Wales 0 England 2: Superior England cruise to victory as Speed faces up to another tough task

WHEN this season kicked off last August for Gary Speed in Cardiff, he could not have imagined the travails that lay ahead.

At the time, the former Welsh international was Kevin Blackwell’s assistant at Sheffield United and hoping to be part of a promotion push to the Premier League.

A promising start then saw the Blades claim a 1-1 draw in the Welsh capital only for a heavy defeat at home to Neil Warnock’s QPR the following weekend to prompt the Bramall Lane board to dispense with Blackwell’s services and hand Speed his first managerial job.

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Four months of largely struggle later and with United just about keeping their heads above water near the foot of the Championship, Speed was bidding farewell to south Yorkshire after accepting an offer to manage his country.

It seemed a smart move with the Blades’ problems suggesting the club was heading in only one direction, a feeling borne out by Micky Adams’ record since taking charge at the turn of the year.

For Speed, meanwhile, the hope was that the Wales job would offer a welcome change of fortune for someone who is still revered in the Valleys due to only Neville Southall having won more than his 85 caps.

The reality, however, has been rather different with Speed’s first two games in charge of the national team, against the Republic of Ireland and England, having laid bare the size of the task facing the 41-year-old.

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With embarrassing ease, Fabio Capello’s Three Lions coasted to a win that was much more comfortable than the final scoreline suggests.

As a contest, it was all but over after just 15 minutes courtesy of a Frank Lampard penalty and a Darren Bent tap-in.

After that, the visiting side were able to relax, safe in the knowledge that three valuable qualification points were heading back up the M4.

The rest of the game, in fact, was played out at a slow tempo – meaning a trip that had promised to be a stern test for England instead became little more than a testimonial-style run-out.

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That Capello’s men were able to canter to victory was down to Wales being, quite frankly, awful.

Speed clearly wants his team to play a passing game, just as he did at Bramall Lane after succeeding Blackwell.

However, as with his brief stint in charge of the Blades, Wales simply don’t have the calibre of footballers to make such an approach work.

Nowhere was this more apparent against England than in defence where centre-back pairing James Collins and Ashley Williams looked anything but comfortable on the ball.

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England recognised this Achilles heel very early on with Bent, Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young closing down the pair at every opportunity.

It was a similar story if the defence did manage to move the ball as far as midfield, while up front it is arguable that Craig Bellamy plays with a better standard of player at Cardiff City than he does in international football.

Certainly, Millwall’s Steve Morison is no Jay Bothroyd or Michael Chopra while the Welsh midfield also lacks anyone of Peter Whittingham’s creativity – a notion born out by England’s Joe Hart not having one save to make in the entire 90 minutes.

Credit, of course, must go to England for the manner in which they ruthlessly punished the failings of the home side.

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Employing a formation that, for most of the game, was 4-3-3 with Rooney and Young supporting Bent and both full-backs getting forward, the visitors took an iron-like grip on proceedings from the very start.

Scott Parker’s presence in midfield was a key factor in this early control with the West Ham man linking up impressively with Jack Wilshere and Lampard.

It was Lampard who gave England the lead on seven minutes, albeit from the penalty spot after Young had been clumsily bundled to the ground by Aston Villa team-mate James Collins.

The goal deflated a home crowd who had started the afternoon by jeering ‘God Save The Queen’ and then doing the same every time an England player touched the ball in the opening stages.

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Welsh voices were then all but silenced eight minutes later when a sweeping English move saw Glen Johnson pick Young out with a delightful pass over the top.

With left-back Danny Collins caught badly out of position, Young then raced to the by-line before drilling a low cross for Bent to fire into the roof of the net.

It was ‘game over’ and the capacity crowd knew it with the only noise for the rest of the first half coming from the away fans, who couldn’t resist a chant of ‘Are you Scotland in disguise?’ after yet another Welsh pass went astray.

After the break, the pace visibly slackened with England clearly content to simply protect what they had.

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This did allow Wales to finally ask some questions of the visitors’ defence with Aaron Ramsey, in particular, improving markedly after a truly woeful opening 45 minutes when the new Wales captain seemed, if anything, to be trying too hard to impress.

On the hour, Ramsey did pick out Morison with a delightful pass only for the Millwall striker to mis-control horrendously and allow Hart to collect.

The Arsenal man then had a shot that flew over the crossbar, while Bellamy did the same as the home fans were finally woken from their slumber.

Even so, as the Welsh forced several corners in quick succession, there was still the feeling that England would up their game if required.

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In the end, though, there was no need with Wales not managing even one effort on target with it being former Middlesbrough wideman Stewart Downing coming closest to finding the net in the second half with a fearsome shot that flew just wide of the post in stoppage time.

It was the last action of a qualifier to ensure what had been a difficult week for Capello had ended on a positive note.

For Speed, however, all his home managerial bow underlined was that it is not just former club Sheffield United who are in need of a big re-building job in the coming months and years.

Rooney in the dark over ban

Fabio Capello has revealed Wayne Rooney was stunned to discover he was suspended for England’s next Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland.

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Rooney was booked for a foul on Joe Ledley just before half-time on Saturday and must now sit out an important game at Wembley on June 4.

“Rooney didn’t realise,” Capello said. “I just told him it was not a good booking. He said ‘Why?’

“He didn’t remember that he got booked before.”