Captain Material

            Just woke up to the news that Scott Parker has been named the New England captain and can’t say I’m disappointed or surprised at all. He was not the natural successor to Terry but a sensible one. We have seen time and again that he is England through and through and a model professional both on and off the pitch, never failing to not lead by example despite not previously holding the armband for England or Spurs. As a Newcastle fan I still remember the terrier like performances he would churn out every week without fail. He is not a player with the flair of say Gerrard or Rooney, but one that you can count on to turn up week in week out and put a consistent performance in of guts and guile. This is the sort of person you want as an England captain, who players can always look to for an example of strength and character when things get tough.    

       Zoolander? – No the next England Captain, how could he not be with that lid

I think we could all have agreed that Gerrard was the natural choice to step in with his clear leadership quality been on show for Liverpool since he took over the captaincy from Sami Hyypia. He is the experienced man for the job, but lets be honest we saw all we could have done at the world cup. Anyway I think a move to Gerrard as captain would have been a step back. He embodies all the failures at that world cup in the summer and would have simply represented a step in the wrong direction. He did well for the world cup and was arguably our best player at that tournament; however it would have just been the message that would have been portrayed by sticking him back in the role. One of the same old England old guard clogging up the team with dead wood that we are trying to get rid of.

I think Pearce is sensibly trying to create a New England and who could blame him. He has been given a clean slate, the manager has gone and whether he gets the job for the Euros is irrelevant because he is part of the set up whomever the manager, so is understandably striving for success with England whatever.

Ferdinand is another candidate, however he comes riddled with the same problems as Gerrard and probably portrays them even more severely. As well as representing the old guard and dead wood in the England team I feel strongly that Ferdinand does not have the ability to be an England regular for the next four years or till the next World Cup. Why then is there any point in having players like Terry and Ferdinand in the team?

Yes they bring experience, but we have that in abundance. It is time to let players like Jones and Smalling take up key roles in the England set up which I have no doubt will see them flourish for club and country. They are undoubtedly the future of England, why then is there any point not playing them if they are up to the required standard?

Wayne Rooney represents the next possible candidate. There is a different problem here and that is the simple issue of him being banned for the first three games of the Euros. This makes him ineligible for the whole of the group stages and thus there is no point in my eyes having a captain that is not going to lead on the pitch until the group stages have been concluded.

He has undoubted talent and is by far the most talent of the lot at the moment. Moreover I have no doubt that he will go onto to get close to the achievements of the great Bobby Charlton, however at the moment there seems to be a certain issue with his temperament. People forget how young he actually is and that he made his premier league debut for Manchester United when he was just 19. In addition, he had of course played 67 games for Everton before this. So in terms of experience in premier league games he is up there, however there has always been a question mark over his discipline. The fact that he was, when called up, the youngest ever capped Englishman and England’s youngest ever goal scorer, but at the same time he has been sent off twice for England tells its own story. That makes him the most sent off player along with David Beckham.

This underlines the exact problem with him, the talent is obviously there but he is prone to lapses in concentration that cost him his place on the pitch. When selecting an England captain you cannot have someone who is prone to letting the team down in that way and on such regular occasions. However, on the other hand the fact that he is level with David Beckham shows that there is still time for Rooney to learn to control his anger and undoubtedly become a successful England captain in the future just as Beckham was, not at the moment sadly though.


by Giles Harwood (@gilesharwood001)

Capello's Chain Reaction

When Fabio Capello resigned last week, the majority of Englsih fans have tipped Spurs boss Harry Redknapp to succeed him either for the Euro Championships or for the period after that. Today, I want to discuss the implications within English football if Redknapp does take over as boss before the European Championships this summer.

Redknapp's Successor?
Firstly, and more obviously Tottenham would be searching for a new manager. Harry has done a fantastic job with Spurs and despite in my opinion not being in with a real chance for the title this season, he has proved that another team without huge financial backing can challenge for the title.
In my opinion the man to replace him would be David Moyes - how well that man has done with an Everton side that has had close to no financial backing. He has kept them mid-table or even higher for a number of years now and Tottenham will recognise the talent he has shown on Merseyside, by offering him the job at White Hart Lane. A Moyes with money but produce fantastic results!

