It was Steve McClaren's first game in charge as the new England manager and John Terry's first game as the new England captain and it was a great occasion as England thrashed Greece, the European Champions.
Appropriately, new captain John Terry scored the goal to put England 1-0 ahead, the first goal to be scored during Steve McClaren's reign.
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The Times August 17, 2006
England set standard for McClaren’s new regime
By George Caulkin
England 4-0 Greece
Terry 14
Lampard 30
Crouch 35, 42
John Terry celebrates his goal after 14 minutes.
IT WAS Terry Venables who described the task of managing England as “a great job — until a ball is kicked”, but Steve McClaren, his new boss, may not concur; not yet, at any rate.
McClaren’s first match in charge of his country last night brought an impressive 4-0 victory over Greece, the European champions, and initiated the process of restoring confidence after the World Cup finals.
Not since Walter Winterbottom’s England team thrashed Northern Ireland 7-2 in 1946 has a new manager begun his reign in such convincing style and if, in the scheme of things, that statistic counts for little — a defeat on his debut did not harm Sir Alf Ramsey too much — it continued the optimistic tone established by McClaren’s appointment. All in all, the Yorkshireman has enjoyed a good week.
“I couldn’t wish for a better start,” McClaren said. “I’ve waited two weeks for this, it’s been a strange, in-between period and I couldn’t wait for the game. I’ve only had the players together for three days and they’ve had to take in a lot of information, but they took it on board and delivered a performance we know we need to consistently produce. That’s the key. They’ve set the standard and now we’ re looking for consistency.”
While Greece were dreadful opposition — after their triumph two years ago, they had failed to qualify for Germany — McClaren’s players were not afflicted by their listlessness. Owen Hargreaves carried on where he left off in Gelsenkirchen — “phenomenal” according to McClaren — Steven Gerrard was promising in David Beckham’s old position on the right of midfield and John Terry added polish to his captain’s role with a goal.
It will not have made comfortable viewing for Eriksson’s erstwhile captain. Banished by McClaren for the foreseeable future, the Real Madrid midfield player had the good grace to text Terry his good wishes before kick-off and although he is too patriotic to wish England ill, it must have galled him that he was scarcely missed. Having taken a firm decision, McClaren was spared testing questions.
Beckham’s name will be the first mentioned should England struggle in their qualifying campaign for the European Championship, yet next month’s games against Andorra and Macedonia are unlikely to derail them and morale has been lifted. Old Trafford had 30,000 empty seats, but those who turned up were richly rewarded.
Two goals for Peter Crouch, who would not have played had Dean Ashton been available, lifted his total to a healthy eight in his 12 games. The Liverpool striker will be needed in the light of Wayne Rooney’s suspension and Michael Owen’s long-term knee injury, while Frank Lampard, after a miserable tournament, also returned to the scoresheet.
Hargreaves was named last night’s man of the match on what could soon become his home ground. Manchester United are trying to complete a £13 million deal for the midfield player, though Bayern Munich are reluctant to sell.
There were few reasons to gripe, but even McClaren cannot have been so enraptured as Chris Kirkland’s father, who saw his goalkeeper son win his first England cap as a substitute and won £10,000 courtesy of a bet he placed several years ago. If McClaren is as lucky over the next four years, nobody will complain. “I’m in a very privileged position and proud to be,” he said. “It’s a big challenge.”
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The Times August 17, 2006
Terry's men slip into top gear as Greece are put to sword
By Matt Dickinson, Chief Football Correspondent
England 4 Greece 0
HOPE springs eternal when it comes to the England team and so, barely six weeks after the so-called golden generation appeared to have turned to tin, the nation’s supporters were back cheering those very same players to the rafters.
It was not so long ago, too, that Steve McClaren was finishing bottom of fan polls during the FA’s cack-handed search for Sven-Göran Eriksson’s successor as head coach, but each of his journeys along the touchline at a buoyant Old Trafford last night brought only applause and high-fives.
No wonder. As first impressions go, the Yorkshireman could not have enjoyed a better start to his England reign. His bold culling of David Beckham brought barely a word of dissent last night — there was one banner urging him to “Bring back Becks” but not a chant for the exiled captain — and his team followed it up with a comprehensive victory against a team who can still claim to be European champions.
It should be pointed out that Greece played as if they had been asked to produce the likely threat from Andorra in England’s opening European Championship qualifier on September 2, but, even against ramshackle opposition, this was exactly the sort of energetic, committed performance that McClaren had both promised and demanded.
