England have crashed out of the World Cup following a dismal performance against Germany to leave Fabio Capello fighting for his job, the whole campaign has been nothing short of a disaster from start to finish and Capello must take his fair share of the blame with the team failing to live up to the high expectations placed on them. Capello said before the tournament that he wanted to take England to the Final and with the team falling so far short his position as the Boss looks as good as untenable. It was only a few months ago that the Italian was being lauded for guiding the team through qualification but in truth they were completely outclassed by a decent German side leaving the England team facing a bleak future.

Ever since Robert Green let a Clint Dempsey shot through his fingers in the first game the team looked well short of top form, they were atrocious against Algeria, scraped a win against Slovenia and were demolished by Germany in Bloemfontein on Sunday. The defending displayed by John Terry and Matthew Upson on Sunday was akin to that of school children and right throughout the team there seemed to be a lack of pace and class which the Germans had in abundance. While the players must take their fare share of the blame for the performance there is no doubting that the buck should stop with the Italian Manager, Capello is being paid £6million a year with the aim of winning the World Cup and he has fallen short of his targets.

There has to be huge question marks around the decisions of Capello at the World Cup with his stubbornness hindering the progress of the team, his defiance in sticking with the rigid 4-4-2 formation meant that Steven Gerrard was pushed out to the left wing where he was virtually non existent when England needed him most. Gareth Barry was included despite being injured and when he got onto the field he looked laboured and off the pace with the German midfield running rings around the Man City man. Question marks also have to be raised about Fabio Capello’s decision to take Ledley King, he is a man that is unable to train and he managed to last 45 minutes against the USA before picking up an injury meaning we failed to see the Spurs Captain again in the tournament.

We then come onto the conundrum of Wayne Rooney, the Man Utd Striker entered the tournament as one of the most feared players  in the World but he heads home after barely having a shot on goal, Capello failed to get the best out of  his star player with Rooney unable to control the ball for large parts of the four games. It was clear to most that Steven Gerrard should have joined Rooney upfront but the Manager persisted with an out-of-form Emile Heskey who looked completely out of his depth at this level.

Of course there is no way that Capello will resign as England Manager, with two more years to run on his existing deal, he is not about to forfeit £12million any time soon but it is clear that major changes are needed from top to bottom in the England set up. The Sack Race believes that Capello must go with the manner of the defeat against Germany the real crux of the issue, had England lost after a battling display then most would be willing to give the Italian another chance but that was simply not the case. It is expected that many of the players in the squad will not feature in the next world Cup so it seems like the ideal time to start blooding the youngsters, it appears at this stage though that Capello is reluctant to do that  leaving the FA with some big decisions to make over the next few weeks.

Next England Manager Odds with SkyBet - 28/06/2010

H Redknapp – 7/2
R Hodgson – 11/4
M O’Neill – 11/2
S Pearce – 15/2
S Allardyce – 10/1
M Lippi – 16/1
F Rijkaard – 16/1
L Felipe Scolari – 16/1
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All markets supplied by SkyBet

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