goodfootballerornot

Or Lampard Pointless shot count 5, Darren Bent pointless headers forward 5.

Tottenham needed something from this game and could have nicked the full 3 points. Tottenham started well and thier early possetion lead was largely wasted with Bent on his own and support very slow in coming. Why Bent feels the need to head the ball onto a player who isnt there is beyond me, is he that dumb?
Bentlys role and play is strange to say the least. Given a dead ball position and some time he definatly is Beckham lite. But as a player whos supposed to offer attacking runs, well mostly the attacking runs he made started in his own half, and ended there mostly as well. He also seems to be a really lazy player, his tracking back was very poor, as is his ability to stay near the touchline, taking some needed width away. Tottenham lacked width, mainly due to his postioning, even when he was switched to the left second half.
Ramos needs to get the players to understand that if they are going to hoof it to Bent, or any lone striker, then they need to drag thier lardy arses up the field to back him up and the striker needs to keep hold of the ball or at least try and head it back to a teammate.

Chelseas defence is way too organised for Bent to have been a problem on his own, hell most defences are too good for him to be a threat on his own. The goal he scored came from a miskick/pass from Lampard, not some good Tottenham play. When Spurs did get forward in numbers they did play good footbal and look to produce some chances, although really they only looked top 4 good when Ohara, Huddleston and Lennon were on. Bale did some good runs and Lennon looked dangerous going at Cashley Cole who had been rather untroubled by Bently in the first half or by Des Santos after a half time switch round.

For Chelsea Deco had an off day and it was noticable that Ballack wasn’t there either. Anekla squanderd thier best chance right in front of goal and only Lampard produced a shot of note, forcing Gomes to full streatch to tip over a sublime chip. Which doesnt make up for all the wasted chances and pointless shots. I can see the temptation of making use of Essiens versatility in many postions, but the evidence is that Lampard should be on the bench and Essien and Deco should be the forward drive from the midfield, preferably with Ballack. The goal came from a corner which possibly shouldnt have been and Bent failing to clear a simple ball.

Late on there was an incident when Terry fouled Modric, standing his ground I believe its known as. However if hes not tackling then he should get out of the way, I really dislike the notion that you can just stand there and block an opponents movement. Defenders do this a lot when covering the ball to run out, for me if they arnt playing it they should be allowed to be nudged out of the way.

Whether Berbatov would have made a difference is of course irreleavnt, it is likely that he would have held the ball up better while waiting for the rather slow tottenham support to arrive. But if Bently can be coached into doing something better and give Huddleton and Lennon more time on it should give Tottenham the edge they need to turn “not bad performances” into wins.

In the end a good showing for Spurs who are looking like a good unit. After they Sell the pain in the arse that is Berbatv, they should move on with confidence now. Chelsea wasted some opportunities and the Lampard pointless shot count needs to be converted to Lampard decent attacking passes to a striker, how he gets so highly rated is beytond me. Scolari needs to sub Deco when hes playing pants and get Essien further forward more of the time. They are a good team, but not unbeatable by any means.

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle

Bit of a spanking for Toon who failed to take any of thier scant chances. Barton got the welcome he deserved and Van Persie appears to have made it through without injury.

Bolton 0-0 West Brom

Yep, pretty dull stuff.

Everton 0-3 Portsmouth

Much better from Portsmouth, Everton need some better players.

Hull 0-5 Wigan

Surprise spanking for Hull, Wigin really arnt a five goal better side than them either. Still if it gives them a dose of reality they should be able to get some results like the first two games.

Midlesbrough 2-1 Stoke

Stoke did well for a team a man down after 36 mins but needed an own goal to keep them in it.

West Ham 4-1 Blackburn

Late goals gave the game a much better shine for West Ham than they deserved.

Shaun Wright-Phillips has just re-signed for Man City. Was his initial move the most futile ever by a professional footballer? Few starts and an ever diminishing England career. For one so young the answer has to be yes. Whatver advisor deludedly told him he could fight for a spot in the starting line up of that team is a right muppet. It was his dad? Well that explains that one then..

Chelsea of course have two other career wastrels in Cudicini and Bridge, Bridge having recently and famously signed a deal which will keep him well paid but doing bugger all unless Cashley Cole gets an injury. I can appreciate the lure of being paid a fortune to do nothing, but for people who are supposed to have a love of playing the game its pathetic. Bridge certainly shouldnt be picked for England again, the Manager can easily cite lack of ambition as a reason. Phillips may at least have an England future now, assuming he will play a lot more of course.

