On FIFA

I would like to throw in a correction about that blog which essentially just slagged of News Corp for hating the England team and English football fans - the BBC, the Daily Mail and others are helping too.

Not an apology however: The Sun and the Mail are hateful rags, and, while I generally approve of the BBC, Panorama's editorial direction has been dubious for years - football seems to be an easy target and these programmes appeal to a dubious demographic.

However, I'm thinking that although the timing is quite deliberate their points are actually far too valid to ignore.

FIFA are corrupt. That's the sort of statement you can say anywhere and it won't bat an eyelid. Everyone knows it. There's already been court cases, they've already been caught on camera, FIFA are corrupt and there's almost no one who would argue otherwise amongst friends or behind closed doors, even amongst some FIFA employees I'd imagine.

I'm saying it on a public blog and I expect no repercussions. Because it's true. They know it's true. We know it's true.

I could go on, or you could have a look around at the evidence available. If you're very lazy (i.e.  as lazy as me who can't be arsed to re-write various allegations and convictions) click this mofo http://tinyurl.com/36l2724

The point being that the repeated exposure of this corruption seems to do nothing to change the way FIFA operates. Sepp Blatter likes to see himself as a President on the same global stage as actual leaders of countries. In a sense he does have quite a lot of political power. FIFA makes a whole lot of money, and is involved in all kinds of development programmes where this money is spent, so FIFA have some clout. This was proven further when South Africa actually passed several laws for the benefit of FIFA's sponsors before the world cup (there's a lot written about this but it doesn't get much more official than this: http://www.sa2010.gov.za/legislation)

So essentially you have a powerful international body which is accountable to no one which at the very least has the power/clout the force governments to change their laws for their benefit.

Do you think this is a good thing? Because in terms of unaccountable international bodies, FIFA is probably the least of our worries. The World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and the like operate with the same lack of accountability to a population but with much more power. But I'm digressing heavily here, go read No Logo or something along those lines if you want some intelligent discussion on that front.

So back to the point. The media has the power to hold certain institutions to account, not any power given by anyone (indeed, an unaccountable, in some cases global, power). At the moment it seems that only the British media is on the attack, possibly because no other nation has football so intrinsic to it's popular culture, except perhaps Brazil. and Brazil have a World Cup coming in 4 years. I'm no expert on the Brazilian media, but I suspect they're in no rush to fuck things up.

England doesn't NEED a world cup. We'd just really like one, and as has been mentioned often we have the stadiums and infrastructure that we could hold one tomorrow. FIFA's top bods now stand to make a highly significant decision. If they reject the English bid people will say it's because of the corruption. But if they choose the English bid the allegations will not go away, not even from the English press. So they're fucked in that sense. But the fact is that no one will care. Sepp Blatter isn't going to resign over it. It's quite likely no one will lose their position. and I've no idea how you'd go about putting pressure on people who are accountable to no one.

His name is Billy.

I wish I’d believed the warnings at the time. We were told he was a horrible little man, but we just thought they were being bitter.

 

Billy Davies has done nothing but bitch and moan for the last year. If he was the manager of a club in the top half of the Prem it could be seen as clever posturing, but considering Nottingham Forest are languishing mid-table in the Championship it’s the actions of a man who thinks he’s better than his record suggests.

 

I’m not the biggest fan of his tactics but they’re often effective. His persistence with using at least one winger who can’t cross is puzzling but I’m willing to let that go. What I can’t abide is the unsettling nature of his comments. He thinks he’s making his point against the board/transfer panel/whatever abut it just makes him sound like a crazy little man. It was made very clear in the summer that we were trying to sign players (too clear for Cardiff and Swansea) yet he would have us believe that the board is against him.

 

However if he doesn’t shut up and start turning some draws into wins he’ll find it’s the Trent End who are against him. Mid-table and manager silence would do for me.

Update: mofo got a win tonight. Still needs to STFU though.

