England Match No. 892 - Montenegro Summary and Report (original) (raw)

England Football Online
	Page Last Updated 12 October 2010

Match Summary

Officials from Germany	England	Type	Montenegro
Referee (yellow) - Manuel Gräfe 37 (21 September 1973), Berlin, FIFA-listed 2007; Assistant Referees - Markus Häcker, 36 (17 April 1974), Pentz and Volker Wezel, 45 (15 September 1965), Tübingen; Fourth official - Peter Gagelmann, 42 (9 June 1968), Bremen; Teams presented to the President of the FIFA International Committee and the Montenegrin FA President.	11	Goal Attempts	4
6	Attempts on Target	0
0	Hit Bar/Post	1
3	Corner Kicks Won	0
1	Offside Calls Against	0
18	Fouls Conceded	23
65.4	Possession	34.6

England Team

Rank:	FIFA (15 September 2010) 6th EFO rankingGroup 3 ELO rating 6 th	Colours:	The 2010 home uniform - White open-neck jerseys with coloured crosses across upper panel, royal blue shorts, white socks with royal blue tops.
Capt:	Rio Ferdinand, sixth captaincy	Manager:	Fabio Capello, 64 (18 June 1946), appointed 14 December 2007, effective 7 January 2008, 32nd match, W 22 - D 5 - L 5 - F 73 - A 27.
England Lineup
1	Hart, C. Joseph J.	23	19 April 1987	G	Manchester City FC	7	2 ᵍᵃ
2	Johnson, Glen M.	26	23 August 1984	R B	Liverpool FC	30	1
3	Cole, Ashley	29	20 December 1980	L B	Chelsea FC	86	0
4	Gerrard, Steven G.	30	30 May 1980	CM	Liverpool FC	88	19
5	Ferdinand, Rio G.	31	7 November 1978	CD	Manchester United FC	79	2
6	Lescott, Joleon P.	28	16 August 1982	C D	Manchester City FC	11	0
7	Young, Ashley S., off 74th min.	25	9 July 1985	LM	Aston Villa FC	10	0
Young cautioned in the 60th minute for ungentlemanly conduct after allegedly diving in the penalty area following a challenge.
8	Barry, Gareth	29	23 February 1981	CM	Manchester City FC	43	2
Barry cautioned in the 63rd minute for unsporting behaviour after clattering Kašćelan in an aerial challenge.
9	Crouch, Peter J., off 70th min.	29	30 January 1981	F	Tottenham Hotspur FC	41	21
10	Rooney, Wayne M.	24	24 October 1985	F	Manchester United FC	68	25
Rooney cautioned in the 53rd minute for unsporting behaviour after a 25-yard run to clip the heels of Zverotić.
11	Johnson, Adam	23	14 July 1987	RM	Manchester City FC	5	2
England Substitutes
18	Davies, Kevin C., on 70th (69:18)min. for Crouch	33	26 March 1977	F	Bolton Wanderers FC	1	0
Davies cautioned in the 85th minute for unsporting behaviour after backing into Dzudović in an aerial challenge.
15	Wright-Phillips, Shaun C., on 74th min. for Young	28	25 October 1981	M	Manchester City FC	36	6
result: England 0 Montenegro 0
unused substitutes:	12-Ben Foster, 13-Stephen Warnock, 14-Gary Cahill, 16-Jack Wilshere, 17-Stewart Downing.
team notes:	Steven Gerrard has now appeared in nineteen of England's 21 home matches at the National Stadium, just one ahead of Gareth Barry, who in turn is three ahead of Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney.
Coach Fabio Capello played for Italy against England in June (scoring one) and November 1973 (scoring another), and in May and November 1976.
4-4-2	Hart - G.Johnson, Ferdinand, Lescott, Cole - A.Johnson, Gerrard, Barry, Young (Wright-Phillips) - Rooney, Crouch (Davies).
Averages (Starting XI):	Age	27.0	Appearances/Goals	42.5	6.7

