This is the man who should be the proudest man in England tonight. You probably won't have heard of him. His name is Tony Carr. He is the man who has brought you Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick - all of whom played for England today. He's head of the West Ham Youth Academy. And if the England manager had had any sense at all another Tony Carr graduate, Jermain Defoe, would have been in the team today too. And coming up for the next World Cup, we'll have Anton Ferdinand and Mark Noble for you.Michael Carrick was a star today - good tackles, spraying the ball around. God how I wish we could have kept him at Upton Park. Rooney was also outstanding, particularly in the second half. And Aaron Lennon looked frightening when he came on for the last few minutes. For the next match I would like to see the same team, with the same formation but with Beckham playing right back and Lennon replacing him wide on the right.
16 comments:
Right back seems to be the new "hot potato" Position for England, now that the left midfield position has become Joe Cole's.
I think Becks at right back might leave us a bit vulnerable, though I too would love to see Aaron Lennon play a bigger part too.
James
you have to be kdding me about the same formation? It was f*cking awful Iain. I watched it in a pub in Canning Town though and I do have a tale to blog later about the ICF.
Fair enough, but Joe Cole was a complete show-pony at WHU.
Mourinho can take a lot of credit for acutlaly makikng him into a footballer with a use.
Well, if he's the man who brought us Frank Lampard.... thanks for nowt! If Chelsea hadn't got more money than sense they would have shuffled him off to Catalonia while the interest was there, because after this World Cup they won't even be looking. Apparently frankie has had more shots than anyone else in the World Cup... but he hasn't troubled the goalkeeper with one of them. He's in danger of becoming the midfield Emile Heskey.
Carrick was poor. Didn't get on the ball enough, and didn't use it when he did. Fat Frank was useless. He can't even see the barn door, never mind hit. Should be dropped next time. Ferdinand looks one the brink of a mistake every time he gets the ball. Only Cole is playing even vaguely. Few of the other were any good. Beckham might have scored but Van Der Sar won't concede a goal like that, and his delivery from set peices was grim(again). He also looks hopelessly unfit. And the "hump it up the pitch tactic" can hardly be blamed on Crouch today. England are just not good enough.
Unless England improve 100%, they will lose tho either Holland or Portugal. Watching it on TV, and hearing the commentator's remarks, I am embarrassed to be English.
Sorry Iain, but playing Beckham (who can't tackle his way out of a paper bag) at right-back with either Robben or Ronaldo running at him would be suicidal. I thought Hargreaves had a good game at right-back and unlike Carragher playing there, he offers us something going forwards. Unless Neville is fit again, Hargreaves should stay there.
Perhaps for the first time ever I agree with Bob Piper.
Put the following words into a well known sentence.
Lampard, Banjo, Cows A**e
Ashley Cole, one of Iains much-hated Gooners was fantastic today.
Chris, well as someone who saw virtually every home game he played and quite a few away too, you're talking rubbish. As are you, Bob. Ok, Lampard hasn't scored yet, but 22 goals last season tell their own story.
Michael Oakeshott, whatever you're taking clearly isn't working. All the pundits agreed with me that Carriock was man of the match.
Despite all the hype by the BBC's so-called experts, it was yet another very moderate performance by England and nowhere near good enough to win the tournament.Both Holland and Portugal must be licking their lips at the prospect of meeting us in the next round.
Honestly, Beck's goal apart, you see better every Saturday night on MOTD
iain,
Look at how many of Lampard's goals last season were deflections in the box because the opposition were using a 10 man defence. England do not have the benefit of playing teams who do this.
The only bad part of this is the admission that Chelsea coped with the 10 man defence better than Arsenal last year.
Next season however......
Iain, when reading your article I thought that, for the first time ever, i was about to agree with you 100% Then you ruined it all by talking twaddle about playing Beckham as a defender (prolix has it right)
As for Michael Oakeshott slagging of Carrick - I suspect the post was a wind up. Otherwise we have a geniune headcase posting here.
Fair enough, Iain.
I will admit you probably saw him more than did I, but when I did see him, I always found him endlessly frustrating. It always seemed he would use great skill to do not very much.
He certainly wasn't the player he is now - it might be that the irritation I had with him back then (directionlessness) has been the one which Mourinho has tackled most directly, so I've perhpas seen more improvement than you might, but I certainly think he's moved up a lot of gears since leaving the Boleyn.
Nevertheless, Big Fat Frank was a little off the boil today. He is a great player (to be fair, all the 'Academy' (!) grads you name are) and hopefully there's more to come from him and Stevie G.
Mind you, I'd have taken AJ over Defoe...
Beckham can't play right back, it seems to be an unwritten rule that the England right won't sing the national anthem. Witness Neville, Carragher and Hargreaves all stay tight-lipped when God Save the Queen is belted out.
{Both Holland and Portugal must be licking their lips at the prospect of meeting us in the next round.}
After seeing the Portugal Holland game I'm rather less worried than before. Portugal are going to be missing Deco and with a bit of luck Ronaldo and Figo as well.
Carrick a star today? What planet are you on Guv? He was more anonymous than Stevie G!
Rio was the only ex Hammer mentionable in despatches. Youg Joe was perhaps entitled to an off day and 'Hampered Lampard' seems destined to win the John Jensen blunt shooting award.
And Jermaine Defoe is an ADDICK...
O/T I know, but couldn't you possibly include a small and preferably preferably fluttering flag of St. George within your masthead during England's remaining participation in the World Cup? After all, your previous version had one plastered right across the front!
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