A ramble I couldn't be bothered to finish

Why does Rupert Murdoch hate English football so much

 

Yet again a Murdoch owned newspaper acts with the intention of hurting English football. 

Can't post direct links ue to paywall so here's this: 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101017/sp_soccer_afp/fblwc2018fifabritainnigeriacorruption

 

It can be argued that it’s valid investigative journalism of course, and there is an argument that corruption needs to be exposed. However at FIFA it’s corruption that everyone has known about for decades. Sepp Blatter has long been known as a dubious and highly inappropriate man. Perhaps that’s a post for another time.

 

But this isn’t about Sepp Blatter, a man who everyone in English football has despised for some time. It’s about Murdoch and the News Corp agenda which seems to be very much against the England team, moreso than other news outlets.

 

An article on the BBC site suggested “Any spirited journalist could've asked those questions from any country, and the answers would've been the same” but the fact of the matter is that they didn’t, be cause they’d quite like to host the World Cup at some point.

On Rooney

Many column inches/pixels have been wasted on Wayne Rooney this year and this blog entry is no exception. Based on a letter to Football365:

 

Alex Ferguson made a bold move in revealing the details of contract negotiations, or lack thereof, in a press conference. In said press conference he question Wayne Rooney’s character and made sure that he used Pravda  MUTV to make this statement:

 

“So there we are, we have got into a situation where we had to clarify this for our fans because what we saw on Saturday was unacceptable. When we got to 2-2 and they were chanting Wayne Rooney, it's a pressure on the players and didn't do the team any good so we had to clarify the situation and put it right."

 

Or reading between the lines: “You’re all a bunch of idiots, how dare you question my authority!”

 

And they there’s a lot of nonsense about loyalty and respect. Respect the club he says. The club which played him injured against Bayern Munich, aggravating that injury and knackering him for the World Cup. Yes, that’s worthy of respect, thanks Fergie.

 

I know everyone thinks their club is special but why they think a scouse lad should have any loyalty to a Manchester club which poached him from his boyhood heroes, bins players as soon as the manager gets sick of them and which represents the deep end crass commercialism in the sport is anyone’s guess.  Hating Manchester United has been easy for years, with much of their fanbase being casual football fans and massive chunks of their home support travelling in from London of a weekend, and a whole lot of arrogance the likes of which Liverpool fans were guilty of throughout the late 70s and 80s. Of course there’s a lot of sensible and realistic Man U fans too, although they are generally not Keane on going against the word of Fergie. His statement has essentially forced Rooney out of the club. There’s no way back despite the ‘open door’ mentioned. The pride of both men has been hurt, and I can’t see either backing down.

 

The media have of course gone apeshit, and have created a variety of reasons as to why this has occurred.  I imagine they haven’t seen eye to eye ion a few matters, but I think that the summer’s transfer activity was quite telling. Rooney wants to be in a trophy winning team. Manchester United seem to be lacking the resources to build one now that the interest payments are biting. Making such huge losses without a massive pile of cash to back it up is unsustainable, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. They can’t compete with Chelsea, Man City or Real Madrid in terms of financial muscle. It seems to me, and many other neutral observers, that it’s not the money or the press hounding, more a case of him wanting to win something in the next few years – he’s not exactly short of a few quid. This is why all the best players keep leaving Arsenal – ambition. This is also why Manchester City are becoming increasingly attractive to players (as well as the massive wads of cash) – eventually they’re going to win something.

 

Times change, clubs rise and fall, and I think the sun is starting to set on the Fergie era. You’ve had it good, now you might have to suffer like the rest of us.

 

Well, I say suffer, we’ll have to suffer the whinging on a grand scale, until the fair-weather fans disappear again. I can’t see a team that hasn’t won a trophy in a few years and with no star players left selling many shirts in Singapore, Malaysia and the like. How many Chelsea fans did you know in 2001?

The Inquest

Another international tournament and England are knocked out by one of the usual suspects.

Should we really be that surprised?

I was over it in less than a day. Can't say the same about Forest's play off woe which took about a month.

