Capello - England deserve fan flak

Fabio Capello admits England's World Cup flops deserve to be booed by the Wembley crowd in Wednesday's friendly against Hungary.

Capello's side return to action this week for the first time since their ignominious exit from South Africa and the England coach fears a hostile reception awaits them at Wembley.

England won just one of their four matches at the finals and were dumped out in the second round after an abject 4-1 defeat against Germany.

The lacklustre manner of England's performances was the final straw for fans already tired of watching an over-paid and over-hyped generation of star players fail to deliver on the international stage and their frustration is likely to show itself in a torrent of abuse.

Capello doesn't absolve himself from the blame either, admitting that he made mistakes at the World Cup and in the build-up to the tournament, but he knows it is the players who are likely to take the bulk of the flak.

With that in mind, Capello has decided to start the Hungary match with most of the players who featured in South Africa in the hope that the crowd's ire will have dwindled by half-time, so he can then give Arsenal youngsters Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs their debuts in a calmer environment.

"Sure, 100 percent (the crowd will boo). I understand why," Capello said. "We win together and we lose together. I am the boss, they have to boo me like the players.

"We lost in the World Cup. I have to respect the crowd but we have to be strong. Also I hope after a short time I hope they will help us.

"I will try to do something different in this match. I want to see the young players. (Jack) Wilshere and (Kieran) Gibbs will play.

"But I think they will play the second half because the first half will not be an easy game."

Capello had already admitted he wouldn't have been surprised if the Football Association had sacked him after the World Cup, but he is still so convinced of his ability to succeed with England that, since returning from South Africa, he has turned down three clubs to do what seems to many to be a thankless job.

Asked if he had been approached by other teams, Capello said: "Yes, only three. I don't like to speak about it.

"I am here because the FA want me to go forward. The confidence of the FA was important. I don't want a job with no expectations. I want to win something.

"It is not easy. It (the pressure) is the same in a lot of countries, but here it is probably a little harder than the others."

Although Capello has made a host of changes to his squad for the Hungary match, with David James, Robert Green, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Matthew Upson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon among those axed, the key players in the team were untouched.

That is Capello's problem. The likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard all underachieved in South Africa, but there is no-one good enough to replace them.

Publicly at least Capello remains confident that group can make a bigger impact at Euro 2012 because he has learned from the South African debacle and would not subject his players to another lengthy pre-tournament training camp at the end of a tiring season.

"I still have the faith of the players. They always played well in World Cup qualification and we won a lot of games," Capello said.

"When we played the qualification there was no problem because it was a short time and we could focus on one game.

"But the pressure of the World Cup is really important. This tournament arrives at the end of the season when the players were all tired.

"I am sure we will play at the Euros and we have to do something different before that. The physical condition is important.

"I have some new ideas. The World Cup experience was important for me to understand what we can change."

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