Campbell snub great news for Arsenal, Eriksson's balancing act..
Sven Goran Eriksson seems to think that one performance and a reputation is enough to get you into the England team these days. Rio Ferdinand played well against Chelsea last Sunday. Granted. However he has woeful at points this season. The only reason he played against Poland was because Campbell was injured. Now Ferdinand is part of Sven's 'best XI' a remarkable turnaround.Personally I think it's great, Campbell gets a rest and doesn't risk getting injured in what will probably be a well contested friendly. Hopefully Tevez and Riquelme will expose Ferdinand. Then Campbell can have a rest and improve his chances of a starting place at the world cup.
Similarly Wayne Bridge, after 1 hour of football this season, is welcomed back to the England squad and possibly even starting XI.
However, I'm not going to sit and write about Sven's flaws, at least he is starting to realise that we need a balance to the side. In particular midfield. His inclusion of Ledley King is crucial. We need a holding midfield player and King, or possibly Scott Parker are essential to balance the side and protect the defence.
Great footballers they are not. Very good pro's who are disciplined, motivated, athletic and essential in bringing the best out of the more talented players in the team they are. There must come a time when names alone cannot guarantee a place in the team. A player's ability to fit into a system is key, and no matter how good a player someone is, the balance to the team, especially in midfield is key to success, it's what the team is based around.
The thing about Sven is he puts a lot of dominant players in his sides. You have Gerrard, Beckham and Lampard in midfield. They can all pass, shoot and do something special. Consequently they all want the ball. Having a ball winner like King or Parker is an ideal foil for them. Just someone keeping it simple. That's what good football is all about.
It should be interesting to see how Reyes plays with Torres against Slovakia, what are the odds that Reyes sets up Torres for a hat trick and his price subsequently rises by £5m and makes him too expensive for AW.. Seems to happen to alot of Wenger's so-called targets.. You heard it here first!!
Let's just hope that none of the Gooner's come back injured, and we can start where we left off before the international break.
posted by JoeBoni @ 2:57 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
It is mate, but it's international week so there is scarce else to talk about, barring transfer rumours eminating from the sun's transfer sweepstake.. I started talking about Campbell & got carried away I guess!! There are planty of other articles to read though..
It's his blog, he can write about tulips if he wants. Ummm...tulips. Agree good news for us selfish gooners. Another positive is that snub will motivate Sol even more.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), when all three are fit, Rio will always be picked with either Terry or Campbell because Rio plays on one side of central defence and Terry and Campbell the other. Terry is not so comfortable playing out of position but on current form is better than Sol. Rio might be a bit shaky at the moment but he has the pace if required. Terry is the best English central defender. He may not have great pace but he is always in the right position. He is not as strong as SC23 but he makes great blocks and sliding tackles. If JT was a gooner I think I would pick him ahead of Sol. However, SC23 is a rock and it is just a shame that he has been sidelined at the same time that JT has been developing into the new TA6. I'm sorry to say it but England's best partnership is RF and JT...Mark my words, John Terry will be regarded as the best central defender in the world by the time he is captain of Ch£ls£a (spit) and England. Give it 5 years! Cheers, Richard Godden
i jsut htink rio and sol work together much better than any other partnership, terry on his own is the best tho
si
By the way, why the hell is SGE still trying to play King as holding MF? Pleat only did that because he's an idiot, and King really wasn't that good at it. So you pick a player on his merits for one position, only to play him at a position where he has only played 18 times, and not for months, and not very well, and won't be playing for his club? That's as daft as playing Sol at striker. Again with the square pegs, round holes.
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