Wednesday 16 May 2012

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Georgie, my 3 year old daughter woke up at 2.22 am (digital clock) and she seemed very upset, so I ended up sleeping in the spare room with her. As she virtually bounced into the spare room, I am not sure how upset she really was or whether it's becoming a routine.

Georgie and I went for a walk around the block with Buddy and it was bright and sunny for a change.

I was running late and only just made it to work on time. I attended the Contracts Managers meeting and things are getting very busy on the work front which is good.

I ran through my presentation for tomorrow and I was not too impressed with it so more work to be done.

The England football squad to play in the European Championship 2012 was announced today by manager, Roy Hodgson. It is:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Rob Green, John Ruddy

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott, John Terry

Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young, Stewart Downing

Strikers: Andy Carroll, Jermaine Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck

As usual, the press are having a field day and most of the criticism surrounds picking Stewart Downing and not picking Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Phil Jagielka, Peter Crouch and Grant Holt. Surprisingly, apart from Downing those that have replaced the missing players in the squad have not been named by the press as not justifying their place probably just in case they are the stars of the tournament.

As I see it, we will probably play 17 players in total during the tournament, possibly 1 more during our last game when we commit to desperate measures not to go out.

So the players that actually make the team on my 1-4-5-1 formation is with 1^st eleven highlighted:

Goalkeeper (1) Hart,

Defenders (5) Cole, Cahill, Jones, Terry, Johnson

Midfielders (8) Walcott Parker Lampard Gerrard Young with regular subs Barry, Milner and cameos by Chamberlain

Strikers (4): Welbeck (games 1 and 2 then regular sub) and Rooney with regular sub Carroll and desperate cameo from Defoe

Carrick can pass very well but he is not England’s best holding midfielder defensively and with Lampard and Gerrard wanting to monopolise the ball and with pace and skill on the wing, then I think we are ok without him. The other forwards were only ever going to be support for Welbeck and Rooney.

On this basis the only real questions were Jagielka in for either Jones or Cahill and picking either Terry or Ferdinand.  Having picked Terry, then in theory Cahill is an obvious selection as he is a club team mate of Terry at Chelsea. Jones got the nod as he is versatile and can play across the backline or in defensive midfield.

Finally, what about Rio Ferdinand and John Terry? Well, they can’t play together on the pitch as both have lost a bit of pace and they can’t play together off the pitch as Terry is currently awaiting a court case where he is charged with racially abusing Rio’s brother Anton in a bad tempered Chelsea game against QPR. It’s a pity because actually either would replace the other better than anyone else currently available and they both have bags of experience. Personally, I’d have taken Rio particularly as I think Terry’s speed and balance have been exposed a couple of times this season and he is currently banned from the Champions League Final due to an act of thuggery that got him sent off.

So apart from Rio Ferdinand, we may not agree with the fringe selections but as has been proved time and again, it’s usually a 16 or 17 man squad. Indeed, Roy Hodgson said before the squad was announced, that he didn’t see the need to double up on every position as 6 or 7 players won't actually get a game.

I went for a walk at the sailing club with Georgie and Buddy in the evening and watched Southend lose to Crewe in the semi final of the League " (Division 4) play-offs. The first half was dire but the second was quite good.


Kenny Dalglish has been sacked as manager but I'll comment on that when his successor is known.