Thursday, November 22, 2007

McLaren destroys England

It may seem harsh to rest the blame squarely on McLaren's shoulders as the England players are largely to be blamed as well.

Leaving out David Beckham for a start was a very unwise move. With Wright-Phillips and Richards on the right, it was easy for Croatia to defend them as they both couldn't cross well and only relied on their pace.

Sure, Robinson should be dropped, but the experience of James would have been better suited for England's biggest game. Carson is a good keeper on his day but his inexperience showed by misjudging Kranjcar's shot. It could have happened to any keeper, but surely James' experience would have been better suited for this occasion. Plus, he has been keeping clean sheets for Portsmouth.

Having said that, England were missing Ashley Cole, Ferdinand, Terry, Rooney, Owen and Neville. The experience of these players would have aided England's cause. Lescott looked uncertain the whole night. Croatia were always attacking Bridge. England resorted to long balls to Crouch due to the lack of attacking options.

McLaren has come out and said he would not resign. He would be sacked. Surely. Perhaps, hiring Wenger as a part-time manager would be a better option. Giving the reigns to Alan Shearer? At this point, anyone is better than McLaren.

England has to produce more flair players if they are to compete with the world's best as they lack the discipline of Italy and Germany. So far the only flair players they have are Joe Cole and the injury-prone Rooney. Brazil, Argentina and France have an abundance of flair talent. Ronaldinho, Kaka, Messi, Riquelme, Henry and Ribery to name a few. Even if they are injured, players like Diego, Robinho, Tevez, Aguero, Malouda and Nasri are capable of stepping up. For England, two Tottenham reserve strikers were their only option of the bench minus David Beckham. They needed another Beckham (England's 2-2 draw with Greece) to grab the game by the scruff of its neck but no one stepped up. England can't forever rely on Beckham and Rooney.

Lampard was anonymous throughout the game apart from the penalty. Gerrard has trying to force the situation too much. Often misplacing passes. Only Joe Cole looked like someone capable of creating something. He ran himself to the ground and had to be substituted. Campbell covered up for Lescott and Bridge's incompetence more then he should have.

England is a mess. They need a good manager to steer the ship. Hopefully, not qualifying would be an eye opener to the state of English football. Hopefully, the English would realise that the English Premierleague's high standard does not translate to a world class English team.

England player ratings:

Carson 5 Howler from first shot of the game.
Richards 5
Campbell 7 Played well.
Lescott 5
Bridge 3 Weak link. Constantly exploited.
Wright-Phillips 5
Gerrard 5
Barry 5
Lampard 4 Missing in Action.
Joe Cole 7 England's only lively player.
Crouch 6 Good goal.
Beckham 6 Assist.
Defoe 3 Only contribution was diving to win the penalty.
Bent 5 Too little too late.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

French League Phenomenon!

Guess who the French League latest phenomenon is? No, it's not Nasri. No!!! It's not Benzema. Sheesh... how can you not know this. It is David Bellion. Huh?! No way! The Manchester United reject? You're absolutely spot on.

"Their points don't smell of sweat, but they smell of skill and technical superiority," wrote France Football. For that they can thank midfield trio Johan Micoud, Fernando and Alejandro Alonso, while up front David Bellion can't stop scoring. He netted twice and set up the third against Rennes. Cynics have suggested that Bellion's record this season of 10 goals in 14 appearances says more about Ligue 1 defences than anything else. While that may be a little harsh, Bellion shouldn't be awaiting the call from Raymond Domenech just yet.

His most recent "virtuoso" performance with 2 goals and 1 assist.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Platini is nuts

"I do not like the system of Arsène Wenger," the former France international said. "In France, Italy and Spain it is easy to buy with money the best players at 14, 15 or 16. I don't like that. If the best clubs buy the best 15 or 16 players, [then it] is finished for all the clubs in Europe. If my son is playing at Millwall and at 16 Manchester [United] come in for this player, then when will Millwall have a good team?" -Michel Platini-



When everyone has been praising Wenger for grooming a young Arsenal into potential champions, Platini has condemned Wenger's methods. Maybe he is just bitter that Henry broke his goal scoring record for France. Poor Platini wanting people to notice him.

Why shouldn't Wenger snap up young talent if he can groom them into Fabregases? Platini's argument is that teams like "Millwall" can not improve if they have their potential future star taken away. Put Wayne Rooney in Millwall and Millwall will be Premierleague champions? I think not.

If Millwall do have a potential Rooney or Fabregas, he has a better shot of realizing his full potential if he joins a youth programme and go up against talented youngsters on a daily basis. Or playing at a top level against top level opposition to improve. How often does a Fabregas comes along? If say Millwall have a potential Fabregas, who is going to support him? How long does Millwall have to wait for another potential Rooney or potential Terry to come along and improve the team? 50 years?

Point is, as good a player Platini was, he doesn't know what he is rambling about half the time. Wasn't he the guy who is proposing that FA Cup winners be let into the Champions League? Seriously.

Would Lampard be the player that he is if he stayed at West Ham? Would Joe Cole be the player that he is if he stayed at West Ham? They stayed at West Ham but didn't win a thing. Were regarded as players with unlimited potential but not realizing half of it. Enough said.

The new Arsenal team

Goalkeeper problem:

Jens Lehmann
- lacking class recently by his outbursts
- easily provoked by opponents
- temper problems
- silly errors in his 2 games in the premiership

Manuel Almunia
- let in 2 goals near post that cost Arsenal the Champions League
- frequently out of position..running around like a headless chicken out of the box at times
- world class goalkeeper?

Fabianski
- who the f*** is he?

Solution :
Robin Van Persie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsdhAjIFLZ8


Other than that, it's also good to see the young players having a good time together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2rLFnQWqUw