England 1-2 France

Don’t blame the “fresh faces” for this one. It wasn’t Henderson that was out of position at right back. Carroll wasn’t the one who couldn’t bring the ball up from the back. Bothroyd wasn’t the one whose passes went directly to French players time and time again. The new boys played their part. It was the “veteran” players that let the side down in London.

Karim Benzema drove the first dagger in after just 16 minutes. Now he is a world class striker so maybe keeping a closer eye on him might be in order.

With all of the possession the French enjoyed in the first half England were lucky to go into the dressing room down 1-0. However, it only took 10 minutes for Bacary Sagna to beat Kieran Gibbs and send in a perfect cross for Mathieu Valbuena to turn into the net.

The English squad were on their back foot throughout most of the match, pumping the ball forward for Andy Carroll to go it alone. The lad is strong and talented, but so are the French defenders. The addition of Adam Johnson for Gareth Barry gave them a fighting chance as THAT City midfielder actually understands ATTACKING from the position.

Peter Crouch saved the day for the Three Lions with an 86th minute strike to pull one back. But, England never stood a chance from the first whistle, and I lay that completely at the feet of Fabio Capello. Why are we playing without any tactics or confidence? This has been a growing problem.

The FA needs to take control of the situation and look into why we have become so negative. If they need to sack the manager then do it. England have become a laughing stock on the world stage and I for one am sick of it!

Capello’s New Boys

Don Fabio has finally added some fresh faces to the National Squad for the friendly against France. Jordan Henderson was called up before his tremendous showing for Sunderland against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and may have been out to justify the opportunity. Jay Bothroyd has netted 15 times for Cardiff City and has been brought in to shore up a thin striking group.

Chris Smalling has come along nicely for Manchester United this season. Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs have both put in some good performances for Arsenal and the Under-21 squad for a couple of years and are ready to step up to the big boys. Andy Carroll might miss out due to a groin issue. A shame since he has played well for Newcastle United this season.

But will Capello give any of them a run out at Wembley? He’s had a history of naming fresh faces then letting them languish on the bench. Stephen Warnock and Michael Dawson traveled to South Africa to help with a “defensive crisis” but never got a sniff of playing time. And Stewart Downing should just tell Don Fabio thanks but no thanks as he just can’t get any playing time no matter how dismal the team is playing.

It’s time for Capello to do what he keeps telling us he is going to do. Play some new players. The “Golden Generation” was a failure, it’s time to put together a team of England players not a group of players who happen to be English.

Three Lions Victorious at Wembley

Yes it was only a friendly. Yes it was Switzerland. And yes at times it was a bit spastic. But, this goes in the win column and that’s a start. There were fits and starts throughout the match. With players struggling to fit into Capello’s team concept while trying to impress the new boss, there were some boneheaded plays happening on the pitch.

But, I was happy to see that they played like a team. They didn’t play like eleven individuals and that is what we needed in our national team. Interestingly when the lads held the ball and probed for an opening, the England supporters started to jeer. Then Jermaine Jenas gave them a healthy “Shut your hole” when he directed a great Joe Cole pass past Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio for the opening goal. The pressure swept up and out of Wembley with that one quick touch.

The defense played well for the most part, but they did face a couple of close calls. Then Eren Derdiyok made it look to easy as he snapped a shot into the corner of the net and tied up the game early in the second half. The goal brought out the best in the England attack and Peter Crouch flicked the ball to Steven Gerrard who found Shaun Wright-Phillips for the winning goal and The Lions roared.

Rooney takes some stick from some punters for not being a prolific scorer for England. When he plays for club or country Rooney is a dynamo on the pitch. He had some great shots against the Swiss and could have a couple of goals for himself.

I wish we would see these guys again soon in some actual competition. Oh well.

    

Foriegn Policy

I can’t believe that I’m defending the FA! Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has hit out at the League governing body over their comments about the influx of foreign players in the Premiership. First, here is Hill-Wood’s comment to the Daily Mirror:

 ”It seems to me the people at the FA are out of touch with reality. I can’t think why anybody would make these comments when Arsenal and many Premier League clubs are spending a lot of money on their academies. It is not our fault if many English players are not good enough. It is the same for every one of the big clubs now. We find players worldwide. Football is now global. It is also the same in any other industry. You go along with the trends or you suffer badly.”

I have nothing against foriegn players at all. Some of the players that made the Premier League the top league in the world were foreign. Eric Cantona, Jurgen Klinsmann, Gianfranco Zola and Thierry Henry are just a few of the men who came to England and brought a new kind of excitement to the League. Our game used to be a grind it out type and they brought a free flowing style. I for one am grateful to them for it.

                     

But to say that English players are not good enough is one of the dumbest things that I have ever heard. Many Brazilian players got their start by kicking a stuffed sock around in an alley. You can’t tell me that a well run club academy can’t take a young player with raw talent and polish them up for the Premiership! When Manchester United won the treble in 1998-99 the core of that squad had come out of the Trafford Training Centre. Hill-Wood is trying to deflect the attention from his own woefully inadequate academy system and onto the FA “bigwigs”. Brian Barwick is still a world class idiot. We could end up with an English champion that has a foreign owner, manager and players. Half of the teams in the Premier League are foreign owned, of course they are going to bring in foreign players. The FA should have a mandate to develope young English players and turn them into world class footballers. The time of the English superstar is not over, but people like Barwick and Hill-Woods need to look beyond lining thier own pockets and take responsability to save our game.

Out of thirty-one first squad players for Arsenal, only six of them are from the home nations AND only Theo Walcott ever gets a shot at playing in the Premiership. That’s 19% of the team being British/Irish! Their closest rival Manchester United is 50% British/Irish. Yeah, I guess he’s right there are no good young English players to choose from.

Mark my words! I would not be surprised if one day the FA moves to bring in foriegn clubs to compete in the Premiership. I’m not talking about Scottish, Welsh or Irish clubs. I mean French, Dutch, Belgian, German, etc. They will talk about how it will benefit the domestic game and how the game is global and we must adapt to keep up.

When Steve McClaren was sent packing late last year some people called for Arsene Wenger to become the new England manager. How could he be the national team manager if he can’t go abroad to find players to wear the White and Blue?