A triumph of hype over reason

RELIEF, joy, ecstasy, all round at Wembley on Saturday. Thank heavens that's over. Maybe we'll get some football now. Amid all the hype, there was precious little of it in this game. Afterwards, reason just went out the window and humility was, likewise, only notable for its absence.

Everything about England at Euro 96 is over the top. So, suddenly, the host country has lurched from utter despair to total euphoria with one swivel and a swagger from Gazza.

The word genius has been liberally dispersed. Terry Venables smugly negotiated interview after interview; his players revelled in putting one over the enemy within, i.e. the press.

In the celebratory aftermath of Alan Shearer's opening goal, Paul Gascoigne ran to the crosser, Gary Neville, and then gestured in the direction of the press tribune. Conveniently, the "traitors" had all been lumped together in one box and had, unwittingly, become England's greatest source of motivation.

Gazza's goal garnished, or more pertinently. varnished everything. Any debate or misgivings about the actual performance was glossed over.

Earlier, the tight lipped Shearer allowed himself some untypical personal back beating. "I'm pleased for myself," he said after his second goal in two games answered his critics, though the majority of the press corps have actually retained faith in such a proven goalscorer. "I've never lost faith in my own abilities."

But then, Shearer even went so far as to suggest that the sheer awfulness of England's first half performance was all part of their master plan. We managed to keep them at bay in the first half. We knew if we came out strong in the second half they couldn't live with us. That was our plan and it worked a treat.

Surely you jest Alan? But no, returning to this theme he added: "You can't go out and chase the game for 90 minutes at this level. You've got to be very patient. We've learned that and it worked very well today." Whoaaa Betsy.

It is undoubtedly true that England were clearly striving to pace themselves and none more obviously than the deep lying Paul Gascoigne. The absence of last week's cooling breeze in 100 degree heat contributed to this tactic and the unexpectedly mild nature of the exchanges.

However, one little spell of effort and inspiration after the interval (or whenever the tap is turned on) will not be sufficient to overcome superior sides to the Scots - of which there are many at these finals.

Depending on your viewpoint, Saturday's bout of brilliance lasted seven minutes at full throttle, or, taking the second hall kick off as the starting point. 16 at most. Nor could it disguise the deep flaws in the first half display.

Far from man marking Gascoigne (who was stationed on the inside right of a packed midfield supplemented by Gareth Southgate, in the one positional switch from last week) Stuart McCall exerted greater influence with his distribution in an advanced midfield role.

Ironically in view of his subsequent missed penalty, Gary McAllister was the most influential player on the pitch, though it all added up to a fairly slight and unthreatening ascendancy.

Alluding to this in a rare rational moment, Venables admitted we were too bunched in the first half and lacked width." He claimed to counter this by switching the wide men Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman, supplementing the team's greater threat on the flank by asking the strikers to roam wide.

Yet in point of fact, the largely ineffectual Anderton and the true outfield match winner McManaman (Seaman assuring victory more than anyone) had been switched with negligible effect during the first half.

Nor did McManaman assume an out and out right winger's role after the break. It was more of the free ranging role, coming off the inside right channel which he enjoys at Liverpool. Crucially, it allows him to take people on either on the left or the right. Significantly, the turnaround which the Liverpool dribble instigated suggests that he, rather than Gazza, is Venables' trump card.

It still hasn't been satisfactorily explained whether McManaman was liberated by Venables or did so of his own volition. But, either way, the match changed irrevocably after 55 minutes.

"Geroff," McManaman practically said to Gary Neville when taking the ball off the polished and remarkably mature full back inside England's half to run at the Scots and shoot fractionally wide of the angle with his left favoured left.

Clearly he can shoot with the weaker peg better than he can cross with it. In one fell swoop, the crowd were up and shouting. England were up and running. Different match; different place.

Just as critically, on the two occasions Scotland had to get a hold of the ball and a game that was increasingly getting away from them, Andy Goram and Colin Calderwood launched speculative long balls and immediately conceded possession.

If Euro 96 has reinforced one principle in modern football, it is that possession is nine tenths of the law. No club embodies this principle in English football more than Liverpool and their home grown talents. Which brings us to another hugely influential factor - Jamie Redknapp.

Here I confess to being a fan of the English player, who has perhaps the best technique of any of them. Had Redknapp's season not been disrupted by injury it's quite conceivable that Venables would have developed their passing game a lot more convincingly. As it was, England were a different team with Redknapp on board.

Redknapp was twice involved in the six man move incorporating eight passes which culminated in Shearer's goal. That the inspired McManaman was also a different player may well have something to do with the arrival of his friend, for the Liverpool youngsters are a very close-knit bunch.

So should Redknapp become a fixture in the team henceforth? What is Venables best team? Does he know himself?

Unfortunately though, Redknapp may not be an option, damaged ligaments obliging him to hobble alongside the pitch on crutches some time after the game.

The real significance of Gascoigne's wonderfully taken goal in an otherwise undistinguished display, was that it enables England to draw with Holland tomorrow night to top the group and stay at Wembley.

Even defeat would still require Switzerland to beat the Scots to deprive them of qualification for the quarter finals. But Redknapp's fitness and many other imponderables still make it doubtful that they will progress any further.

For the Scots to qualify, they must make up three points on the Dutch by beating the Swiss while, unusually, hoping for an English win at Wembley. Unusual? Unique.