England miss a sitter, fall apart at the back and Robinson drops another monumental clanger as Spartak Moscow’s Pavlyuchenko scores twice to give Russia a vital win, good England first half and a better Russian second; 2-1 home win. 

 

A cold; but not desperately so; night in Moscow sees huge crowds amidst tight security.  A must win game for both managers, an England win sees the three lions qualify and a Russian win means; with a game in hand; Russia’s fate in their own hands.  Much was made of the fieldturf pitch but with many players not regulars in Moscow the home advantage was slim and FIFA rankings of 8 and 26 suggest England are a superior team. 

 

McClaren; as usual beset by injuries; made some changes to the line up that won in Estonia. 

Robinson still gets the nod between the sticks, despite poor league form; the back four of Richards, Ferdinand, Campbell and Lescott is a new one, Campbell should complement Ferdinand and Lescott; although a natural centre back shouldn’t find the left back position a problem; Barry retains his midfield spot with continued solid performances alongside a less than excellent Gerrard with Cole dribbling into trouble on the left and Wright-Philips crossing to no one on the right; Rooney and Owen are hitting form in the Premier League but need to show they can really work of each other. 

 

Hiddink; gets his first choice ‘keeper, Gabulov back between the sticks, ; the back three is the brothers Berezutski and Ignashevich; the five man midfield is Anyukov on the right, Bilyaletdinov, Zhirkov, Semshov, Zyrianov; Arshavin the deep sitting playmaker will play behind Kerzhakov. 

 

The Russians push the pace and the play to a heady tempo in the first five minutes, Kerzhakov gets into the action; Campbell clears an Arshavin cross; Ferdinand blocks a Zhirkov shot; Kerzhakov crosses to no one in particular; pressure is relieved with a hoof upfield for England which Rooney does poorly with. 

Russia pressure continues with Anyukov on the right giving Lescott a torrid time in his first full international start; but no real chances are created. 

the tussling in midfield is easily won by the Russians with more appetite for the ball, slicker passing and more tempo, they keep possession and stroke it around as well whilst England’s football is more direct. 

Richards, as he forays forward, wins a throw in which Rooney takes; unfathomably; Russia clears their lines with ease and break forward with Arshavin and Kerzhakov, the Sevilla striker tires a shot but gets a deflection of Campbell’s arm; Arshavin comes forward again but Gerrard; possibly his best contribution to the game; covers some ground to win the ball back although he promptly gives it back to the Russians with a poor pass; Barry tries to emulate the Liverpool forward by taking the ball from Kerzhakov, his pass makes it too a colleague but the colleague promptly hands possession back to the Russian side. 

Kerzhakov finishes a Russian attack with a poor dive yet doesn’t get penalized; Robinson easily saves a weak Russian shot; Zhirkov flies down the flank but Richards is obdurate and manages to stay with the Russian and make a tackle. 

V. Berezutski commits a foul in the middle and England hoof the free kick towards Rooney; the Manchester striker sees the half chance slip from the end of his boot but gets a corner kick; Gerrard finds Lescott at the back post but a Russian head see it behind for a second corner, the second kick is again cleared behind and the third sees Cole get on the end of a sweet training ground corner kick; under no pressure he shanks his shot badly. 

England have managed to weather the initial Russian onslaught and start to get a little more of the ball although Kerzhakov had beaten his marker but couldn’t get onto the end of a long ball over the top. 

Barry wins the ball deep in his own half; he takes it out and plays in Wright-Philips out wide, the Chelsea player has Rooney short and Owen deeper but manages to bisect them with a clumsy pass. 

Arshavin gets the ball and delivers a pinpoint cross field pass to Anyukov; the cross comes in short and Arshavin plays it across the area for Bilyaletdinov who only manages to scuff the shot; Arshavin is seeing more of the ball deep and using it well. 

As England sit back Zyrianov makes a run in the right channel and with no one challenging him he unleashes a fierce, low drive which grazes Robinson’s fingers (or perhaps not) and hits the post. 

Lescott stops another run from Anyukov and gets a free kick; the ball forward is scrappily cleared by Russia and come to Richards whose hoof is well met with a great leap from Owen, Rooney is at his predatory best as he chests the ball for control then blasts an unstoppable, raking volley over Gabulov and under the crossbar.  Against the run of play England gain the lead. 

Arshavin leads the Russian charge against a packed England defence, he plays in Anyukov whose first touch is poor though it gets him a corner kick which is deep and rather poor; Arshavin finds Semshov who works in Zyrianov on the right his cross is rewarded with a corner which is again poor; Anyukov gets a lovely ball in which flashes through the England six yard box with no Russian’s nearby; Campbell then clears another Arshavin cross; two corner kicks are half cleared before Robinson manages to claim the third. 

An England free kick in a good forward position is wasted with Rooney shooting high and wide; Anyukov is having a great end to the half, rampaging almost at will down the right but not being able to cross the ball in with any quality; England are compact and dropping deep into their own area but Russia still go in at half time down. 

 

McClaren keeps things the same at half time whilst Hiddink brings off V. Berezutski and brings on Torbinskiy. 

 

Owen finds Richards, the right back crosses but Rooney’s header lacks the power to trouble Gabulov; Berezutski finds Zyrianov but the cross is poor; England gets a free kick on the right, Barry sends a beauty into the back post for an unmarked Gerrard; training ground stuff; but the Liverpool skipper shanks his shot wide; another Russia attack sees Arshavin’s shot blocked by Campbell and when the ball falls to Bilyaletdinov his shot is well blocked by Richards; Russian pressure continues with Bilyaletdinov’s cross cleared; Kerzhakov does well to make himself a yard of space on the edge of the area but his shot is poor; a Gerrard free kick is headed on by Rooney but the outstretched boot of Richards can’t connect with the ball for a goal scoring touch; Hiddink makes a pivotal change as he brings off Kerzhakov for the Spartak Moscow forward, Roman Pavlyuchenko. 