Owen Hargreaves was voted man of the match for his tireless work in midfield — Manchester United supporters purred expectantly — and there were also authoritative performances from Steven Gerrard and both centre backs, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. It has been a long time since Ferdinand carried the ball out of defence so frequently, or to such good effect, and it also felt like many months since Frank Lampard last smiled.
After racing into a 4-0 lead, McClaren’s men inevitably slowed down and quibbles would include a brief, unsuccessful dabble with 4-5-1 in the second half. While Stewart Downing brought balance on the left wing and two assists, legitimate questions can be asked of his pace and guile when England face top-class opposition.
With Wayne Rooney to return, however, McClaren can only have taken encouragement. He had spent the two days of build-up preaching the team ethic after the collapse of collective belief in Germany, and his players responded with an urgent and intelligent performance.
The new regime could hardly have got off to a better start for manager or captain, Terry putting England ahead on the night when he proudly led out his country for the first time.
Lampard had taken over free kick duties from you-know-who and, in the fourteenth minute, he chipped the ball up to Peter Crouch to head across the penalty area. A weak punch from Antonios Nikopolidis, the goalkeeper, was the first of many mistakes. Terry was delighted to take advantage.
Rampaging everywhere on the pitch, even the left wing at times, Gerrard was proving England’s most eye-catching, dynamic force. But Lampard was also enjoying the freedom granted by Hargreaves’s tenacity and it was the Chelsea man who added the second in the 30th minute. Given his travails in Germany, it was perhaps the most pleasing goal of the night.
Troubled in June when he finished a poor tournament by bolshily demanding more respect from his critics, Lampard wheeled away in delight after his shot looped off Papaskevas Antzas. Jermain Defoe had picked out the midfield player with a fine through-ball.
England did not have to wait long for their third, Crouch pinching the ball off Lampard’s toes after yet another defensive cock-up in the visiting team’s area. Seven of the Greece team had started against Portugal in the final of Euro 2004 but, more relevantly, all had been involved in the failure to qualify for the World Cup finals. With defending such as this, it was not hard to see why.
It was 4-0 by half-time, Crouch adding his second three minutes before the interval but walking straight into a telling-off from Gary Neville. The full back was still seething that Crouch had failed to attack his cross when the forward struck at the second attempt, nodding home the pass from Downing for his eighth goal in 12 internationals.
It is the sort of strike-rate that Thierry Henry would delight in, although McClaren may have been just as pleased
McClaren had promised that his team would take friendlies seriously. He made only one change to his team during the interval, and that was between the posts. Only terrible luck with injuries had forced Chris Kirkland to wait so long for his international debut. He has the ability to challenge Paul Robinson, proving as much with one smart save, although he had to rely on Ashley Cole to clear off the line twice.
McClaren was eventually forced to start making more substitutions, using up his full quota of six, and England temporarily lost their shape during a brief experiment with a five-man midfield. On came Darren Bent to restore the familiar 4-4-2. Not everything changes post-Eriksson, but this was a more than satisfactory start.
timesonline.co.uk
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New captain John Terry opened the scoring and Peter Crouch added a brace as England kicked off Steve McClaren's reign with a thumping 4-0 home win against Greece at Old Trafford
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All eyes were on Terry as he led out the England team for the first time...
---------------------------
...watched proudly by fellow newbie McClaren, in his inaugural match as manager, but back on familiar territory at Old Trafford
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It was smiles all around after 14 minutes when Terry rose to head home for the perfect start, giving England a 1-0 lead with only his second goal in 30 games
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Club colleague Frank Lampard doubled England's lead on the half hour when his deflected shot squeezed home at the near post...
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...before a Peter Crouch double lifted the hosts to a 4-0 half-time lead. The Liverpool striker slotted home in the 34th minute after Lampard's initial effort was blocked by keeper Antonionis Nikopolidis...
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...and added his second eight minutes later when he rose to meet Steven Gerrard's cross after yet another incisive break by the home team.
Crouch's latest strike took his international tally to eight in 12 games
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England failed to add to the scoreline in the second half as McClaren rang the changes, leaving the in-demand Owen Hargreaves to continue where he left off at the World Cup, picking up the man-of-the-match award for another confident display in midfield
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But for one man, Eddie Kirkland, the most significant moment came in the 46th minute when his son Chris, the injury-prone Liverpool goalkeeper, finally made his international debut
Kirkland senior was not only a proud dad, but a rich one too after pocketing a cool £10,000 following a bet he made when Chris was a teenager that his son would play for England
telegraph.co.uk
Appropriately, new captain John Terry scored the goal to put England 1-0 ahead, the first goal to be scored during Steve McClaren's reign.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Times August 17, 2006
England set standard for McClaren’s new regime
By George Caulkin
England 4-0 Greece
Terry 14
Lampard 30
Crouch 35, 42
John Terry celebrates his goal after 14 minutes.
