Long time coming, went to the Donny game and you could feel the pressure, never seen the crowd so quiet as they were after Donny scored. You could tell the players needed time to gel together though. Hopefully we can build on this and get a result against Bristol city on Saturday.
Weird, the football TV rights merry-go-round continues. BBC3 have signed up the rights to Arsenal's Champions League qualifying round second leg game against FC Twente. £200,000 for a dead match. Hmmm.
^ BBC3, Champions' League? :s bizarre. Still, at least I can actually watch it on there (if you can see the pitch for all the umbrellas). I'm just wondering if I should revise my table prediction. Based on last night's performance, Man City are going be on the verge of relegation, not Europe. Did anyone else see how astounding awful they were? And to make matters worse for them, their first Premiership opponents, Aston Villa, cruised against an okay Hafnarfjordur (sp?) side and have a much better squad anyway. And that's before you even think about the political stuff going on.
I have to say, that cheered me up no end. I thought Liverpool were bad, and that was away from home against a spirited side. City should have bulldozed them, even with their somewhat inexperienced strike force. No wonder Hughes wants Santa Cruz. They have loads of strikers, but they're all either inconsistent, injury prone or kids.
Capello has named his squad (injuries rule out Hargreaves & Owen) (Richards dropped to U21 due to lack of match fitness)... OFFICAL ENG 23 MAN SQUAD... Goalkeepers: David James, Paul Robinson, Joe Hart Defenders: Wayne Bridge, Ashley Cole, Wes Brown, Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Jonathan Woodgate, Matthew Upson Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Michael Carrick, Stewart Downing, David Bentley Strikers: Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Theo Walcott I would love to see if Heskey can bring the best out of Walcott who many describe as the natural replacement for Owen but he will most likely use Rooney and Defoe. Bridge never plays for Chelsea so I hope Shorey who will get 1st team football at Villa soons becomes out 2nd left back. Upson lack of pace is a huge worry and for me Lescott is the better option. Richards is still the best right back no matter where he plays for Man City IMO. Why is Downing still being picked ? YOUNG YOUNG YOUNG.
A goal against Switzerland... Not saying he great just that your comment is overly harsh (he barely gets played for ENG, so nevers get a chance) and TBH, he will do more than Lampard has done in past 12 months. Were all waiting for Michael Johnson to perform
^Jenas has had his chance and he hasn't taken it. We only need four central midfielders, two attacking (Gerrard, Lampard), two defensive (Hargreaves, Barry). We would be better off looking at Michael Johnson, Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell etc.
Am not even sure what Reo Coker does for Villa and Sidwell does not have the ability. Jenas has never been given a proper run out for ENG and Lampard has been given too many chances. I feel Gerrard, Carrick, Hargreaves & Barry are the best four for now until Michael Johnson matures, which won't be till after 2010 World Cup. Huddlestone has potential due ot his wonderful passing ability and strength but he needs to work on his fitness and tackling a bit more. Mark Noble is a hard worker for West Ham & U21 but I don't think he has the potential to make it at international level.
^ I've never been certain what NRC does for Villa either, but whatever it is he's very good at it and the fans love him. I'm so glad I'm Welsh and don't have to worry about international football. When the hopes of the nation include Robert Earnshaw, James Collins and 15 dodgy League Two players, you know it's time to accept you're not going to get anywhere and let the hammerings roll in. As useless as lot of your main England choices are, at least they're from the top division.
Jenas is not good enough to play at international level and that goes for a lot of the players Capello has been calling up. I'm getting more than a little annoyed with Capello, he's just picking the same players that failed during the Euro 2008 qualification campaign.
For me this is the pool of players I would choose from on a regular basis... GK James Kirkland Hart DF G.Neville Brown Richards Terry Ferdinand Woodgate King Lescott A.Cole Shorey MF Beckham Bentley J.Cole A.Young Barry Gerrard Hargreaves Carrick Jenas Lampard FW Owen Rooney Crouch Heskey Defoe Potential for the future... Carson Foster Joe Lewis Baines Taylor Wheater A.Ferdinand Huddlestone Lennon Adam Johnson Michael Johnson Noble Agbonlahor Walcott Derbyshire Ashton hopefully if the hype is true soon I could add...Aaron Spears & Baxter to that list.
What else can he do? They are the best English players. The simple fact is that England doesn't have nearly enough world class players as some people like to think they do. The fact that you yourself suggested Reo-Coker and Sidwell is proof enough. There are some very good players available to him. Fabio's job is to make them into a team.
^Again, Jenas is not good enough. Gerrard scored 22 goals last season, Lampard 20. If Jenas wants to compete he's got to get near that, surely ? He scored 7 goals last season.
Which is seven more than Sidwell and Reo-Coker. I'm not sure what your point is. Jenas isn't good enough, but he's better than than the competition, which rather highlights the problems Capello has and the state of English football. Who else is there who is better than Jenas? Joey Barton, Alan Smith, Scott Parker, Steven Reid, Kevin Nolan, Jimmy Bullard? Jenas is the best of the rest.
Sidwell had no chance to succeed at Chelsea, we will see how he does at Villa. Jenas is not the only example. Once again, Capello has fallen back to failing players like Paul Robinson, Wayne Bridge, Matthew Upson, Stewart Downing, Jenas, Emile Heskey and Jermain Defoe. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Kieron Dyer, Aaron Lennon and Phil Neville back before too long as well. Edit - John Terry has just been confirmed as England's permanent Captain. (Again)
Capello promised change and we got NOTHING different than what McClaren did except we play more defensive than ever before.
I'm still not sure what people expected from Capello. He's not going to sprinkle his fairy dust and suddenly make Gerrard and Lampard work together, or discover a good goalkeeper, or make Owen fit. The lack of real talent among English footballers is astounding for a nation with supposedly the best league in the world. There is potential for the future, Young for instance, but he's hardly Lionel Messi. Many people seem to think England have underperformed under Eriksson, but look back over the last forty or so years: Sven was the model of consistency and achievement. 1966 was a blip, with the seventies and eighties far more representitive. The other high point - Italia 90 - was achieved with a better crop of players than we have currently.