Arise Sir Jimmy Bullard?!
Ashley Cole gets arrested. In steps Kieran Gibbs.
Imagine Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Brighton & Hove Albion. He'd just get in the way.
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gerrard
There is always someone who comes from nowhere to have a real impact on a tournament.With the World Cup Play-offs and Henry-gate behind us the world's eyes are now focusing on Cape Town next Friday evening and the draw for the 2010 World Cup. Who will be in the group of death? (it could be England, ivory coast, USA and Portugal!) who will win the golden shoe? Who will walk away with the trophy?In terms of England the predictions for the team are virtually agreed (pending david James and his knees) but there is still debate over the final 23 and there are a few names that will make a late surge - and who knows could end up being our star player.There are bound to be metatarsals snapping and groins tweaked as we near the end of the brutal English season and you can be sure that Rooney apart Capello will not take anyone who is not fit, so here are a few scenarios and a few heros;Frank Lampard gets injured building IKEA furniture. In steps Jimmy Bullard.An exceptionally talented footballer and he will be the reason that Hull City will be playing Premier League football next season. Great technique and more consistent than Beckham with set pieces and would also bring some Gazzaesque charm to a pretty strict squad.
One mistake aside Gibbs had a great start to his Arsenal career and has been quality for the U-21s. If anything happens to Cashley it would not surprise me for Capello to give the number 3 shirt to Gibbs over the very average Wayne Bridge and see if the boy can make a real name for himself.Gareth Barry becomes an Abu Dhabi National and is makes himself ineligible (but he has not done it for the money). In steps Phil Neville.The much ridiculed P.NEV has been much more consistent at Everton and does have the ability to do the simple things very well - could be the perfect foil for Lampard and Gerrard. Wayne Rooney has to stay in England to babysit. In steps Michael Owen.He probably will not make the final 23 if everyone is fit (which I disagree with) but he has scored in World Cups before and is capable of doing so again. In fact I wonder what the odds on Owen winning the golden shoe are...
Predict the performance of your team
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Resting Players? Good, bad or ugly..
Each season, more and more players are involved in more and more fixtures. There has been a big debate around Theo Walcott and his involvement in the seniors prior to the UEFA U-21 European Championships , and that he will end up without any rest before getting stuck back in to pre-season training.
However, that has now gone away (although bound to resurface if he gets any injuries next season), and the fact that Gerrard plays 65 games in a season does not surprise anyone anymore. It is always going to happen as the game continues to grow and be the global power that it is. What is interesting to me in these days of huge squads (and teams with a number of star players) is whether resting players actually helps the team.
You hope by resting players they will be fresh, focused and up for it when the big matches come along. There is a crucial game for England's U-21 team on Friday where hopefully this will be the case.
It is the semi-finals of the UEFA U-21 European Championships and England go into their match against Sweden having rested players fully (England rested 10 players in their last Group Match). Now Stuart Pearce believes this will give his team an edge as he has a rested squad to pick from. Their opponents are co-hosts Sweden, and they had to play a tough and intense last Group Match to get to this stage. If they lost they were out. They had to win to qualify, and win they did. Sweden now have momentum, England do not.
I wonder if Sir Alex Ferguson looks back on the end of last season's campaign with regret at resting his stars against Hull in the last game of the Barclays Premier League season. In the UEFA Champions League Final his side looked leggy and tired, and struggled to chase down and win the ball back from FC Barcelona. Perhaps United would of been better to of play the Hull game with the same intensity to carry into the final against FC Barcelona. We will never know.
Maybe Managers should be avoiding rotation and resting players as it interrupts the rhythm of the team and could even cause players to lose their focus. Look at Liverpool - last season was Benetiz's first where he played regular line ups and formation, and were it not for the injury to Torres I believe they would of ended up walking off with the title in May.
I think over the course of a season it makes sense to rest players when they are tired, but in big tournaments and just before big matches I would always rather my team approached the game with the same mentality and the same line up to maintain that momentum and energy into the final matches.
I just hope that Stuart Pearce does not look back and rue the decision to rest his players after they had already qualified. We will find out on Friday.
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