England-Germany and same old tired hypocrisy

It's a big game no doubt, but recent games have favoured England and I have a slight feeling that this Germany side is more than a tad overrated. It will be tight but England must have a decent chance of winning. Rooney's lack of fitness is a concern, maybe it would be wise to stick Joe Cole in if Rooney's fitness is not 100%, Defoe should continue up front as he is our only striker who has that instinct around the box.

No matter how patriotic people get, we would do well to realise that this is just a game of football. We should all remember that despite some peoples' claims at being so very behind our lads, some newspapers supported Hitler and fascism for a good while. So despite their overly patriotic words today, it is worth remembering that the Daily Mail was pro-fascism at some rather key moments in our history. They have even recruited Piers Morgan, that is how low this newspaper will go. Anyway I just hope it's a good game and not turned by some dodgy cheating or poor refereeing.

p.s. for anyone wanting to laugh at one of the most hypocritical pieces of writing ever, here we have Myles Palmer accusing someone else of being snide!

Excitement builds and cheating set to continue

With the knock out stages starting today there is certainly a bit more tension in the air, personally I really enjoy the do or die nature of the knock out phase. I haven't managed to catch all the games, if I were unemployed I am sure I would have, but from what I've seen there has been some decent football and some real surprises. Italy going out was a great moment, I despise their negative approach to football and it really shows what a fluke it was that they won the last world cup. Domenech's complete and utter ineptitude was shown as the French effort collapsed onto its face in spectacular fashion, it's always good to be reminded just how important a decent manager and team spirit is, individuals on their own do not make a great team.

One thing that has struck me has been the general inability of the referees to control the games as far as the cheating is concerned. Personally I think it is an impossible job for them without the use of video technology, more officials won't help, most of the mistakes I've seen have been from well positioned referees and officials. Certain teams are just so damn good at cheating these days that referees have no chance. Spain's diving, Italy's feigning of injury, there are so so many examples of it. Torres is one of the worst cheats about, his going to ground yesterday and staying down as if shot to get the Chile player red carded was utterly disgraceful. It's such a shame that FIFA have done nothing at all to tackle this problem in our game. It's time for video referees routinely, it's time to retrospectively ban the cheats. I've lost count of how many times I've seen players going down holding their heads when they have no been touched there, it really is getting beyond a joke.

Koscielny and the case for videos becomes concrete

So it appears Laurent Koscielny is close to signing. He can score:

He can tackle:




And he can also get sent off for cynical fouls, interestingly here it was on a certain Mr Chamakh!




It seems likely to happen, so maybe I've jumped the gun, who knows. Meanwhile the World Cup grumbles on and FIFA look more stupid by the day foir refusing to introduce video technology in assisting referees. Brazil - IVC was a good game, but there was a lot of feigning of injury all the way through, particularly from Brazil. Then there was a shocking tackle that escaped a card which could easily have broken tibia. Then Kaka was sent off after some shocking cheating from an IVC player who went down as if shot in the face. Add this to a double hand ball helping Fabiano score his second and you have the perfect case study into why video technology is needed in today's game. There simply is not decent argument against it.

One line rants and musings

Why at world cup time does every Tom, Dick and Harry feel the need to pretend to be a footballing expert and comment on things about which they know sod all?

Why do so many idiots seem to think that cup competition are always won by the best side, by their nature knock out competitions are very random and luck always plays a massive part.

Why have FIFA changed the ball yet again? Is it because they want to see as many points scored as in basketball?

Who released the killa bees? But seriously why are the tuneless vuvuzelas not being banned, they add nothing other than to aspirin sales.

Why is Joan Laporta such a c*nt?

Liverpool away is a trick first fixture next season.

The problem with England

The media make it very hard for England, the expectations are ridiculous and as Alan Shearer said today, they see things in only black and white, England are either awesome or completely useless. Watching last night's game and trying to be objective, England really weren't bad, they were by far the better side, the USA were far poorer. Capello is by far the best manager England have had for some time, he doesn't serve up the dross that the likes of Hoddle, Mclaren and Eriksson did.



Some players did very well, Heskey was outstanding throughout the game, holding the ball up with power and strength. Others did not, Robert Green showed why he is a very mediocre keeper with a horrific Fabianski style error. Lennon and Wright-Phillips showed pace but no brain, Rooney was rather anonymous. Capello can only do so much with this group of players and injuries to Barry/Ferdinand have definitely made things harder for him.



