By Myles Palmer
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ARGENTINA are a first-half team.
And Riquelme is a fine playmaker and Rooney plays too deep because he tries to be Riquelme AND Crespo all at once.
Those are my themes on this windy autumn day in London
Why doesn’t a player as fantastic as Rooney score more goals, get more assists, more free-kicks, more penalties?
Because he plays too deep.
Rooney is more Zidane than Shearer.
Why does he play too deep?
Because he doesn’t wanna wait for the ball. He comes back to get the ball and start moves.
Will he ever change?
No, But Stevie G and John Terry should shout at him to get further forward.
John Terry should be vice-captain, so he can be skipper when Beckham is injured, suspended or sent off.
ARGENTINA raced to a 3-0 lead in Jose Pekerman’s first game as coach against Uruguay.
They won 4-2.
They were fantastic in the first half against Brazil when they won 3-1.
So Argentina are a first half team and I hope Sven has figured this out and can contain their dynamic pass-and move style for the first 45.
England need to be on level terms at half-time.
CARLOS TEVEZ of Corinthians is a chunky bullock of a player, a goalscorer who can be really fun to watch.
With decent service, Tevez could turn Rio and JT inside out.
Some of us suspect that Abramovich is parking Tevez and Mascherano (injured anchorman) at Corinthians till he needs them to take over from Crespo and Makelele.
Previous coach Bielsa was there for six years.
BIELSA bungled the 2002 World Cup with a silly 3-3-1-3 system that depended far too much on Veron.
He was so pitiful againt England that Bielsa took him off at half-time and put Aimar on.
We beat them 1-0.
Bielsa quit during the qualification games and his friend Pekerman took over at last, after being offered the job twice before.
Pekerman is six years older than Bielsa.
He has dumped Veron and built round Riqueleme, with Sorin as his captain.
These players won three World Youth Cups with Pekerman in 1995,1997 and 2000.
Riquelme was captain in Malaysia in 1997, with Aimar his sidekick, so my pal Lalo now informs me.
Most of this Argentina team come from Inter and Villareal, two clubs who are not the biggest in their respective leagues.
One key player who DOES play for a huge club is the mighty Demichelis, the midfield anchorman of Bayern Munich, who was awesome against Arsenal last season.
IT’S A 4.45 KICK-OFF between two exciting teams so it could be an entertaining frolic by the shores of Lake Geneva, now that the pressures of qualification have been lifted from both sides.
I’m interested to see where Tevez plays, how he plays, where he gets the ball, how Argentina work the ball up to him.
TEVEZ may be more of a spurt player, waiting craftily for the right pass, rather than working box-to-box like Rooney sometimes does.
Maybe Rooney can learn something from Tevez.
I have slaughtered Sven for not finding the right balance in our midfield.
Right now, he is no closer.
He needs Steve Hodge, not Joe Cole.He needs players who make good runs off the ball.
Our team is full of guys who boss the game at their clubs.
They all wanna be on the ball, but there is only one ball.
We have too many chiefs and not enough Indians
BALANCE has eluded many coaches.
That problem is not just Sven, not just England.
How do you make one part of your team stronger without making another part weaker?
It’s the eternal conundrum.
November 11th 2005