Campbell cuts out a Torbinskiy cross; Zhirkov’s cross is quality but isn’t found by a Russian run; Arshavin finds Bilyaletdinov but Campbell cuts out the shot; a Cole mistake sees Russia in a good position but the chance is wasted and the cross loops easily into Robinson’s hands; Rooney and Wright-Philips lose the ball on an England foray forward; but a poor pass from Torbinskiy give England a throw in; Arshavin finds Zyrianov and Rooney is beaten by the run outside; a left back he is not and hauls down the Russian, the tug was outside the box but the fall was inside and the far away referee points to the spot; the deadly substitute slams it home past a correct guessing Robinson.

England hit the self destruct button; as Russia look for a winner; Richards is skinned by Arshavin whose cross finds the edge of the England area packed with Russians and English; the Russians keep making openings but the ball won’t sit for them; they are adept at recycling the possession though and the chance comes for Berezutski, his shot is poorly parried by Robinson back into danger, Pavlyuchenko beats Lescott and Campbell to the ball and scores. 

The restart sees England attack but Wright-Phillips just gets a corner for his efforts; a Rooney throw in finds Richards but the knockdown is cleared, a second Rooney throw in finds Richards again but the ball on is held by Gabulov; Russian pressure is barely dealt with by an England defence at sixes and sevens; McClaren makes some drastic changes; Wright-Phillips comes off for Downing, Lampard replaces Lescott and Crouch comes on for Cole; the first contribution by a substitute is Downing; sitting in at left back; being skinned by Bilyaletdinov; route one tactics see Rooney get a corner kick; a Rooney long shot is claimed by Gabulov; but a redoubtable Russia don’t just defend; Zhirkov finds Arshavin who beats Richards to win a corner; the ball beats the man at the near post and is nearly turned in by Ferdinand; Downing is ripped by Zyrianov but recovers to force a corner kick; Crouch chests a hoofed ball down, Lampard finds Rooney but England only get a corner as Gabulov turns the shot around the post; Campbell gets a free header which sails over the bar and Gerrard wildly shoots high from range.

 

The Russians celebrate a fabulous win; playing a better standard of football than the English; they rode their luck and took their chances to put their European Championship future in their own hands. 

 

McClaren should be disgusted with himself and his team for falling apart and playing pretty poorly in such an important game. 

 

The referee wrongly awarded the penalty, the initial foul was outside the area; but he let the game flow and wasn’t card happy. 

 

 

England:-

Robinson

Richards

Ferdinand

Campbell

Lescott (Lampard 80)

Wright-Phillips (Downing 80)

Barry

Gerrard

Cole (Crouch 80)

Rooney

Owen

 

Booked:-

Ferdinand

Rooney

 

Goals:-

Rooney 28

 

 

Russia:-

Gabulov

V Berezutski (Torbinskiy 46)

Ignashevich

A Berezutski

Anyukov

Bilyaletdinov

Zhirkov

Semshov

Zyrianov

Kerzhakov (Pavlyuchenko 58)

Arshavin (Kolodin 90)

 

Booked:-

V Berezutski

Pavlyuchenko

 

Goals:-

Pavlyuchenko 69 (P), 73

 

Attendance:-

84700

 

Referee:-

Luis Medina Cantalejo (SPN).

 

 

Robinson – how can England’s ‘keeper make such elementary mistakes again and again and again, Zyrianov’s shot would have hit the post even if Robinson hadn’t got the merest touch on the ball. 

 

Richards – lacked the interplay with Wright-Phillips he has previously enjoyed and was again skinned too many times, he is pretty solid but hardly England’s best right back.

 

Ferdinand- very solid, no mistakes and some crucial blocks, he’ll be glad he didn’t score an own goal

 

Campbell; solid at the back, made some key blocks but didn’t trouble Gabulov with a free header late on

 

Lescott – got skinned a few times but stopped many more attacks down the Russian right, where was he for the Rooney tackle?

 

Wright-Phillips – barely stuck his head above the ramparts. 

 

Barry – Man of the Match, hard work all over the pitch, helping out his defenders, always available and always had a decent pass when in possession, rarely wasted a ball. 

 

Gerrard – Poor for Gerrard, the Liverpool skipper is not on top form for either club or country, his inclusion was a mistake, he missed a sitter and his distribution was shoddy

 

Joe Cole – pretty lame, didn’t do much to help Lescott in defence. 

 

Rooney – great goal, hard working performance.  Why is he taking throw ins? Why is he tackling on the edge of the area?

 

Owen – one good touch but AWOL for the rest of the game

almost back to his best, showed touch and ruthlessness in front of goal and worked hard when pushed wide. 

 

 

McClaren – his team went to pieces at crucial moments.  Lescott was an odd choice for left back as he is a centre back who covers the left for his club; Gerrard shouldn’t have been picked; the players lacked any ability to change the game once it got away from them.  This game looked like a Championship side getting beaten by a Premier League side; one side played football whilst the other side was more about effort and hard work. 

The FA sit in their plush Soho Square offices and give us a second rate manager who doesn’t get the job done and who makes too many mistakes (which keep getting made) whilst they allow the mediocrity of the England team to continue.