So whos next for the great doss move to Chelsea?

[Update Sun Aug 31st, Sunderland 0 - 3 Man City]

2 for Shaun Wright-Phillips who maybe, just maybe, has now realised that sitting on his arse for 3 years at Chelsea wasn’ doing his career any good. 2 from him and a good performance from City.

Arsenal 4-0 FC Twente (agg 6-0)

Well McClown cant manage for shit, hilarious Dutch accent mind you. I guess Wengers hairdryer treatment after the Fulham debacle worked.

Liverpool 1-0 S Liege (1-0 agg)

Liverpool are taking this whole idea of playing badly and (just) winning to extremes now. This was a side which Liverpool should have dispatched with ease. Instead it took until the 118th minute to scrape a goal.  Still Man U have won most of thier trophies under SAF based on playing rubbish and the last minute goal, maybe it will work for them too.

Blackburn 1- 1 Hull

Both teams going well, Blackburn still adjusting to a new manager it seems.

Fulham 1 – 0 Arsenal

Rather embaressing for Arsenal who only had a couple of chances.

Liverpool 2 – 1 Middlesbrough

Late win for Pool who look like making a run for the title if they can grasp back a win from what should have been a draw if not a loss.

Newcastle 1 – 0 Bolton

Deserved win thanks to an Owen goal.

Stoke 3 – 2 Villa

Same Villa as last year, great one game a bit pants the next. Good for Stoke to say the least.

Tottenham 1 – 2 Sunderland

Spurs were booed off, which was perhaps a tad harsh. They do lack a certain something without Keane and Berbatov. If none of the current squad can do it then Ramos needs to make a very good purchase with little time to do so.

West Brom 1 – 2 Everton

A win for Everton who didnt show up till the last 30. West Brom however really dont have anything that looks even slightly worrying for defenses.

Well the press have certainly started to whinge about Capello, well they would as thats all they do. Although I think hes making a bit of an arse of the job so far he is an excellent coach and its going to take him a while to get any sort of shine on the turds hes picking.

Lets look at the stats first. Czech Republic 8th in the World, England 14th. So from that stat alone a draw was a good result for us. If you even think about saying we are better than them, no we are not, if we were our ranking wouldnt be so piss poor would it now. So for a start if the fans stop thinking that we should be winning these games comfortably and gain a bit of perspective then perhaps they wouldn’t feel the need to boo the team just because we aren’t winning 8-0 at Wembly.

This should have been Beckhams last start for England. He is without doubt still one of the best dead ball players around. But unless the rules change to allow a player to come on to take a free kick or corner he has no role to play anymore. Embarrassingly slow at times.

Lampard and Gerrard, really do we still have to talk about this? Yes! Unfortunately its obvious to everyone bar an England manager and Frank Lampard that Gerrard is the better player and should be played in the center as an attacking midfielder. We actually have 2 players who can play on the left wing, Joe Cole and Stewart Downing, yes I know Downing isn’t a world beater but he sticks to the left, can pass and if he cant cross well all the time he does at least know where the damm left side of the pitch is. For the right Bently should have been starting and Lennon is a definite candidate, but there are plenty of others who could play on that side, hell even Gerrard has played there with some success for Liverpool. Despite Capellos protestations Gerrard was seemingly playing on the left and coming into the centre a lot, with a fit Joe Cole why on earth put Gerrard there? Ashely Cole can come forward but we will get stuffed on the counter by the good teams if he plays too far forward all the time to cover the left.

If your playing Gerrard as the creative midfielder why do you need Rooney doing the same damm thing seemingly? We need goals and better constructed ones at that. Rooney is practically a defensive midfielder at times, maddness for a striker. We have plenty of creative options in Gerrard, Cole and Bently, if hes going to play he needs to play as a striker. Hes not Marco Van Basten good, lets get that straight. Hes playing far too deep and not scoring or setting much up.

Wes Brown is not a better option than Johnson and certainly not as good as Micah Richards. If Richards doesn’t get back into the senior team now then we are going to suffer badly.

Finally Terry as Captain, well as a defender he had a fairly pants game and was made to look inadequate by Baros. As for Captain, he barely seemed in control of the defense let alone adding anything to the team as a whole. So why is he Captain again?

Can someone please give Capello a DVD player and copies of all of England’s games for the last five years. Because it seems he hasn’t bothered to review old footage to see for himself what we already know doesn’t work. He is trying to get us to play a more possesion game up front rather than a hoof, but we still seem to get panicky and resort to the hoof.

