Fabio Capello needs to remove his red and white-tinted spectacles

Fabio Capello was appointed to see things differently, and in this regard he has been as good as his word. The world certainly looks like a different place through the lenses of his Zeroh+ glasses.

Unfortunately for England fans those same spectacles, whose website champions their “drive and sporting vitality”, appear to give the wearer a dose of delusion and even a touch of fantasy. In the last ten days Capello has variously and ludicrously claimed that England are as good as Spain, Theo Walcott has never played on the wing for Arsenal and that Steven Gerrard was not deployed out wide against the Czech Republic. If he carries on in a similar vein it will not be long before the Italian is saying with a straight face that Emile Heskey is a prolific international goalscorer.

Many of these wild claims can be attributed to Capello’s desire to keep his cards close to his chest and halting grasp of the English language, though if nothing else, events at Wembley last night should have revealed once and for all what he is up against and helped him to understand the unique madness of English football. Complacency will not be a problem. His players are clearly struggling to understand, never mind implement, his instructions and the FA chief executive who rode roughshod over the entire organisation to appoint him has been forced out by a man with just over six months’ experience of the football industry. And Capello thought he was leaving a country with a reputation for instability.

Capello will leave the politics for others, but it is down to him to resolve England’s on-field problems which show no sign of going away. After five matches the experimental period of his reign is over, though it is disturbing to reflect on how little he has learned. Of even greater concern is how little the new manager has attempted to change as, other than a quick look at Ashley Young and David Bentley, Capello has largely relied on the same underachieving players used by Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren.

A daunting World Cup qualifier in Zagreb is no place to experiment, as McClaren learnt to his cost, but Capello has to make some changes, particularly to a midfield that has repeatedly failed to function against even mediocre opposition. David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry and Steven Gerrard may look good on paper in a Fantasy League team, but rarely do so when combined together in real life on grass.

Given the dearth of English talent playing regularly in the Premier League there are no obvious alternatives, though £6 million-a-year was never meant to be easy money. The least Capello could do is offer something different.

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It may be significant that managers of the stature of Jose Mourinho and Luiz Felipe Scolari had no hesitation in making John Terry club captain at Chelsea, whereas Sir Alex Ferguson has yet to bestow the same honour on Rio Ferdinand at Manchester United, despite the fact that the current incumbent, Gary Neville, has started just one first-team match in the past 17 months. Perhaps Capello knows what he’s doing after all.

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Given his outstanding record in the area of player recruitment over the past 12 years, Arsenal fans should perhaps give Arsene Wenger the benefit of the doubt regarding his shock signing of Mikael Silvestre, yet this neutral still needs convincing.

The 31-year-old has not played a competitive match for 18 months, and even during his best periods at Manchester United, often appeared to be only one step away from calamity. Silvestre can be proud of his achievements at Old Trafford, particularly when playing as a centre-back alongside Ferdinand, but the prefix “error-prone” was not bestowed on him for nothing, hardly qualities required by an already jittery defence at Arsenal.

Indeed, in William Gallas, Philippe Senderos and Silvestre Wenger could soon be in possession of three of the flakiest centre-backs in the Premier League. Of even greater concern for Arsenal fans should be Sir Alex Ferguson’s willingness to let Silvestre join a major rival, a highly unusual decision shown by the fact that Brian Kidd was the last player to make the same journey from the North West to north London 34 years ago. A brief recollection of the extreme lengths Ferguson went to in order to prevent Gabriel Heinze – another defender whose best days were behind him – joining Liverpool 12 months ago should tell Wenger all he needs to know.

Comments

[chido]

Silvestre not played for 18 months eh? Well he got injured against Everton less than a year ago (cruciate) and missed about 6-7months. He played against roma in the last 16 of the champions league.

