Same Shit Different Day

As England disappoint on another world stage, I can't help but ask myself exactly how many times we, as a

nation can tolerate such dismal failings in our national sport.

So much was promised from the "new breed" of England players but unfortunately for a variety of different reasons, we find ourselves watching the same slow, toothless play that served us so poorly in years gone by.

Like everyone else, I was enthused to see Barkley, Lallana, Sterling, Sturridge, Shaw and Wilshere in the squad. Finally, we have a manager willing to give a new brand of attacking football and youthful hunger to the National team... or so I thought. But, when the time finally comes, Hodgson well and truly bottled it. Against Italy, I thought our tactics were spot on and with little bit of luck we'd have come out of that game with at least a point. Nevertheless, slack defending costs us and sets up a must win game against Uruguay.

Hodgson decides to go the same way as every England manager that I've experienced in my lifetime -- conservatively. No place in the side for Barkley or Lallana, and Henderson playing over Wilshere which I find frankly baffling. Although we had over 60% possession, all I saw was the same slow, numbing build up play that has typified England over the last 20 years. England players play like they're wearing shackles. If you look at any of the teams that have excelled in the competition so far - Holland, Chile, Colombia... they're so fast! They play with freedom and without fear. Many people are blaming our defence, but can you really say that any of the aforementioned are rock solid? We believe in an old fashioned style in England, that the defenders defend, the midfield pass and the strikers shoot. Unfortunately, while we keep employing the old-school managers and coaches, we will keep seeing the same results. 

For me, Hodgson has to go. I don't agree with his post-match comments that we've played well and lost, particularly against Uruguay. You can say that Godin should have been sent off and

that Rooney should score from his header, but I am of the opinion that you make your own luck in life.

I hate to say it, but too many of the current squad simply aren't good enough. He's been a fantastic servant to the nation, but I think it's time for Gerrard to hang up his boots, and take Lampard with him. The captaincy needs to go to Cahill, who seems to be the only leader on the field when England play. Glen Johnson, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines and Jordan Henderson have been found out at this level.

There has been a witch-hunt surrounding Wayne Rooney at this tournament. Perhaps if we treat our stars the
way that Uruguay treat Suarez or Brazil treat Neymar, we'd actually see something that represents the best of Rooney in an England shirt. I believe that Wayne Rooney has been OK in this tournament. Against Uruguay, I'd say he was one of our best players. The word scapegoat springs to mind. Dropping him would be a mistake. After Sven and Capello, I can forgive the FA for wanting an English coach for the national team, but given the lack of quality young domestic managers, I believe that we need foreign blood to reinvent our side.

We've tried evolution; we need revolution

I want to see passion. Passion like this.

Meulensteen's Massive Mission

As news breaks that Fulham are set to spend £11 million on Greek striker Kostas Mitroglu, I can't help but feel that new manager René Meulensteen has a very difficult job to turn that squad from relegation candidates to the Europa League contenders of a few years ago.

There is no doubt Meulensteen is a superb coach. Just ask Sir Alex Ferguson, who had him on his coaching staff at Manchester United for 11 years. However, whether he will make a successful manager remains to be seen, particularly when you consider the ageing and under-performing squad currently making up Fulham Football Club. It is worth mentioning as well, that Meulensteen's only other managerial role at Danish club Brøndby ended with resignation 6 months in.

I believe the current Fulham squad is devoid of real quality. If asked to name the players at Craven Cottage, I suspect many would stumble after Berbatov and Parker, so I've listed it below.

Scott Parker is a good Premier League player to have when you're struggling. He'll put himself about, give 100% and get stuck in, which in itself will lift the crowd. Unfortunately he has very little actual footballing quality and will not make anything happen going forward.

Fulham would do well to cash in on Dimitar Berbatov before his sell-on valuation falls even further. I'm sure he'd fit in well in a Spanish club willing to pay his wages, because he simply isn't effective in England any more. You cannot doubt his quality on the ball, but he doesn't cut it anymore.

