Striker Problems

Darren Bent has withdrawn from the England squad, and has been replaced by Gabriel Agbonlahor. We are running out of strikers,
if it goes on at this rate Michael Owen will be back in the squad!
So far we have seen Heskey, Carlton Cole, Peter Crouch limp off and now Darren Bent limping off in training as the replacement for Heskey.

“I have always said the door is always open to all the players,” Capello said. “Nothing has changed. But I chose Agbonlahor because he has played a lot of games. I respect Owen but I am focused on the game of football. This is not a friendly, it is a very important match.

“I spoke with the manager of Aston Villa and he has been training the last two or three days very well. He is okay now.”

Frank On Fabio

“We needed a very strong [manager],” he said. “Some of the off-the-field stuff he brought in, the discipline around the place in terms of dress, [conduct around the] hotel and at dinner. But also in football terms. We needed a very strong leader who had his own mind. With Capello, you can see that. I used to see it at Madrid. He’d make strong decisions on players.

“Capello was exactly what we needed as a manager. For starters, he picks each squad on merit, watching closely how you’re doing for your club, and picks his team a little bit along the same lines as well. As players, it’s important we accept that and we do. There’s never a question. He’s got a very strong aura about him. Everyone has bought into that and we all follow him.

“When he came in, a lot of people made a thing of the last World Cup, the WAGs, implying that the England team didn’t care. That was slightly unfair. There was an element of truth in a lot of what was said, but in terms of the lads, we want to win. We just needed someone to put us in line a little bit and [make us] concentrate on what we’re doing.

“At times, those things can be a slight culture shock, when you are told you need to do this, you need to wear that. But then you start winning games. You get a belief and it’s very easy to handle because you’re winning.”

That New Kit

Squad Update

Emile Heskey has withdrawn from the England squad after his injury sustained against Slovakia on Saturday. Darren Bent comes in, and of the others injured, Peter Crouch is expected to be fit, and Carlton Cole recovering, but not confirmed as being available for Wednesday.

This just goes to illustrate the fact that when it comes to internationals, you just have to go with who is available. There is hardly a moment in the history of English internationals, that the manager is ever able to choose from the full complement of eligible players, and never gets to pick his first choice squad. That is why, pragmatism must be the underlying principle of any manager.

Ironically, last Summer, most first choice players may well have been available for Euro 2008, should we have qualified.

Uno, Due….

England 4 Slovakia 0

England (4-2-3-1) James; Johnson, Terry, Upson, Cole; Lampard, Barry; Lennon, Rooney, Gerrard; Heskey.

Friendlies are friendlies. The results are basically meaningless, the games that count are the one’s that points are gained or progression in knock out stages of tournaments are achieved, Simple.

The media are the media, and stories sell. Simple.

The principles of this country’s law system is “Habeas Corpus,” Simple.

No need to overcomplicate things. In the lead up to this game accusations against John Terry’s mum and mother in law, Rooney’s temperament, Harry Redknapp and Ledley King and the possibility of David Beckham’s record breaking cap, surpassing Bobby Moore.

Basically this kick about was not too bad. The new kit was unveiled (with new badge), and very Summery it is too, befitting any Summer sport, not to mention maybe quite acceptable as casual atire.

The game itself was patchy, Slovakia engaging in a game of football in fits and starts. England however cruised to a convincing victory, in what was basically a half paced game.

If anything shone out, it was the quality of Wayne Rooney. He is in a new phase of his career. He is no longer the fresh spud-faced kid, but is maturing into the complete package. He is a mini- Maradona. A mature, focussed Rooney could be the difference between our familiar position as quarter finalists to beyond, qualification permitting.

The game was a morale booster ahead of the game against Ukraine, and perhaps the most important element of this friendly was that the England team are beginning to feel at home in the new Wembley. Even Lampard was not subjected to the full boo-boy treatment tonight.

