And not just because the fans need to find someone else to boo
John Terry and Ashley Cole are both returning to Chelsea after being ruled out of Wednesday’s game in Belarus and while Cole may have made a dreadful mistake against Kazakhstan, his hamstring injury is bad news for England.
England have won each of the last seven competitive games that Cole has started. In the last two qualifiers he missed, first Joleon Lescott covered for him away to Russia and England were beaten 2-1 and then Wayne Bridge tried to fill the void against Croatia at Wembley when England fell to a disastrous 3-2 defeat.
Considering those two players are Fabio Capello’s only alternatives in Minsk on Wednesday, it’s a shame Lampard and Gerrard still don’t have a clue how to play together because Gareth Barry filling in at left-back might be the only way to break this curse and avoid disaster.
The scoreline flattered to deceive, England were horrendous against Kazakhstan. Barely a decent string of passes were strung, and half of the players had the look of men who’d rather be anywhere else other than playing at home for England. On the plus side, lessons are there to be learned for Capello, and here’s what we know:
1. Rooney must play in the centre of the front line, that’s where he scores goals from.
2. Upson looks shaky, so if JT’s going to insist in getting injured we need sufficient back up. Capello, get Carragher on the phone - Woodgate and King are too injury prone.
Latest attempt to accomodate Lampard, Barry and Gerrard fails
By providing the set-pieces for the two goals that got England going against Kazakhstan on Saturday, Frank Lampard emerged as the clear winner in the latest round of the “who should start in central midfield for England?” debate.
With the three-man midfield failing in the first-half, Fabio Capello switched to a 4-4-2 at half-time but rather than sacrificing Steven Gerrard it was Gareth Barry that made way. Of course, five goals followed which vindicated the decision to change shape but there was no new evidence that Lampard and Gerrard can work in tandem.
So should Capello again try to accomodate all three against Belarus on Wednesday or should he be bold and actually leave someone on the bench? Vote and leave a comment below.
If England can score four goals in Croatia against a team that had never previously lost a home qualifier then surely they we can expect forty against a country that most people have only heard of because of Borat. But alas no. Lampard and Gerrard will celebrate their reunion by tripping over one another and the impatient home support will get angry when England fail to score in the first five minutes. Here’s why England will only win 2-0 or 3-0, according to our friends at chickendinner:
Why England will only score two or three
» England have score exactly two goals in each of Fabio Capello’s three games at Wembley, as well as in the last home game before his arrival, the 2-3 loss to Croatia.
» The Three Lions scored three goals in each of the three home games prior to that, which means that in the last seven England internationals at Wembley - England have always scored between two and three goals.
» From 2005 onwards, Kazakhstan’s heaviest margin of defeat in away qualifiers has been 3-0 losses to Denmark, Portugal and Croatia.
Click here for more invaluable betting advice including why Kazakhstan won’t score and why England will have to wait a while before breaking the deadlock.
Everyone’s squealing and squabbling with each other about Lampsie and Steve playing in the same team against Kazakhstan, but how about this for a solution? Plenty of pace on the wings, Lamps taking the form of his life into the centre, while Stevie G thunders up and down the right - he’s played there around forty times for Liverpool, most famously when Finnan went off during the epic Champions League win in 2005, and Tommy Smith once declared him Liverpool’s best full-back ever… and that includes Rob Jones.
The Sun gets the quote it wanted from former Kazakhstan coach
Kazakhstan’s former manager has given The Sun an excuse they probably didn’t need to go Borat mad in the build-up to the former Soviet republic’s clash with England at Wembley on Saturday. Freshly sacked boss Arno Pijpers admitted that his former charges had watched the Borat movie, although whether it is used as a motivational tool before every game is questionable to say the least! Pijpers said:
“They are normal footballers who train and prepare like any others. When they are on away trips and they are not playing or training they will play cards or watch DVDs.
“Yes, they do watch the Borat movie. I know the country’s politicians didn’t like it, but the players find it funny. They get the jokes and don’t think the movie makes fun of Kazakhstan. It makes fun of the US more than it does Kazakhstan.”
Reminders of the last time Borat embarrassed England after the jump…
National stadium still under construction apparently
[click image to enlarge]
Wembley Stadium was supposed to open in 2006, so this Google Maps image should show our national centrepiece in its current magnificent state. However, the search boffins might want to throw another satellite over North-West London sharpish, or the Kazakhstanis may get a little confused.