IT WAS Terry Venables who described the task of managing England as “a great job — until a ball is kicked”, but Steve McClaren, his new boss, may not concur; not yet, at any rate.
McClaren’s first match in charge of his country last night brought an impressive 4-0 victory over Greece, the European champions, and initiated the process of restoring confidence after the World Cup finals.
Not since Walter Winterbottom’s England team thrashed Northern Ireland 7-2 in 1946 has a new manager begun his reign in such convincing style and if, in the scheme of things, that statistic counts for little — a defeat on his debut did not harm Sir Alf Ramsey too much — it continued the optimistic tone established by McClaren’s appointment. All in all, the Yorkshireman has enjoyed a good week.
“I couldn’t wish for a better start,” McClaren said. “I’ve waited two weeks for this, it’s been a strange, in-between period and I couldn’t wait for the game. I’ve only had the players together for three days and they’ve had to take in a lot of information, but they took it on board and delivered a performance we know we need to consistently produce. That’s the key. They’ve set the standard and now we’ re looking for consistency.”
While Greece were dreadful opposition — after their triumph two years ago, they had failed to qualify for Germany — McClaren’s players were not afflicted by their listlessness. Owen Hargreaves carried on where he left off in Gelsenkirchen — “phenomenal” according to McClaren — Steven Gerrard was promising in David Beckham’s old position on the right of midfield and John Terry added polish to his captain’s role with a goal.
It will not have made comfortable viewing for Eriksson’s erstwhile captain. Banished by McClaren for the foreseeable future, the Real Madrid midfield player had the good grace to text Terry his good wishes before kick-off and although he is too patriotic to wish England ill, it must have galled him that he was scarcely missed. Having taken a firm decision, McClaren was spared testing questions.
Beckham’s name will be the first mentioned should England struggle in their qualifying campaign for the European Championship, yet next month’s games against Andorra and Macedonia are unlikely to derail them and morale has been lifted. Old Trafford had 30,000 empty seats, but those who turned up were richly rewarded.
Two goals for Peter Crouch, who would not have played had Dean Ashton been available, lifted his total to a healthy eight in his 12 games. The Liverpool striker will be needed in the light of Wayne Rooney’s suspension and Michael Owen’s long-term knee injury, while Frank Lampard, after a miserable tournament, also returned to the scoresheet.
Hargreaves was named last night’s man of the match on what could soon become his home ground. Manchester United are trying to complete a £13 million deal for the midfield player, though Bayern Munich are reluctant to sell.
There were few reasons to gripe, but even McClaren cannot have been so enraptured as Chris Kirkland’s father, who saw his goalkeeper son win his first England cap as a substitute and won £10,000 courtesy of a bet he placed several years ago. If McClaren is as lucky over the next four years, nobody will complain. “I’m in a very privileged position and proud to be,” he said. “It’s a big challenge.”
*******************************************************************
The Times August 17, 2006
Terry's men slip into top gear as Greece are put to sword
By Matt Dickinson, Chief Football Correspondent
England 4 Greece 0
HOPE springs eternal when it comes to the England team and so, barely six weeks after the so-called golden generation appeared to have turned to tin, the nation’s supporters were back cheering those very same players to the rafters.
It was not so long ago, too, that Steve McClaren was finishing bottom of fan polls during the FA’s cack-handed search for Sven-Göran Eriksson’s successor as head coach, but each of his journeys along the touchline at a buoyant Old Trafford last night brought only applause and high-fives.
No wonder. As first impressions go, the Yorkshireman could not have enjoyed a better start to his England reign. His bold culling of David Beckham brought barely a word of dissent last night — there was one banner urging him to “Bring back Becks” but not a chant for the exiled captain — and his team followed it up with a comprehensive victory against a team who can still claim to be European champions.
It should be pointed out that Greece played as if they had been asked to produce the likely threat from Andorra in England’s opening European Championship qualifier on September 2, but, even against ramshackle opposition, this was exactly the sort of energetic, committed performance that McClaren had both promised and demanded.