The others are tremendously average and frankly are worthy of a relegation dogfight. The average is 29.2, and i'd imagine that the regular starting XI will be even higher. Fulham fans will hope that new man Mitroglu will add some quality up front, but I am always wary of unproven European strikers moving to the Premiership. A betting man would probably put their money on a flop and i'm probably in that category, but I haven't seen much of him.

I think a changing of the guard is needed at Fulham. Players like Berbatov (32), Duff (34), Parker (33), Karagounis (36), Riise (33), Hangeland (32) and Hughes (34) need to be phased out and replaced. Younger blood will help in a number of ways. Meulensteen can shape his own team, which will in turn re-energise the club and fans in turn. 

Ballon d'Or Winner 2013 - Cristiano Ronaldo

Congratulations to Cristiano Ronaldo on winning his 2nd Ballon d'Or. Fully deserved for an unbelievable year.

#CR7 #Ronaldo #BestInTheWorld

FIFPRO World Team of the Year 2013

FIFA's team of the year for 2013 is as follows:

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich - Germany)

Philip Lahm (Bayern Munich - Germany)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid - Spain)
Thiago Silva (Paris Saint Germain - Brazil)
Dani Alves (Barcelona - Brazil)

Xavi Hernández (Barcelona - Spain)
Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona - Spain)
Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich - France)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid - Portugal)
Zlatan Ibrahimović (Paris Saint Germain - Sweden)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona - Argentina)

As usual, Barcelona are overrepresented as FIFA continue to brown-nose the big teams instead of taking into account actual performance and contribution to the teams of the players. What Xavi and Iniesta are doing in there I genuinely do not know. Their reputation has gone before them. Xavi has played 55% of barcelona's games in 2013 and Iniesta has played at a fraction of his form in previous years. I also think Franck Ribery plays in a similar role for Munich as Ronaldo plays for Madrid (wide left of an attacking trio). If you're going to ignore any kind of formation in order to fit all the best players in, why not play 3-4-3 have Bale in there at left-back and play Yaya Toure in there too. I can only assume that FIFA categorise players as defenders, midfielders or attackers and simply pick who they think is best based solely on that. Also worth noting that Vincent Kompany is a far better centre-back than Sergio Ramos and has a much better disciplinary record. 

My 2013 team of the year - 

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich - Germany)

Philip Lahm (Bayern Munich - Germany)
Vincent Kompany (Manchester City - Belgium)
Gerard Piqué (Barcelona - Spain)
Thiago Silva (Paris Saint Germain - Brazil)

Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich - Germany)
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid - Wales)
Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich - France)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid - Portugal)
Zlatan Ibrahimović (Paris Saint Germain - Sweden)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona - Argentina)


*Footnote*

Franck Ribéry is overrated and shouldn't have been in the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or.

The FA Cup

I read something that really disappointed me today. Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert said today that he believes that the majority of top-flight clubs would rather not have the "distraction" of the FA Cup. This saddens me, as I'd imagine it saddens almost all football fans, but particularly those of an older generation. Let us not forget that the FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world. 

Undeserved Fab Pen sinks Town - Great day

As a supporter of a 'lesser' team, the FA Cup presents teams like Huddersfield with the chance to test themselves against truly top opposition. Should a game be picked to be shown on TV, clubs receive hundreds of thousands of pounds, which is pure gold to teams in the Championship, League One and below. For fans too, it can also provide some amazing days out to top clubs, like I had in 2008 and 2011 at Chelsea and Arsenal respectively. On each occasion we were sunk by Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas. Those are memories I treasure, and typifies the majesty and romance that the FA Cup brings to fans.

