Author Archives: Mike

Wilshire Shines For Capello

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A come from behind victory away from home and the emergence of a new young talent? Things are looking up – over to guest blogger Thomas Rooney.

Fabio Capello isn’t someone who dishes out praise too often. The Italian likes to play his cards close to his chest and not let the press know what he thinks of his players.

After the friendly victory over Denmark on Wednesday night though, Capello was in a very positive mood, not only praising the team performances as a whole, but singling out individuals who impressed him.

At the centre of the England boss’ thoughts in this regard was Jack Wilshire. The 18-year-old made his first international start and produced a very promising performance in the 45 minutes he played.

Speaking of the Arsenal youngster, Capello said: “He played very well. He played with confidence, passed a lot of good balls and won back possession.”

Capello has recently said that Wilshire is one of very few of England’s younger players ready to play for him on a regular basis and it seems clear that the game against Denmark has done nothing but increase this belief.

The former Real Madrid boss continued his praise: “It’s not easy for a player so young on a [full] debut to play at this level. It was a good performance.”

There was quite a lot of pressure on Wilshire before the game too. Everyone was talking about his talent. Players, pundits and managers were all singing his praises.

It shows a lot that he didn’t let this get to him and produced an assured performance, linking well with Frank Lampard and spraying the passes around in England’s midfield.

Many sports betting pundits thought that Wilshire was the real deal before last night’s game and now they know he can be.

Whether he will get the nod for England’s Euro 2010 qualifier against Wales in March is another matter though. Capello will be keen not to ask too much of him too soon.

Having said that, he is bound to be tempted to start with Wilshire. He seems like the type of player that will grow with every performance. He is starting week in week out for Arsenal, so why can’t he be part of England’s strongest team?

Those looking at sportsbook patterns regularly will want to note the quote of the man himself after the game too. He is clearly a very driven young man who is determined to succeed with England.

He said: “To play with the players who were on show was just brilliant. I’m delighted and it’s good to get off to a winning start on my debut.”

“Playing with Rooney and Lampard was great and I’m going to treasure that forever.”

He also revealed that he was desperate to play the second-half, but Capello reminded him of the important games he had coming up for Arsenal.

One thing for sure though is that Wilshire is a fantastic talent and if he progresses over the next year or so, England could have a world-class midfielder on their hands by Euro 2012.

Will this be the England Squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil?

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Guest blogger Richard Smith takes a look into the future…don’t forget, coverage is on ITV1 tonight and kick off is 7:15pm.

It’s the first International fixture of 2011 this week and with all eyes firmly fixed on qualifying for next year’s European Championships, it is sure to be a pivotal year for all concerned with the England setup. Namely Fabio Capello, who has already announced that he is stepping down after (or before if the Three Lions fail to qualify) the Euros but also many of the senior players who are coming to the end of their international careers.

Euro 2012 will almost certainly be the last international tournament that many of the established England players will participate in, with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Ashely Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch all likely to call it a day, therefore it is interesting to wonder, even at this early stage, what the likely squad and team will be assuming of course they qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

One player who will almost certainly still be around will be Wayne Rooney, who by then may even be the captain of the team. Rooney will be 29 in 2014 the same age as Pele was when he stole the show for Brazil in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Rooney is certainly including in the following suggested 23 man squad:

Goalkeepers

Joe Hart – Manchester City. Hart will be an experienced 27 year old by 2014 and is already regarded as one of the leading keepers in the world and a player who should be at the top for some time.

Ben Foster – Birmingham City. Not in the current squad but playing well for Birmingham following his move from Manchester United. Foster will not be everyone’s choice but has an advantage over his rivals by playing regularly in the Premier League.

Frank Fielding – Blackburn. Recently called up by Fabio Capello to the full squad and made his debut against Hungary last August. Only 22 at the moment, he is certainly one to keep your eye on in the between now and 2014.

Defenders

Gary Cahill – Bolton. Has been receiving the plaudits for a couple of years now, Cahill will be one of several central defenders who are seen as natural replacements for either John Terry or Rio Ferdinand. Has 1 senior cap and is 25 years old but is likely to more on from Bolton will will also aid his international progress.

