quick review – Croatia 1- 4 England

Theo Walcott

+ Walcott’s coming of age, a great performance rounded of with a very well taken hat-trick. The team seemed to have plenty of ideas and didn’t resort to the long ball game. A comprehensive display against a team ranked 5th in the world.

- Yet another weak, disappointing performance from the officials. Lampard’s above average game adds more fuel to the debate that he & Gerrard can’t fit in the same team. Cole’s clattering (hope it is not too serious, if only for my fantasy footie team).

8/10

now that any possible honeymoon period is out of the way…

Capello & Terry

England 2 – 2 Czech Republic

A little disappointed is how I felt after the latest (typical) England friendly. I had, have a lot of confidence in Fabio Capello leading England to a successful World Cup Campaign in 2010 (by successful I mean at least a semi-final place). But I haven’t been that encouraged with the past week’s activities; the captancy decision and his latest friendly as he continues to settle into probably the most demanding job in world football.

1. His choice of captain, John Terry. I felt both Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard were more sensible options; both (when fit) should be automatic choices, whilst I’m not too sure whether John Terry is still one of the two best English centre backs?
2. The ‘Golden Generation’. Although they promised so much, and if it wasn’t for Eriksson going completly mad and deciding that an injured Owen and Rooney, an extremely inexperienced (at club level let alone international) Walcott, together with Crouch upfront, we would have a more than great chance of bringing home the 2006 World Cup. Oh well, enough of me whinging on that subject (for this post anyway). The Golden generation is now past it, we need to move on and give future potential the chance to a) prove themselves, and b) get a chance to learn each other’s game. As much as the likes of Beckham has done for England (which is more than he is given credit for), it’s time for an England manager to look elswhere to old questions. I’m not saying players like ‘golden balls’, Lampard, James and even to an extent Terry, don’t have a a place in the squad, but please let us see Bentley, Agbonlahor, Ashley Young et al. show us what they can do in the bigger matches.
3. The formation. I know a couple of years or so ago when Eriksson was fiddling with formations, everyone was saying ’stick to 4-4-2 it’s what the players know!’. At the time it was a valid point. But now where we sometimes seem a little short of strikers and overwhelmed by midfielders demanding £15-20m transfer fees (Barry, Bentley, Carrick etc.) why not try 4-5-1, or 4-3-2-1. Many of the players play similar formations for their club (especially those at Man U and Chelsea).

In time he may try one or two of the above suggesstions and it may not work out. But surely it is positive to move on than slip back to what previous managers have tried. On Wednesday, all I could think, I’ve seen this all before – Lampard/Gerrard debate, team running out of ideas, ineffective Rooney etc. does this ring a bell for anyone else too?

Sorry about all that, airchair supporter rant now over.

where did it all go wrong?

Wow, who could’ve seen that coming, England failing to qualify for the Euro championship? Well tbh we all should’ve, but now its happened we need to look forward. What needs to change? The managment, the players, the sytem? Well the answer has to yes. And one of these issues has already partly been addressed, as this morning, unsuprisingly the FA sacked Steve McClaren.

One major problem is the mentality of the players, too many of them seem to be expecting their name on the team sheet (stand up Frank, Wayne, Micheal and Rio, although there are others). This was partly address belatantly when Lampard was dropped and Barry was given a chance, but the problem is wider than just the old Lampard and Gerrard debate. The new coach whoever he is needs to bring in fresh new talent. Players who are desperate to be given a chance, who will do their best to prove what they’ve got on the biggest stage, not these big time charlies who expect to walk into the side.
Though this is harder than expected as most English players sadly aren’t first choice players for their club team, and the only way I can see this changing is to introduce a foriegn player cap, something like 5/6 players in each first 11 has to be English or something like that?
We need big changes, both short and long term to at least get somewhere to fulfilling the tabloids and those fottie fans who pretend to know about the game (you know the ones, they treat the last 4-6 pages of the Sun as their bible, those who sit in the pub shouting at and putting down each England player who comes close to the ball, the same people who think that they could have done a better job than every England manager in their football lifetime (though some decisions down the years have been a bit hard to understand).

Roll on the 2008 ‘Home Nations Championship’

england v austria/croatia

With the probably insignificant match against Croatia following the friendly verses Austria, I thought I’d post up my choice selection for the two matches, although the choice of quality players was pretty short. Maybe calls for a limit of foreign players from Coppell, Ferguson and Gerrard should be listened to, apparently on the weekend just gone, of all the players featuring in the premiership only 88 were English, the others (over 200, can’t recall the exact number?) foreign. Surely can’t be that healthy for the English national game?

With Rooney out, I’ve gone for Crouch and Owen. After Hargreeves yet again pulling out with injury, it has allowed Barry to keep his well earned place with Gerrard in the centre and of course Joe Cole on the left. I’ve decided to leave Beckham out and instead start with Wright-Phillips, to try and take early advantage with all of his pace and energy.
The defensive line was hard with so many injuries. I’ve ended up with Brown, Richards, Lescott and Ashley Cole, though with all respect I wouldn’t have the greatest amount of confidence for this back line. So you’d think with this pretty much unproven defence that I’d choose some experienced shot stopper between the sticks. Nope. I’ve gone with Carson, I feel he deserves a start, and at his age some major experience at this level could do him a world of good!

Match prediction: England 3 – 0 Austria, England 1 – 0 Croatia

england v russia

I decided against producing ‘my XI’ thoughts on these two England matches, against Israel (3-0) and Russia tomorrow as due to injuries and suspension the team pretty. Plus Crouch can be quite effective coming off the bench so will be a useful weapon. The big test for McClaren will be the next international and who to choose with hopefully the big guns (Rooney, Lampard, Lennon, Hargreeves, Neville, Terry etc.) coming back in contention for selection.

Score prediction: England 2 – 0 Russia

england v germany

As it’s the friendly between England and Germany tonight, I thought I’d have a go at selecting my England eleven from McClaren’s squad (not easy with some of the muppets he’s selected). No Rooney, Gary Neville, Lennon, Gerrard, or Hargreeves. Plus Owen and Beckham are severely lacking in match practice.

 

I’ve chosen a 4 – 5 -1 formation due to the lack of options up front (as Johnson is doubtful). Crouch as the lone striker, as much as I rate Defoe, Spurs have really destroyed his confidence, so it’s the bench for him. I’ll have Wright-Philips on the right, after his promising start to the season with Chelsea, Joe Cole on the left and Lampard and Carrick in the middle. Lampard supporting Crouch as much as possible and Carrick supplying the passes. I’d pick Barry as the holding midfielder, as Hargreeves is injured yet again. In defence I’ve settled with (from right to left) Richards, Ferdinand, Terry and Ashley Cole, with Robinson in goal. Due to absentees, Lampard, Wright-Phillips and Barry can be thankful for their places.

A couple of the papers are claiming England will start with Smith and Owen upfront. Although I beleive when on form and match fit both are quality scorers, I don’t feel they are ready for it this early in the season.

Score prediction: England 2 -1 Germany