Countdown Complete - Front line falls flat.

If the 30-man provisional squad is anything to go by then my predictions have been pretty tasty so far. Wes Brown didn’t make it but as I said previously, if Jamie Carragher’s availability had been public knowledge he would have blown Brown out of the water, as he has.

Lets cut to the chase, Wayne Rooney is in and he needs to be well looked after for the next month. He has shown the strain of carrying the attacking demands of Manchester United on his broad shoulders recently, never more so than on Sunday when he volunteered himself for substitution when still in the hunt for the golden boot. Rooney is not the sort of play that returns rusty or loses his touch, if he doesn’t kick a ball again until June 10^th I will still have him leading the line, bar none.

Theo Walcott has pace and defenders do not like pace, just ask Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and John Terry, three world class defenders who have constantly faltered under the pressure of pace. Also an option out wide, Walcott is a potential impact substitute if ever there was one, his inexperience limits his options when on the ball but you don’t need to think too much when you can run 100m in 11 seconds. Look at what Walcott did to Barcelona in their Champions League first leg with Arsenal. The narrow, intricate football that Arsenal plays makes it difficult for Walcott to have an impact over 90 minutes. Each of the three goals he scored against Croatia, in qualifying, came from the former-Saints star picking the ball up wide and running at people, that does not happen at the Emirates, not since a certain Mr. Henry ruled the roost in North London.

Emile Heskey, if it were up to me, would be spending his summer in England with his agent trying to find a new club. The professional rebound board cannot get into his club team and age is not on his side. Heskey is a confidence player if ever there was one; he needs an arm round his shoulder, a whisper in his ear and a gaping open goal before he can show any form of ability. All the stick that’s been aimed at Emile over the years by know-it-all, failed footballers turned journalists, like myself, have no doubt contributed to Heskey’s glaring lack of self-confidence but, in a one month knock out tournament, there is not enough time for ego rubbing, especially not for such a questionable talent.

In Heskey’s place is Peter Crouch, there are pros and cons to the inclusion of Crouch (or Dave as Trigger calls him) pro: the used to play for QPR, con: I reckon Abbey Clancy was after me before he started flashing his cash at her. Crouch has a better first touch and better mobility than Heskey, two massive factors when picking a target-man. Crouch can also finish as he has shown with Spurs and England already, yes some of his goals have come against lesser teams but he puts them away none-the-less. Capello will be going against all his previous claims, that he picks players on form, if he picks Heskey, he has had his chance and he has failed to deliver, time and time again. We’ve all heard Michael Owen et al describe the ex-Leicester man as the ideal strike partner but we don’t have Michael Owen any more. We need to pick a player able to compliment Wayne Rooney and I see Crouch as the man for that job.

Bobby Zamora is omitted from my World Cup squad, he has been exceptional as the focal point of a 4-5-1 formation for Fulham but Fabio Capello is not going to play that system. It may not sound like a hugely demanding change for a player to make but I do not see Zamora continuing his club form onto the world stage. He has had one exceptional season on the back of some pretty woeful ones, he has moved from club to club and often been offloaded as a disappointment. I think Zamora has been a fortunate victim of Roy Hodgson’s management skill and Fulham’s particular style of play. It may seem harsh but I think Zamora knows that he would be out of his depth in South Africa, there are better players in front of him and I think there are even better players behind him in pecking order.

This is a the most depressing part of the draw, I am completely indifferent as to whether Jermaine Defoe or Darren Bent go to the World Cup, both are well short of the crème-de-la-crème of all out strikers England has produced in the past. Lineker, Shearer, Owen, goal getters of the highest quality. Bent and Defoe are quick and know where the goal is but they do not inspire me in the least. I doubt that either of them have the mental strength for an occasion such as this and I see neither of them getting the better of a world-class defender. Bent has got goals at unfashionable Sunderland but there must be a reason he is not playing at a better side at 26 years-of-age. Defoe just about pips Bent to the post but I still have my reservations. Barring Wayne Rooney this group of players leaves me completely deflated, so much so that I wouldn’t even bother with starting any of the other three….

