I had hoped to use the weekend to catch up with some marking and housework, however, I spent most of Saturday and what looks to be Sunday sick. It feels like a bad cold, but it has got to my asthma and I have a temperature. So the marking has taken a back seat to sleep and rest. I think I slept about 18 hours yesterday, which I guess makes me a cat ;-)

The plus side is that I got to watch the Rugby and Football guilt free. I was resting after all, and wasn’t well enough to do much else. They were both entertaining games, but despite the wins they gave me plenty of concern for the next games.

With the Rugby I felt that England were not able to control possession or territory at all, and were kept on the defensive all game by France going through phases of possession. It felt like France lost the game by not being able to break down the English defence, more than England won the game.

With the Football, England played some good attacking football in the first half, but seemed to loose their impetus in the second half. They seem to lack motivation and enthusiasm to play, and the substitutions that McClaren made me worried about upcoming Russia game. I felt Nicky Shorey was a better choice at Left Back than Lescott, and felt the lone striker was a move back to previous failed experiments as Rooney can’t play that role effectively. To win on Wednesday England will need to have at least two upfront and at least one advanced wide man, but I think that McClaren will not do either of these to try and accomodate Lampard, Gerrard and Barry in the midfield.

I hope Wednesday and Saturday prove my concerns wrong.