England vs France - Capello will awake to unfair headlines

And yet again the fickle England fans jump to accusations of Capello not being up to the job. Twitter has been inundated with the usual remarks all night, so much so that Capello has been trending for a majority of the evening. The newspapers will certainly be taking a similar note. But is it fair?


Sadly I couldn't get tickets for this one so had to watch on ITV like everybody else, and yes it wasn't the prettiest of performances and we did seem outclassed by the only team who flopped harder then us in the World Cup (if you forget Italy's dismal group stages). But I gotta say, did we expect to win? Look at the teams: France have Abidal, Malouda, Benzema and Nasri; we have Walcott, Gerrard, Milner and Carroll. Other then Gerrard we scream unproven - the four I just named from France scream world class. I am not saying we shouldn't expect to beat France, we should - but only if we play a full strength team. Capello wanted to experiment and we all commended him for calling up Henderson, Carroll and Bothroyd - but don't expect them to bring victory on their first appearance. Capello wanted to see what his options were and this helped him have a glimpse at that overview. The score was almost certainly not the most important thing for him today. England fans are too quick to judge these days, I am sure we will now all be asking why Crouch never starts; but do we want him to over Carroll. To me Carroll is an athletic version of Crouch. He has the height, the ability and the skill - tonight was the start of his international career and Capello has said he was impressed. Crouch may have got the goal today. but Capello has never been a fan and tonight he may have found his replacement.

I have no doubt in my mind that Capello will wake up to unfavourable headlines; I also have no doubt they won't bother him in the least. He made his choices for a reason and they were good ones, lets not completely rip him apart just because Benzema decided to actually turn up to this game and we lost to a team who, despite a poor World Cup showing, are always goes to be tough competition.

Capello Squad for Montenegro - #1 The Strikers

So Capello has named his sqaud for the Euro 2012 Qualifier against Montenegro and I have decided to give my opinions on it over four blogs in the next four days. To start with, The Strikers. These are the people who will be looking to gain all the glory, the person who scores the goals and becomes the hero! Its a competitive position with only Wayne Rooney's place for Euro 2012 secure - and thats if he doesn't carry on his current dismal form. Capello has chosen 4 strikers, suggesting he will be playing 2 up front and leaving 2 for back-up. So here they are, those selected to go for glory:

The Shock Choice - Kevin Davies
Kevin Davies has gained his first ever England call-up...he is 33 years old. This is the shock choice of the selection! Capello has alway said he will select those that are on form at that moment in time, clearly he feels Kevin Davies current form has warrented a call-up. After all, his current form of 2 goals in 8 has helped Bolton reach the dizzy heights of 12th. Here are three gripes you might here about the selection of Kevin Davies:

1) He is 33 years old - in 2 years time when we come to Euro 2012, will he still be playing. Shouldn't we be building a team for that competition as we have a relatively easy group? Shouldn't Andy Carroll be getting the much needed experience now to prepare him to take on the best in the future? This argument isn't mine - its true - but for me not the main point.

2) He has never played against the best - in his 17 year career he has played a total of 14 European games and scored one European goal, and all of that was in the UEFA Cup. He has never played for a team that has made it into the top 4 and competed against the best in Europe, why is he good enough now? Again, this is valid - but not why I don't want him in the squad.

3) He is not good enough - Now this is why I don't want him in the squad. There is a reason he has never been picked for England before, he isn't good enough! He is a thuggish player who since losing his pace has survived by just kicking more talented players around. He is an elbows out kind of forward, you ain't gonna see many stepovers from this lad. The perfect compliment to the skill of Rooney or the antithesis of what Rooney signifies for England? I think I know which one! In his 600 professional games he has scored 120 goals - his star season is 12 goals in one season...really? World Class? I think not!

The one with 1 more chance to impress - Darren Bent
Darren Bent has been so close so many times but never quite broken through into a regular squad member. His form, this season and last, certainly warrants the call-up and if he brings that form into the game and impresses then he may just push himself quite a lot closer to becoming a regular England squad member - good luck to him! He may not be World Class, but he'll do for a back-up!

The one that could become the opportunist - Peter Crouch
Crouch was there, first team player - but for some reason Capello was not a fan. Was it his personal life? Was it the way he seems to force teams to play Route 1 Football? Who knows...what we do know though, he has a fantastic international record - 21 goals in 40 games, not bad at all! If Peter Crouch starts (which surely he will) and then performs there is no reason why he won't secure a place in the England Squad and make a push for that starting 11.

The Superstar - Wayne Rooney
The man on who all our hopes lie, I hate to admit it but we fucking need that scouse fucker. He was dismal in the World Cup and he has been dismal since! We all know why...so lets solve it...lets get the lad some prozzies! Coleen obv ain't giving him what he needs, he had the best season of his life when he had the wife, the kid and the prozzie...then we all find out, the prozzie gets cut off and he turns to shit. Get the lad laid and then we may go all the way! Come on Capello - thats what we call man management!