We all live in hope that England might do it, and the performances in qualifying added to that hope, but anyone taking a cursory glance at the other top teams knew that we don't have the same kind of depth of class as Spain, Brazil and Argentina. The Germans are about equal on paper, possibly slightly less talent throughout their squad, but they're always more than the some of their parts - the stereotypes of discipline, organisation and efficiency always seem to ring true for them in football tournaments.

From reading the press however you'd think we sent out 11 dead pigeons. The performance against the Germans was described as 'abysmal' in some quarters. This is quite harsh. Germany had a gameplan and stuck to it - let us attack, close us down and hit us on the counter attack. They did this again and again. It seems Beckenbauer pranked us with his 'kick and rush' jibes as that's exactly how they beat us - long balls from their half after an English attack.

Capello is taking most of the flak for the exit with three main reasons repeatedly dragged out, which are frankly bollocks:

442: Many seem to have decided that 442 is outdated, and that Capello's unwillingness to switch to the papers preferred 451 is his downfall. Last time I checked there were still a lot of top teams using 442. Premier League Chelsea for half of last season for a start, and Champions League finalists Bayern Munich and winners Inter Milan both used it as various points in time last season.

Emile Heskey: At times he was our best player. Rooney was awful throughout, leaving Capello's gameplan largely doomed without him collecting Heskey's knockdowns. Various idiots were calling for Heskey to be dropped, when it's Rooney who should have been on the bench.

Gerrard on the left: When he actually stayed on the left the system worked. When he decided he was going to wander everywhere we were left exposed. The question of England lacking a great left sided midfielder has been swept under the carpet of late, largely due to the performances in qualifying where various central and right sided players have filled in. If Gerrard can't play in a disciplined manner at the age of 29 he's got nothing left to offer anyone. Perhaps that's why he's been crap at Liverpool all season - deciding he knows best at the cost of the manager's job.

Capello did make mistakes - they seem to be related to listening to the idiots rather than doing his thing. He didn't dare to drop Rooney, he sacrificed Heskey, and he bowed the to pressure to include Joe Cole, who wasn't particularly effective. There's been suggestions that they players wanted a 451 with Joe Cole on the left - this seems most unlikely. Bringing back Carragher was a terrible idea, possibly the biggest mistake. I'd rather have taken Gary Neville, and that's saying something.

I would rather Capello stuck around to start the overhaul which is needed but this is looking very unlikely. As usual the FA have ballsed this process up, and with it taking 2 weeks for the FA to sharpen their axe (how blunt is it?!) it looks like we’ll miss out on Roy Hodgson for the England job (damn Liverpool!) and have to put up with dodgy ‘Arry Redknapp for a couple of years. The same Harry Redknapp who plays the 442 the idiots whinge about and has won a grand total of 1 FA cup as a manager.

If Capello is pragmatic and sacks off the England job for a much higher paying job elsewhere in the few days we might still get Woy, but even then we have to rely on the FA actually appointing him (popular in the game, proven track record at international level), instead of Redknapp (popular with the media... oh bugger..). Apparently The Sun are asking for David Beckham......... I think that says all that needs to be said about their football coverage.

The first people that need sacking are the entire FA board for taking 2 weeks about it. Back or sack, not procrastinate and dawdle!



What needs to change:

The England squad is now ready for a drastic overhaul. The majority of Capello's first team will be well into their 30s by the time the Euros come around, and have definitely played their last World Cup match. At least Italy's old guard won the thing. I fully expect some international retirements.

At this point I'll rake through some previously covered ground.

Joe Hart should be made England's first choice goalkeeper now. He's good enough to do it and he'll last a generation or two, so lets get him in there early. David James is a retirement candidate, and Rob Green's England career is likely to go the way of Paul Robinson and Scott Carson, so Hart should be in now, maybe with Foster as second choice depending on how he does next season - he might be another false hope.

