Leeds United’s Rodolph Austin and Leicester City’s Wes Morgan came under fire as a dominant France beat Jamaica 8-0.
A Jamaican side heavily represented by players from English clubs were humiliated by a strong France team 8-0 on Sunday, as the Reggae Boyz proved powerless to the strength of Les Bleus.
Didier Deschamps’ men had already inflicted the damage in the first-half, going 3-0 up, and to their credit they didn’t take their foot off the gas in the second period and made an even bigger mockery of the Jamaican backline.
Yohan Cabaye, Blaise Matuidi, Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann all got on the scoresheet for France, who proved to be too sharp and clinical for the disjointed Jamaican defensive unit.
Adrian Mariappa, Lloyd Doyley and Wes Morgan all started in the Jamaican back-four and were being protected, ineffectively, by Leeds United midfielder and Jamaican captain Rodolph Austin.
Chris Humphrey, Joel Grant and Simon Dawkins were also included in the Jamaican side, but they provided an insignificant threat for the Reggae Boyz, who struggled to keep hold of the ball. However, after the match, it was the Leeds and Leicester City stars who came under the most scrutiny.
On their fans forum, www.reggaeboyz.com, in the Jamaica and France matchday thread, the supporters discussed in detail the changes that need to be made for the national football team to improve and the performance, or lack of, in the match against the European heavyweights.
Here are a few examples of their thoughts on the game:
‘’I spoke about this same issue with the defensive setup. The wingers, central mids and full back get confused as to who is marking who. Since our players generally grow up playing against rigid systems they are often at their worst against fluid one striker set ups. Morgan needs to step up and take someone so that Lloydinho and the midfielders right in front of morgan are not scrambling and marking multiple people despite us having the overall numbers advantage.’’
‘’Morgan is always a step slow on defence and he is aging and will get slower. He is alright against lessor talented teams. The middle of our defence needs talent going forward.’’
‘’Austin has no clue about passing. He is a liability’’
‘’Austin passing ability is big part of our struggles. Holding mids need to be able to distribute. Wes Morgan fell asleep on the fourth goal’’
‘’Does Morgan have a degree in backing up. Step up. I am not sure what he is doing’’
‘’Austin can do a job, hes techhnically terrible and his passing and pass selection is awful, but hes powerful and needs to learn that his job is just to win the ball and release the simple pass.’’
‘’Most importantly though is my assessment of Rudolph Austin as a midfielder. He CANNOT PASS A BALL TO SAVE HIS LIFE!! I love his hustling but, why in the name of sound reasoning are the JAMAICAN coaches asking him to do something that he clearly does not have the ability or skill to do? Granted I am not singling Mr Austin out but it is painful to watch’’
‘’Rudi has trouble getting the ball of his feet and when he finally does, usually after three or four dribbles, it almost always go to the opposition.It’s the biggest weakness in his game.’’
An 8-0 loss will not mean any players come away with any credit, but the Leeds and Leicester duo appear to have the most to prove to their own fans moving forward if they are to salvage their reputations.
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