World Cup Nonsense

[Sweder]

I couldn't agree more, Andy
I had many heated discussions with my Golf Society pals yesterday - we had our Society Championships at East Sussex National: a Grand Day Out and no mistake! - about the Beckham - Lennon axis. My theory is this:

Lennon is inexperienced and thrives under Beckhams careful husbandry.
He replaced the Captain in a recent friendly and did rock all on his own.

Neville is out and we really miss him -
not at right back, but as the creator of space for our celebrity ball-crosser.

Beckham works space to create 'live' deadball situations - witness the creation of the Crouch header against T&T (but don't look too closely at Robotman's playground hair-pull as he scored).

Lennon takes on and beats his man - or draws a foul. In this world cup refs seem to favour the attacking team (OK, that joker from Mexico in the first England game didn't like tall people).

Strikers: form is temporary, class is permanent. The clamour to 'drop' Owen is ill-founded. If you told the managers of Sweden, Germany or Ecuador that we were leaving Owen on the bench they would punch the air. Owen thrives on space - Rooney takes defenders away. Crouch needs one marker to shackle him, Rooney needs a back four, even three-quarters fit.

Lampard - he's looking like Sonny without Cher in the absence of Claude Makalele, a lost soul. Carrick in, Lampard out, Gerrard to roam with impunity. On the right-back/ Beckham issue, why does it need to be a rigid system? Four at the back is only needed when we're under the cosh; Terry and Ferdinand can cope with most situations provided Ashley Cole can stay focused and Carrick or Hargreaves can handle the midfield guard/ right-back cover duties.

So many positive options and they don’t really need a huge amount of testing.
What worries me most is the lack of imagination and the failure for these top-flight players to take it upon themselves to change things on the pitch. It is interesting to note that the Chelski players get a massive amount of coaching from the Special One during Premiership matches but only occasional frog-in-a-blender semaphore from Sven’s Ginger Puppet.

I’m not so glum.
Argentina and Spain have peaked too soon; Germany’s defence looks as steady as an Oklahoma shack in hurricane season; the Dutch will blow up, the French are still in Paris; Brazil are a one-man team; Portugal are all style and little substance.

Trust me; no-one wants to draw England in the knock-out stages.
Little do they know we have a clueless, drug-crazed loon at the helm.