Glen Johnson is young enough to keep the right back spot until 2014, although a great youngster could energe. Dawson is ready to become first choice centre back - either Terry or Ferdinand might retire, but we cetainly can't play them both together ever again without conceeding to any team with a stiker who can run. Carragher will go back into retirement, Upson will possibly remain in squads. It might be time for the likes of Ryan Shawcross and David Wheater to step up, and maybe Micah Richards will have a decent reason. At left back Ashley Cole might well continue, but Keiron Gibbs is looking like a potential long term replacement. Leighton Baines and Stephen Warnock aren't in the same class really but may be vying for a spot on the left. Nedum Onouha looks like he'll end up playing for Nigeria sadly.

Either Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard will retire. I wouldn't put money on it, but I think it's likely. If Gerrard doesn't go first I think Frank will. Milner is still one for the future, and will be a first teamer from this point onwards. Barry will last til the Euros but perhaps not much longer after that. Hargreaves is fucked, and isn't getting any younger. Perhaps it's time for Lee Cattermole (Cat or Mole?) to stake his claim. Yes he's a bit brutal in the tackle, but has you seen Javier Mascherano lately? Wright Phillips has probably played his last world cup too - he's 29 this year despite looking about 10. Lennon will stick around, Walcott will be back, and will Johnson. Stewert Downing and Ashley Young might step up. Jack Wilshire continues to impress and it's probably only a matter of time before he gets called up.

As for the strikers, Heskey will surely retire - for a start he's getting on a bit and the abuse he getting is shocking considering the effort he puts in. Rooney will hopefully become the player he thinks he is, he should be hitting his peak over the next two tournaments. Zamora might get a couple of games but he's no long term solution. Defoe and Crouch mioght be there or thereabouts. Darren Bent doesn't seem to impress England managers for whatever reason. Of the young ones coming through there's no one who's really shining yet, so it's a matter of waiting for someone to emerge. Perhaps Matt Derbyshire's time in Greece has been the making of him. Agbonlahor is another option, although he's yet to have a consistent season.

Of course what we really need to crack on with is capping as many eligible foreigners as we can. Everyone else is doing it, we'd be mugs not to. Mikel Arteta is the obvious choice, what with him having no chance of getting in the Spanish midfield (although he's 28 so perhaps not much use in the long run), and Charles N'Zogbia has even expressed an interest (24, good on the left wing...), but there's plenty of young players in the top squads who are quite poachable for England. Everyone else has a Brazilian, why can't we?! We could have had Carlo Cudicini in goal for the last 7 years, the once excellent Edu in midfield, Steed Malbranque on the left and the occasionally fit Louis Saha up front. We can be suckers or we can do what everyone else does - remember the 'French' greats Veira, Zindane etc..... Can't we sign up some Ghanaians, or maybe blag some Argentinians via the Falklands?

A Guide to World Cup Idiots

I love the World Cup. It's generally a fantastic competition.

What I don't love is the idiots that creep out of the woodwork at this time.

And what a lot of idiots there are.

Here's a look at the different varieties of World Cup idiot. These can be spotted in any pub in England over the next month.

NB: I'm talking about English people here: we've come to expect that the Irish, Scots and Welsh have no desire to see England win at anything.

Instant Expert
This is (generally) a man who has spent the period between tournaments watching almost no football, but suddenly develops very strong opinions around the time of a World Cup match. These opinions are remarkably similar to those of certain tabloid newspapers. It's almost as if they'd read something somewhere and decided to repeat it. Again and again. For a month. Last time it was all about how 'Crouchy' was England's best player ever. This years pearls of wisdom are likely to include "Rooney needs to calm down", "Gerrard and Lampard can't play together" and "Emile Heskey? Pah! Peter Crouch should be first choice! *does robot dance*"

