England’s performance against Switzerland was unacceptable against a Swiss team that had just lost its two main stars and in large parts was made up by novices, yet in the last ten minutes it was England who looked out of their depth. Does being sloppy and complacent induce such tiredness of itself or is it because you continually have to chase the ball after giving it away? The worst Swiss player was Johan Djourou, a Premier League player, all of England’s players were drawn from the Premier League – is there a pattern emerging here?
Once again the case for scrapping the League Cup (which relegated Birmingham for their troubles in winning it) and shunting some Premier League games into the resultant gaps to create a winter break seems unanswerable. Unless of course you’re Sky and Richard Scudamore and national achievement plays second fiddle to money. Scudamore is such an advocate of the League Cup because it creates the fixture congestion that makes a winter break impossible, lessening the pressure on him to introduce one. Selling league games when other major European leagues sensibly wind down for a while is very profitable so who cares if a player's career is ended by an injury brought on fatigue (cf Dean Ashton)? When you’re pally with the Culture and Sports Secretary and you have Rupert Murdoch guarding your back (or ready to plunge a knife into it), why should you abjure the pursuit of lucre? Apart from saving your soul, that is. In medieval fairy tales, those who betrayed their kith and kin for wealth usually suffered a grisly fate. Sadly, we live in the real world, where justice can be most elusive.