The Soccer Blog: Capello

Showing posts with label Capello. Show all posts

Friday, 2 December 2011

Capello insists Jagielka is fit to face Spain

Phil Jagielka has told England boss Fabio Capello that he is ready to play against Spain despite a broken toe.

The Everton midfielder was believed to have needed a painkilling injection to play against Newcastle in the English Premier League on Saturday.

However, the England international trained on Friday without any problems and told his manager that he was fit to face the world and European champions in the international friendly.

“I spoke with him and asked him, and he said he was ready, he’s okay. He said: ‘If you decide, I’m ready to play’,” Capello said.

“He trained normally without an injection. He will decide whether he takes an injection. He will decide.”

“The player told me, yes. Two things: before deciding about a player, I always speak with the doctors.”

“I ask the doctor whether they can play or not. He says he can. Then I speak always with the player. You can play? You are 100 percent? Not 90 percent, but 100 percent? You are ready? He said yes.”

“After that I decided to put the players on the pitch. I will decide, but I asked the player to be clear. The player said: ‘Yes, I want to play’. I didn’t say: ‘You must play’. That’s a big difference. Okay, clear? We need to be clear.”

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard believes preventing Spain’s Xavi and Andres Iniesta dominating the clash will be England’s toughest obstacle.

Lampard has seen a return to form this season with a series of impressive performances and goals for Chelsea.

The 33-year-old will replace John Terry as captain in the weekend’s game and believes Xavi is his side’s biggest threat.

“It’s hard to pick one, but if I had to I’d go with Xavi, given what he’s done over such a period of time,” Lampard said.

“Andres Iniesta is a fantastic player and to compare and split them up is impossible, but Xavi is the centre of their team. He’s the pinnacle of their team. He moves the ball.”

“I’ve played against him countless times coming through the ranks and over the years. His ability and his awareness and his touch are something special.”

“He’s one of the all-time greats and, in the last couple of years, he’s secured himself up there.”

The Chelsea star believes that his side must approach the game with confidence and not feel intimidated by Spain’s plethora of superstars.

“You have to believe in yourselves and see their weaknesses. We have to win the ball back from them and get our front men away and use the pace in our team,” he said.

“I watched them play Scotland and they pretty much dominated, but Scotland created chances against them now and again. With the ability we have in our team, on the counter-attack and in our own play. We must be bold, we have to stand up.”

“It’s a case of having to close them down as well as you can, don’t let them [Xavi and Iniesta] dominate games as Spain and Barcelona do so often. Get tight to them. It’s probably the most difficult job in football at the minute.”

“We’d seen them play a lot of teams who’d try to play their style against them, which is impossible. They’re the best at it. They’d try to press them right up the pitch and win the ball back.”

View the original article here

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Capello happy with England performance

England boss Fabio Capello was pleased by his largely inexperienced side’s performance in the 1-1 draw with Ghana at Wembley.

The Three Lions coach played several relative newcomers into the starting XI, and handed Matt Jarvis and Danny Welbeck their senior debuts.

Despite conceding a late equaliser at Wembley, England’s young stars showed plenty of promise.

Andy Carroll, who recently signed with Liverpool for 35 million pounds, scored his maiden international goal.

Capello, despite seeing Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan breach the English defence, said he was satisfied with the overall performance.

“I am really happy because the performance was really good,” the Italian said.

“I am upset with the goal they scored in the last minute, but not with the performance.”

“The players that played did well. They improved a lot. The spirit and the system of the team worked well. ”

“We have played a game that wasn’t played like a friendly game, it was a real game because every tackle was strong.”

“The movement with and without the ball was good. I am really happy with the performance of the midfielders.”

Capello believes Carroll still has plenty of room for improvement.

“He scored a good goal but he needs to improve,” Capello told the BBC. “He’s not the same Carroll I remember, he needs games. I hope he’ll be back to his best for Switzerland in June.”

Carroll has praised Capello for installing a new tactical formation, which saw the Three Lions make light work of rivals Wales in the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

“It’s great to be playing again and to have scored a goal. I enjoyed playing in the 4-3-3 formation. I’m here and ready to score goals if picked,” Carroll said.

Tue 29 March, 2011