Anyone But England
Comes in two flavours:
"Not bothered" i.e. Claims not to like football or doesn't follow it but has expressed a desire to support any other team.
"Glory hunter" i.e. claims to like football and has expressed a desire to support the 'best' team (presumably they've just switched allegiance from Man U to Chelsea again, or from Barcelona to Inter, or both).
Reasons given are usually a mixture of the wishy washy bullshit usually espoused by idiots and outright snobbery, i.e. the assumption that anyone who supports the England football team is a racist hooligan and is 'working class'. Parts of the media has decided that 'working class' and 'racist' are the same thing and the aforementioned idiots are quite happy to believe this. It appears to have become fashionable. I am wholeheartedly against this as I believe a big part of football's enjoyment is actually giving a shit about the result. When I watch Forest or England I actually care who wins, more so than the vague support I'll lend in any other match. If you don't really care, don't watch, and don't get involved. I'd rather a thousands pseudo experts that one of you.

Club Only Fans
Generally exclusive to the top end of the prem: supporters who not only don't support their country, but actively moan when their clubs' players play for their country. I for one used to be delighted when players at Forest used to get picked (used to be a regular occurrence 15 years ago!) whereas you'll find Arsenal fans delighted than Walcott isn't going and Man U fans hoping Rooney gets sent off as quickly as possible so he doesn't pick up an injury. A few years ago I remember a particularly contrary Man U fan cheering on Portugal against England because Ronaldo was playing. The fact that England had 2-3 Man U players in the team at the time (5-6 in the squad) seemed to make no difference. He wasn't even the stereotype Man U fan: he had a season ticket and was from somewhere near Manchester, as opposed to having a SKy box and being from Dagenham/Kuala Lumpar.

Stereotype Woman
Possibly only exists in adverts. Seems to think that men should earn the right to watch football by buying shoes or something. Women should be genuinely offended by this, and men should continue to be sick of adverts that make us out to be fucking morons. Future wife is as excited as I am by the World Cup. I work in an office which is 70% women and almost all of them have at least half an interest in England doing well, the others fall into the ABE category, complete indifference and the Irish. There's a Scottish lady who actually wants us to win so we'll stop banging on about 1966.

The Papers
Who spend there every moment trying to tear strips off the team until the World Cup, at which point it's 'support our boys' for a couple of weeks until the games start at which point they're 'not fit to wear the shirt'. A lot of the tabloids sell on the basis of their football coverage, much of which amounts to gossip. Essentially it's like 'Heat' magazine for men.

Here's the short version of the world cup year, as reported by the tabloids:

• "Sack the captain, (how dare he get jiggy with an ex teammates ex girlfriend, which has EVERYTHING to do with how he plays football)"
• "Sack the FA Chairman, (he said something controversial in private and we decided to print it in full knowledge of the fact it would have an adverse effect on the world cup preparations)"
• "Manager doesn't know what he's doing, (didn't give us advance warning of who we has going to pick, journalist's toys thrown from pram)"
• "SUPPORT OUR BOYS! FREE CAR FLAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
• "New captain injured, team doomed"
• "Rooney has a temper, team doomed"
• And from the Express: "Ghost of Diana says Rooney is a liability"

Ing-Ger-Land Hooligan Types
The insufferable ones who give us all a bad name, the ones who start fights in pub/at football matches/in tournament hosting countries, start running battles in town centres, threaten foriegn people who show their colours here, basically the people who the ABEs thing represent all England fans but are actually a tiny but very vocal minority.
As heard during the 2002 World Cup:
"what time is kick off?"
"About 5 minutes after the match."
Thw pub doors were locked shortly after this.

The Sheffield Wednesday Band
Learn some new songs for fucks sake.


Getting a reprieve are:

Clueless Girl Fan
She doesn't know what's going on but doesn't pretend to either and at least she's got into the spirit of the thing.

Vaguely Nostalgic Old Bloke
"I remember 1966.../He's no Booby Charlton.../etc"
That's nice, I wasn't born then, well done on surviving for another 44 years.

Completely Indifferent Person
Fair enough. As long as you don't keep telling us every 5 minutes about how you don't like football we'll let you off. No celebrating if we win though.

