Spurs English Players Make A Point

Tottenham beat Man City 1-0 last night to secure that coveted final Champions League spot for next season. More importantly than that though, was the performances from the English players for Spurs.

Firstly big Peter Crouch put in one of his best performances of the season. He scored the winner, looked dangerous, won pretty much every header and showed again that he has great technical ability especially for a player of his size. His strike partner Jermain Defoe also put in a good shift up front. They are a good partnership and compliment each other very well. Both should definitely be on the plane to South Africa.

It was another partnership that caught the eye as well. Ledley King and Michael Dawson both looked solid again. They kept City's attacking threats largely at bay and both looked very impressive. Dawson should be going but there are bigger questions about King. He can only train once a week the day before a game and can only play once a week. Can you really take a player like that to such an intense tournament? I don't think so, I think four centre-backs should be Terry, Ferdinand, Dawson and Upson.

Here's quite an old video of Crouch but it shows how good he is and that he can score all different types of goals.

Players State Their Case

Well, it certainly showed to be an interesting weekend in the Premiership. The title race was blown wide open again and 4th place once again switched hands.

It was a perfect weekend for Man United. They beat rivals Man City 1-0 with Tottenham beating Chelsea 2-1 closing the gap at the top to just 1 point with 3 games remaining and Wigan beating Arsenal 3-2 ending Arsenal's title challenge. Worryingly for Capello Rio Ferdinand was once again not fit and his fitness must be giving Capello some headaches as he has suffered all year. The World Cup is an intense month with games coming thick and fast and Ferdinand needs to prove he will be able to cope with that.

Capello then made it to White Hart Lane for the derby between Spurs and Chelsea and would have had mixed feelings with what he saw. Michael Dawson had Didier Drogba in his pocket the whole game showing that he could do a job for England and I would definitely take him in front of Lescott. Jermaine Defoe scored a penalty but missed a glorious opportunity when one-on-one with Petr Cech. John Terry was sent off for pure stupidity and certainly Capello would not have been impressed. Terry gave away a first-half penalty, was then booked for a tackle on Defoe and with Chelsea 2-0 down fighting to get back into the game he inexplicably chopped down Gareth Bale to get his second booking. It was utter madness and indiscipline from the Chelsea captain. Frank Lampard scored and tried to make things happen but struggled and Joe Cole wasted the chance to impress being subbed at half-time after a disappointing performance.

David James played well in goal for Portsmouth and saved a penalty. He is still fighting with Rob Green and Joe Hart for the number 1 shirt. They surely have to be the 3 keepers on the plane and the only thing for Capello to decide is who he is going to trust in goal.

Darren Bent scored again. He just keeps scoring in a poor Sunderland side. Working against Bent though, is that when he has had his chance to play for England he has been poor.

Liverpool against West Ham is the last game to wrap up the weekend’s football and will see a few England players on display. I fancy West Ham may get a draw especially after the news that Torres will miss the rest of the season.

I saw this and thought it was quite funny.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/top10s/2927639/Top-10-football-superstitions.html

Massive Weekend In The Premiership

This weekend is absolutely crucial for many England players with many key games taking place. At the top we have the Manchester Derby, with United now 4 points behind Chelsea they have to win every game to stand a chance of winning the league. They face a very tough game away at Manchester City though who have been in very good form and need to keep winning to be sure of finishing 4th and getting that elusive Champions League spot. With it being a derby adds an extra spice to it and it will be interesting to see Tevez and Neville face off again after what happened in the Carling Cup.

Another derby sees Chelsea play at Tottenham. Spurs will be full of confidence after beating Arsenal and will hope to put a dent in Chelsea's title bid. Spurs also need to win to keep the pressure up on Man City who are 1 point in front of them in the fight for 4th.

These two games alone will see many of the probable England squad including: Neville, Ferdinand, Carrick, Rooney, Richards, Wright-Phillips, Barry, Bridge (If he changes his mind about retiring), Terry, A Cole (back from injury will be on the bench), Lampard, J Cole, King, Huddlestone, and Defoe as well as many other top international players who will be at the World Cup.

I will be watching both games and will be posting again over the weekend to give my reviews on the games and players. It has the potential to be an amazing weekend of football.

How about this for your full debut in a North London derby, in one of the biggest games of the season. What a strike.

Mixed Week For England Players

Last week saw one of the greatest individual performances I've ever seen by a certain Lionel Messi again as he just continues to put in remarkable performances. He scored all 4 of Barcelona's goals as they thrashed Arsenal 4-1 to reach the semi-final of the Champions League. His 1st and 3rd goals were something special. The first he smashed the ball into the top corner from 20 yards and the 3rd after racing through he had the audacity to chip the keeper completing his hat-trick in just the first half. He then scored again last night against Real Madrid to take his tally to 40 for the season. He is certainly the best in the world right now and is a player England would have to pay very close attention to should we meet Argentina.

England fans were delighted to see the unexpected return of Wayne Rooney a lot sooner than expected. He played 60 odd minutes last week in the defeat to Bayern Munich which ended all English teams competing in the Champions League this year. He went off with a knock on the same ankle after being the victim of a lot of special attention from the German side. It is nothing to serious although he did miss yesterday’s game against Blackburn he will be fine.

Another great bit of good news for England fans is that Ashley Cole will be ready to play before the end of the month meaning he will be able to play 3 or 4 games before Capello announces his squad. It will ease some stress from him and means he will no longer have to worry about the whole Wayne Bridge fiasco. Bridge should never be selected for England again I believe, he turned his back on his country.

John Terry showed there are no friends in soccer when Chelsea played Aston Villa on Saturday. He has been heavily criticized by Villa manager Martin O'Neill and John Carew for his tackle on fellow England teammate James Milner. Milner has a very good chance of starting in June with the performances he has been putting in and that right midfield spot is wide open. Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips are all other options but I don't think Walcott's good enough, his final ball is very poor 90% of the time and his first touch is shocking. Lennon has been injured since Christmas and it’s still doubtful if he will be back in time. Wright-Phillips is too hit and miss still, his either very good or very bad. For me I think I would start Milner he has really impressed this year and he has matured and improved.

I know this is meant to be a blog focusing on England but I had to post this video of Messi’s 4 goals. It also shows how Walcott has a poor final ball as he got really lucky with the poor ball that he played across for the Arsenal goal. It was an easy pass and he very nearly messed it up.