I have a lot to say, so made my own thread to C+P my england rant from my blog I tried my best to keep the swearing down, and took on your views from last time I posted one on here, thoughts?
I can. The idea that professional footballers forget how to pass just because they're not told they're in the team until 2hrs before kick off is ridiculous excuse-making of the highest order. TheDon says the keeper should know in advance so he can 'let his defenders know where he wants them'. What does that even mean? Call me old-fashioned but I imagine he wants them several yards in front of him in some kind of line. There's an equally strong counter-argument in favour of naming the team late as apparently in previous international tournaments the naming of the team well in advance of a game has led to a split camp, with those knowing they're not involved not really contributing anything at all.
It's not the fact they forgot how to pass? By knowing who you will be playing with, you will know where they like to make runs to etc etc. Let his defenders know where he wants them from set-pieces or who he wants picking up who. It's just the way a defence works, as a unit. Also at club level I'm pretty there is clearly a split camp. We don't need our subs to be in a good mood, we want our 11 players to be working well together and winning.
Forgive me for saying this, but if the canuts moods need to be coddled to get them to play right, you are ****ed from the get go.
Yeah but the team hasn't changed that radically game to game? It's not like he's rotating all 22 players on a whim, there's an obvious core of maybe 8-9 players whose places are guaranteed when fit. The only real spots up for grabs are the goalkeeper and the second striker. I don't believe for a second that the goalkeeper decides who goes where at set-pieces...that comes from the tactical approach of the manager (zonal/man marking, whether to have men on the posts etc) and the goalkeeper's job is just to make sure the manager's plan is put into place.
Who said anything about a good mood? I didn't. However it's surely logical that if someone still believes they have a chance of being selected they will train harder, speak up more and generally try not to rock the boat?
I agree. Rooney shouldn't start and Crouch and Defoe should. I'm getting pissed off with people making excuses for Rooney, ie he must be injured etc. Personally i just can't see Capello changing much. He seems very set in his ways and stubborn. IMO if we don't score in the first half an hour on wednesday then the confidence will go, they'll look nervous and gutless and will end up wimping out of the tournament. I would like him to start with Crouch and Defoe up front, there is no way that they shouldn't be able to score against Slovenia. Failing this, I Don't see the problem in Gerrard playing behind Rooney(if Rooney wasn't such a pr*ck). Playing Gerrard on the left is ridiculous, he is one of the best attacking central-midfielders in the world and actually played much better against the yanks when he was in the middle. I think now pretty much everyone is having doubts about Capello.
how you can acknowledge the success of capello's methods in qualifying and then discount them in the WC on the basis of the team staying in a hotel is beyond my comprehension
It is different. They're on a different continent away for 6 weeks compared to a few days at the grove. It's totally different, they need to be more of a team
Still scratching my head why anyone would put SWP in a squad in front of Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young, and Stuart Downing. At least they were all playing for their clubs and playing relatively well, and have an attitude that's worthy of playing for England. SWP barely played for Man City from January, and how Adam Johnson can be bumped out by SWP, when he's in front of him at club level, astounds me. Also, you have Milner and Joe Cole on the bench who should be in front of SWP. I tried my hardest to see Capello's thinking both times he brought SWP on, but for the life of me I couldn't work it out.
Was looking for some feedback on my actual way I wrote the article, not just what was in it. Anything?
You listen to constructive criticism and try and take it on board, that's an excellent starting point :biggrin: It's looking good, just keep plugging away really and get people hooked!
The structure is good, points are well argued and substantiated. The style is a little too vernacular for me but probably suits its intended audience well. Careful proof-reading would eliminate the grammatical errors.
Oooh, get someone else to proof read it, they're more likely to find little errors that you will miss.
