Thursday 26 August 2010

US Open Preview


Who will win the US Open? There are now more genuine contenders to win major titles, and beat some of the greatest players in tennis history, than at any point in my time as a true fan (which began with the classic Wimbledon of 2001), and even before then. It promises to be a great tournament, with, by my reckoning, 7 realistic contenders, which makes it the most exciting, open, and unpredictable major for years.

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Hungary game will teach us nothing


This post is in expansion of ideas upon the previous, and an attempted response to some of the feedback received. 'Why Capello...' was not an attempt to answer all of the national teams on and off-field problems in one article, but to highlight that the England boss has other and more important issues to solve than just brining in a few fresh faces.

That said, this post will focus more closely upon what it will take Capello to get our national team playing better, he himself having admitted he does not know how to do so. While my last entry looked at Capello's 'new' squad and some problems surrounding it, it did not look at any tactical changes required in the England setup. This is our problem: (I promise I'll write more optimistic articles in the future)

Monday 9 August 2010

Why Capello can’t solve his problems with one young squad

Ahead of England boss Fabio Capello’s first squad announcement since the team’s humiliating World Cup campaign, pundits, former players and fans had been calling for change, an influx of fresh, attacking-minded talent to a side which looked desperately off-the-pace in their record World Cup defeat to an electric German side. Capello fulfilled this expectation. Adam Johnson and Theo Walcott are in - two players who, in hindsight, Capello made a mistake in not taking to South Africa. They, as well as new faces Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Bobby Zamora, will inject some much-needed youth and pace into England, who, behind Brazil, landed in South Africa with the second-oldest squad of players. Some younger talent in Gary Cahill and Ashley Young has also been added at the expense of some of our World Cup flops. These look like positive changes from Capello, but has he got it right this time? Do his changes go far enough? Are they too drastic? Most importantly, is this new, younger side the answer to the problems of our national team the fans have been looking for?