A late addition: Anti-football wind up merchants
I'm looking at you, tiny bassplayer lady. I'm letting you off because you're trying to wind up the idiots.

A thought: England Team Prediction 2014

Yes it's a long way away right now, but indulge me.

I was mildly concerned about the future of the England squad whilst watching Rio Ferdinand putting in a half decent performance in against AC Milan just now.

Then I looked at our recent under-21 squad and was actually not as alarmed.

Some predictions (and a lot of typos):

Goalkeepers:
*Joe Hart will be first choice by this point.
*Rob Green might still be knocking about as back up.
*Hopefully Ben Foster will have joined a club where he'll get some games, the lad's got talent but could go the way of Carson and Robinson.
*Scott Loach will have made a move to a prem club by then (posibly this summer in fact if Watford's financial woes should continue).
David James will be running a comedy club somewhere.

Defenders
I hesitate to lump them all together but some of them are yet to specialise as full backs or centre backs.
I would be shocked if Terry and Ferdinand haven't retired from international football by this point, probably Cashley too. Unless Upson and Lescott suddenly raise their games they will be replaced by young uns.
*Glen Johnson will be 29, nd hopefully have learnt to defend as well as bomb forward.
*Micah Richards will have matured by this point so will be in there at right back or centre back.
*The only positon where we have proven specialists right now is left back, and Leighton Baines and Kieron Gibbs will be a good shout.
*Gary Cahill continues to look useful,and will be 28 by then.
*Ditto David Wheater.
*If Chris Smalling fulfills his promise he's a possibility.
*Ditto Mancienne.
*Spurs signed two lads called Kyle - Naughton and Walker, both of whom are very highly rated.
*Stephen Taylor, assuming he ever makes it back to the Prem, is an outside chance.

Midfield
The Gerrard/Lampard conundrum will have disappeared with their respective retirements from international football, Beckham will be nowhere near the squad, and Barry will be getting on a bit. Joe Cole and Owen Hargreaves probably won't even make it to this world cup.
*James Milner should have established himself as a regular someone in this side. Anywhere frankly.
*Ashley Young will be an option on either wing.
*Lee Cattermole (cat? or mole?) already looks like a future Hargreaves, hopefully with less brittle legs.
*Lennon another option on the right.
*Jack Rodwell looks a fantastic prospect, very skillful and has some power.
*Ditto Jack Wilshire.
*And probably Dan Gosling.
*I'm not convinced about the likes of Muamba, Delph and Jack Cork, but they all have a lot of time
*Tom Huddlestone is a fantastic player on his day. He seems to have shed his beer gut over the last season, and could make the step up.
*Stewart Downing - don't laugh, he's doing well for Villa right now and is probably the only proper left-footed player on this list.
*I'm going to throw Lewis McGugan into this list because I'm mental. He's a fantastically talented player, and there's been rumours about Prem clubs sniffing around him for a couple of years.
*Micheal Johnson appears to have fucked his life up with pies, beer, fighting and going to 42nd Street, he won't make it, which is a shame as he was a great player.

Strikers
Surely no one will be talking about Owen or Heskey at this stage. Crouch and Defoe will be in their 30s but are possibilities.
*Rooney, obviously. By this stage he should be recognised as one of the best players in the world.
*Gaby Agbonlahor should be reaching his peak. He's not reached great heights yet but he's got the talent to do so.
*Daniel Sturridge might have ruined his career by going to Chelsea, but he looks a great prospect and if he can get games he could be fantastic. Unlike Frazier Campbell (who will end up a mid-range Prem player at best) his club did not want to lose him, and Chelsea actively courted him. The lad's a bit special, and if he can learn from Drogba and Anelka he could end up deadly.
*Can't really tell with Carlton Cole - he could end up at a top half club this summer, and that will be the making or breaking of him.
*Freddie Sears looked great in the few West Ham starts he got, he hasn't had many goals though so another unsure one.
*Danny Welbeck - probably not.
*If James Vaughan ever gets fit he'll be great!

