Capello-bashing England ignores Italian's contribution

London Amid the bile dripping down at Fabio Capello, amid the insult and the innuendo, amid the increasingly personal attacks, there is one thing that has been forgotten: he was humiliated at the World Cup too.

It wasn't just England's failure — it was his also. Capello wanted the England job and he wanted to succeed in it. He didn't just arrive for the salary, as astronomical as it is, but to add to one of the most glittering CVs in European football with international success.

In the wake of England's ignominious exit in South Africa it has also been forgotten that Capello would have left his post if he had been asked to. But he wasn't. Maybe that was through weakness at the head of the Football Association — and there was a degree of introspection yesterday during the parliamentary inquiry into football governance — or maybe it was also a recognition that Capello still had something to offer to England.

Those close to him talked of Capello wanting revenge and it's not a bad motivation for a man who is fiercely proud of what he has achieved and doesn't countenance failure.

Since then he's been portrayed as a weirdo and a jackass, a manager barely able to communicate with his players and someone who, it has been ludicrously claimed, is almost trying to get himself the sack through his decisions.

Getting it right

The criticism has become increasingly irrational, especially when the evidence of what he is trying to achieve on the pitch is actually assessed. The fact is Capello gets more right than he gets wrong. Far more. He got it right against Wales on Saturday, selecting the right team and the right formation and he got it right again on Tuesday night. There were seven changes from Cardiff but not a change in approach. Capello has found the right formula, successfully brought through the right players at the right time.

He has introduced Jack Wilshere to international football, at the age of 19. He has developed Ashley Young's confidence so that he too can finally perform on this stage, and he has brought on Joe Hart. He decided to go with Darren Bent against Wales because he was fitter and more mobile — and understood that Andy Carroll wasn't physically ready or in good enough form to lead the line in a vital Euro 2012 qualifier.

Of course Carroll started last night and that was right, too, but even as he powerfully drove in England's first-half goal he had already provided enough evidence to suggest he is a work in progress rather than the finished article.

But this time next year, with a year at Liverpool, and a year with England under Capello he may prove to be the centre-forward that could make the difference in Poland and Ukraine. Who knows. Not Capello yet, either. But he's not some manager who has lost his way and deserves to be ridiculed for his lack of English or chipped away at, bit by bit.