Blame the Players for This Disaster ; It Is Not Just the England Manager Who Must Take the Flak After That Woeful Display

Mail on Sunday › October 15, 2006

Linked as:

Summary

ENGLAND'S most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey was as distraught as anyone by the sight of England falling to their worst competitive defeat for 13 years, against Croatia on Wednesday night.

Here, Sir Bobby Robson, the former Ipswich, Barcelona and Newcastle boss, gives The Mail on Sunday his exclusive analysis of the nightmare in Zagreb - and where manager Steve McClaren and England can go from here . . .

See the full content of this document

Extract

Blame the Players for This Disaster ; It Is Not Just the England Manager Who Must Take the Flak After That Woeful Display

THE FORMATION

IT WASN'T the system that failed us in Croatia but the players deployed to make it work.

Our wingbacks weren't really wingbacks, Gary Neville was like a fish out of water on the right and it didn't help having another defender, Ashley Cole, on the other side. So 3-5-2 was actually 5-3- 2 and we invited pressure all night - a recipe for disaster.

But I don't think Neville, Cole and Steve McClaren should be scapegoats...

See the full content of this document