As for Heinze, his best days are certainly not behind him..judging by his Real Madrid performances last season

[JamieH80]

Matt Hughes you are an idiot - Heinze was certainly not past his best - United had Evra and Heinze wanted to start every week which is why he asked for a transfer - regarding your pathetic point about Rio -Neville is the club Captain and Giggs is vice. Whenever those two didnt play Ferdinand was given the armband - Champions League final etc..... Why do I get the feeling your mummy and your daddy are friends with someone who got you this job - its the only explanation i can think of - awful awful article

[CheshireRed]

Two years ago Gary Neville was regularly playing for United and Rio wasn't either the player or man he is now, thus there was no reason or desire to change the staus quo.

Since then Nev' has been injured long term and Wes Brown (will he ever get the credit he deserves?) has done such a magnificent job Nev's best days are almost certainly behind him. For now he retains his status as 'club captain'. Meanwhile, Rio stepped in alongside Giggs as team captain when required.

If Gary Neville ever regains full fitness and then when he steps down from guaranteed starter to squad player - which will probably be at the end of this season, Rio will step up to club captain.

In the last two years Rio has matured as a man - fatherhood eh? and developed into the worlds best central defender. His time will come, and will be deserved when it does.

Meanwhile John Terry has no serious rival for the captaincy of Chelsea. With the exception of Frank Lampard (who is best left to be the outstanding player he is rather than be burdened with the captains armband) there is no other Chelsea player who is able to combine being suitable for the job as well as being a certain starter each and every game.

[Ste]

Fabio is obviously going to have to wait until after the 2010 world cup before making radical changes. If England don't get to the 2010 finals, Fabio recognises he will be gone, and there isn't time to blood the likes of Agbonglahor, Young, Campbell etc. So he has to struggle on with this band of proven losers. That's why Beck's is still a massive component in Fabio's plans. He may not do so much these days, but he's the only England player to create anything at all.

[James, Sydney]

William Gallas is one of the best centre backs in the country, and in Premier League history. Further, Silvestre and Ferdinand had a season together when they were one of the strongest in the league. I think it is a great bit of business for Arsenal, though Senderos is admittedly dire.

[Giancarlo]

There are not enough quality English players, it is as simple as that. Only Terry, Gerrard and Lampard are of international standard but the last two cannot play together. Add to all this that there is no decent English keeper. A club's manager can try to extract the most from mediocre players by working hard every day. The coach of a national team sees his player for a couple of days every 2 months, not a chance of performing miracles.

[Alex Granata]

Too much negativity. Cole scored during the last minutes, a proof that some English spirit is back. England's opponent team is rated 9th by FIFA, do not dismiss it too quickly.
Rome was not built in one day.

[Alex Granata]

Why are we looking at all the negative aspects of the match and not at the positive ones?
Yes, there are positive aspects: Cole scored during the last minutes. Is it not proof that some English spirit is finally back? And was not England's opponent rated the 9th best team by FIFA?
Cheer up, Rome was not built in one day.

[Gary Kolhi]

Perhaps Capello is not the only deluded person; perhaps England should be rejoicing the fact that they held one of the best 16 teams in Europe to a draw.

[Eduardo Pierce]

Why was Capello fired from Real Madrid after winning La Liga? For the reasons that you saw last night at Wembley. Capello is a bad judge of players’ abilities inside the concept of a team (instead of individually). To name just a couple: to name Terry as captain and Robinson as goalkeeper is more of the same madness of mediocrity. There are 20 more such samples, but you figure them out Favio, I don't get paid 6 million to do it for you.

[Setubal]

Giggs is Wales' best player and has been world class for 15 years now. Also a terrific gentleman! Neville is not playing, how can he be captain? Rio's captained United to the double and Champions League final! This just shows United have many more leaders than Chelsea or England do.

[Neil]

And that match at Stamford Bridge back in April that Silvestre played in looked pretty competetive to me!

[Alex]

You expect Sir Alex to strip both Neville and Giggs of their claims to the captaincy? The two most senior players at the club and destroy both their morale?

You have no idea do you. Rio is captain in waiting, vice captain to giggs last season, once this season is over he will be the man with the armband