Sven is Bullish

For the television viewer, the England v Austria World Cup qualifier was more a case of hope than expectation. The Old Trafford crowd was strangely subdued – a far cry from a Manchester United audience in full spate. John Motson’s turgid commentary, punctuated by that irritating little laugh of his, was a constant reminder of the superiority of Sky’s coverage of football. And England’s performance was, to put it kindly, anaemic – certainly no more than a slight improvement on recent disasters.

It all added up to a huge disappointment – once again – and one which is particularly hard to account for. Although England were without the injured Ashley Cole, the suspended Wayne Rooney and (for a large part of the game) the unjustly red carded David Beckham, there was more than enough talent on view to dispose of an Austrian side which is, by international standards, undistinguished to say the least. Yet they created embarrassingly few chances and in the end won courtesy of a Frank Lampard penalty.

What was really interesting was the demeanour of the manager. Throughout the game, he kept a low profile, literally, remaining for the most part ‘below the parapet’ and wearing a hunted – or was it haunted? – expression. But once the victory had been secured a transformation occurred. He disappeared from public view with a jaunty wave to the crowd and shortly afterwards swept into the post match interview talking confidently about significant improvement and hinting at great things in the future. The word ‘bullish’ springs to mind – or something like that anyway.

Perhaps Sven knew that the Dutch would do us a favour and make qualification possible. And perhaps that will be sufficient to allow this talented group of players to bring Old Trafford to life again when they meet the Poles.

It would be marvellous. But whatever you do, don’t bet on it.