Owen Hargreaves was voted man of the match for his tireless work in midfield — Manchester United supporters purred expectantly — and there were also authoritative performances from Steven Gerrard and both centre backs, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. It has been a long time since Ferdinand carried the ball out of defence so frequently, or to such good effect, and it also felt like many months since Frank Lampard last smiled.
After racing into a 4-0 lead, McClaren’s men inevitably slowed down and quibbles would include a brief, unsuccessful dabble with 4-5-1 in the second half. While Stewart Downing brought balance on the left wing and two assists, legitimate questions can be asked of his pace and guile when England face top-class opposition.
With Wayne Rooney to return, however, McClaren can only have taken encouragement. He had spent the two days of build-up preaching the team ethic after the collapse of collective belief in Germany, and his players responded with an urgent and intelligent performance.
The new regime could hardly have got off to a better start for manager or captain, Terry putting England ahead on the night when he proudly led out his country for the first time.
Lampard had taken over free kick duties from you-know-who and, in the fourteenth minute, he chipped the ball up to Peter Crouch to head across the penalty area. A weak punch from Antonios Nikopolidis, the goalkeeper, was the first of many mistakes. Terry was delighted to take advantage.
Rampaging everywhere on the pitch, even the left wing at times, Gerrard was proving England’s most eye-catching, dynamic force. But Lampard was also enjoying the freedom granted by Hargreaves’s tenacity and it was the Chelsea man who added the second in the 30th minute. Given his travails in Germany, it was perhaps the most pleasing goal of the night.
Troubled in June when he finished a poor tournament by bolshily demanding more respect from his critics, Lampard wheeled away in delight after his shot looped off Papaskevas Antzas. Jermain Defoe had picked out the midfield player with a fine through-ball.
England did not have to wait long for their third, Crouch pinching the ball off Lampard’s toes after yet another defensive cock-up in the visiting team’s area. Seven of the Greece team had started against Portugal in the final of Euro 2004 but, more relevantly, all had been involved in the failure to qualify for the World Cup finals. With defending such as this, it was not hard to see why.
It was 4-0 by half-time, Crouch adding his second three minutes before the interval but walking straight into a telling-off from Gary Neville. The full back was still seething that Crouch had failed to attack his cross when the forward struck at the second attempt, nodding home the pass from Downing for his eighth goal in 12 internationals.
It is the sort of strike-rate that Thierry Henry would delight in, although McClaren may have been just as pleased
McClaren had promised that his team would take friendlies seriously. He made only one change to his team during the interval, and that was between the posts. Only terrible luck with injuries had forced Chris Kirkland to wait so long for his international debut. He has the ability to challenge Paul Robinson, proving as much with one smart save, although he had to rely on Ashley Cole to clear off the line twice.
McClaren was eventually forced to start making more substitutions, using up his full quota of six, and England temporarily lost their shape during a brief experiment with a five-man midfield. On came Darren Bent to restore the familiar 4-4-2. Not everything changes post-Eriksson, but this was a more than satisfactory start.
timesonline.co.uk
********************************************************
New captain John Terry opened the scoring and Peter Crouch added a brace as England kicked off Steve McClaren's reign with a thumping 4-0 home win against Greece at Old Trafford
--------------------------
All eyes were on Terry as he led out the England team for the first time...
---------------------------
...watched proudly by fellow newbie McClaren, in his inaugural match as manager, but back on familiar territory at Old Trafford
--------------------------
It was smiles all around after 14 minutes when Terry rose to head home for the perfect start, giving England a 1-0 lead with only his second goal in 30 games
-------------------------
Club colleague Frank Lampard doubled England's lead on the half hour when his deflected shot squeezed home at the near post...
---------------------------
...before a Peter Crouch double lifted the hosts to a 4-0 half-time lead. The Liverpool striker slotted home in the 34th minute after Lampard's initial effort was blocked by keeper Antonionis Nikopolidis...
----------------------------
...and added his second eight minutes later when he rose to meet Steven Gerrard's cross after yet another incisive break by the home team.
Crouch's latest strike took his international tally to eight in 12 games
-----------------------------
England failed to add to the scoreline in the second half as McClaren rang the changes, leaving the in-demand Owen Hargreaves to continue where he left off at the World Cup, picking up the man-of-the-match award for another confident display in midfield
------------------------------
But for one man, Eddie Kirkland, the most significant moment came in the 46th minute when his son Chris, the injury-prone Liverpool goalkeeper, finally made his international debut
Kirkland senior was not only a proud dad, but a rich one too after pocketing a cool £10,000 following a bet he made when Chris was a teenager that his son would play for England
telegraph.co.uk