A Step Forward

I found myself a good deal more involved in the last twenty minutes or so of last night's England game than I'd expected myself to be. At that point it had become important for me that they should win because they deserved to and we were getting glimpses of qualities they could bring to games at the knock-out stages that had the potential to result in great games. I'm thinking here of the kind of blood and thunder, all or nothing, end to end stuff that, on its day, makes the Premiership the most watchable of all leagues.

We might just get that against Germany - the perfect opponents for the last sixteen. There's no point in playing a team you're going to be regarded as favourites to beat. You get the best football when it's all or nothing, as long as you've shed the shackles by then. And I get the feeling, from a distance and I may be wrong, but I do feel that Capello is the man who could unshackle the squad. His handling of the silliness following the Algeria game was exemplary - the contrast with the hapless Domenech is eerie and salutary.

And on a tangential but related point: why do Jamie Milner's step-overs look like they're being performed in slow motion? Is this intended to confuse the defender?