England injuries block Baines bow
By Ian Phillips • Mar 29th, 2009 • Category: News |Leighton Baines will have left Wembley last night a disappointed man after an injury crisis stopped him and Blues team-mates Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka from playing. After putting England in front and missing a golden opportunity, Emile Heskey’s afternoon was ended after 10 minutes, his replacement Carlton Cole then had to be substituted himself shortly after. In what was a disastrous day for the England medical team Cole’s replacement Peter Crouch then also succumbed to injury meaning 3 out of the available 6 substitutions had been made. Ben Foster as expected was brought on to replace David James and David Beckham was also predictably given his 109th cap. With Stewart Downing having replaced Steven Gerrard at half time the 3 Everton players were unable to show the 85,000 watching at Wembley what they can do. If it wasn’t for the enforced changes it would have been likely that Baines would have been a chance to shine.
Here are my ratings for each of the England players:
David James: 7/10 – Had to make one very good save in the first half before being substituted
Glen Johnson: 8/10 – Assured performance and should be England’s first choice right-back from now on
John Terry: 5/10 – Needlessly denied Peter Crouch a goal by poking in what was already a goalbound header from an offside position
Matthew Upson: 6/10 – Not really troubled in a comfortable afternoon
Ashley Cole: 7/10 – Largely untroubled but made some good tackles
Aaron Lennon: 8/10 – England’s best performer in the first half, will add to the increased competition on the right of midfield
Frank Lampard: 7/10 – Anonymous for much of the game but took his goal well
Gareth Barry: 6/10 – Hardly noticed he was there
Steven Gerrard: 8/10 – Terrific performance, Capello seems to be able to get the best out of him, played a crucial role in the opening goal
Emile Heskey: 6/10 – Only lasted 10 minutes but managed to score and miss a sitter
Wayne Rooney: 9/10 – Fantastic performance, 2 goals don’t tell the story of how good he was
Carlton Cole (on for Heskey) 4/10 – Didn’t last very long before getting injured
Peter Crouch (on for Carlton Cole) 6/10 – Struggled to get into the game and was also taken off injured. Would have had his name on the score-sheet had it not been for John Terry’s greediness
Ben Foster (on for James) 6/10 – Hardly touched the ball
David Beckham (on for Lennon) 7/10 – An absolute pleasure to watch him play, the word legend is overused but he truely is a legend, fully deserves his record. Put a brilliant cross in for the second goal
Stewart Downing (on for Gerrard) 4/10 – Awful, simple as
Michael Carrick (on for Crouch) 6/10 – Didn’t have enough time to do anything