Since England’s dispiriting exit from the 2010 World Cup, a heavy cloud of negativity has hung over English football. Once the usual feelings of anger and injustice had receded, fans all over the country reached the same unavoidable conclusion: The English team is technically and tactically infantile when compared with the mature footballing sophistication of the top European sides.
The incisive passing and tactical understanding of Spain and Germany embarrassed us. The recent unveiling of the controversial EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan) sees the Premier League and F.A. taking radical steps …
England confirmed their places for next year’s European Championships in Poland and Ukraine following a scrappy 2-2 draw against Montenegro last Friday night.
Despite the result securing qualification, the main talking-point afterwards was the dismissal of Wayne Rooney for kicking-out at defender Miodrag Dzudovoic and how this might affect England’s chances next summer.
Rooney faces the prospect of missing the first game and maybe more for Fabio Capello’s team.
You would have thought that with all his experience, he might have learned his lesson by now but that evidently appears not to be …
Wayne Rooney has dominated the headlines since England managed a draw against Montenegro to send them into EURO 2012 at Poland and Ukraine. Headlines suggest Rooney’s dismissal in the 73rd minute after kicking Montenegro defender Miodrag Dzudovic messed up Fabio Capello’s party after England’s qualification. After what can be termed as a substandard qualifying campaign for the three lions, should they have rejoiced even without Rooney’s red card? No. European and World Cup Champions Spain alongside Germany have so far gone through their qualifying games with a 100 percent record …
England will head to Copenhagen on Wednesday 9 February for an international friendly against Denmark at Parken Stadium, the fixture will be shown live on ITV1. Boss Fabio Capello wants to get some experience for his side away from Wembley before the Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales in Cardiff in March.
Parken Stadium has a capacity of 38,000 and a retractable roof that will be similar to the Millennium Stadium for the players, providing an ideal preparation. The last time England played the Dane’s was back in 2005, in a warm-up …
This year’s Premier League campaign has produced little activity, in the area of managers coming in and going out. Chris Hughton, ex-manager of Newcastle United, seemed to have been doing a good job, after the thrashing of Sunderland 5-1, and a 6-0 drumming over Aston Villa, results like these left Newcastle in a promising 12th place.
That didn’t stop Mike Ashley sacking the Englishmen earlier this month, another manager recently sacked was Sam Allardyce, ex-manager of Blackburn Rovers, Rovers are sitting a comfortable 13th at the moment, but this is …
It’s something of a puzzle that, though Emile Heskey‘s performances for England were so often criticised, his contribution was considered so effective that an entirely new position seems to have been created purely off the back of the striker’s displays for his country. The ‘Heskey role’, as it has been dubbed, now seems to be the linchpin around which Fabio Capello moulds his team, and in the build up to tonight’s clash with France, all the speculation had been on which of the Premier League’s more suitable forwards would step …
All the speculation in the build up to the announcement of the England squad to face France next week had been centred around the potential inclusion of strikers Andy Carroll of Newcastle United and Jay Bothroyd of Championship outfit Cardiff City. Carroll had been widely tipped to receive a call up after missing out on the dour draw against Montenegro last month, and it seems he will now get his chance after Capello elected to include the twenty-one-year-old, despite his recent problems off the field. Perhaps more surprisingly, Bothroyd too …
When the Euro 2012 qualifying draw was made back in February few would have predicted that come October it would be the tiny nation of Montenegro fighting it out with England for top spot in Group G. Yet that’s exactly the test Fabio Capello and his men faced last night, and you would have to admit that it is a test they failed.
After the World Cup debacle Fabio Capello had a reputation to restore and was on track to do that it seemed after victories over Bulgaria and Switzerland. Last …
The Opposition:
The Montenegro national football team was formed in 2006 after the nation gained its independence from Serbia. Formerly known as Serbia & Montenegro the Montenegrins were predicted to struggle with, at the time of the split, just one Montenegrin born player representing the national side. However, the small country, with a population of just 672,180 have been impressive so far in their short international career and posses some excellent talents in their squad, namely Mirko Vucinic, the national sides top scorer, who has made a name for himself playing …
Kevin Davies has finally made an England squad. An honour he has deserved for a number of years now after spear-heading Bolton’s attacking line for numerous seasons. He is a “typically English” striker too; a bruiser rather than a technical genius but still a different sort of striker to those England currently posses.
He may have deserved this call-up but surely now is not the time. Davies is 33 and his career will soon be coming to an end. It’s unlikely that he’ll be anywhere near the England squad in 2012, …
