Mind Your Ps and Qs

What I would like to see from tomorrow nights pointless friendly is :

• the smallest crowd ever for a Wembley international
• the smallest tv audience ever for an England international
• the players who let their country and the fans down in the World Cup booed
• the new players who were not involved cheered
• Capello given a reasonable ovation (I really don’t think he’s the problem)

But really, after the fiasco this summer, who in their right minds would pay money for a ticket ? Don’t the public realise when they are being conned ?

1. Sack the board of the FA.

2. Appoint a director of football with real power who is a football man with authority over the development of the game in England.

3. A minimum of 7 English players in every premier league starting 11

4. Reduce size of premier league to 18 teams

5. Instigate a winter break

6. Break up current national team. The “golden generation” is flawed. Only Cole, Gerard, Milner and Rooney should remain.

7. Build a new team for the long term, with the expectation of improving in the next world cup and peaking for the 2018 world cup. Should be made up of only players with the necessary technical skills, the ability to take the ball under pressure, control it, pass and move, some tactical and positional sense, and the ability to be part of a team.

8. Look for this team in the academies, Under 21s, Under 20s and under 18s. Build it and allow it to grow. No pressure to achieve results for the first 2 years.

9. Keep Capello. He is an excellent manager. It’s football in this country which is rotten.

10. Recognise that the media are part of the problem in the way they set the agenda, hype the team up and then knock them down. They are creating a climate where the players are playing with fear. It’s time to educate the public, improve the standard of punditry and set realistic expectations. 

We were promised a root and branch review of the English game in 2007, but the FA appointed Capello and swept the problem under the carpet, and no review took place. If it doesn’t take place this time, nobody should go to any England games, nobody should buy replica shirts, nobody should watch internationals on TV, and the England supporters trust should be organising sack the board demos outside Soho Square.

Then lets see if there is a change in the way football is run in this country.

We’ve got one of the best managers in the world who cut out the nonsense and got us playing as a team again (at least in the qualifiers).

We’ve got some of the best and most valuable players in the world.

Yet the performances in the two group games so far have been dreadful, and it looks like we may struggle to qualify in a group we should be managing to top quite easily.

What has gone wrong ?

Speculate and discuss ?

FIFA have revealed they are going to look at the world cup ball again after shock horror, Greece score two goals with it !!

Yes that’s right, they are in their third World Cup finals, and until yesterday they had never scored a goal.

What next, is Heskey going to score with it ?

How are you all enjoying the world cup so far, and what are your highs and lows ? For me ..

HIGHS : Greece getting their win, France bombing out, Maradonna’s Argentina coming good and getting the best out of Messi, Germany’s performance against Australia

LOWS : How awful England were, defensive football, teams being too scared of losing their first games

TRENDS : South American teams all performing well and unbeaten so far against European teams. Asian teams outperforming African teams.

The vuvuzelas seem to be causing some polarised opinions amongst fans, as exemplified in the comments section on this news story in The Guardian today.

So what’s your opinion?

I was hoping to be the first one to post about the WC but Double Bubble seems to have beaten me. My post isn’t about betting though.

So what are your predictions for the World Cup? Who will win the Group Stages? Who will win outright? Who will be the surprise package?

For the last year we’ve had to listen to Geordies moaning about the disgraceful state of their club, but yet tonight they only need a point from a game at home to take them up to the Premiership (in all likelihood as champions too). Which arguably positions them as stronger than at any time since the Sir Bobby Robson / Glenn Roeder days.

And given that 2 out of the 3 promoted clubs last year have stayed up, and the premiership is likely to have teams such as Wigan, Hull, Stoke and Wolves in it next year, I’d say their prospects for staying in the premiership are fairly good.

So the question is, has the last 12 months actually turned out to be a good 12 months in the history of Newcastle Utd, and now they have made it back, what do they need to do to re-establish themselves in the Premiership ?

Fabio Capello has problems right the way throughout the team.

The goalkeeping situation is a joke. I can’t believe we are still reliant on David James.

Defence doesn’t fare that much better. Ashley Cole could be out. We are not going to go in with a settled set of centre backs,  and I’ve always thought Glenn Johnson was a problem.

In midfield, Gerrard has lost form and confidence, Lampard is not having his best season and there is a problem on the right with Walcott being off form and Lennon injured. Without a solution on the right, we lack pace. I’d also say we lack creativity and the ability to keep the ball.

Up front Rooney is our only option of any class.

And we still have the problem of massive egos, and players believing their own hype. They are overrated.

I rate Capello highly, and the draw has been very kind to us. But I can’t see this team doing well at the World Cup.

Get your money on Spain or Brazil. They have a much better chance.

Do you agree ?