England started well, there was a drive early on, the problem was that an one nil up they didn't seem to go for the jugular and the USA eased their way back into proceedings. However if it wasn't for Green's howler it most likely would have been three points for England, the USA didn't create a great deal in terms of proper goal scoring chances.



In conclusion it wasn't that bad, it also wasn't that good, that's England for you. Capello can only work with what he's got and I think he does a pretty good job on the whole. Capello cannot help the fact that we lack creative passing players in our midfield and that we lack a real top drawer goal scoring striker who can lead the line. One must face the fact that international football is rather low in quality and entertainment compared to the top club football, so don't expect too much from England and you won't then get so dissappointed.

World cup thoughts and other musings

So the World Cup is underway, it's pretty exciting overall but I can't say I'm that inspired by England for a number of reasons. Firstly most of our players are utter c*nts and secondly we are about as entertaining as Garth Crooks is intelligent. I am sure I am not the only one who has difficulty getting behind the likes of Terry, Gerrard and Cole, they are nothing but scum. If that makes me anti-English then so be it, frankly I am not proud that these players play for my country.

The first game saw a fair bit of entertainment, Vela looked a bit lightweight as he always does playing centrally. I thought the France-Uruguay encounter was a decent game of football, Uruguay were solid, France lacked a proper leader up front with Anelka looking toothless. Diaby was France's best player, strong and combative, solid on the ball, showing how much progress he has made in the last twelve months. In contrast the highly rated Gourcuff was ineffective and very powder puff. The grass does often appear greener, but if Diaby played for Bordeaux and was highly rated, we would not stop going on about him after a performance like that, as he already plays for us I am sure many people will just ignore how talented he is, that's life.

Overall one has to fancy Spain, but if Torres isn't fit then they will struggle without his cutting edge up top, David Villa is a lightweight cheat and nowhere near the player that Torres is despite what some may say. Brazil will be solid, but not as creative and spectacular as previous sides have been. It's going to be pretty open and a slightly unfancied European side could well surprise a few people I reckon. Anyway leaving aside the tedious transfer gossip, enjoy these few weeks of endless football and sink a few cold ones while soaking up some summer sun.

All talk and no action

One gets the feeling that Barcelona are making a hell of a lot of noise because there is not much to back it up. For all Laporta's talk there is no money, and for all his noise he may well be losing his job shortly. Laporta's recent comments make him appear an even more repugnant c*nt than previously imagined:

"It's a price that we consider to be his market value. Arsenal have rejected it. Now the sporting director [Txiki Begiristain] must decide what should be the next step. We are in negotiations and we'll see how they turn out. At times, these operations are resolved at one speed, and others at another. We have to do everything we can to convince them [Arsenal] that the best thing for all is to reach an agreement...The club have full confidence that Arsenal will end up understanding the situation"

Firstly saying 29 million pounds is 'market value' is beyond a joke, Xabi Alonso went for the same amount and he is getting on a bit to say the least, Man City are willing to pay about the same for James Milner, enough said frankly. Secondly Barca are not in negotiations, Arsenal will not negotiate on this, come up with the money or f*ck off, no amount of Barca's hot air will change any of this and convince Arsenal to accept a piss poor price for Cesc. The only thing I'd disagree with Arseblogger about is that one needs a few extra words in between the stupid and the c*nt to describe Joan Laporta, 'motherf*cking', 'cretinous', 'heinous' and 'degenerate' all spring to mind.

Joan Laporta needs to understand the situation, Arsenal have no obligation to sell, the player has recently signed a rather extensive long term contract at the club, if Barca don't have the money then no amount of his cretinous arse breath will change that. Laporta is not only a c*nt but he is also a liar, he has claimed that Cesc has openly stated his desire to leave in the press, this is quite definitively not the case. At least Marca is reporting Arsenal's firmly worded club statement to Barca. My personal opinion is that Arsenal should report Barca for their illegal conduct throughout this affair, enough is enough.

Anyway elsewhere I'm of the opinion that Theo Walcott's exclusion from the World Cup squad will be a good thing for him in the long term. He hasn't been good enough to merit a place and there has been a touch of complacency creeping into his game, this blow could be just what he needs to get some real hunger back. There are lots and lots of transfer rumours around, 99.9% of them will be rubbish, so I'll just wait to see what happens rather than wasting my summer speculating.