Micah Richards – Manchester City. Maturing as a player of substance at Eastlands, Richards always had a great talent but it was just his ‘bad boy’ image that let him down. He should be a top class defender by the next World Cup with his private life seemingly back on track.

Kieran Gibbs – Arsenal. A richly talented left back who has made several appearances for the ‘Gunners’ already. Aged just 21 he would seem to be a natural replacement for Ashley Cole.

Chris Smalling – Manchester United. Another hugely talented defender who can play in central defence or as full back. United paid £10m for him from Fulham when he was just 20 years old which gives some indication of his talent. He is playing more and more for United and has a bright forture and could be a possible captain further down the line.

Kyle Walker – Spurs. Currently on loan at Aston Villa, this exceptional right back will challenge Richards for that role in the team. Has been called up by Capello for the first time for the friendly in Denmark.

Michael Dawson – Spurs. He will be a very experienced central defender by the time of the next World Cup. He is one of those expected to replace John Terry once the Chelsea man has hung up his international boots.

Phil Jagielka – Everton. Another player who will offer the England team reliability and experience at the back. He has earned seven caps under Capello and although not necessarily everyone’s choice, it would make sense to have a player like him available.

Midfield

Aaron Lennon – Spurs. Very exciting right sided player who has improved out of all proportion over the last two years. Very quick, tricky and who can score goals, he will be a certainty for Brazil.

James Milner – Manchester City. Extremely versatile midfielder who can play out wide or in the middle. He is very highly thought of, has World Cup Finals experience and will be at his peak in Brazil at the age of 27.

Theo Walcott – Arsenal. Another right sided player who offers searing pace with great perception. Missed out in South Africa, should not miss out in Brazil.

Jack Wilshere – Arsenal. Has been a revelation for Arsenal this season in his central midfield role, where he can either anchor or push forward. Has tremendous passing ability and can only get better.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Southampton. Already being tipped to be on the books of a big club by the start on next season, this exciting 17 year old has the ability to be an absolute sensation. Has broken into the Under 21 squad and is the talking player in League One at the moment but not for long with a move to the Premier League surely not too far away.

Jack Rodwell – Everton. Another top class player in the making, Rodwell is now starting to command a regular place in the Everton midfield, having first made his debut as a 16 year old. Regarded as a defensive midfielder, Rodwell is not with goal scoring ability as well and is a certain star of the future.

Adam Johnson – Manchester City. A top class player who will play for England for a very long time to come. He will be at his absolute peak come 2014 and will be one of the most important England players.

Jordan Henderson – Sunderland. Another highly regarded progressive player who made his full England debut against France in November. Hugely talented and a very powerful player he will be a huge asset to the England’s central midfield.

Strikers

Wayne Rooney – Manchester United. Could well be captain by the time the team take off for Brazil in 2014. Not having the best period of his football life currently, but Rooney is sheer class and will be a big threat to any defence in Brazil.

Andy Carroll – Liverpool. Could well partner Rooney up front, Carroll has great height, determination, ability and will improve greatly over the next few years now he’s at Liverpool.

Gabriel Agbonlahor – Aston Villa. This very speedy striker has been tipped for several years now to become a huge player for England. So far that has not materialised but he should get more chances  to impress in the near future.

Daniel Sturridge – Chelsea. Currently on loan with Bolton, who he scored for on his debut, this 21 year old has not had too many chances to impress as yet at Stamford Bridge, but when he has had the opportunities he has grabbed them. Yet to fully emerge as a top striker, but he is on his way!

Predictable Drop-outs For Ill-timed Friendly

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Guest blogger Thomas Rooney takes a look at tomorrow’s friendly against Denmark – if we’d opted into the Nations Cup, at least it would have been competitive.

The difficulties in juggling club management and international management are once again in the spotlight this week with England set to play a pretty pointless friendly in Denmark.

