England v Egypt – Winners And Losers

After an astonishing second half display from England, there World Cup preparations are in full gear, thanks to the feet of Peter Crouch. Going down 1-0 against the African Cup of Nations Champions wasn’t surprising at all, however if England ended up losing the game, there would of been many questions involving the England squad, probably the most obvious question would be, has the John Terry and Wayne Bridge saga disrupted the national squad. That didn’t turn out to be the case, as England went on to win 3-1, thanks to goals from Peter Crouch(two) and Shaun Wright-Phillips. I will run you down some of my thoughts from last night’s game. Who were the three winners for England and who were the three losers.

WINNERS
Peter Crouch – It always frustrates me when Fabio Capello doesn’t start Peter Crouch. His goals have been crucial for England over the past year or so, and by the looks of it 2010 will also be a good year for Crouch while playing in an England shirt. He came on last night and scored two goals, and he basically changed the mindset of the England team. Also Crouch is used as a target man, like Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey; however Crouch can also score goals as a target man, unlike Cole and Heskey who have failed to score for England in a great period of time. Crouch needs to start for England at the 2010 World Cup, because him and Rooney could well prove be a lethal partnership.

Leighton Baines – Baines had a very solid game at left-back yesterday, the speeding threat of El Muhammadi caused Baines a couple of problems, however the Everton star seemed to cope very well. He didn’t get forward that often than he usually does for his club, but to be honest it was more about the defending in preparations like this. He defended very well and tackled the wingers excellently. There were a lot of positives to be taken from Baines performance, the only negative thing was his set piece deliveries. Some were good but most were poor.

Shaun Wright-Phillips – Time and time again when Wright-Phillips features for England something really good happens. Even if he doesn’t have a particularly good game, he always seems to pop in with a goal or an assist. Most crucially he did both last night, after scoring England’s second goal and setting up the last one. Wright-Phillips gets forward well, he may lose the ball too often than people would like, but his work rate is phenomenal. He staked a massive claim last night, as fellow winger Theo Walcott had a shocker of a game. The England right-wing spot must go to either Aaron Lennon or Shaun Wright-Phillips in my opinion.

LOSERS
Theo Walcott – It was probably very frustrating for most people, as they watched the Arsenal winger, trying to burst down the wing in the game against Egypt last night. In the first 5-10 minutes, Walcott played very well until he faded out of the game. The Brown and Walcott link down the right-flank didn’t seem to work and when Walcott was given the chance to shine he seemed to try and take on too many players, most of which tackled him with ease. Also another frustrating point was he seemed to knock the ball away from his path, keep the ball at your feet is key but for Walcott he simply didn’t do that. A poor show from Walcott, after scoring a hat-trick against Croatia, maybe he is a one hit wonder.

Frank Lampard – Lampard didn’t have a particularly good game last night, in the first half it seemed that Gerrard and Barry was doing all the hard work. Lampard should have scored last night, but his finish in front of goal was just plain and utter poor. As the commentator said last night, he usually puts chances like that away; however he didn’t do that last night. After Michael Carrick played a very solid game in the second half, Lampard must be 10 times better in England’s next two warm up games, if not he could well be watching most of the 2010 World Cup from the substitutes bench.

Jermaine Defoe – Defoe’s link up play with the likes of Rooney and Gerrard was outstanding, however for a striker we expect a lot more from a performance and for Defoe he had his chances but he simply didn’t take any of them. He had a couple of  golden opportunity’s but he just couldn’t find the net, it was a pretty dire performance from the Spurs striker in my view, when he has always been brilliant in previous England games, however as stats show whenever Rooney and Defoe play up front together at the start of a match, Defoe always get’s taken off at half-time and yet again that was the outcome. Defoe deserves to be chosen for Capello’s World Cup squad, however starting alongside Rooney is a massive NO in my opinion.