Saturday 30 June 2012

A Word Of Advice For Hodgson: Don't Prima Donna Your Players

StarSport 29 June 2012
England's current manager Hodgson has jumped to the defence of Wayne Rooney in the latter's spat with former England coach Fabio Capello.

Hodgson was quoted to have said

Capello is entitled to his opinions, I suppose, but I always think that it's a bit cheap to kid on a player who was anxious to do well

He further went on to say of Rooney's physical condition

His attitude was magnificent.....He was putting in extra work because he was concerned he was behind the others, having missed the first two games through suspension.....His desire to do well was enormous and we were trying to put the brakes on

A word of advice to Hodgson: Don't jump so quickly to the defence of your player, especially when it is not deserved.

Rooney was obviously not in his physical best or anywhere close to. He couldn't even hold on to the ball well in the match against Portugal. It was just pathetic to see him struggling.

An anxiety and enormous desire to do well is not enough. You must be physically fit in the first place and well placed for the challenge.

But just because he was being lionised by everybody as England's saviour and expected to play a central role, did not mean that he must be fielded and expected to play the role.

If only Hodgson had continued to have faith in Carrol as the central striker and played him from the start with Wellback as his partner, with Theo Walcott on the flank, and even had Ox-Chamberlain play a major role instead of using the Arsenal players as late substitutes, England might have had a happier outcome than being eliminated at the q-final.

There is this weakness of today's managers/coaches - their alacrity in jumping to defend their players whether justified or not or wise or not.

Let your players defend themselves, let them prove that they are men and not boys who can be on their own without the need of a mother hen clacking behind them, especially if they are the ones who start a spat.

Many of today's footballers are just spoiled rich brats anyway. And some of them think and behave like prima donnas.

There is no need to further prima donna your players.

Spare the rod and spoil the child - urgh! 

Friday 29 June 2012

Will Spain Win The Uefa Euro 2012?

UPDATE: 4.42 a.m Malaysian Time. I am wrong. Italy have got the better of Germany, beating the latter 2-1. But I still hold on to my views as far as Spain are concerned.


Will Spain be this year's Euro 2012 champion?

A lot will depend on whether Spain can still play their short-passing game to perfection. I am assuming that Germany will meet them in the final and not Italy whom they meet in two and a half short hours from now.

I don't fancy the Italians getting the better of the German machine.

But if Spain play the way they did against Portugal last night, I am not too optimistic of the Spanish dream of becoming the first country to win three major international titles in a row.

Last night was boring.

The Spanish team are getting to be too predictable.

You don't win games by passing the ball to death the way Arsenal do.

You have got to mix it up, long balls now and then, first-timers too and, most important of all, have players who are able to and are willing and not afraid to take on defenders like Barca's Messi does very well.

Otherwise, your opponents are likely able to shut you out like how Portugal did and frustrate you in the process.

And unless the Spainish players stop the cavalier way in which they sometimes pass the ball, Spain is going to have a hard time playing the speedy German machine.

Del Bosque should stop trying to be too clever, not playing an established striker like Torres.

Against the Germans, I dare say that if the Spanish coach fails to play Torres or Fabregas early on, then he is asking to pay the price and my vote goes to the Germans.

But if Del Bosque wises up, Spain is still my choice.

Monday 25 June 2012

Clueless England Deserved To Lose

I had just watched the Uefa Euro 2012 q-final match between England and Italy.

And just as I had expected before the match started, both teams played like comedians.

Both teams wasted easy chances to score.

Both teams played with no clear idea of what they were doing, although Italy looked the more threatening throughout and just deserved to win in the end through the penalty shoot-out.

What I don't understand about the English team is that if you needed pace on the flanks and you had it in Walcott, why didn't they play to his strength?

There was hardly any decent long range pass to Walcott throughout the time Walcott was on the field. Walcott was not even fielded from the start.

Rooney, whom everyone was pinning their faith on to do the magic for England, was largely
ineffectual, even managing to loose the ball on several occasions in one to one situations.

Ashley Young's face literally looked pale as he was walking up to take the penalty kick. And Ashley Cole, the very much more experienced and senior member of the England team, did not fare any better. He literally looked uncomfortable.

What a poor choice of players to take the spot kicks! England's miserable record of taking spot kicks continues.

I am afraid if Roy Hodgson continues as the England coach, we can expect more boring performances. Looks like England won't achieve anything significant at the international level for a long time to come.

A few words on the standard of the commentary of the match. It was terrible. There was nothing intelligent said, no commentary on team strategy or tactics at all.

What was said was merely stating the obvious of what was happening on the pitch. It merely distracted from one's enjoyment of the match and was an insult to the intelligence of the viewers.

I noticed the same thing happened with the commentary in all the other matches so far. They should take a leaf or two from the EPL commentators.

Thursday 21 June 2012

The England Team Is Boring!

I stayed up last night or rather, early this morning, watching the England-Ukraine match.

And I must say that England played like crank amateurs for the first quarter of the game!

Maybe they were trying to play for a draw which would be enough to get them through to the next round.

Only when the Ukraine players continuously wasted chance after scoring chance to go ahead in the first quarter of the match, did England start to awaken from their stupor and begin to show some semblance of a team that had qualified to play at the Euro 2012 tournament.

But still, it took a lucky break when the Ukraine goalie fumbled, for England to find the net when Rooney had the easiest of chances heading in the ball from close quarters.

What if the lucky break did not come? England wasn't exactly playing like they deserved to be there in the finals.

They lacked cohesiveness as a team and were mostly defensive minded. Their attacks lacked bite and they were not exactly threatening most of the times. Pace? Without Walcott, England were decidedly lacking in pace down the flanks.

I do not have much confidence in this England team. They are lucky to get to the next round, because had the Ukraine goal that was was allowed, England could have found themselves in trouble instead of  topping their group.

Roy Hodgson should start thinking of a more offensive approach.

Faint hearts do not a champion make.