Since the departure of Fabio Capello England are once again back to square one. They have started that well known trip of going round in circles with no-one in sight to take control.
It reminds me of the stage we were at with a certain 'Wally with the brolly.' When Sven-Goran Eriksson stepped down The Football Association appointed his assistant which turned out to be an unforgivable mistake.
They can not afford to do the same again. It was the correct call to let Stuart Pearce take charge against Holland, but he can not stay in the long run, not even as a stand-in for the European Championships in the summer. His CV just does not have enough experience or success on it.
On reflection, it wasn't a bad performance against Holland but we should not read too much into the result. Pearce was brave to select the squad that he did and it certainly opens up more possibilities for the summer.
There is no denying that Holland played the game as a friendly. There is no point pretending that England played really well against world-class opposition, because they did not. Holland played at a walking pace for 90% of the game, and when they did step-up the pace they easily exposed the very fragile English defence.
Admittedly England were missing a handful of key players - John Terry, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. Three players who can change a game, pull off that match winning moment and more importantly three players who the rest of the team can rally behind.
As for the players that were on the field. Ashley Young picked up from where he left off for England, he was by far the best player on the field and since his injury return he is getting back to his best. Adam Johnson looked threatening every time he picked up the ball, has a really eye for the game and looks more and more at home in the England team with every cap.
Off the field, the recurring message from The FA is that there is no rush to appoint a new coach. Personally I would like to know what their plan is as I'm not convinced they have one. Waiting until the end of the English season and then appointing Harry Redknapp or another candidate is not the right way to go, but it seems to be the option that The FA is taking. Whoever takes the job needs longer than two weeks to sort things out. Turning the fortunes of England is not going to happen with a short term fix. It's going to take a lot of time and a lot of planning.
Many people are taking a different view on the situation. They believe that the European Championships are not the main issue here, but that we should be looking 2 years down the line to the World Cup 2014. However this is wrong, I am pretty sure that people have been saying this since 1966!
My own view is that the powers that be need to bite the bullet and come up with some kind of arrangement with Tottenham that enables Harry Redknapp to take charge as soon as possible.
From leadership off the field to leadership on it, England need someone to take control. I am not sure why Stuart Pearce took Jo Hart into the press conference with him when he had no intention of giving him the armband. Hart had to face the question, 'are you going to be captain?' I imagine he had no idea. Naming the captain on match day is not the way to go, if there is no long-term leadership off the pitch then we at least need someone on it.
On the whole, we may be 4th or 5th favourite for the tournament, but instead off constantly looking two years down the line, and when that comes around looking two years down the line again, The FA need to act now and give us the best chance of being competitive in the summer.
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