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| No | 35% | 39 votes | Total: 111 votes | |
| Yes | 65% | 72 votes |
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Add to FavoritesNo. Capello is not the right man for England. When he was hired as England's manager I was impressed, and thought that he would be a great improvement upon the previous manager. How quickly times change. As I write this England are preparing for two world cup qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia. The alarm bells started going off with the team selection for the friendly against the Czech Republic. In the previous friendly against Trinidad & Tobago, Capello let everyone know that he was running a meritocracy. Where the players that were playing the best who be selected instead of the best players. The selection of virtual unknown Joe Lewis drove this point home. However with the match against the Czechs there were names present that had no business being there and glaring absentees. The match against the Czechs was awful, but it was a friendly and the Czechs are a decent side. I wasn't ready to jump off the Capello bandwagon just yet. However he picked a nearly identical side for the two World Cup qualifiers. Why is Heskey in the side at the expense of Agbonlahor? Where is Ashley Young? What has Paul Robinson done to be included? In addition his selection and formation have become eerily similar to Sven's & Steve's where players are constantly played out of position. Joe Cole and Theo Walcott are a few examples of this. Playing players out of position is like putting a square peg in a round hole, and certainly doesn't sound like a meritocracy.
A meritocracy is exactly the kind of selection system that England needs. Look at the formation that you want to play and pick the best 11 for your formation. If you are going to play a 4-4-2, make sure you have two players who play striker week in week out, a player that plays on the left week in week out, and so on. If you would rather play a 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1 or any formation under the sun, pick the players that suit your formation. If you pick players because of the name on the back you will end up with problems on the pitch. If you pick the best players at each position in your formation you will get results on the pitch. A perfect example of this is Spain from Euro 2008, they didn't select Raul at all and had Cesc & Xabi Alonso coming off the bench and won the tournament. Of course team selection isn't everything an increasing part of managing is dealing with the player egos. This again can be aided by a true meritocracy. If you don't select a player they may throw a tantrum and not want to be a part of the team, well then they are liking to be a disruptive force on the team anyway. England has enough depth of talent to bring players into the squad who want to play for England. This will produce the results that English fans expect.
Fabio Capello started out with the right idea, but has moved away from it. Which is why he is no longer the right man for the job. I hope that Capello can prove me wrong, but I am finding it difficult to be optimistic. There is a chance that he will return to a proper meritocracy in time to see England qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
Learn more about this author, Kevin Elder.
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Yes
Fabio Capello might not be English, but there are some compelling reasons for his appointment by the FA. In most respects, he is a good choice of manager for the England role.
For starters, he has one of the best track records in club football. From Real Madrid to Juventus, he has coached some of the largest clubs in the world and brought success. Most recently, the Spanish League title with Madrid. With such a record, he is regarded as being one of the best club managers in the game.
He will undoubtedly bring more sophisticated training and coaching to the England set-up. Likewise, some needed tactical sophistication will be brought after McClaren's shortcomings. Overall, he has a wealth of experience and coaching ability.
Critics have pointed to the fact that he is not a fluent English speaker (yet). Capello has fully committed himself to remedying this. And of course, as has been needed in the early stages, interpreters can be used to pass on instructions to the players.
Those that wish for an English manager are unfortunately forgetting to recognize that there really aren't any English coaches comparable to Mr Capello - or indeed close for that matter. All England's top-clubs have foreigners and a Scot. Likewise it should not be forgotten that the last two English managers, McClaren and Keegan, did not fare well. England failed to qualify for the Euro championship and previously, with Keegan, did not go beyond the group stages of the tournament. One was fired, and the other resigned after a 1-0 home defeat to Germany.
Looking at the early friendly games, England beat the Swiss 2-1 and lost to France 1-0. You can't really read too much into these, but England looked pretty solid in the first game and got the right result. Against the French, they were playing the World Cup runners up and a 1-0 friendly defeat to them is not a serious concern. They are not a team you would always expect England to beat.
All things considered, yes he is the right man for England. They now have a coach who will shake-up the England set-up, and I am sure will achieve the right results. He will give England the necessary change of direction and will ensure that England qualify for the next World Cup. One can only speculate as to how far Capello can take England, but I have few doubts he will fare better than most of England's former managers. Except perhaps Sir Alf!
Learn more about this author, Matthew Adams.
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