Coming as it is between two sets of Premier League games and a week before the resumption of the Champions League it is little surprise there has been a flurry of drop outs.

Steven Gerrard, Peter Crouch and Ben Foster have all been released from the squad because of injuries, with Rio Ferdinand already out. In total 24 players from the four England age-group sides have been released this week.

For Fabio Capello he somehow has to get his message across the remaining players in a matter of days, before playing the friendly and waving the squad back off to their respective squads once more.

It must be terribly difficult for an international manager to try and build any team spirit or plan any tactics in such a short space of time. I agree they need these games to experiment, but to shoehorn them in almost as an afterthought benefits no-one. It doesn’t appeal to fans either. Obviously people will be keeping an eye on the live match score , but they won’t be getting overly excited about it.

He must also be fielding several calls from Premier League managers asking that their players don’t play more than 45 minutes of the friendly in order to keep them fit for future domestic games. And god forbid one of them get injured as a demand for compensation will soon arrive at the doors of the FA from the player’s Premier League club.

International football at the moment is being treated like an irritable distraction. In order for it to work it needs to be given the space and time it deserves. I agree with the idea that two dedicated international windows should be set in the season, where the squad can gather for two, even three weeks and play all their qualifiers or friendly games. England will play nine games in total this season, that surely can be split into two windows of five and four matches? It would make things much more exciting for those following the football live scores .

It will give Capello vital time to work with his players and perhaps avoid the awkward club v country tussle that we are seeing now.

It seems like common sense to me – but that is exactly why I can’t see it being implemented any time soon.

England look to build with Denmark friendly

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Guest blogger Thomas Rooney gives his perspective on the forthcoming friendly against Denmark…might be worth remembering that the last time we played the Danes in a friendly in Copenhagen we lost 4-1!

In the middle of a Premier League season isn’t the most popular time to have a friendly. But that is the prospect facing England as they prepare for the away fixture against Denmark on February 9th. And in what shape do we find that national side in?

Well, in an odd position truth be told. Gone is the early optimism of the Fabio Capello reign; If the disheartening World Cup fiasco didn’t dampen the mood all together, the 0-0 draw with Montenegro in the Euro qualifier at Wembley.

More disappointing perhaps was the result, or more pertinently, the performance against France. The game offered a lot of parallels in some respects. Both teams were looking to rebuild their reputation after disastrous World Cup campaigns. Unfortunately that was where the similarity ended as the next generation of French players played around and through a baffled England side. The final score may have been a 2-1 defeat, but you would need to add two or three more goals to the French score to find a more fitting scoreline.

Going into 2011, those placing regular football bets will tell you that Fabio Capello faces a difficult task. Qualification for the European Championships is a must, but if he does manage to qualify easily enough then most observers will wave this away, safe in the knowledge that they have seen it all before and that emerging from Group G isn’t much of a challenge. If he fails to do this, then his planned retirement after the Euro’s may be bought forward somewhat.

But there is some light amongst the gloom. English players have proved themselves as up there with the best, James Milner, Adam Johnson and Jack Wilshere have all performed well this season, and fringe players such as Michael Dawson and Darren Bent are putting their hands up for a starting place. Perhaps most importantly Wayne Rooney looks to finding some semblance of form as he looks to bury his own personal South African nightmare; his performance in tandem with Dimitar Berbatov against Birmingham City a couple of weeks ago was excellent, and Fabio Capello will take heart.

Denmark represents a challenge of sorts and will be a good warm-up ahead of the important qualifier against Wales in March. Football betting patterns will see England emerge as favourites, but the Danes will pose a genuine threat.

Premier League managers could do without the extra strain of an England fixture in the middle of a busy Premier League schedule; any potential knocks to key players would not be welcome in the crucial second half of the season. Capello will look to use his time wisely as he looks forward to a key period in his time as England manager. Lots to lose, nothing to gain. Who would be an England manager?

Andy Gray: A Career

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My late father wasn’t a big fan of Andy Gray. Being a rugby union fan from South Wales, dad had issues with Scottish sports commentators anyway but Gray got his back up so much that over the years he developed a special ‘impression’ of the Fox Sky Sports analyst that – more often than not – sounded like one of the characters from Rab C. Nesbitt in what might best be described as a ‘private moment.’