IN: Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, Theo Walcott, and Jermaine Defoe

Below is my starting 11 for England’s World Cup, this is a fantasy but with attacking options like those above desperate times call for us to rely entirely on Wayne Rooney. its a 4-5-1. Aplogese for the layout but i don't have a clue what I'm doing

Rooney

J Cole, Gerrard, Carrick, Lampard, A Johnson

A Cole Terry Carragher Johnson

James

Bottler Bridge leaves England in the lurch

The phrase “For the sake of the team” should precede one of the following sentences,
• I am happy to play out of position
• I will be playing through the pain barrier
• I will be taking a pay cut

“ For the sake of the team I have decided not to put myself forward for selection” is an insult to every fan, fellow player and would be footballer in England. Wayne Bridge has decided to withdraw his service from his country, in their hour of need, based on the most selfish reason possible, pride.

I am a relentless detractor of Chelsea and thoroughly anti Terry-the-man but, as a player, he is nigh on faultless. Time after time he has put his body and reputation on the line often riddled with pain and potentially crippling cortisone. Embarrassed in the past by his mother’s thieving and his fathers grubby drug pushing he has pulled on his shirt and put his body on the line.
Wayne Bridge, despite being the second best left back in the country for the last eight years, has made just 36 appearances for the three lions and has been a nearly man at every club he’s played at. Undoubtedly gifted technically but clearly lacking in the mental strength department. When Ashley Cole is fit the left back spot is one of the least contested positions on the Wembley pitch, but, Instead of considering himself lucky Cole has fallen lame less than 3 months before the World Cup, leaving him in a chance to shine, Bridge has bottled it.

Now, instead of living out every young boys dream, Bridge will be licking his wounds at home comforted by the soothing tones of every tabloid reading house wife in the country. While you are glued to the box watching his former cohorts do battle in the searing heat of South Africa keep an eye on the other channel where poor Wayne may appear on Loose Women getting his cheeks squeezed and his ego rubbed by a coven of post-menopausal halfwits.

Bridge, encompassed by a sense of self importance that only a Premiership footballer is capable of, claims that his inclusion in the squad would serve as a distraction from the task in hand, winning the richest sporting prize on earth. While the Hollyoaks style shenanigans of Terry and Cole et al provide us with a light hearted distraction from the issues effecting real people, when June 13th arrives and England line up against USA in their world cup opener an alien invasion would be hard pushed to distract us from the ensuing 90 minutes, let alone the bad blood between two players.

Vanessa Perroncel has satisfied the urges of a number of Chelsea players, past and present, if they were pre-Bridge then his decision to have a son with her is a laughable one. If J.T is the latest in the small sided team to have had relations with the footballer hungry glamour model/waitress then what is the big deal? Women, whether we like it or not, make themselves easily available and, in turn, disposable to professional footballers. She was not Bridge’s wife she was Chelsea F.C’s sexual tension release therapist and she was a willing worker. And, I wonder, whether Bridge has ever enjoyed the illicit company of a woman married or involved with another man, my betting is that the sympathy sponge has.

Jamie Carragher and Paul Scholes ended their international careers prematurely but their hands were forced by managerial decisions to repeatedly play them out of position or ignore them entirely. They had given their all to one club for over a decade, collecting all manor of trophies and accolades on the way, only to be passed over by inept managers. Bridge in comparison has achieved nothing except the boosting of his bank balance with moves to Chelsea and Man City and should his self-imposed exile continue, I for one, hope that continues.

If we win the World Cup then Wayne Bridge will continue in his familiar role as the forgotten man with Ashley Cole or Steven Warnock securing a place in world history. If we fail in our attempt then smug Bridge will be safe in the knowledge that he was not shown up by the world’s greatest right-wingers, as I suspect he would be, and, as he nears 30, planning a tell all book to bring the curtain down on his mediocre career. The sad fact is that this brouhaha will prove to be what Wayne Bridge is most remembered for while John Terry’s misdemeanours will be overshadowed, at least, by captaining Chelsea to consecutive titles.

John Obi Mikel said, “Terry is capable of putting all this fuss behind him but they are both professionals.”

It appears now that one is far more professional than the other.

