Weekend Column: England Debate - Failure? What Failure? | Antonio Valencia's New Contract

(Warning: excessive use of the word fail/failed and possibly failure, in this post.)

Fail. England have failed. We hear it all the time, but we tend to forget the meaning and use the word loosely. 

If we look at the first definition, this is what we link England's "failure" to. They've failed to achieve their goal. 

Can someone remind me what it was?

I seem to remember before the World Cup, no expectation was to be put on England. So what was their goal? To get out of a group which contained the experienced and consistent Italy and a side that contained Suarez and Cavani? 

No, in this respect, England haven't failed, because they shouldn't have been expected to get out of this group. 

However, if we look at the second definition, they have failed based on the second game against Uruguay. They neglected to play their football. They crawled into a their half when they equalised without reason, and invited pressure from Uruguay. 

Evidently, they failed to enjoy their football, they failed to enjoy wearing the England shirt.

The same debates go on and on after each tournament England participate in. Although many attempted to lower their expectations before the World Cup, it didn't work, because England are the masters of deception. 

Unintentionally yet there's always a sense of inevitability of failure. 

After so much promise from their first match against Italy, England couldn't put together a similar performance against Uruguay, instead they panicked, conceded two sloppy goals, and all of a sudden it's the first time England have exited the group stages of the World Cup since 1958.

Almost by routine, we then take a look at why the team have "failed," despite having no expectations for this side. 

We, as passionate England fans, aim the same accusations to a side which wasn't expected to go far in this tournament. The latest of these, was brought of by the Chief Football Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, Paul Hayward. 

 Does he have a point? It may seem ludicrous to agree with Hayward's first point of England's players' treating international duty as a second job, but it's hard to disagree with the anguish that can feature on their faces at times.

Hayward's view on England

What we must analyse, is what is the cause of this attitude? According to Gary Linekar, he believes England's players are desperate to succeed:

As players are consistently under pressure for England, does this create the displeasure that comes with playing for England? An easy counter-arguement to that point is, what pressure is there when your not expected to win anything? 

None of these English players at 22, are bound to the expectation of winning their country the World Cup, especially when that country is hosting the tournament, which is the circumstance Neymar is under at present moment.

One must ask, what is this furore about another failure for England? We knew this side was experimental, and inexperienced. We knew they wouldn't win this tournament. 

If anything, we should feel ashamed we overlooked Costa Rica and learn to never underestimate a side in the World Cup ever again; they're there on merit, not by default, such as San Marino in qualifying. 

If we continue to knock England for "failing," even when they weren't expected to make an impression at the World Cup in Brazil, would anyone really blame them for not enjoying their football when they put the shirt on? 

Antonio Valencia's New Contract: 

It's been announced today that Manchester United winger, Antonio Valencia, has signed a new three year contract to stay at Old Trafford. 

It's difficult to see why United didn't want to splash out on a young, skilful winger to replace the Ecuadorian, yet Van Gaal may want to retain the depth of this squad. 

It's evident that Valencia is not the player he was 3 years ago, when he was terrorising defences, and he was easily the best winger in the league. The decline of his final ball has been frustrating, and almost sad to watch, as he's failed to make any impression at United in the last two seasons. 

He notably had one impressive performance when United won back the league a year ago now, against Chelsea, in which he set up Robin van Persie on the counter, however that was only a glimpse of what he's capable of. 

Another avenue Van Gaal may take, is to use Valencia as a right-back. This would provide cover for the rather inconsistent and injury prone Rafael. 

However, this would stem the development of some of United's brightest prospects such as Varela and Janko who have impressed in the reserves this season.