By Myles Palmer
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HAVING REALISED that I’m now allergic to Michael Owen, I have avoided the papers and TV for the last three days.
I don’t want to see Owen talking, read about him, or watch him play.
However, my interest in tonight’s 5.30 pm kick-off in Baku is revived by the news that Jermain Jenas is in line to replace the injured David Beckham, not Shaun Wright Phillips.
Jenas is a phenonenal talent who should always be in the squad.
A very resourceful footballer, Jenas is fast, has a very good range of pass, and can score goals.
He is also two-footed, maybe more so than Gerrard.
He may be as two-footed as Hoddle or Wilkins.
If Jenas starts, I will be watching him very closely.
The kid must have realised by now that sport at the highest level is an examination of character, not talent.
AGAINST WALES, it was always likely that Defoe,Rooney or Lampard would score with their first attack.
On the night, Lampard scored in their second attack, but the game was not over until Beckham finished it with that world class 25 yarder.
That goal was almost like a free-kick and only his fourth England goal in open play.
In Baku, England will win comfortably, whoever plays.
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FROM RIO, Alexandre Gontijo sends this on the right back of the great Brazilian team in 1970 :
CARLOS ALBERTO is the only member of that team who became a coach.
“The captain”, as the Brazilians call him, is like Jack Charlton in the dug-out. A great player who can show his bad temper.
When he talked about the job in Baku with the Brazilian press, he said it was a wonderful country with a beautiful view of the Black Sea.
Talking about football, he was diplomatic and said that with a bit of luck he can get good results.
One of his great faults is a lack of diplomacy and good manners. He made the tabloids happy when he criticised the style of Northern Ireland and Wales.
As a club manager in Brazil he insulted, in the press, all the people who he thought had cost him his job.
But in other ways Carlos Alberto is very nice man who loves Arsene Wenger because in Japan his son Alexandre played under the Frenchman. This made him a big fan of the man from Alsace.
I once asked him how he rated Arsene.
“A fucking brilliant coach,” he said.
October 13th 2004.