The more I think about Capellos squad choice the more annoyed I get. Such a wasted opportunity to play some younger talent with the core of the team for the next world cup and Qualifiers.

UPDATE : The announced squad to play is;

James, Brown, A Cole, Ferdinand, Terry (Captain), Beckham, Barry, Lampard, Gerrard, Defoe, Rooney.

So did McClown also get a Capello face mask as well as a dodgy Dutch Accent?  FFS.

So first up my list of wasted spaces & Problems:

Keeper:

Ok hes got no real choice here. But will James last another couple of years? We know what Robinson can and cant do, is there no other option than Joe Hart?

My list of Bad Selections:

Wayne Bridge! FFS! Hes not played many games for what, 2 years? Those he has played hes looked pants.

I could have picked out Glen Johnson for the treatment but, ok toilet stealing aside, he has shown promise as a player and the times he has played for England he certainly hasnt embarssed himself.

Why is Beckahm even in the squad? Hes only going to be any use as an impact substitute from now on, hes getting slower (from a slow start lets face it) and his tackling isn’t improving either.

Jenas: We know what he can do, which isnt international quality most of the time so whats the point? Prime opportunity to play someone younger to get some experience.

Rooney – no goals or performance of note since 2006. Give someone else a go! I dont care if hes got a great touch, or the most gifted young player around. Hes still a tempermental prat who had promise and isnt coming close to fufilling it. Drop him for a few, it wont hurt the team and might focus his mind a bit.

Heskey. If Owen was fit and playing or going to play then yes put him in the squad. Hes never really built up a rapport with any other striker for England so kind of an odd choice. Yes I know he creates things, so does Crouch, why not pick him? Crouch has a better scoring record and with him and Defoe playing for the same club theres a chance of something clicking here.

My Choices:

Keeper:

Err….

Defenders:

Micha Richards: One for the future without doubt and can play across the defence and well as defensive midfield if required. Why is he in the under 21s? Hes played for England proper and yet hes apparently better off in the under 21s. This had better be a conspiracy for Stuart Pearce to be the next England manager and so he will have had some quality time with the younger players, including Huddlestone and Lennon.

Midfield:

Ashley Young: Showing real promise to be one of the best and since he plays with Barry why not give them a go as the midfield core for England? We know Barry and Gerrard can work well together, maybe Young in the mix would be a much better option than playing Lampard?

Forwards:

Gabriel Agbonlahor: Does anyone really expect Mikey Owen to make the next world cup? Or if he does play well? No? No, didnt think so and neither do I. Another Villa man I know but who else is there? If hes playing alongside players he knows with good providers from the right and left in Bently and Joe Cole theres no reason why we can get goals.

Oh and no, I dont support Villa before you ask.

So the great Italian hope has gone and picked Terry as “permanent” captain. Bugger. There are fewer examples of a more obnoxious football personality than him, Rooney and Cashley Cole are probably worse, so why pick him? Ferdinand is the better player by far in defense and Gerrard is also an example of one of our few more versatile and tacticaly aware players, but he chooses the clogger. Baffling. I can only think that hes got such poor material to work with that its going to need a dressing room bully to sort some heads out, god help us. The Captaincy is a joke anyhow and should just be given to the most capped player, now Terry can’t be dropped. So if he has a bad season then what? I had hoped Capello would be picking players on merit to fit a system but this Captaincy malarky has put paid to that idea, not to mention he hasn’t picked farther outside of the squads McClown did. Again baffling. I had great hopes for Capello, but frankly this is a dismal choice. His squad selection for a meaningless friendly is totally uninspiring and stale. I can understand not wanting to return to Svens method of just giving out single caps like sweets but we have a fair few exiting new untried or barely tried options and some others who deserve a look-in. Instead we get the same old players who have proven they cant hack it. Granted Capellos a better coach and tactician than the ginger clown was but it would have been nice to at least try some other players.

Also thanks to ITV screwing themselves up and loosing football coverage, with help from the BBC who refused to deal with them and share, thanks. Now we now have to pay an extra subscription for Sentanta to watch games, England as well as PL. The chuckle heads in the competition commission and the government might want to think that if they want competition it should at least be made available to non subscription channels. Theres more than enough money in the game, the players can take a pay cut and have less paid for their contracts if the money is tight, better that so the fans can watch the game without being screwed over.

So a few ramblings and rants about the first weekends games and TV coverage.

