WITH FOOTBALL MANAGERS, study what they do, not what they say.
Their actions speak louder than their words
Their actions speak much louder than their words.
Their actions, the things they do and don’t do, are much more honest than the things they say.
Last night was a good example : Michael Owen crawled off after two minutes, Rooney was brought off after 69 when the score was 1-1, but Sven did not use wonderboy Theo Walcott.
He left Walcott on the bench, so it seems unlikely that the kid will get a game as England will play 4-5-1 from now on.
Sven didn’t say it in words but his actions said it loud and clear : I scored a huge own-goal by bringing Theo Walcott as one of my four strikers.
You had to feel sorry for the England fans over in Cologne on a night when de-mob happy Sven revealed himself, finally, as the ringmaster of an England farce whose scale is unprecedented.
He is the worst England manager of all time.
He is by far the worst England manager of all time.
Yes, we top group B after a 2-2 draw with Sweden, but Group B is garbage, as I noted last week.
Joe Cole scored a spectacular goal from 25 yards, Marcus Alback equalised with a fantastic header from a corner in 49, and then sub Stevie Gerrard headed in a Joe Cole cross to win the game 2-1 in 85 minutes.
But we didn’t win it.
We didn’t win it because we can’t defend a long throw by Erik Edman into the box.John Terry mistimed his jump, missed the ball completely, and Sol Campbell allowed the ball to bounce seven yards from the goal. Sol missed the ball with his head and turned laboriously and missed it again with his foot to create a truly X-certificate moment in the goalmouth as Olaf Mellberg and Henrik Larsson raced in on the loose ball and Larsson ran away celebrating joyfully.
WE CAN’T DEFEND a long throw into the box !!
We conceded a goal that would have been bad in the Ryman League.We let that ball bounce TWICE in the penalty area,
HOW ? In that penalty area, facing that long throw, we had the goalkeeper of Spurs, the captain of Liverpool, the centreback captain of Chelsea, plus the Arsenal centreback, and the quickest and most agile left back in the league, plus a Liverpool centreback playing at right back AND WE CAN’T DEFEND A LONG THROW INTO THE BOX when we are winning 2-1in the World Cup Finals with five minutes to go ?
If your first defender misses it, the next one puts that ball into Row Z ! What is the matter with these Gameboy-playing, iPod-wearing millionaire thickos ? Have they forgotten the alphabet of football ? They can’t recite the ABC !!
MICHAEL OWEN had twisted his knee in 50 seconds with nobody near him and is out of the tournament with medial ligament damage.
Crouch came on, Rooney moved up front, was not fit, didn’t do much. Hargreaves played well, Beckham had his worst game for years, Crouch and Lampard were anonymous.
Joe Cole did what Beckham usually does, scoring one goal and making another.
Sven was lucky that the Swedes didn’t score five goals from set-pieces.Paul Robinson pushed one onto the underside of the bar and Sweden had other near misses.
SO I WAS RIGHT about Sven’s squad but I didn’t realise how demob-happy he was. After five and a half years his war is over and the lorry-driver’s son from Torsby will soon take off his naff Umbro kit for the last time and move on
His attitude changed when he knew he was leaving. Where for five years Sven-Goran Eriksson had been careful, conventionally corporate, smoothly political, he now became utterly flaky.
Six months ago he would not have faced down Sir Alex on Rooney’s fitness. He would not have played Rooney in group games against the wishes of the angry Scot. Six months ago he would not have brought on Rooney and Lennon as early as he did (58 minutes) against Trinidad & Tobago.
Did you see Sven’s wave at the hotel? As the England team left their Cologne hotel to drive to the stadium last night, some fans cheered them, and we saw Sven, Tord Grip and Steve McClaren walking out behind the players.
Some fans cheered the coaches and Sven waved in a way that was entirely untypical. It was not the old Sven, the careful, wary, bland Swede who never gives you anything to chew on.This Sven is demob-happy. It is all an act now. He doesn’t give a damn.
On May 8th, when he announced his provisional squad, I wrote : Theo Walcott ? Does Sven understand football?
About four weeks ago I read a columnist’s piece in The Observer.I tried to find it later online but couldn’t.
The columnist said that a Radio 1 DJ had recently met a Premiership manager, unnamed, who said that it is frightening how little Sven knows about football. The Premiership manager had had a conversation with Sven and the next day he was amazed to see Sven on TV repeating his words exactly !
In my reaction to the squad I didn’t use the phrase “demob-happy”.
THIS IS WHAT I WROTE on MAY 8th :
SVEN has named Theo Walcott, 17, and Aaron Lennon, 19, in his provisional World Cup squad.
It’s a bizarre squad that will make him a laughing stock.He has no ball-winner and nobody who can hold the ball up front.
Two vital roles in any football team and he has ignored both.Owen can’t hold it, Crouch can’t hold it.You can’t play one-twos with Owen because he is not skilful enough to give you the ball back where you want it.And even if Owen is fit, he is not fast any more.
Did Roger Hunt have flair? No. Did Roger Hunt win the World Cup? Yes. Did Nobby Stiles score goals and make 50-yard passes? No. Did Nobby Stiles win the World Cup? Yes.
England will be possession-starved. We will have long periods without the ball and we will give away free-kicks trying to get it back.
SVEN HAS ONLY FOUR STRIKERS and three are little guys and two are crocked and one has never played for his club. That makes Walcott unique in Germany. A World Cup player who has never played for his club.
With crocks Rooney and Owen included, he has left out Jermain Defoe, a decision which baffles Bobby Robson and me, among others.
Theo Walcott is a boy who has not played for Arsenal yet. But Sven has watched him in training. In training !
Last Friday, when told that Arsene had suggested Walcott should be in the England squad, I said, “We know that Arsene plays the media like a concert violinist plays the fiddle, but this is sheer mischief. It’s a ridiculous red herring.”
On Monday afternoon Sven said that he didn’t decide to include Theo Walcott until “this morning.”
“Why not gamble?” he said.
So we are being asked to believe that Walcott is his wild card, England’s secret weapon, a flair player who can improve a team of journeymen.
Apart from a striker and a half-striker, what’s missing from this team is a defensive midfielder who can slow a game down but also intercept and speed it up. That man is Nigel Reo-Coker.To leave him out and include Jenas and Hargreaves shows that Sven is utterly clueless.
Lennon will do well for England, I think.
Sven has included Boro left winger Stewart Downing to keep Steve McClaren happy. Downing can beat a man and cross a decent ball, but he doesn’t look up. He doesn’t cross to a teammate.
Sven conned me the first time I met him, conned me the second time I met him, and connned me the third time I met him.Then I realised he was a tosser.
The following squad suggests that either (a) he doesn’t understand football or (b) he doesn’t care any more.