Old Wembley - A real acheivement to play there

I recently watched 'The Class Of '92' which focuses around Man Utd in the 90s. Great watch, but more relevantly, in it Ryan Giggs talks about how FA Cup final day used to be the biggest day in the domestic footballing calender year. He reminisced about how it was every young lads dream to be able to play in the final and the unique euphoria around Wembley and the sense of occasion. I think that there are a couple of reasons for the decline in the perceived worth of

'New' Wembley - Overused due to cost?

the FA Cup in recent years. Firstly the League Cup, which serves little purpose and only manages to give out Wembley appearances like Jimmy Savile gave out back rubs. This without doubt takes away the sense of occasion of playing at Wembley. Another thing is the amount of money that goes into the Premier League, meaning that clubs can't afford to take their eye off the ball for a second. Even the difference between 13th and 14th in the Prem' means millions of pounds which could be the signing of a new player! 

That said, I actually disagree with Paul Lambert. Given the choice, I think most managers wouldn't want to see the history and tradition of the FA Cup (now in its 143rd year) cast aside. I sincerely hope that isn't the case. I consider it to be a vital aspect of the footballing identity in England and I would hate to see it devalued with the increase of foreign players and managers.

From the comments made by Paul Lambert, the only thing that is assured is that I, and I suspect a few more, will be hoping that Lambert's Villa side get smashed by Sheffield United in the 3rd round, then go on to lose their place in the Premiership too!

P.S Happy 2014 Everyone

Englands World Cup 2014 Squad

This picture was printed in the Daily Mail in 2007 and predicts England's world cup squad for the 2014 World Cup. If ever you needed proof that the Daily Mail are full of horse shit, then look no further. What a baffling array of woefully poor football players this team consists of. I will give them the benefit of the doubt on Theo Walcott who will definitely be in the squad in Brazil, but is by no means guaranteed to start

This picture is pretty self-explanatory, but I do have a couple of questions to ask the author of this article. Firstly WHERE IS WAYNE ROONEY?! Surely, having seen the rise of Wayne Rooney since his debut, even a retarded cocker spaniel could see that at 28, he would be 'quite important' to England. I also struggle to see how Michael Johnson could ever be conceived as being better than Steven Gerrard and why Ashley Cole isn't still in there.

2007 is a year that a lot of people in football will want to regret. Portsmouth will no doubt regret signing John Utaka. Liverpool will regret signing Andriy Voronin and Man Utd were prolific and definitely regret signing Anderson, Nani and Owen Hargreaves. I suspect, someone at the Daily Mail wish they'd pulled the plug on this as well/

World Cup 2014 Draw

It has just been announced that England will play Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy in the Group stages of next years World Cup. All over my Twitter feed and Facebook timeline are people saying: 

"England might as well book the plane home now"

Frankly, these people have seen the names Uruguay and Italy and proverbially shit themselves. England are more than capable of topping that group. Whether they will or not is frankly another matter but we'll wait and see on that one. I want a bit of "this is our year" positivity. 

Firstly, I think Italy present a far bigger threat that Uruguay to England, despite all this talk of "OMFG South American teams!!!". Think back to the Euro's last year, we lost to Italy in a shite game where neither team did very much. In horrendously hot and humid Manaus at 2am GMT, noone is going to fancy that one. Italy will be just as annoyed with the group as us, and we certainly shouldn't fear them. 

As for the Uruguayans, did noone watch the Confederations Cup in Brazil not long ago? Uruguay were utter shite, and I mean that politely. Look down their teamsheet and you'll see 3 stand-out names; Forlan, Cavani & a certain Luis Suarez. Forlan is well past it and I personally think Edinson Cavani is grossly over-rated. As for Suarez, all we need is Stevie G to run through him in the last Liverpool training session before he goes. If not, chances are he will be suspended for biting a black pensioner in Toxteth anyway. 

Then when we come away from Group D top with 7 points, we'll have a favourable draw in the second round with Ivory Coast probably being the bookies favourite. Like I said, a bit of English positivity please.

I actually rather like the draw. Group G will be great to watch but for me Group B wins it. The long awaited rematch of the horribly ugly 2010 World Cup Final will be a great watch. Something tells me Howard Webb might not get that gig.

Fuck that haters. Come on England