Man U:

Does Fergie really hope to win the Champions League again while still holding onto Scholes and Giggs? Even the League? Those two were looking out of touch, if not their depth at times last season. Very much on last legs, yet both still didnt have the sense to retire. Darren Fletcher is not a world class midfielder either, but this is the core of thier Midfield! They will undoubtedly do well enough in the league, maybe even 2nd considering how bad Liverpool look to be right now and Arsenal only a couple of injuries away from Disaster. Frankly if they get past the quarter finals of the Champions League then they will have done well. Euro 2008 showed how to contain Ronaldo, it was made to look quite easy in fact. If Ronaldo gets as many goals again this year then it will be an embarrassment to suggest the Premiere League is the best league around, all the best defenders certainly aren’t here if he does. Rooney is still a petulant child with a lack of end product, hes a striker so where are the goals? Greatest of his (or any) generation? Balls! If hes going to be a play maker then move him into midfield otherwise hes a striker with potential. Hes actually looking like a gifted young player with nothing left or the brain or ability to carry it though. Although I was moderatly impressed with his lack of swearing (so far).

Spurs:

WTF does Ramos think hes doing? Did he think that Borough were going to be an easy 3 away points? They have signed a bunch of midfielders, attacking ones, no real striker of established quality to replace Kane and a probably departing Berbatov and have no true defensive midfielder apart from Zokora, who played at right back?! Modric is a playmaker who will need someone covering the defense while he pushes forward, Huddlestone could do that, are the defenders to rubbish they cant consider player 3 at the back and packing the midfield? Its not like they are short of them!

Everton:

No transfers in. You what? Is the squad really that good? The squad that lost 4-2 to Cambridge United pre-season? Don’t know about you but I’d be really rather concerned about that if I was manager. While they are a solid side (good footballing term that) they are not going to get top 4 without some decent players in. If they get a top 4 it will be because Liverpool implode and stuff things up and/or Arsenals injuries mount up. While either are likely it doesn’t do much for the notion of the best league in the world does it.

Chelsea:

So fantasy football manager with all the money cheats on is looking to pay off. Yes I know one game isn’t enough to decide anything, but looking at an already impressive squad with a much better coach than they have had so far you would have to put money on Chelsea winning the title and Champions League this season and maybe throw in an FA or Carling cup win just to buff things up? Although I do hope they don’t do an unthinkable quadruple, they are obnoxious enough without managing that.

Newcastle:

Go Keggers. Personally I don’t rate him that highly as a manger, he lacks tactical nouce and has a proven record of bailing out if somethings not right or following up by showing he can get better. However as a manager who quit the England job when he knew it was going wrong and without hanging on for the sack and a big payout I rate him, very highly indeed. I would love it, love it if Newcastle were to do well and maybe even, dare I say it? Ok I will, win something!

Match Of The Day:

Ye gods it gets WORSE! To rant against MOTD is too easy, but so necessary. We pay a license fee and they spanner god knows how much on Lineker to sit there, be smarmy, pretend that the so called pundits are saying something insightful and wise, give me a break. Oh and can they not find a better writer for his “jokes”? Hansen has become a cliché of himself but does on rare occasions say something thats moderately intelligent and actually analyses the game.

Who has decided to keep that barely literate, no-insight, no-talent commentator Shearer on? Hes useless! Does Shearer really expect to manage a Premier League team? Based on what we hear on MOTD the day he is appointed, at whatever level, the rest of the managers in that league will be pissing them selves at the prospect of playing a side coached by him. Man most likely to never win a game as a manager, ever.

Having Martin O’Neill do stints on the show only make you realise how piss poor the rest of them are.

Sky:

Jamie Redknapp, from the latin name – thick twunt, who should stick to producing a stupidly expensive exclusive magazines. His brain is also exclusive, so much so it doesn’t do public appearances. Despite what I said about Shearer above, Shearer is an erudite genious compared to this chucklehead. In fact Sky should prise Shearer off the BBC and make them their dream studio team for Super Duper Sunday or whatever ridiculous title they give it now. Until then the sooner him and Shearer have a go at management the better to give us all a good laugh, so long as its not at my club!

Chelsea 4 – 0 Portsmouth.

Has Abramovich finally spent enough money to win everything? Looking that way.

Man United 1 – 1 Newcastle

Man U werent exactly great and the retirement of Scholes and Giggs is probably overdue. That Darren Fletcher was playing as a right winger must be somewhat of concern for Fergie. Newcastle were kept in game early on by Given but did get better.

Villa 4 – 2 Man City

The game was fairly close until a late Agbonlahor hatrick(69, 74, 76). Hughes may have made a mistake by moving but really too early to tell and how the owner situation plays out will probably be the deciding factor.