I’m sure my dad would have been highly amused to discover that his impression seems to have been closer to reality than either of us could have imagined: having been suspended from Sky Sports’ coverage of Monday night’s game at Bolton, Gray was sacked yesterday following further revelations concerning his off screen behaviour. Following even more leaked footage on Monday afternoon, Richard Keys’ future with Sky looks somewhat uncertain (update: Keys resigned from Sky Sports on Tuesday evening)

Gray’s departure from Sky heralds the end of one era and the start of another. He spent the best part of the last two decades as part of the team that revolutionised the way that British football is televised, even though the model Sky adopted is instantly recognisable to followers of American sport. Gray was basically the ‘colour’ analyst to Martyn Tyler’s ‘play by play’ announcer: his arsenal of toys and gadgets seemed to increase every season and one of the jokes doing the rounds of the internet in the aftermath of his dismissal involves him trying to sell his ‘great big iPad’.

However…Gray is not the first TV sports analyst to get into trouble for offscreen behaviour and despite all the cutting edge technology and multiple camera angles, there were obviously some old fashioned attitudes (to say the least) in Twickenham. These days high profile employees of large companies have certain standards to adhere to – including being circumspect about what they say on and off air, which is something I suspect that Jamie Redknapp is very conscious of.

What’s interesting about this particular case is that the leaked clips appear to have been an inside job, which makes me wonder if evidence of his behaviour was being collected beforehand – if that’s the case, then some of the rumours concerning the nature of Gray’s general conduct at work may have more credibility than usual. 

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about – or are bored with it already – here are a couple of clips that pretty much sum up the whole thing…the real thing is somewhere between the two. If anyone from Sky Sports is reading this, I’d be happy to be considered for either role 😉

Happy Mid January

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Here’s the incredibly late update about the Europa League:

Manchester City will play Aris Salonica of Greece, first leg in Salonica the day after Valentine’s Day – I know a bit about Greek football and I can’t imagine there’ll be that many goals in either leg – Aris know how to park the bus away from home in particular.

A couple of days later Liverpool travel to Prague (left) to play Sparta. The Czech league has a massive winter break that starts in November and doesn’t end until after the Liverpool game, so at least the hosts will be well rested 😉

It’s only a month since the last post and it’s incredible how quickly things have changed: I thought Rafa Benitez would be out of a job, but Kenny Dalglish going back to Liverpool actually made me laugh!

Champions League Draw

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The draw for the first knockout round has just been made in Switzerland and this is how it looks for the English clubs:

AC Milan v Spurs

Arsenal v Barcelona

Olympique Marseille v Manchester United

FC Copenhagen v Chelsea

On paper, it looks as if Chelsea have the ‘easiest’ tie, but Copenhagen are unbeaten in the league and eliminated Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos in the Group Stage. Manchester United shouldn’t have too much trouble with Marseille, who are currently four points behind surprise leaders OSC Lille in Ligue 1 and have only won three of their eight away games in the league this season.

It’s not looking too good for either Spurs or Arsenal though – AC Milan are six points clear in Serie A and are currently on a seven game unbeaten streak in the league, although it’s probably worth pointing out that they lost 2-0 to Ajax in the last group game and Italian football isn’t what it used to be.

Barcelona are arguably the one side nobody wanted, once again they look unbeatable at the Camp Nou and if the Gunners aren’t at their absolute best they may find themselves watching the latter stages at home.

Of the other ties, the most interesting one is the repeat of last season’s final – Bayern Munich’s form in the Bundesliga has been patchy at best this season, so they seem to have devoted the rest of the season to the Champions League. The same can be said of Inter, but Rafa Benitez is under a lot of pressure at the moment and might not even be manager by the time these clubs meet.

If you fancy a punt on any of our teams, the best price for Chelsea is 5/1. Arsenal are currently available at 25/1, but – not surprisingly –  the bookies favourites are Barcelona at 9/4.

