Posts Tagged ‘England’

Is Andy Carroll “Unplayable” in both senses of the word?

Posted: June 20, 2012 in LFC Posts
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Andy Carroll is now becoming unplayable

To say it’s been a year of transition for Andy Carroll would be quite the understatement. Carroll struggled to make any kind of impact or find consistency throughout most of last season and at times he looked like the proverbial cart-horse. The £35m fee paid for him was way over the top and is one of the main reasons for Damien Comolli‘s departure and cast doubt over Dalglish‘s ability to identify quality players at a decent price. During last January’s transfer window there would have been few who would have questioned Carroll being sold although the financial loss would have been too horrendous to contemplate. Carroll simply looked slow, ineffective and, from Dalglish’s point-of view, unplayable.

But over the last few months Carroll has been transformed. (more…)

Can England do Liverpool a favour next season?

Posted: June 6, 2012 in LFC Posts
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Kelly gets called up for England

I don’t know about you but I’ve never really cared too much about England. They’re constant under-achievers, have been poorly managed for decades due to the FA’s low-risk manager selection processand are supported mainly by Londoners who only know one dreadful song. Like most Liverpool supporters when asked if they would prefer England to win the World Cup or Liverpool to win the Premiership you don’t need an extensive opinion-poll to know what the vast majority would answer.

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World Cup: FIFA buries its head in the sand over video technology and England pay the price

Posted: June 27, 2010 in Football Rants
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I get it. England weren’t good enough, they didn’t play well, they deserved to lose against a vibrant, youthful, German team. But without doubt any team that finds itself 2-0 down and comes back to level it 2-2 just before half-time has the momentum and confidence going into the second-half and the opposition is unnerved and loses confidence. The game changes.

The sickening fact, however, is that due to inept officiating and Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, burying his head in the sand and refusing to introduce video replay technology to the most important tournament in the world denied England the opportunity to build on an excellent come back and, once again, Germany rode their luck, as they do in every major tournament.

To argue that England would have been eventually outclassed is meaningless. Key moments such as these are critical in deciding a games outcome. FIFA promoting the notion that human error adds to the fabric to the game is as non-sensical as Blatter refusing to consider adopting video technology. Ensuring it’s own officials make the best possible decisions is fundamental to football and refusing to acknowledge that calls into question FIFA’s ‘old boy’ leadership and its future credibility as the custodians of the worlds greatest game.

I checked the FIFA web site and there report on the England vs.Germany match and surprise, surprise, no mention of the refereeing error. Who are they kidding.

FIFA and Blatter should be ashamed.

World Cup: Sharper England qualify to meet Germany but Rooney remains the worry

Posted: June 23, 2010 in Football Rants
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It was somewhat of a relief to see a sharper, more fluid ,England overcome Slovenia by the slimmest of margins on Wednesday, 1-0. However, it was a match they should have won 3-0 if not for the wasteful finishing by, of all people, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney. All England fans had to sweat it out for the last half-hour knowing one slip or flash of brilliance from Slovenia and it would mean England were out. Nervous times, but still it made for exciting football.

The major consequence of not scoring one more goal is that fact England finished second in their pool and now face the winners of Group D, Germany, which without doubt will be a tough, tough game. (Please God no penalties). But if we are to live the dream of England reaching the final, even winning the World Cup (I know, I know wishful thinking beyond belief) they will have to beat some of the world’s top sides at some point. And if they do make it past Germany their next match will more than likely be against Argentina. Now there’s a great grudge match we’d all love to see!

But for all the joy of qualifying for the knock-out stages the biggest concern for all England fans is the form of Wayne Rooney. He has been outstanding all season and anyone would have bet on him having a major impact in South Africa. But alas, so far, he has been but as shadow of the guy that was cracking in goals all season.

If England are to beat Germany on Sunday they will need Rooney to be at his best and terrorize the German defence.

World Cup: Is John Terry the biggest prat in the England squad?

Posted: June 21, 2010 in Football Rants
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I just watched John Terry’s media interview with utter disbelief. Here’s England coming off two dismal performances and needing everyone to focus on an improved performance on Wednesday, come together as a squad and rally behind the manager and along comes JT, the self-proclaimed England saviour, whose says he’s going to confront Capello, tell him what’s what and have him change his tactics in order to put things right. What a prat.

His claim that he represented all the England players was ludicrous and it seems they were all shrinking with embarrassment as they watched JT telling the world that even though he was no longer captain, due to his rogering Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend, he never stopped leading the team and that nothing ever changed as he was born to do this. Born to be a prat is what he meant to say.

Terry seems to have forgotten that it was Capello that guided England so flawlessly to the World Cup finals in the first place and so now after 2 games, where the England players themselves performed so horribly, he’s no longer the man to lead the team and that it’s down to our hero Terry to fix it. Brilliant thinking John boy.

And, after all the bravado, apparently Terry didn’t say a word to Capello as one of the assistant coaches advised him it wouldn’t go down too well. Maybe the best thing Terry could do to get England’s poor start to World Cup back on track is to pack his bags, stop causing unnecessary disruption in the England camp and go and have a few pints with his team-mate Anelka.

World Cup: appalling England draw 0-0 with Algeria

Posted: June 18, 2010 in Football Rants
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Thankfully the referee blew the final whistle on one of England’s worst performances since Steve MacClaren was the England boss. Completely lacking any imagination up front  and giving the ball away cheaply on a regular basis, England got exactly what they deserved, a round booing as they left the field.

Even though England have every chance of qualifying from the group, who would give them a prayer in the knock-out stages on the basis of their last two performances? It’s going to take some radical rethinking by Capello to get England’s World Cup ambitions back on track, but when was the last time any England manager did anything radical?

So here we go again. Boring England, under-performing and struggling to make an impression in a major international tournament.

The opportunity to be involved in a quarter-final penalty shoot-out seems like a distant dream.

World Cup: 0-0 at halftime and England are pathetic

Posted: June 18, 2010 in Football Rants
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It’s 0-0 in Capetown and England’s first half display against Algeria has been no less than pathetic. England look clueless with Algeria making the most of the early play. Not one of the England players have come close to a decent performance so there needs to be a dramatic turn around in the second if England are to go on and win this match and come close to looking like potential tournament winners.

World Cup: Don’t vilify England’s Robert Green. Besides Gerrard, England just weren’t good enough, but they will come good.

Posted: June 13, 2010 in Football Rants
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Inspirational Gerrard scores England's 1st World Cup goal

Robert Green made a really, really, bad goalkeeping error. He knows it, Capello knows it, we all know it. But Green wasn’t the cause of England dropping valuable points in their opening game of the World Cup on Saturday. The fact is England just weren’t good enough to beat a mediocre US team. Beside the inspirational England captain Steven Gerrard, he just keeps delivering time and time again, players like Shawn Wright-Phillips and Lennon were poor and Rooney’s name was hardly mentioned throughout the game. Plus, it was Heskey who made the worst mistake of the match by not burying his golden opportunity with only the goalkeeper to beat. Now you see why Liverpool sold him. Gerrard’s 4th minute goal should have provided the platform for England to push on and win the match comprehensively. However, this wasn’t the case as England failed to deliver. (more…)