England skipper Rio Ferdinand feels that the team is a bunch of half-wits and must cure the ongoing problem of slow starts.
England skipper Rio Ferdinand feels that the team is a bunch of half-wits and must cure the ongoing problem of slow starts.
The Three Lions skipper said his side had not come to grips with Japan until receiving a second-half wake-up call, in the same way Mexico played them off the park in the first 45 minutes at Wembley last week.
England ended up 2-1 winners, but the Japan game only highlighted the weaknesses that needed urgent attention.
"In the first half we were a bit too slow. There wasn't much thought process in the way we played. We are getting to the point where we are working it out and sorting it ourselves. We went on to look quite dangerous in the second half. I thought the subs made a big impact in the second half," The Sun quoted Ferdinand, as saying.
"Going into a tournament you need players who are going to come off the bench and make a difference. To come back from a goal down against a good Japanese side was good. They didn't have many chances on goal apart from the set piece. That is a good sign. But there is a lot of hard work in front of us," he added.
During the match, boss Fabio Capello was frustrated with the side's performance enough to resort to a few old faces to kick-start slow coaches England into life.
The exasperated Italian delivered a fierce rollicking to his players at half time at Wembley eight days ago to force some life into the performance.
The way the team is performing at the moment could convince Capello to stick with experience and take a relative Dad's Army to South Africa when he names his final 23-man squad today.
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