I’ll update the post with the Europa League games when I’ve got the details.

England End Their ‘Annus Horribilis’

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Only a couple of weeks until Christmas: then we’ll be celebrating the arrival of 2011 and hoping that – in football terms at least – England’s performances will be better than they were in 2010. Guest blogger Richard Smith looks back at 2010 – a memorable year for all the wrong reasons.

There will be plenty of England fans happy to see the end of 2010, which really has been an ‘annus horribilis’ for them, for manager, Fabio Capello and his England squad, who of course ended their year with a Wembley defeat against a rejuvenated and possibly resurgent France.

That defeat followed the goalless draw against Montenegro, who now tops the Euro 2012 Group G table ahead of England and could seriously jeopardise the England chances of automatic qualification in the Autumn of 2011.

The year started of course on a much more optimistic note with the England team having already safely negotiated their qualifying group to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa. An excellent 3-1 win over Egypt in March, who had just been crowned African Nations Champions, saw the team in great form, despite going a goal down in the first half. Two second half goals from Peter Crouch and one from Shaun Wright-Phillips, rescued the situation and England looked good value for their win.

They followed that up with another 3-1 victory, this time over fellow World Cup hopefuls, Mexico, in May with Crouch getting on the scoresheet once again with further goals coming from defenders, Ledley King and Glen Johnson. Confidence clearly ran high with the World Cup just over two weeks or so away.

A trip to Austria was the next stop, where they played an exhibition/friendly against Japan, winning narrowly by just 2-1, thanks to two own goals. It was a poor performance overall and extremely untimely being their last match before coming up against the USA in their opening World Cup fixture.

We all of course know what happened in that match, England skipper Steven Gerrard scored ‘early doors’ but things went downhill rapidly from thereon. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, but worse followed as they were also held 0-0 by rank World Cup outsiders, Algeria which left them needing to win their final match against Slovenia in order to qualify for the Knock Out stages.

In one of the tensest games in the World Cup, England hung on by a thread to win 1-0 after going into an early lead with a goal scored by the lively Jermaine Defoe. It was a mind numbing performance, which met with a scathing media and fan reaction, with many calling for the head of Capello even at that stage. The fact that England failed to win the group meant that they would face old rivals, Germany in the last 16, who were already proving their World Cup pedigree by winning their group.

The match of course was a disaster for England, losing 1-4 being forced home from the tournament early to huge derision and for many of the players as well as the manager uncertain futures in international football.

The back of a bus

The World Cup campaign was not helped by the John Terry scandal earlier in the season, which eventually cost him the captaincy and worsened when a last minute injury to replacement captain, Rio Ferdinand ruled him out of the tournament altogether. Steven Gerrard was then given the armband, somewhat onerously as Terry had kept his place in the team and who, on more than one occasion, became the team’s spokesman. This led to speculation concerning team morale which Capello did his utmost to deny.

Whatever the reason, the World Cup dream turned into the nightmare many had feared it would, but for reasons of financial prudence, Capello kept his job and began to rebuild the team ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

After defeating Hungary by 2-1 in a friendly at Wembley, the England team, put on one of their best ever performances under Capello to defeat Bulgaria by 4-0 in their opening qualifier, with Defoe superb, scoring his first England hat trick. Newcomer, Adam Johnson of Manchester City also made the score sheet.

A follow up qualifying win was efficiently earned against Switzerland in Basel by 3-1, goals this time being scored by Wayne Rooney, Adam Johnson and Darren Bent. England looked a very solid team again and looked at this point certain to win the group. However, then came the Montenegro debacle, followed by the friendly defeat by France and now England must wait until March to redeem the situation in what could be an explosive match at the Millennium Stadium against Wales.

Wales will be the first opponents of 2011 and will be no pushovers on home soil but if England are to silence their critics after a nothing short of disastrous past 12 months then a win together with a good performance is essential as the next 12 months could well prove pivotal for the future of the England football team.

UPDATE: First England fixture of 2011 will be against Denmark in Copenhagen on Wednesday 9th February 2011.

