Some answers, lots of questions!
For people who have not been following football for the last week, England beat Argentina 3-2. It was a friendly but the match was anything but that. While the result would give joy to all English supporters and Sven's going 'I told you so' what did this match really tell us?
1. No Rooney? Can't play. He's like the Tendulkar of the side. Without him, the team becomes rudderless - do great teams behave like that? What if you took out a Ronaldo or a Riquelme? Brazil and Argentina still have enough to destroy any given team. Can the same be said of England. I have my doubts.
2. Gerrard - An abundance of riches. Anyone who has seen him play can tell you he is a magician in his Reds shirt while in his Whites he is just a mere mortal! Where does he play nowadays? He is not a holding mid-fielder, so thats a no-no. Up ahead and shooting pile-drivers? Erm, what is Lampard's role then? Going up on the right and sending across sharp passes to Owen and Rooney? What is the role of Becks then? Sven's got a headache - he might have to bench him as a substitute.
3. Left winger. Joe Cole fills in this role but is he a Giggs or a Duff? No. So would Downing be a better choice there? Maybe. Headache here too.
4. Full backs. While Luke Young's been a perfect cover for Neville there is no one in sight for Ashley Cole - Bridge has been wasted at Chelsea and he's been very poor lately (could be because of lack of match fitness).
England is like the Indian cricket team. On paper, there are one of the star-studded teams ever. Unfortunately that comes a cropper on the pitch where they fail to click as a team. On their given day, they can thrash any team. On their worst anyone could defeat them. Northern Ireland/Denmark were lessons that will not be forgotten easily and soon.
1. No Rooney? Can't play. He's like the Tendulkar of the side. Without him, the team becomes rudderless - do great teams behave like that? What if you took out a Ronaldo or a Riquelme? Brazil and Argentina still have enough to destroy any given team. Can the same be said of England. I have my doubts.
2. Gerrard - An abundance of riches. Anyone who has seen him play can tell you he is a magician in his Reds shirt while in his Whites he is just a mere mortal! Where does he play nowadays? He is not a holding mid-fielder, so thats a no-no. Up ahead and shooting pile-drivers? Erm, what is Lampard's role then? Going up on the right and sending across sharp passes to Owen and Rooney? What is the role of Becks then? Sven's got a headache - he might have to bench him as a substitute.
3. Left winger. Joe Cole fills in this role but is he a Giggs or a Duff? No. So would Downing be a better choice there? Maybe. Headache here too.
4. Full backs. While Luke Young's been a perfect cover for Neville there is no one in sight for Ashley Cole - Bridge has been wasted at Chelsea and he's been very poor lately (could be because of lack of match fitness).
England is like the Indian cricket team. On paper, there are one of the star-studded teams ever. Unfortunately that comes a cropper on the pitch where they fail to click as a team. On their given day, they can thrash any team. On their worst anyone could defeat them. Northern Ireland/Denmark were lessons that will not be forgotten easily and soon.
posted by maverick at 11:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home