What next for Everton?
If Moyes moves on, what next for Everton? There cannot be too many managers out there who could have done a better job that Moyes under the circumstances. His departure may spell disaster for Everton - appoint the wrong man and there will not be enough money to bolster results if they are in danger come the January transfer window next season. A new manager will find it hard to stamp his style on a side where he cannot alter his players through having financial freedom. To me, there a very few obvious successors for the Goodison Park helm...


What is in store for England?

Hopefully, more freedom for the players on the pitch. For me, Capello had a very regimented managerial style which did not click with his players. There will be a rise in the prominence of Harry's former players - with Redkanpp at the helm expect to see Scott Parker to take the captain's armband. Kyle Walker and Jermaine Defoe might edge very much closer to places in the England squad. However, I still hope that Micah Riachards gets the nod at right-back, and I cannot really see why this should not be the case? Paul Scholes, Paul Scholes, Paul Scholes.! Redkanpp has already spoken about why Scholesy should be in the team and rightly so. Expect to see the United legend wearing an England shirt again, and (hopefully) English fans will see their team retain possession longer than 5 passes again!!


Redknapp's appointment in no guarantee of results but finally the fans will have their English manager we have been dreaming of (since Steve Mclaran! Oh dear!).


by Freddie Leech ( @freddieleech )

Taxi for Obertan

So we lost and lost badly, there it is. 5-0 was not unfair or harsh it was the result our performance deserved and it could easily have been more.

Spurs were imperious in the first 45 and I am sure with that kind of performance they would have beaten most teams in the league especially with them being at White Hart Lane.

Spurs’ performance however, was not the full reason behind the loss. The performance from the lads was at best a 4/10 and not up to usual standards. Pardew clearly agreed in the post match interviews however sensibly stuck it on himself claiming:

‘I blame myself for that defeat. We had too many attacking players on the field. We will bounce back.’

It was an interesting call and might pay off to be a clever one. Much like Mancini did after City lost to Sunderland, by taking the focus off the players and onto himself he was ensuring that the players themselves did not come under pressure and thus hopefully performances in the future will not suffer.

In a way I agree that he did mess up as his tactics were wrong. We had too many attacking players in that team today and to play two up top had trouble written all over it. For a team that has such known strength in midfield his selection seemed a bit naïve, especially with our midfield, at the moment not exactly at its strongest. Tiote was sawly missed because he is someone who gives you the confidence to play more attacking because he gives you the extra cover in midfield and allows other players the confidence to give that extra bit more in attack as they know he will cover. Alan seemed to agree:

"We had three of our first choice midfield out today and that proved too much in the end. Hope Tiote comes back happy with a medal"

It was a gamble and he would have known that and I can see where he was coming from. He wanted us to really impose ourselves on the Champion’s League scene and show everyone that we were serious contenders. At SJP we would have had more of a chance but away from home it was suicidal.

In addition in terms of personnel it was hard to know who to leave out. BA has carried us at times this season and he would have be barking to leave out a player with the second highest goal tally in the league and off the back of a great performance last Sunday against Villa. Similarly with Cisse, he had a great game against Villa and with so much hype about him this week it would have been a bit of a kick in the teeth for us fans to see him on the bench tonight.

The blame cannot however all rest on Pardew. In the end it comes down to the players on the pitch to do a job. Some of them tonight just didn’t do that unfortunately.

To start with, Simpson seemed totally lost today. It is odd because he has been exceptional all season and solid however some of the positions he took up today were a little worrying. He seemed to be at fault for the first four goals. However, to be fair to the lad he was not helped out by the performance of Obertan who was as poor. His passing was atrocious and it appeared he left his vision in the changing room. His failure to support Simpson in defensive efforts was also of huge concern. For example for the first goal he was stood at the top of the box marking no one and left Assou-Ekotto free at the back post to slot home into an empty net.