It was only a friendly, Wednesday is the important game. Nothing much to concern us from this evening other than going through three different partners for Rooney, which really didn’t matter who his partner was. We saw Heskey replaced by Cole and Cole replaced by Crouch. One thing was clear, Rooney is beginning a new phase of his career and in this friendly, perhaps the makings of an English Maradona was in an embryonic stage. Reminding Rooney of discipline, is the essential element to his development. My guess is that Capello knows this very well, hence the need to instill the discipline into Rooney. Lawrenson on Football focus wondered whether Rooney could count to ten, not literally, but in a heat of the moment situation. If Rooney can count to ten and maintain his will to win, then the most famous number 10 shirt in the World could be emulated. Rooney like Maradona could drag a team to greatness, and with the quality of the squad around him, there are grounds for optimism. In 2008, we raised the bar; in 2009, we must raise it further, because if we are to be a serious football team it has to be at least at the level of Spain. We do not want to be reliant on certain players, but Rooney must look at himself and ask himself can he be a consistently and reliable performer?The most consistent player that Engalnd ever had was Bobby Moore. To this day his style of defending was a master class in the art.
Rooney more than anybody else must learn the lesson of composure that the late great Bobby Moore displayed.

We go to Wednesday’s game, the half way point of qualifying, not in too bad a shape. One step at a time is the only way forward. If Rooney can make the leap too, then our steps can become longer.

We play our fifth qualification on Wednesday, out of ten, and maybe we have the player that might be compared to the greatest number 10. Afterall even if only momentarily to be compared to greatness is an achievement. This will only be fully tested if a fully fit Rooney is to take the stage in 2010. Capello, I feel realises this. So let’s all learn to count to ten…….in Italian.

1 uno , 2 due, 3 tre, 4 quattro, 5 cinque, 6 sei, 7 sette, 8 otto, 9 nove, 10 dieci.

Wright-Phillips

In my enthusiasm to try and work out the England midfield situation, I have assumed Lennon to be the natural replacement for Theo Walcott. Sean Wright-Phillips would also be a superb choice for the right side of midfield. News is though that he S W-P has missed training and may not be fit for the Slovakia game.

Whatever team Capello might choose if given a full complement to choose from, the quality on the bench would be something. That perhaps is grounds for optimism.

Paso a Paso

We all like to discuss football and put forward our own personal ideas as to team selection. Ultimately it is a fairly futile and facile past time but it does no harm, and stimulates debate.

I think it is pretty clear how Capello is thinking in terms of the defence and the attack. The midfield remains somewhat unclear. This is primarily because we do to a certain extent have an embarrasment of riches, tempered by the fact that we do not have an out and out first class left sided player, and last but not least, we have not had the full choice of players to select from.

This squad does include Lampard and Gerrard and maybe we can see Capello’s thinking on this pairing in the forthcoming matches. This probably might not be the case as Gerrard could well be deployed on the left in the absence of Joe Cole.
Let’s have a quick look at what we have. I am assuming Lennon for Walcott is like for like, therefore we have Lampard and Gerrard for the central midfield position available as well as Barry and Carrick for the holding player. As there is no Joe Cole, Downing would be the left sided player though it does seem Gerrard may be deployed to the left. So the choices are 1). Lennon, Gerrard or Lampard, Barry or Carrick, Downing? 2). Or perhaps deploy Gerrard to the left again (as against Belarus) and have Lampard and Barry or Carrick with Lennon on the right? We will see.

Patrick Barclay in The Times gives us the benefit of his view that England could win the World Cup with his team selection.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/patrick_barclay

/article5955964.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2

I have some general points to make. I do not agree with the defence, with his choice of Owen Hargreaves as the right back. I basically agree that Heskey and Rooney are the first choice forward line.
Patrick’s formation is strange,and the midfield quite curious. It is also quite an elderly team. Added to this I do not think it is a good idea to play players out of position. Horses for courses. A right back should be a right back not some one drafted in from another position. (Essien in the first half of the Champions League Final 2008 illustrates this).