Saint Blatter versus the dark arts of commerce

Continuing in the same vein as the previous post, on the interfering nature of the football bureaucracy, we come to the recent furore about young players being poached by wealthy clubs.

It seems that, just like previous bung scandal, the powers that be have got the bit between their teeth on another issue that is as old as the game itself and, in my opinion, impossible to eradicate. I am not saying it is fail or legal or even morally just but when a top European club offers the impoverish parents of a young footballer a financial incentive for the services of their offspring please tell me how they are supposed to turn it down.

Recent interviews by the likes of Salomon Kalou and Emmanuel Adebayor depict a world of deprivation that we in the western world can only have nightmares about under out suburban shelters. Kalou was 15-years-old before he was afforded a pair of football boots to spare the agonies of his bare feet while Adebayor grew up sharing a bedroom with several other siblings and relatives. Both the Kalou and Adebayor families now live in paradise compared to the destitution they previously existed in. While these two examples may have reached the Premiership’s elite via the proper means their early lives mirror those of Gael Katuka (Chelsea) and Paul Pogba (Manchester United) the two emerging talents reported lured away from their clubs while still at schoolboy level.

The intricacies and formalities of these deals and a selection of similar ones before them, Federico Macheda and Cesc Fabregas for example, have been well documented and there is a consistent factor. In England youth players can sign professional contracts as soon as they turn 16, in other countries, like Spain and Italy, it is older. These legalities are there for football associations all over the globe to address but where will it really get them?

Last season bung was the buzzword, what are they? Who’s taking them? How much are they? Documentaries were made, media blackouts followed and household names were the victims of dawn raids and to what ends? Illegal payments to agents, players or managers are as old as the game itself. Whether it’s 20 new balls and a bag of bibs for a non-league veteran, used fivers swapped at a roadside cafe or millions of pounds electronically transferred to a mysterious offshore account. Sport breeds competition and competition is the lifeblood of capitalism.

The only high profile victim of the attempted bung clear up was George Graham whose downfall was through not the sleuth like detective work of the F.A or any of the ruling organizations, Graham’s conviction came courtesy of his own greed and penchant for avoiding his taxes. Had the former Arsenal hero kept the Inland Revenue sweet, like so many of his peers, past and present, then his antics may have continued unpunished.

Chelsea, in the same mould as Graham, have flouted one too many rules and irked one too many important people but will this charge really go anyway to removing dark the art of illegally assembling the best talent at the biggest clubs? The answer is no; whether it be due to strict legislation like the restraint of trade law or simply clubs heeding this warning and conducting their business in a more clandestine manner, the wealthier clubs will still rule the waves, parents and agents will continue to profit from their prodigal sons and Sepp Blatter will persist on condoning the exploitation of the poor from his designer Ivory tower.

Gunners.... front runners?

Dismissed as too young and inexperienced, pitied for to their losses during the transfer window; could the lack of fear felt towards Arsene Wenger's men this year lift the burden of expectation and allow the young guns to flourish in this season?

Wenger's ethos has left as him one of the few 'untouchables' in football management while the Emirates Stadium has now ensured the clubs financial progress is not just possible but almost assured. What is glaringly absent from the red side of North London is success.
Each season every newspaper column, radio phone-in and TV panel show pours over the necessity of some Arsenal silverware, the mounting years since their last championship and the fruitless promises that have come at the start of the last five seasons since the Gunners last Premiership title. This year, thanks to the unbridled spending of Manchester City, the continuity of Chelsea's squad and the so-called triumphant return to a central role for Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford Arsenal have all but escaped the demands placed on them every season since their F.A Cup win in 2005.

Barring Cesc Fabregas, few of the Arsenal squad would be guaranteed a starting place amongst the European elite but their have the unity Man City lack, a youthful exuberance that eludes Chelsea and a shared responsibility that Liverpool must find. They are free from the distractions that can disrupt a season and filled with the hunger that earns trophies.

As this is being written Arsenal are brushing aside Celtic to secure their place in the Champions League group stage and are lying in third spot in the Premier League with a game in hand having scored ten goals in their opening 2 league fixtures.

Of course it is too early to tip them for the title but, when you think about, its may be too premature to rule them out too.