I know there has been heavy criticism of this kid in recent weeks but I believe that it is totally justified with repeated under par performances. I also agree that the booing he was subject to in the home game against West Brom is ridiculous and senseless as it helps no one and clearly knocked the boy’s confidence.

The fact that Pardew plays him reflects even worse on Ben Arfa. Everyone can see he has immense talent on the ball but the problem lies when we lose the ball and his failure to buy into the strict defensive discipline that Pardew demands.

Similarly other performances from Williamson and Coloccini did not exactly help. We will class this as an off day for them but for Obertan the problems are deeper to the extent that I just don’t believe that he has the raw ability to be a top premier league player. Yes he’s young but the talent still needs to be there to be developed and worked on.

In the grand scheme of things however this is just one game and 3 points that other teams around us dropped as well so there is no need for panic. Take a step back and look at the raw statistics as they make for favourable reading. We are 1 point off 4th with 13 games remaining, seven of which are at home. Still in a phenomenally great position.

Add to that the fact that we haven’t been below seventh all season and it is true to say: Newcastle are having a phenomenal season.


by Giles Harwood ( @gilesharwood001 )

United's Big Victory

Not only one winner at Old Trafford today

Apparently rejecting handshakes in Uruguay is a sign of
forgiveness and friendship.

Man United's victory today against fierce rivals Liverpool will always be overshadowed for its off-pitch antics.
A perfect opportunity to draw a line under the Suarez racism controversy was unfortunately missed. Moving that issue to one side, it is important to look at the football match. Antonio Valencia produced another destructive performance, while the likes of Rooney, Welbeck and Scholes gave English fans a reason to be positive in what has been a desperate couple of days.
Not only was the manner of the 2-1 victory so pleasing for the United fans, there were numerous other off-pitch victories for the Red Devils;

Gary Neville 1 vs 0 Jamie Redknapp
United Legend G Nev gave Jamie Redknapp the run around in the punditry box. From disagreements over Ferdinand's inch perfect to tackle to the Evra-Suarez affair, the former right-back made it all look 'oh so easy' with stronger opinions and judgments throughout.



Sir Alex 1 vs 0 Kenny Dalglish
Fergie never misses a chance to get under the skin of United's rivals and showed the world once again that football can often be fought off the pitch. Gave strong and highly charged opinions which will cause even more mayhem for his counterpart. King Kenny on the other hand did not give one of his finest interviews, and half way through seemed to be just about to storm out  while blaming the Suarez-Evra affair on the media. Quite hard to defend Suarez in the current climate in all fairness!



Evra 1 vs 0 Suarez 
The above picture says it all, Evra came out of this personal battle as the victor. Patrice ended the game with a lap on honour and the respect of all footballing fans alike. Suarez on the other hand now faces huge public criticism and it will be interesting to see how long Liverpool can support their controversial striker. The world will have to wait to see if his public apology means anything when they play against each other next time. He made a fool of himself, his club and English football, and even his most faithful supporters must be starting to lose patience - grow up!

A cracking day for MUFC all round then, and good momentum for the trip to Amsterdam on Thursday.
As anticipated the Muppets' predictions were a little off, a goal scoring record of 27-35 was not witnessed today - shameless advertising.

by Freddie Leech ( @freddieleech )

Capello and the real reasons behind his resignation

Besides the sub zero temperatures sweeping the nation in the last few days i don't think there has been any bigger news than the resignation of Fabio Capello as the England boss with immediate effect. On a personal view it did not come as a huge surprise and i was perplexed as to why this decision had not been made earlier.

I remember reading a great article by Alan Hansen, yes i know they are few and far between, about Capello and what he might bring to the England set up upon taking over. He admitted along with the majority that the man had an unbelievable record and i personally agree. There is no doubt that he has an outrageous CV, possibly one of the best in the business. He has the unbelievable distinction of winning the domestic league title with every club he has coached throughout his career. In addition, in his first five seasons with Milan he won the Seria A title four times, add the Champions League to that in the 93-94 season and this makes a fantastic record. Similarly as the England manager he finished up with a win percentage of just under 67%. This win percentage is the highest for any England manager ever and even eclipsed the great Sir Alf Ramsey who has the accolade of a world cup winner on his CV.


