Now it actually is must win for England

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Written by James Beckett Tuesday, 22 June 2010 20:19

Okay okay...your probably getting a bit fed up of me telling you that it is must win for England, but now you have to believe me, because...it's must win for England!

Well we could get through with a 2-2 draw, hoping the USA and Algeria draw 0-0 but even then we would have to draw lots, so lets just say for arguments sake it is must win for England.

By all a Lineker destroys Poland in 1986 ccounts it's been a pretty dire few days to be an England fan. It started with Friday's woeful draw with Algeria, then we had John Terry and his 'Big Mistake', put all this together with the mass negative feeling that has swept across England, it's not been a good week so far for Fabio Capello.

However it must be said how well that both Capello and Frank Lampard came across in the press conferences following Terry's outburst. Both looked assured with their answers, and there was a real feeling that the squad were determined not to disappoint once again.

But for me, right now if you offered me a scrappy 1-0 win tomorrow, I would bite your hand off. I think England need to just concentrate on winning the game, the performance isn't important right now.

In an ideal world we would all want to play like Spain and win 4 or 5 nil, but we need to be realistic and accept that we can't do this, we haven't got the players who are going to play in this way. We need to use the natural advantages that we have, pace and power. I feel we can bully Slovenia on Wednesday and this will be enough to see England in the last 16 of the World Cup.

From then on, the slate is wiped clean, and what has gone in the group stages is forgotten. Despite the obvious benefits in terms of form from good displays in the group stage, if England win the group, it doesn't make a difference how we have done it.

I write this with not only hope but expectation. England fans have been accused of been unrealistic in the past, but I feel we need a bit of realism now, we are playing Slovenia not Brazil, and even an under par England should see of any Slovenian threat. The same should have been said against Algeria, but hopefully that was a one off game, and England can now perform when it really matters, and get the win that will kick start our campaign.