would look like. If you’re feeling creative, put together a spoof video and send it to me thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com and I’ll publish the best one.

Be champions!

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I’m On Setanta Sports keeps on outdoing itself by raising the level of quality as witnessed in the latest edition of the popular show. This time around Jose, It and The Boy host a Halloween party in its studio with a myriad of special guests joining the celebrations including Fergie, Roy Keane, The Voyeur and the bad boys of football, Vinnie Jones, Joe Kinnear and Dennis Wise.

Quality.

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Jose Mourinho makes a shock revelation in the latest episode of I’m On Setanta Sports, which promises quite a lot of great entertainment in the coming weeks.

In fact, this past weekend’s episode is one of the funniest yet with great segments from The Boy, It and a hilarious joke on Joe Kinnear’s behalf.

Be champions!

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I’m On Setanta Sports has returned with their third show of the second season.

Is it me or are these jokes getting a little bit stale?

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