Sport 16-08-2001 Awful England Sunk By Holland Double who: England football team what: Lose 2-0 to Holland in friendly where: White Hart Lane, LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: "England were given a real chasing on a chastening evening at White Hart Lane last night," says The Telegraph`s Henry Winter, "deservedly defeated by a Dutch side of vastly superior experience, inventiveness and finishing powers in a friendly that ended Sven-Goran Eriksson`s winning run." "Boss Eriksson went into this friendly aiming to make it six wins in a row since his first game in charge of the national team in February," says Dave Kidd in The Sun. "But his troops were blown away by first-half goals from Mark van Bommel and £19million Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy." "England`s game pined for a binding force, a linking thought and a glimmer of understanding," says The Guardian`s David Lacey. "It also pined for more than the odd second of possession." It was like seeing the England team of old, says Glenn Moore in The Independent, the team which "turned Bobby Robson grey" and "had Graham Taylor waking up before dawn in sweat-soaked pyjamas". "We didn`t defend well and we didn`t pass well," Michael Owen told Sky Sports afterwards, quoted in The Times today. "If we can`t do the simple things like pass the ball then you are going to struggle with everything else. There was nothing positive that we can take from this game." [... more]

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