Montenegro Team

Rank:	FIFA (15 Sept'ber 2010) =40th EFO rankingn/a ELO rating 48 th	Colours:	Made by Legea -Red crew neck jerseys with yellow collar/piping/side panel, red shorts, red socks with yellow tops;
Capt:	Branko Bo š ković	Manager:	Zlatko Kranjčar, 53 (15 November 1956 in Zagreb), appointed February 2010. 7th match, W 3 - D 1 - L 3 - F 6 - A 5.
Montenegro Lineup
1	Bozović, Mladen	26	1 August 1984	G	Videoton FC, Hungary	13	0
21	Savi ć , Stefan	19	8 January 1991	RB	FK Partizan, Serbia	3	0
Savić cautioned in the 52nd minute for unsporting behaviour after tripping Ashley Young as he was running into the penalty area.
3	Ba š a, Marko	27	29 December 1982 born in Yugoslavia	CD	FC Lokomotiv Moskva, Russia	11	1
Baša cautioned in the 57th minute for unsporting behaviour after sliding hard into Ashley Young outside the penalty area.
4	Jovanovi ć , Milan	27	21 July 1983 born in Yugoslavia	LB	PFC Spartak Nalchik, Russia	23	0
20	Dzudovi ć , Miodrag	31	6 September 1979	CD	PFC Spartak Nalchik, Russia	13	1
Dzudović cautioned in the 25th minute for unsporting behaviour after upending Ashley Cole as he was running towards the penalty area.
13	Novaković, Mitar, off 62nd min.	29	27 September 1981	LM	FC Amkar, Russia	17	0
7	Vukčević, Simon	24	29 January 1986	RM	Sporting Clube de Portugal, Portugal	25	2
Vukčević cautioned in the 94th minute for unsporting behaviour after deliberately handling the ball at a Gerrard free-kick.
17	Zveroti ć , Elsad	23	31 October 1986	CM	FC Luzern, Switzerland	21	1
15	Pekovi ć , Milorad	33	5 August 1977	CM	SpVgg Greuther Fürth, Germany	21	0
10	Đ alović, Radomir, off 77th min.	27	29 October 1982	F	HNK Rijeka, Croatia	19	6
11	Bo š ković, Branko, off 82nd min.	30	21 June 1980 born in Yugoslavia	F	DC United, United States	22	1
Montenegro Substitutes
6	Ka šćelan, Mladen, on 62nd min. for Novaković	27	13 February 1983	M	Jagiellonia Białystok, Poland	12	0
Kašćelan cautioned in the 64th minute for unsporting behaviour after another challenge on Ashley Young.
23	Delibaši ć , Andrija, on 77th min. for Đalović	29	24 April 1981	F	Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, Spain	7	1
8	Be ć iraj, Fatos, on 82nd min. for Bošković	22	22 May 1988 born in Yugoslavia	F	NK Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia	9	0
result: England 0 Montenegro 0
unused substitutes:	5-Radoslav Batak, 12-Srđan Blazić, 14-Zarko Tomašević, 16-Luka Pejović.
team notes:	Simon Vukcević extends his tally as record appearance holder for Montenegro.
4-4-2	M.Bozović - Savi ć , D z udovi ć , Baš a , Jovanovi ć - Vukčević , Zveroti ć , Pekovi ć , Novakovi ć (Kašćelan) - Đ alović (Delibašić), Boš ković (Bećiraj).
Averages (Starting XI):	Age	26.9	Appearances/Goals	17.1	1.1

Match Reportby Mike Payne

Those of you who watch football regularly would have seen your favourite team play just like England played against Montenegro, with no real urgency, no passion and precious little to enthuse over. It was one of those nights at Wembley and not surprisingly the crowd voiced their disapproval at the end.

Whatever way you look at this game it was a poor performance by England, admittedly against a team that had one aim, and that was not to lose. But England have played many games, especially at home, when the opposition had no intention of attacking, but for some reason the spark was missing and England could find no way through the massed defence. They really needed an early goal and a through ball by Steven Gerrard in the third minute just needed a touch, but even Peter Crouch's long legs couldn't reach the ball. Gerrard was actually one of England's brighter performers but he played far to deep in the first half as the home team's laboured approach work was easily dealt with by the well-organised Montenegro side. Only one clear chance was created, when Gerrard found Glenn Johnson with a quick free-kick in the 16th minute. Johnson crossed and Crouch had a free header, which he fluffed.

Exciting moments were few and far between in that awful first 45 minutes and although wingers Adam Johnson and Ashley Young looked lively, their final pass into the box was never quite right. Gareth Barry had a poor game and gave the ball away far too often and Wayne Rooney is obviously far from being back to his devastating best. A lot of passes went square instead of forward and only Gerrard looked to play the ball behind defenders. Meanwhile at the other end Joe Hart hardly touched the ball and the back four were never tested. Having said that Glenn Johnson and Ashley Cole never made any of the marauding runs to support the attack and England's lack of ideas was worrying to say the least. From manager Fabio Capello's point of view it was a little strange that he seemed so reluctant to change the system to try and unlock the visiting defence.

After the break England's midfield did push forward a little more and one or two chances were created. A Gerrard cross evaded everyone and both Adam Johnson and Young shot over from free-kicks. That followed a succession of fouls by Montenegro defenders, with one blatant body check against Young within a whisker of being a penalty.

With 21 minutes to go Capello brought on Kevin Davies for his first appearance, the oldest debutant since 1950, and for a few minutes the attack was livened up. Off went the ineffectual Crouch, and Davies was soon combining with Rooney. England's best attack of the night inevitably involved Gerrard who spotted Rooney's clever dart into the inside-right channel. Gerrard's pass was perfect but the goalkeeper Bozovic made an excellent block with his right hand to stop Rooney getting the goal that would hopefully lift his spirits. The goalkeeper again excelled as another shot from Rooney was pushed away and then Bozovic had an easy save from Gerrard's long range effort.

The game's defining moment came with about ten minutes left as a blatant handball by Jovanovic from a left-wing cross was missed by both referee and linesman. It should have been an obvious penalty and how the officials missed it one can only guess. Having said that, with the inept way that England performed on the night, there was certainly no guarantee that they would have converted a spot-kick.

Ironically, with seven minutes to go, Jovanovic almost made Montenegro's night complete when he smashed a volley that beat Hart all ends up, but luckily for England, crashed back off the bar. It was the visitor's only attempt at goal all evening. Barry had another chance near the end of the match but Bozovic again blocked the shot. The jubilant Montenegro players celebrated at the final whistle as they had what they came for. England, meanwhile, trudged off the pitch at almost the same pace that they had played the match. Why is it with England, that after two uplifting results in their opening games they then take several steps backwards again?

I suppose we should all be used to it by now.

Source Notes

BBC Sport TheFA.com ITV.com/football UEFA.com Mike Payne - football historian and contributor ____________________ CG