Hansen went on to explain that this was not to be the problem. Instead it was the huge language barrier with Capello entering the job with little to no experience of speaking English. He claimed in his opening news conference that he would learn within the next 6 months with the best help made available to him by the FA. However, although there were noticeable improvements in his speech it never got near an acceptable standard. Given that Capello relies heavily on a system of intense man management and motivation it became a huge problem. A problem that's seriousness was not realised until results really mattered at the World Cup in South Africa. It was a comedy of errors typified by Capello's refusal to let players relax and most noticeably see their families and also the outrageous nature by which he dismissed David Beckham's England career. For a player with 115 caps and 13 years of service for the national side, it was intensely disrespectful to cast him aside in one sentence. I think with someone in the job who really understood the British culture and the values that that team really stood for, a far more relaxed environment would have been created. One that these players would have been comfortable with and thus had a greater chance of success.


With the World Cup such a failure you have to ask yourself why did the FA not remove Capello immediately after the finals and not delayed it this long? There is a simple answer to that question: money. Capello is on a contract worth 6 million pounds per year and as a result, to sack him with two years left on his deal would have cost an estimated 12 million pounds, silly money. In a way you can simpathise with the FA as they were in no position to shell out that much money and in any case with the World Cup being such a failure they would have risk the blame and frustration being focused on them. However, England is home to some of the most passionate supporters in the world and the Premier League is undeniably the best and most exciting league in the world. As a result as a nation of football fans we deserve more than for our coach to be retain just because of the sheer cost of it. We have the right to have the best and at any cost because of the position that football plays within the hearts and minds of England as a football mad nation.


So the decision was not made, no one seemed to mind when we were tearing up Euro qualifying. We qualified with 5 wins, 3 draws, no defeats and ending 2011 unbeaten. Everything seemed back to normal, this was until the bombshell of the Terry captaincy disaster that emerged as a problem concerning the national side in January. It appears that the FA had shown a huge lack of communication with Capello for his reaction to be so ignorant however again i feel that the problem has in fact been Capello's failure to communicate properly and understand the British media and general culture. It was almost suicidal to act in this way and if he had not resigned i feel that he will have left the FA no choice but to fire him themselves.


It therefore comes down to the fact that the FA did not have the steel to fire him outright after the world cup and in a sense they have disrespected the football nation in England by retaining Capello's services simply on financial grounds. In addition his failure to grasp the English language sufficiently, means the blame can also be cast on Capello himself  but should someone with such little experience of English have been hired in the first place? It is for this very reason that the FA and the British public are so incensed that the next manager is English, hopefully the mistakes made will never reoccur and the shambles that the English team has descended into will never return.


Redknapp is, as a result the obvious choice for Capello's successor, this will be discussed in the next blog in a couple of days.....


by Giles Harwood ( @gilesharwood001 )

Is Everything All Tickedy Boo?

Manchester United vs. Liverpool - the derby of all derbies in the English game.

Tomorrow will see Luis Suarez make the trip to Old Trafford for the first time since being found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra. There is much discussion amongst United fans to whether or not they should boo Suarez. First thing to say is that he has served his ban for what he has done and booing will simply give him an extra reason to raise his game to its destructive best.

Personally then, the United fans should not boo him, he has been punished and its time to move on. What ever "friendly" thing he did call Evra, booing will not make him more guilty, and may even give Liverpool the edge. The fans need to get behind the players, get behind their football, and remember that 3 points is far more important than letting Suarez know what he has done wrong (that is what the ban was for!).

Boo Dalglish who seems to be dragging this saga on as if his club has been unfairly treated. He is the one actively supporting the racism. Could he just be trying to beef up his CV for a role with FIFA one day?

Unlike Lawro who predicts boring 1-1 draws in all big games, I am going for 3-1 United as they have a lot of players returning from injury and will be buoyed by the comeback at Stamford Bridge last week. And special thanks to the Muppets for their insightful predictions this week....desperate times for BBC Sport - was Robbie Savage busy?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/lawros-predictions/

by Freddie Leech ( @freddieleech )