Moreover, at times in the first half, and for 20 minutes at the beginning of the second, England’s workman-like midfield could not stop Georgia from running through them at will.Hoddle admitted he was “disappointed” by the second-half spell but explained: “That was partly due to Paul Ince. He had an injury at half-time and he was not quite functioning. He made some great runs in the first half and nearly ended up scoring a couple of goals He makes things happen when he gets in the box. In the second half he was not at full throttle and couldn’t do it.
We ended up taking him off.”Hoddle did not take Ince off until 12 minutes from the end. Why not take him off earlier if his injury was affecting the team’s potency? “He was handling it OK,” Hoddle said. “I took him off after he took another knock on the same area.”One reply negates the other. If he was “handling it” Ince’s injury can hardly be used as an excuse for England’s loss of control.
Maybe there is more to it than that, like the lack of a midfield passer, such as Jamie Redknapp.The inclusion of Rob Lee, rather than Redknapp or a flair player such as Steve McManaman, was Hoddle said, because “with Teddy Sheringham dropping off you can isolate Alan Shearer Rob loves getting forward from midfield Macca does it with the ball; Rob does it with and without. You need that with Alan being marked tightly.”So, McManaman cannot be played alongside Shearer and Sheringham. “I wouldn’t say that,” said Hoddle, who just had.Lee justified selection. Like David Beckham and Graeme Le Saux he was prominent supporting the attack and some valuable defensive work covering for others underlined the strength of England’s team spirit.”The match needed to be won and we have done that,” Hoddle said Agreed. World Cup qualifiers are about points first and performances second.
Hoddle has also been hampered by having to do almost all his team-building in competitive games This has made it harder to instil his ideas. Hence Hoddle’s pleasure in working with players like Sheringham.”Teddy is one of those players who remembers things on the training ground and does them when it is needed in games. In the last 10-15 minutes, when fatigue set in, Sol Campbell did not. He needs to concentrate in the latter stages.”As Campbell had a good game, within his limitations, and was the official man of the match such criticism could be interpreted as a way of preventing him getting carried away.
