It's amazing to see how dominant England can be against average sides when they're allowed to attack aggressively rather than defending deep and stoically. Fingers crossed that the penny has dropped with Woy and that the performances in the last two games weren't
just down to the desperation caused by needing six points to guarantee automatic qualification.
I'm not going to pretend that was a brilliant footballing performance by England because it wasn't, a lot of the passing and first touches were looser than Mozza's ma's you know what, Gerrard being a particularly regular culprit especially when sat deep with pressure from Poland players. However, and this is the big however, the attitude and tactics were absolutely spot on for the occasion. We absolutely had to go all out for the win against a side that had nothing to lose and would have more than likely been encouraged to attack against a deep lying and conservative England team, certainly on this night where Wembley seemed more like the Kazimierz Górski National Stadium in Warsaw. In the end we seemed to have three strikers and two wingers (glorified full back Baines being one) constantly pinned in and around the Polish penalty area, relentlessly looking for a way through on goal.
As for the attitude, that can best be summed up Rooney's leader style performance and desire that was signified by his fist pumping delight. His link up play, first touch and general movement/work rate (the latter being a given) were all spot on. Baines, what more can be said? Exceptional attacking left back who leaves you disappointed when he
doesn't produce at least one goal or assist. That's definitely a good sign. In games where we're playing poor to above average sides it's nice to have a full back who can cause the opposition to worry, rather than sending out a good defender who's meant to worry about the opposition (save that and Ashley Cole for the top, top sides). I'm not going to get carried away with Townsend who, despite working like a freight train and managing to produce three or four moments of quality, needs to add a lot more to his game, such as knowing when to put his head up and look for a better option when marked by two players. The potential is definitely there though. Behind the attacking wealth of options, I felt that Carrick was a significant part of why we could afford to press so high up the pitch. His positioning and metronome passing style offered the precision that was needed in order to rapidly win loose second balls and restock the firing line. Without that type of forward thinking and vision I believe that Poland would have been allowed back into the game with greater ease due to what would have been an imbalanced and open midfield
*whispers, especially if Gerrard and Lampard
started together*
Otherwise I thought that we were very average in spite of great commitment and
generally good tactical awareness. The two Donnys (Dennys? Dunnys? Whatever) should have both been far more clinical with the chances afforded. Gerrard, as previously mentioned, still gives off the impression that he's grossly overrated in a technical sense. The two center backs were okay but seemed to have trouble with adjusting to the high line against a team with a genuine quality striker. Smalling just did a job without ever really being demanded to offer a great deal by his own team or the opposition. It's difficult to criticise him much though, although he did seem way out of position (I think it was him) for the one chance that Lewa put wide that should have been buried. Thankfully there was appropriate back up available when Smalling and company did slip up. Joe Hart managed a very professional performance after being routinely lambasted (rightfully so, :side
for many recent terrible performances. He didn't have a lot to do, but what he did do was important, which is the sign of a top keeper. What stood out was his ability to act sharp by intercepting balls into his box while also managing a huge block from Lewandowski. Nobodly from this group really shone, but they all managed to perform their jobs with the minimum of fuss, which is the least that can be asked of them.
None of this signifies that England are a great teams, none of this infers that England can cause any severe damage in the serious stages at the World Cup either, or even get there for that matter. What this does suggest, however, is that England have a lot more potential than Roy Hodgson has previously allowed them to fulfill, that England are capable of playing aggressive attacking football against less than great sides. It would be naive to expect England to become a footballing tour de force based on the past two showings, but it certainly wouldn't be over expectant to desire an England side who can once again become flat track bullies, flat track bullies that can beat the World Cup also rans with a certain level of excitement and positivity.