Somewhere
*Theo Walcott might have turned into a striker a la Henry by this point. Hopefully he'll have learnt to put in a consistent performance too.
*Tom Cleverley - you're thinking "who?" unless you're a Watford fan or a particularly dedicated ManYoo fan, he's 20 and looks very useful, can play attacking midfield or striker.

Obviously more players will emerge in the meantime, and some of these lads could go downhill rapidly (Shawcross is highly rated right now, I have missed him out because I think he might be another Nicky Shorey/insert briefly promising player here).

Of course, it's going to be held in Brazil so we probably don't have a chance, but it's nice to dream.


Any thoughts/glaring omissions?

Conclusions on England vs Egypt

Having just watched England beat Egypt 3-1 I have a few conclusions. I'll do it player by player

1. Rob Green is adequate. He's a bit less gaffe prone than David James, and a lot more expereinced than Joe Hart. Hart will eventually be England's goalkeeper,but Green should start in South Africa.

2. Wes Brown is hardly a spectacular right back. Or centre back that matter. I can't see why Micah Richards isn't higher up in the queue, but I'll be hoping that Glen Johnson is fit.

3. Leighton Baines was ok, but again I'll be hoping Ashley Cole is fit.

4. Gerrard was a bit indifferent, much like is for Liverpool at the moment. He left a lot of chaseable balls which was disappointing. He wasn't terrible, but he was far from his best. By contrast James Milner looked like a world beater when he came on, and was relentless - I think he's booked his flight. Not saying he should start instead but Gerrard needs to bring his A game to South Africa.

5. Matthew Upson is a liability. It seems like not too long ago we had too many international class centre backs, so many that Sol Campbell ended up on the scrap heap. I think it might be time he was back in contention. Once again we can hope Rio Ferdinand is fully fit, but equally in terms of back up it would be nice if Ledley King could keep his knee together for a bit. Jonathan Woodgate is probably too crocked at this stage. Lescott is the same level of liability as Upson at this level.

6. John Terry has been in dodgy form for weeks,for obvious reasons. I've never been his biggest fan but right now he's the best fit centre back we have.

7. Theo Walcott ran a lot, bu his end product was lacking. Wright-Phillips was a lot more useful when he came on, so much so that I think he'll be going to South Africa. If Lennon is fit by then I think he'll be joining him ahead of Walcott. I've a feeling Beckham will be coming no matter what, which considering how mny positions he's played in at AC Milan is not necessarily a bad thing.

8. Lampard was a bit anonymous. Not awful, and he was playing in deeper role than he plays for Chelsea. Carrick was about the same when he replaced him, solid but unspectacular.

9. Defoe was busy, on another night he might have scored a couple but it was not to be. Crouch was fantastic as his replacement. He seems to be the opposite of Gerrard in that when he puts an England shirt on he looks like a world beater as opposed to the average striker that he is. These two should both be on the plane.

10. Rooney was pissed off that a lot of the starting 11 didn't seem to be trying. He was everywhere, because they weren't. As such he didn't get to show the form he's been showing for Manchester United. He seemed a lot more settled once Crouch and Wright-Phillips came on, possibly because he was no longer the only one putting a shift in. Carlton Cole didn't get enough time to make any real impact as his replacement.

11. Barry was as out of sorts as anyone in the first half, but seemed a lot better in the second half. A solid performance in all.

We'll need a lot of luck to win the World Cup. We'll need a lot of luck to get past the group stages if we play like we did in the first half.

On Football

Once again it's a World Cup year, and the media have cranked up their effort to sabotage the England team.

It can be argued that John Terry should have kept it in his pants, but it can equally be argued that it's none of anyone else's business. Same with Ashley Cole and the end of his sham marriage.

The pubic at large forgets or is unaware of the media witch hunt against Alf Ramsey during the 1966 world cup, mostly because they hail him as a genius these days. Nothing to do with any kind of sex scandal, but as far as they were concerned he was useless up until he won the thing, a theme repeated ever since.