The good news: England will be at Euro 2012. The bad news? So will Capello, by Oliver Holt

By Oliver Holt in Mirror Football Blog

Published 22:27 07/09/10

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The good news is that England effectively qualified for Euro 2012 last night.

Away to Switzerland was always going to be their most difficult tie in qualifying Group G and they negotiated it with impressive ease and considerable panache at St Jakob Park.

Fabio Capello's decision to play Wayne Rooney from the start despite concerns about his state of mind was entirely vindicated by the England striker's goal and all round performance.

And the assured 3-1 victory in the pouring rain here continued England's process of recuperation from the disappointment of what happened in the World Cup.

The bad news is that England will now go into the tournament in Poland and Ukraine managed by the man responsible for their dismal disaster of a campaign in South Africa.

England's confident and accomplished victory here last night, coupled with their 4-0 thrashing of Bulgaria at Wembley last Friday, means that all momentum for removing Capello from his post has been lost.

To those who seem to have forgotten already how shambolic Capello's management of the England side was at the World Cup, that will be a welcome development.

The danger, however, is that England will fall into the same pattern they followed in the first period of Capello's reign, qualifying easily from an ordinary group before falling apart spectacularly when it matters.

That is not meant to sound churlish or disrespectful. Just realistic. No sane judge would dispute that Capello's record in club management marks him out as one of the greatest managers of his generation.

But, equally, it is hard to divine the logic in handing a second chance at taking England into a major tournament to a man who proved himself wholly incapable of handling the demands of the challenge the first time.

Capello is here for the duration of his £6m a year contract now, though. That has to be accepted. And at least the evidence of the last ten days suggests subtle changes to his dictatorial approach and his deployment of playing resources.

Capello deserves credit for dragging England away from the despair that surrounded them when they returned from the World Cup in disgrace.

He has relaxed some of his rules, allowing players' families to visit their base between qualifiers and granting Steven Gerrard special permission to play in Jamie Carragher's testimonial.

The team looks better balanced now, too, with Gerrard in the centre of midfield alongside Gareth Barry and genuine wide players on the flanks.

And Capello has finally started to get the best out of Rooney by allowing him something close to a free role, dropping deep into his best position where he can act as creator as well as goalscorer.

Gone, too, is the draconian moraliser who stripped John Terry of the captaincy because of transgressions in his personal life. In his place, a man who has offered Rooney unqualified support in the wake of allegations he had sex with a prostitute while his wife was pregnant.

Again, England seem to have responded. Their performance against a Switzerland team that beat Spain in the World Cup was a fine away display in almost every aspect. Capello's surprise decision to partner Phil Jagielka with former Everton teammate Joleon Lescott was an unequivocal success.

Jagielka's performances in these qualifiers have raised rather inconvenient questions about why Capello did not even bother to watch him at the end of last season when he had returned to full fitness.

That is more evidence, sadly, of the way Capello's judgment went at all levels in the run-up to South Africa but those who have perfected their selective memories would prefer it that we do not mention that sort of thing any more.

England's long-term hopes now must be pinned on faith that Capello is not too intransigent to learn from his mistakes and make radical changes to the way he manages his squad on and off the pitch in tournament conditions.

Maybe by the time Euro 2012 arrives, he will have come to understand the mentality of his players more so that he can get the best out of them, not the worst.

The worry is that he will not be able to adapt and that, just as happened in South Africa, England will be taken apart by the first decent team they play against.

England were superb last night, fluent going forward, well organised at the back. A deserved goal for Darren Bent, a good player who has been unfairly maligned, put the sheen on England's win.

But whatever happens in the rest of this qualifying tournament, however well Capello's team plays, the decision to stick with the manager means England and their supporters will be haunted by what happened in South Africa all the way to Euro 2012.

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