More importantly, I do not think we should even be speculating about winning the World Cup. This blog advocates humility and reality. We are not even half way through our qualifying group and to use the old expression, “Two swallows do not a Summer make”. We should be perfectly clear that if we do qualify, then we must not start blowing our trumpet as we did in 2006, which was acually quite an appalling self-love fest with no basis or substance.

We should also realise that with every international you cannot expect to pick from the full complement of players. Some will be injured, others out of form. The essential element to international football, is to have a system and a pragmatic approach. In 2006, Owen and Rooney were unfit. Who knows what the situation will be in 2010? We just do not know.

As for actually winning the World Cup (assuming we qualify), there will be 31 other teams that will have their own theories. We must not forget either dodgy decisions either for or against, inspired performances by opposition teams or dogged resilience, and perhaps more importantly the quality of the top teams. We are not on the same par as Spain and judging by Euro 2008, perhaps a few other teams as well.

Where I do agree is that we have a very good manager and his disciplinarian ethics are what we do need. As for the weather in South Africa in 2010, this will do us no harm as it will be basically quite mild, but this will also be favourable to all other teams as well. It gets colder in Milan and Madrid in winter than in London. Most teams will not be confused by mild conditions and all will consider it advantageous!

So the checklist is, for our approach to the tournament…

1). All we can do is take one match at a time.
2). Humility, we are not the best in the World.
3). If we do qualify, no media led pre-tournment razzmatazz.
4). Remind ourselves of Capello’s CV, look at our own and decide who is best qualified to select a team.
5). Remember we have to qualify first.

For what it is worth I would suggest this is the general shape of Capello’s team should all be fit and available in an ideal universe.

James, Johnson, Terry, Ferdinand, A Cole, Walcott, Gerrard, Barry, Joe Cole, Rooney, Heskey.

That there are World Class players not in the team can only be a bonus. Also remember that football is no longer 11 a side, but 14 a side.

As a Spaniard would say, (as that is where the bar is set) Paso a Paso.

Here We Go Again

Spring is here and we are back to the World Cup Qualifiers. We have played four games in our group and will reach the half way point with the game against Ukraine in Wednesday. Prior to this we play a friendly against Slovakia on Saturday.
To win against Ukraine on Wednesday would be fantastic from the point of view of the group. To have played all the teams and to have beaten all the teams once and remain unbeaten, would be a great achievement.

Saturdays game should give a runout for most of the squad and we should see Foster in goal at some point. Foster and Green are the two goalkeepers behind James, we may actually see a displacement for the game against Ukraine. It is time to make sure we have an experienced number 2 goalkeeper and what better match to give international competitive experience.

Ledley King returns to the squad as does Aaron Lennon, who is probably the best replacement for Walcott. The Aston Villa prescence is just Heskey, Everton send Jagielka and Baines, who is probably worth a look defensively, and West Ham send Carlton Cole and Green.

Within the squad we can see the familiar names that will probably make up the starting line up for Ukraine and all being well injury wise, the only real question is the shape of the midfield.

Squad for Slovakia and Ukraine

Foster (Man Utd), Green (West Ham), James (Portsmouth); Baines (Everton), A Cole (Chelsea) Ferdinand (Man Utd), Jagielka (Everton), Johnson (Portsmouth), King (Tottenham), Lescott (Everton), Terry (Chelsea), Upson (West Ham); Barry (Aston Villa), Beckham (LA Galaxy), Carrick (Man Utd), Downing (Middlesbrough), Gerrard (Liverpool), Lampard (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham), Wright-Phillips (Man City); C Cole (West Ham), Crouch (Portsmouth), Heskey (Aston Villa), Rooney (Man Utd).

Foster as England Goalkeeper?

Talk has turned to Ben Foster as a possible future goalkeeper for the England team. His performance at Wembley in the League cup final on Sunday, must have impressed the onwatching Capello. With Van der Sar in the twilight of his career at Manchester Utd, the timing might be right for Foster. Season 2009-10 could be the defining moment for the player, and perhaps he might nail the number one goalkeeping shirt.