Introducing BeSoccer.com

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No matter what you think about Social Networking sites, the success of the concept is not only an era defining moment for this particular generation, but will also have far wider social implications over the next decade or so.

Of course, there’s also a chance that in 30 years time Social Networking might look as ridiculous as shoulder pads, perms, Rubik’s cubes and only having three television channels do now,  but that’s an argument for another day.

The issue I have sometimes with Social Networking sites is that there’s an awful lot of content to digest and it’s sometimes hard to find the information I need quickly. So when 11 Lions was approached by a new Social Networking site that’s dedicated to football, I was intrigued enough to try it out.

I’ve been using the English version of BeSoccer over the past week and I have to say that I’ve been impressed. They’ve adopted a ‘one stop’ approach to being a fan that’s already been a massive success in Spain – as well as being having features that should be very familiar to users of the bigger Social Networking sites (creating a profile, searching for an encouraging your friends to join etc.), there are options to create your dream team, play a variety of games  and – arguably most important to a stats freak like me – BeSoccer has an incredibly comprehensive active database of World and European Leagues. For example, I’ve learned a lot about the Honduran Clausura this week.

Having translated most of the content from Spanish there is an emphasis on football from Spanish speaking areas and there are some admittedly minor linguistic issues. However, even without a working knowledge of Spanish (it’s fair to say mine is limited to ‘hello’ ‘goodbye’ and ‘two beers please’) BeSoccer is easy to navigate – although there are some links that direct you to content free pages – well designed and has a thorough selection of customisable options. For example, if you want to include the latest Premiership tables on your blog or website, you can select the colours and layout you want and the HTML code is autogenerated. Simply cut and paste and you’ll be able to see that teams starting with ‘W’ aren’t doing very well this season.

I’m happy to recommend BeSoccer to 11 Lions readers – there’s a very good chance that niche Social Networking sites will be the next big thing and as BeSoccer is the first football one that I’ve come across then it’s highly likely it has the potential to become incredibly successful amongst fans of all ages from all over the world.

So if anyone wants to find me, join BeSoccer and look for kingtrips29!

Does England Beckon For Redknapp?

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Spurs’ performance in the Champions League so far has been impressive, adding further evidence to the argument that Harry Redknapp should be the next England manager. Guest blogger Thomas Rooney takes a closer look at the situation.

The England job has reared its head again in Harry Redknapp’s world this week after the FA’s general secretary Alex Horne revealed that the Spurs boss was on their list of potential managers to succeed Fabio Capello, albeit a “long list”. The Italian boss is due to step down from his position as England boss when his contract comes to an end in 18 months time and there have been plenty of football bets placed on Redknapp replacing him.

Since Capello announced his plans to leave the position, Redknapp has been the name that gets keeps getting brought up and the next year and a half that will only increase. Redknapp himself has admitted that he would be up to the job despite his age not being on his side.

Harry will be 65 by the time Capello steps down but he is convinced his age wouldn’t be an issue when asked about the job.

“It’s not an easy job, but in football now the more experienced managers are still in big positions,” he said.

Peter Crouch has this week made his feelings on the matter quite clear, insisting the Spurs manager would one day become the national boss.

The England striker said: “It’s inevitable. He’s been fantastic at Tottenham ever since he came in. It’s only a matter of time, with him being English as well, that England come knocking on the door.”

Everything points to Redknapp being the odds on favourite for the job but he has been clear that he has never been contacted by the FA regarding the job. The main decision makers have long been conscious of Harry’s reported shady financial past and that may have been a reason for them to have overlooked him in the past. They can’t avoid him now though.

Despite what some say about the England job the fact remains that it is a part-time gig. Rather that Harry being too old for the England job, he is probably the perfect age for international management and the rumour mill suggests he’ll be on his way to FA headquarters sooner or later.

The biggest factor on Harry’s side though, is his ability to motivate a squad better than most. With the talent at England’s disposal the biggest job is to get them in the right frame of mind to start competing in the major tournaments.