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Sunday, 15 May 2011

Almost as fun as a cold Tuesday night in Glasgow

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Wayne Rooney’s inability to score in anything other than a Manchester casino with £1,200 in his back pocket once again left England frustrated last night, as a five year-old nation that can call on a population smaller than the city of Leeds for its talent battened down the hatches at Wembley.

With Jermain Defoe taking the much more preferable option to have ankle ligament damage, Fabio Capello opted to use a 7ft broom handle to partner Rooney up front. Granted however, in England’s last 14 games, said broom handle has managed to score five goals compared with Rooney’s one.

When it was clear that such an approach was going to be ineffective against a side ranked below Gabon, Burkina Faso and even the Republic of Ireland, Capello chanced his arm and threw on Kevin Davies for his first England cap, just reward for the 33-year-old’s ability latch onto 56 hoofs up field from the Bolton left back in 254 Premier League games since 2003.

In truth, the only thing resembling any sort of excitement from last night amounted to little more a credible England penalty claim, Montenegro hitting the bar and the East Stand food kiosk needing an emergency change order after the till ran out of 10p coins.

It was all too much for the Club Wembley suits, who found the spread in the VIP lounge far more entertaining whilst the fans in steerage voiced their discontent. Even Adrian Chiles’ dulcet West Midland’s tones seemed downbeat at the full-time whistle.

Those viewers with the full glory of Sky Sports could at least console themselves with the knowledge that there was something far more entertaining going on in Glasgow.

Scotland the Brave battled back from 2-0 down against Spain, champions of ticky-tacky football, to level the match with 25 minutes remaining at Hampden.

However, with Scotland mastering the art of perennial disappointment even more so than England, their brave, committed performance ended like so many of their other brave, committed performances – with a winner for the opposition 10 minutes from time.

Have the wheels fallen off the England bandwagon? Of course they haven’t. There will be plenty of opportunity for England to prove that 2012 will “definitely be their year” in a month’s time when they face a France team that have most of their side sat on the naughty step.

View the original article here

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Redknapp´s torrid night in Spain

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has rued the series of events that led to his side’s forgettable 4-0 loss to Real Madrid on Tuesday.

It was a torrid evening in Madrid for the Spurs in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Real, who had to contend with the late withdrawal of winger Aaron Lennon and the sending off of striker Peter Crouch early in the first half.

“We lost Aaron Lennon a minute before kick-off. As we were walking to the pitch he didn’t feel very well and he said he had no energy,” Redknapp said.

“I had to make a change as we were leaving the dressing room. Then we went a goal down and had Crouchy sent off. ”

“In the first half I thought we did ever so well, we had a couple of good chances. But in the end, it’s difficult to come here with 11 men, never mind play with 10 men for almost 80 minutes.”

Redknapp lamented the sending off, as well as the injury problems that beset the side.

“I haven’t seen it. (Crouch) is the most inoffensive footballer you’ve ever seen. He’s not one for making rash challenges. I don’t know if he has lunged in for the second one, but it has cost us dearly,” he said.

“It’s just what we didn’t need, to have 10 men here against a team like this. We then ended up losing our right-back (Vedran Corluka to injury) and Gareth (Bale) gets cramp. Is he fit, isn’t he fit? It was difficult.”

Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho conceded it was always going to be tough for Redknapp’s men after Crouch’s dismissal, describing the task ahead of 10-man Tottenham as ‘mission impossible’.

“Eleven against 10 at Champions League level – it’s always mission impossible,” the Portuguese said.

“I played Barcelona against Chelsea with 10, impossible; I played with Inter against Barcelona with 10 men – impossible. Arsenal played with 10 men against Barcelona a few weeks ago. It’s impossible.”

“It’s just a question of the team with 11 keeping concentration, keeping a high tempo, not letting their opponents breathe, not letting their opponents have the ball and we did that in the second half, not in the first half.’

Despite the convincing scoreline, Mourinho is refusing to claim victory just yet. He insisted the fighting qualities of English sides meant the tie was far from over.

“Not yet (the match is not over). You know that I know English football well, I know English mentality. I know White Hart Lane,” he said.

“It is not over. For you (English) it is not over. In other cultures I would say yes but in England they have belief until the last minute so it is not over.”

Wed 6 April, 2011