No time to go Slo

Jamie Redknapp expects England to get on the front foot and squeeze past Slovenia with a no-frills display.

Terry's piled on the pressure, but an English display will do!

It's incredible that it's come to this. I don't think for a minute John Terry set out to cause the disruption he has, but here we are on the eve of the biggest game of some of these players' international careers and it's all we are talking about. I have no idea what John thought saying those things would achieve. Why on earth he decided to say them is beyond me - and terrible judgement on his part. Nothing was ever going to change what happened; England played poorly against Algeria and the whole country knows it. There was no need to say any of that, none at all. John Terry is not a manager, he is a player and he should just stick to that. Maybe he is still a little upset about losing the captaincy I don't know. But all he's done is heap even more pressure on England. And what has he done to the other players in that squad? To be fair, Joe Cole has always divided opinion; Carlo Ancelotti hardly played him towards the end of the season and even Jose Mourinho didn't seem entirely convinced by him either. He would be in my team, but Joe seems to be getting better and better the longer the tournament goes on - without kicking a ball. To say we don't have any other players who can unlock defences was also unbelievable. I think I have seen Steven Gerrard unlock the odd defence in my time, ditto Frank Lampard. And what will that statement do to the other players? What will Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips have been sat there thinking, other than 'thanks very much mate'. It just wasn't the time to be pointing fingers at anyone. It sounds like a cliche but this week was a time for the England players to stick together, show a united front.

Stubborn

People will be saying Capello won't go to 4-5-1 or play Joe Cole now, but I don't think he's that big-headed to worry about what people think. He will make any changes because he wants to and for no other reason. He doesn't strike me as a weak manager either; but he will know that getting knocked out of the group stages with England will not look good on his CV at all. I also think he's a stubborn manager, so I really can't see him changing the formation against Slovenia. Managers live and die by their formations, their decisions and Capello is convinced this is the right way to go - or has been. I would love to see us go with five in the middle and as I have said several times before, I don't see any harm in playing our best players like Wayne Rooney, like Lampard, like Gerrard, where they are used to playing for their clubs, where they are most comfortable. I just don't think 4-4-2 suits us. Will Capello quit before the end of the World Cup? I think he will stick with the 4-4-2 but if he does, I would love to see Peter Crouch start. His goalscoring record for England is outstanding and I have a feeling this game might require a little more of the traditional 'English approach'; I really can't see it being pretty to watch. Part of that is because of the pressure England are now under and part of it is because they have played so poorly so far. We are playing with fear, we are playing with no confidence whatsoever, but as drastic as that sounds it can all change in the space of 90 minutes. Like most of you, I couldn't believe what I was seeing against Algeria. I spoke to my dad straight after the game and he must have watched a million games in his time, yet like me, he was speechless. It just didn't make sense that these players, who are so gifted technically, so talented, could play so badly as a team. I am not just jumping on the bandwagon or being over-patriotic here either, these are world-class players we are talking about. You hear Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres saying Gerrard is the best they have played with, you hear the Manchester United players saying the same about Wayne Rooney.

Concerns

Yet I sat there and saw Wayne do things I have never seen him do before. His touch was off, he gave the ball away and looked like his spark had gone. I did voice my concerns before the tournament about his lay-off and then lack of goals. But believe me, that will disappear, as will John Terry's words, if England get the right result. Slovenia will of course have been sat their rubbing their hands watching the news coming out of the England camp these past few days; but they will be nervous here, don't you worry about that. They will not have dreamed they could be on the verge of knocking England out of a World Cup - and making it through to the group stages themselves. Bet on England v Slovenia But they will know all about the players we have and they will know they are capable of turning it round in a flash. Because their confidence is so low, England might have to go back to basics and stick to the simple things, but that doesn't disguise we have genuine world-class players. What they have to now is stand up and be counted. They need to want the ball and if they do make a mistake - as every player will - they have to want it again. In fact, the formation is almost irrelevant here because whoever Capello picks and however he wants them to line-up, they have to have to show character, they need to show bottle and they need that passion. I think England will do it. As bad as the performance was against Algeria, the draw wasn't the worst result in the world, because as much as we didn't force it, there was always the issue of not losing it. That won't be the case on Wednesday against Slovenia; we will have to be on the front foot from the word go and I think that might suit us.

Jamie's judgement

England win - I fancy us here. I know it's going to be a tough one and I know there is no confidence there, but as I say, all that can be changed in 90 minutes and if we come through this, it will all be forgotten. The players need to show they want this, because I know the manager will, and they need to try and shake off that fear that seems to parlayse them from being the same players we see week in, week out in the Premier League. An early goal would be lovely, but then again a late goal would be just as nice. In fact I don't care if it goes in off Glen Johnson's backside in injury time! If we can find a traditional English performance I can see us winning this 2-0 and then it is onwards - and hopefully upwards.

Jamie's Gem

Wayne Rooney - He is too good to play like that again, believe me. I do think he might be guilty of trying too hard and you can just see the frustration building in him - and we all saw what happened after the Algeria game. People say the lay-off at the end of the season will have done him good but I disagreed all along; I wanted to see him with a spring in his step and a goal or two under his belt. Maybe those two games will have been what he needed and maybe now we can see the Wayne Rooney we all know is a world-beater. To see Jamie's latest Red Hot Tips, click here