It’s difficult to underestimate the sheer scale of the task that Fabio Capello has ahead of him. Anything less than glory for what is, let’s face it, a very average England side will not be enough for both the media and the fans. A more thankless job I cannot imagine. He’s criticised at every turn and although some of these criticisms are on the mark, much of what is said is completely superfluous and demonstrates a lack of support on behalf of those who follow the England squad.
Now, it seems, Capello is starting to get on the nerves of Premier League bosses. The Mail reports that the likes of David Moyes, Sam Allardyce and Steve Bruce are peeved that Capello chose to spend Saturday in Venice celebrating his mother’s 90th birthday, rather than at Premier League matches.
Why anyone would criticise Capello for having one day off to celebrate his mother’s 90th birthday I don’t know. If England had impressed during their midweek outing against France, it’s quite likely that these banal criticisms wouldn’t currently be floating about in the ether. For sure, being England manager comes with a number of responsibilities, one of them being that an effort should be made to see as many England players perform as possible. Yet since, Capello cannot simultaneously be at every single Premier League game, by celebrating his elderly mother’s birthday he missed at most, 1 or 2 games. You can be sure that he’ll make up for this by intently studying tapes of the games and that no stone will be left unturned.
A lot of Premier League bosses were annoyed that last week’s international friendly even existed (a sentiment that I happen to share). Yet Capello cannot be blamed for this and if we want to see this England side improve and gel together they need all the time we can give them. Capello certainly doesn’t need a media storm every time everything a performance doesn’t go exactly to plan.
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has complained about Capello’s overuse of Steven Gerrard after the midfielder picked up an injury on England duty. David Moyes levelled criticisms towards Capello regarding his leaving Leighton Baines out of the squad. Steve Bruce told the press that Capello wasn’t utilising the talent and ability of Jordan Henderson as best he could. In response to these complaints: international football is worlds apart from Premier League football. Capello simply cannot utilise every player in the way that Premier League bosses would like them to be utilised.
There are also quotes in the media from the likes of Allardyce and Redknapp, two potential England managers, criticising Capello’s tactics or the way he selects his squad. Being in the same line of work usually brings about a kind of unity, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in the world of football. What’s clear is that the support of Premier League managers is not something that Capello can expect.
Is this a good thing for the future of the England side? If Capello’s fellow managers don’t get behind him, who will? All the superfluous criticism of Capello and his tactics need to stop. It’s important to analyse where a performance went wrong, but to level complaints about Capello for missing a couple of League games doesn’t help anyone. Capello will be with us until Euro 2012. It’s time to get behind him.
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