WILL YOU WATCH Ireland v France tonight?
Or Northern Ireland v England?
Michael Owen will replace Joe Cole.
That should mean that Gerrard can link with Rooney and his mate Owen from the left, and hit crossfield passes to Shaun Wright-Phillips.
England might struggle, as they often do. But Rooney will be the difference.
However, some say Rooney will start on the left. If so, Sven really is CLUELESS.
Your best players should be in the middle of the field, where they can have maximum impact.
Rooney’s game is much more compact and reliable than Gerrard’s game : he can pass short, pass long, pass medium, flick one-twos, hold the ball under pressure, see as much as any footballer in boots – and he has the rare gift of being able to change his mind at the last moment.
Rooney is also fitter than Gerrard right now. He can handle the workload.
In sum, the 19-year old Rooney is a general, while the 26-year old Gerrard can only be, at best, a hero.
I’m expecting Owen to play badly, score, and be replaced by Defoe after 65 minutes.
Sven says Beckham can play in the middle, like Pirlo. Fine, Sven, but who is your Gattuso ?
ZIDANE’S RETURN has taken the pressure of Thierry Henry, and Makelele and Thuram have made the defence of Les Bleus more secure, although Arsene says France are vulnerable in the air now.
We shall see.
Boumsong is no Desailly-98, that’s for sure.
That whole operation has been grossly mismanaged since 2000. Why? Player power.Desailly was well past it at the last World Cup.
Vieira should have been captain after 2000 and Lemerre should have had Makelele and Vieira in tandem in 2002.
It’s a big game for Robbie Keane and Damien Duff.
Overall, there are more flair players on view in Dublin than Belfast. It could be close, could be a draw.
In fact, anything could happen in a group where every point counts.
THE WORLD CUP is taking shape now.
204 nations have been competing for 31 places and Ukraine, Japan, Iran and a few others are already there.
Stefan Kiessling, a lanky German striker, scored with a phenomenal header against England Under 21s last night in a game that finished 1-1.
We shall be hearing a lot more about Kiessling in 2006 and 2007.
Gael Clichy played for France Under 21s, who won 2-1 in Ireland.
ABOUT 10.15 last night Caroline comes upstairs and the door of my office is open and she says “We’re watching the Mercury Music Prize.”
“Have Maximo Park been on yet?”
“Yes, but we missed them.”
A little while later Jan shouts, “Myles ! Quick !”
I run downstairs and Jools Holland is hosting the programme and milking the moment of opening the envelope.
Still, I love people who prove me wrong. When our group The Favourites did a gig supporting Squeeze at the Lyceum, my co-manager Danny said, “If we managed Squeeze, we wouldn’t let him sing.”
And I said, “Or even talk.”
THE GUY HAS PROVED ME WRONG by becoming a popular TV presenter.Good luck to him.
I expected Kaiser Chiefs to win.You’ve gotta love a band that writes a song as funny as Every Day I Love You Less & Less.
Amazingly, the Mercury Prize is won by Antony & the Johnsons, an act I mentioned here on June 28th :
Paul’s doing music at Manchester, plays piano and guitar, listens to a very wide selection of old and new sounds. He turns Caroline onto arty stuff like Antony & the Johnsons and I hear that CD in her room and say, “Bryan Ferry did all this 30 years ago.” But after a while I realise that Antony is better than Bryan Ferry.
Sure, it’s a bit controversial to give it to Antony.
But it’s good to shake up people’s expectations now and again.