- The Guardian,
- Tuesday June 20 2000
Now the euphoria of beating Germany has died down, let's forget the ridiculous talk of winning Euro 2000 and realise there is serious work to be done just to reach the next round. It will take a better performance than Saturday's to see off Romania. And, although a draw will do, the players must not think like that.
I know how easily things can go wrong if minds are unclear. Missing out with Aston Villa against Deportivo la Coruna in Europe springs to mind. We got a 1-1 draw in Spain, had the advantage of an away goal but at our place the players didn't know whether to stick or bust.
For a long while it was a stalemate and then they hit us with a sucker punch. We lost 1-0 but, if we had needed to win, I'm sure the team would have approached things differently. England must play to win tonight. If you set out for a point there is no margin for error.
I think the best approach is a high-tempo game which makes the Romanians scurry. If the tempo is slow I wouldn't fancy us. Romania can play steady-steady and suddenly expose you. So England must close down quickly and not give the ball away cheaply.
In that regard I worry whether Paul Ince's fitness levels are up to a third game in nine days. But, assuming Ince plays, I would opt for a solid midfield with Steven Gerrard and Dennis Wise alongside David Beckham, and Paul Scholes as the link man behind Alan Shearer. Provided Scholes is fully fit I would leave Steve McManaman and Michael Owen on the bench ready to chase the game if needs be.
Which is not to say England should be negative. Far from it. I would tell Wise, Gerrard and Ince to press Romania high up the field. If they get tired they can come off. Against Romania setting the tone is so important.
The Romanians will be up for it but mentally they always seem fragile. The longer we give them no encouragement the more likely their heads are to go under. They don't strike me as a team who will go flying about in the last minute if things are not going for them.
But it will not be as easy as some people think. The suspension of Gheorghe Hagi is bad news as well as good. He must be the only player who has it in his contract that he's allowed time-outs.
Romania will miss his inspiration and leadership but they could bring in a younger player with decent skill who could hurt us with his energy. They already have a tidy midfielder in Dorinel Munteanu. He has a great shot and he could thrive on the added responsibility.
Up front England must beware Adrian Ilie, a goalscorer who will take people on. But, although the Romanian centre-backs will give Alan Shearer some stick, they look susceptible to pace. When Gica Popescu played for Galatasaray against Chelsea in the Champions League he looked lightning slow.
Yet we will need to improve on Saturday to avoid defeat. I thought we were better against Portugal. It's been almost forgotten that for the first 25 minutes England were awful. It's as bad as I've seen an England side play. We were not passing well or closing down properly. Too many crosses were getting in and that has to be addressed tonight. Germany were not good enough to take advantage but Romania will be.
After that match some England fans came up to me and said: "We were lucky but who cares?" If there's one match when you're allowed to say that, it's against Germany. I would be disgruntled if I was a German but they've had their luck against us down the years.
The ideal now would be to marry the resilience and determination of the last performance with the attacking flair of the Portugal game. If England do make the quarter-finals I would not be too optimistic, principally because the Italians were able to give players a breather last night. But most importantly, let's get there first.
