England Kick Off and Eriksson blames the weather.

So England get their world cup off to a...sort of...forward motion. Despite what the pundits said about us having a "great first half" we didn't. The way David Beckham is playing we're only going to score goals from set pieces because we are so toothless in attack without Wayne Rooney. As has been repeated frequently, it's the three points that matter and "England will ease themselves into it." Sorry to appear such a killjoy but isn't that what the WARM UP games were for. The most games we will play this World Cup is 7, and we need to be firing on all cylinders for every game. I appreciate that the day was incredibly hot and we will never have to play a game at that time of day again, but there is something fundamentally wrong with a team containing Owen, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham and Crouch that can only manage one own goal. Eriksson needs to seriously think about his tactics and formations because for 5 million a year we should be reaching at least the semi finals of the world cup. Without Rooney, Gerrard is England's key player and so needs to be given free reign to lift the team and take scrappy games by the scruff of the neck. But neither Lampard or Gerrard seem to know what they are supposed to do. If Gerrard is to have a free role then there needs to be someone protecting the defence, i would say Carrick because his distribution is so much better than any of the other options we have available.
As I write it is being rumoured that Rooney will play some part in the Trinidad game which can only be good as he needs to be fit for the knockout stages. However this brings up another question as to who will partner him? Crouch is in form and he is a possibility considering he is a very different player from Rooney, however when you look at any recent knockout stage games Owen is always first on the score sheet and every successful team needs a goal poacher. In Owen England have a really world class goal poacher but he needs to be really fit and score his goals and this is clearly not the case at the moment. This then begs the question as to why Eriksson did not bring Defoe and stuck with three defensive midfielders, one who is frequently, if unfairly, booed at by England fans making donkey noises. It all smacks of extreme caution on Eriksson's part, and this after seeming to abandon any sense of caution when including Walcott in his 23 man squad. Walcott must have been as bemused as any of us when Owen was replaced after less than an hour by Stuart Downing. Eriksson brought 1 fit, regular playing striker in Crouch and 2 injured strikers and Walcott. It seems to me that if Walcott is not going to play then what's the point in bringing him. I DO see the sense in bringing him but when England have several other fit, prolific strikers to choose from, most notably Defoe, a carbon copy of Michael Owen, then why aren't any of them brought, not in place of Walcott, but in place of Jenas or Hargreaves, as surely both are not needed?
I'm sure things will get better in the coming days with Rooney's imminent return and the fact we will be playing at cooler times of day but Eriksson really needs to do something about our attacking weaknesses and fast as the only way we are going to beat Brazil is by scoring a lot of goals as they don't get beaten 1-0.
Apart from that all credit to the team as they battled bravely in the hot temperature and ground out that all too rare opening game result. Well done to, for putting up with a seemingly inept Manager obsessed with defence despite the wealth of attacking options available to us. I hope he proves us wrong and, as a fan, i still hope we will win but Lord knows it will be tough.