Percy Piranhafish; Thursday June 17, 2010.

Worried About Everything

It's good to see Norbert gracing these pages again and nice to see he's still as morbid and cantankerous as ever. Unfortunately I can only agree with him in worrying about England's chances at this World Cup when all of a sudden we're pinning our hopes on Jamie Freaking Carragher.

Where I differ to Norbert is that my concerns are far more widespread than just worrying about Carragher.

The major concern has got to be Capello. After all, if it wasn't for Fabio's brainwave Jamie Carragher wouldn't be anything but a bad memory.

Capello did a great job in getting us through our qualifying group and did seem to have brought a no nonsense approach to the job which had earned him the respect of his players and helped him to get the best out of them.

Now he is actually at a major tournament, however, there are far too many Erikssonesque things about what is happening in the England camp.

Firstly there was the Theo Walcott fiasco.

I'm not the biggest Theo Walcott fan in the world and it was obvious that he wasn't playing his best in the warm up games before the World Cup. I actually wasn't too bothered about that because I just thought that meant Aaron Lennon would start on the right and Walcott would be left as an option from the bench.

It never crossed my mind that he wouldn't go at all.

Capello first mistake was in making an issue of Walcott's crossing ability, or lack of it, and detailing David Beckham to give him lessons in the art a couple of weeks before the World Cup.

Jesus, if you want to destroy a man's confidence that's a good way of going about it. He was basically telling him he is shit.

It would have been better to concentrate on the things Walcott can do, like running fast and scoring, and using them to the good of the team as a sub.

Instead he takes Wright Fucking Phillips. Does Capello honsetly think that's he's a consistently good crosser of the ball?

We have the players in the squad to cover Lennon on the right anyway. Gerrard, Milner and Joey Cole could all play there if needed. Walcott would have been another option there but, more importantly, he would have offered another option up front where, Rooney aside, we are almost laughable.

Capello would have done well to consider Walcott's record in big games as well. Some people flourish on the bigger stages and Theo may be one of them. He scored the hat trick in Croatia and has done well for Arsenal in Europe (Barcelona and Liverpool away spring to mind) and scored against Chelsea in a cup final.

Can't exactly remember Wright-Phillips stepping up to the mark when it really mattered for club or country.

Having got to the World Cup Capello must also take a share of the blame for the goalkeeping position. He helped nobody by delaying his choice for the first game so long, it simply suggested that he didn't have real confidence in any of them.

I'm not surprised he found it difficult, it's not a case of being spoilt for choice, but again he should have made a definite decision and given his first choice full backing.

My big worry now, however, is that he will actually stick with Robert Green. For all the platitudes that the England camp are so good at spouting surely nobody has any faith in Green any more.

I also think that when it is so difficult to choose between them in the first place if one of them gets a chance and cocks it up then one of the others should get a go.

I think most people feel that Joe Hart is our best keeper but his lack of experience at this level is an obvious drawback.

I honestly believe that England are doomed to reach the quarter finals at the very best if we stick with people like James and Carragher, however, so I would like to see us gamble on Joe Hart and Michael Dawson.

If they come into the side and do well then it might just give the established players the lift they need to do better than they have done previously. An experienced squad is all well and good but everyone gets a massive boost if someone emerges at a tournament as a decent player.

It's a gamble worth taking in my opinion.

On to Jamie Carragher, I have to say how unhappy I am with his presence in the England party. It's annoying that the turd had actually turned his back on England but will go out and play in the World Cup when everyone else has done the work getting us there.

But that wouldn't matter if he was any frigging good. It's the fact that he's total shite that is most annoying.

I had to laugh when he came out in his interview after the America game and said that a lack of pace isn't everything because being a good defender is about other things as well.

You're right Jamie. Good defenders can tackle, read the game and are strong in the air. Unfortunately you can't do any of those things as well as being hedgehog slow.

Carragher's idea of defending is block, tug, wrestle, kick.

Against America he went straight to the kick option and got a yellow card. This meant that he was then unable to use any of his other defensive techniques or he would have been sent off. Therefore he was just a sitting duck waiting to be exposed.

He can get away with it in the Premier League presumably because of who he is but he's a nobody at the World Cup and will be treated as such by the referees there.

Finally on the subject of things Capello has done that worry me, why in God's name did he think bringing Wright Bastarding Phillips on for Milner was a better idea than bringing on Joey Cole?

Joey Cole is perhaps another whose England career has never fulfilled it's promise but he's made plenty of positive contributions and remains capable of making an impact against any opposition. He is another who is worth gambling on because if he does hit top form then it will make a massive difference to England's chances.

If Wright-Phillips hits top form he will still just be someone charging round like an idiot, running into brick walls and crossing into the stands.

Genuinely depressing.

Capello has lost nothing yet and still has the chance to emerge a hero and with his reputation not only intact but enhanced.

The signs against America were not good, however, and unless he hits the top of his game now then there is next to no chance of his team doing it by themselves.

Oh yes, Fabio, and if we go a goal up again in this World Cup, no matter who it's against, please make sure that your team carries on trying to score another.

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