Concern For The Future?
Having watched the U21’s demolish Slovenia 5-0 many people would have thought that the young lions would be able to overcome the Czechs with similar ease. However the senior side beat Jamaica 6-1 before jetting off to Germany, and we all know what happened over there.
Why didn’t we beat a team delighted to achieve a 0-0 draw? Playing with one striker upfront when the Czech centre backs are both at least over 6ft might be something to look at. Or, is Stuart Pearce able to drop any of his young starts if they aren’t performing? Take Richardson for example. He cant play out wide because Pearce wanted Milner and Young on the wings, so where do you put him? We've had Reo-Coker and Huddlestone in the centre of midfield for a while now so no need to disturb them, which meant Pearce played Richardson behind a lone striker. Fair enough if that lone striker can hold up the ball for his team mates to join in the attack but the wide men didn’t get involved in the game, so much so even Milner had a crack at playing off the striker, without any luck.
It seems to me as with the senior squad that if there's a big name player that can play the manager will do anything to fit him in rather than set a balanced starting 11 with pace, technique and passing abilities. One way for an English team to beat any opposition, especially abroad, is to hit them with pace and a high tempo and I saw neither of those on Monday night.
Fair enough we didn’t get beat like the Italians did, but they dominated the game from start to finish and would have been very lucky to walk away with a point never mind the three that they stole. And the Dutch managed to scrape a 1-0 win as well. This tournament isn’t over just yet and with no side looking in dominant form any of the 8 sides could walk away with this trophy.
Why didn’t we beat a team delighted to achieve a 0-0 draw? Playing with one striker upfront when the Czech centre backs are both at least over 6ft might be something to look at. Or, is Stuart Pearce able to drop any of his young starts if they aren’t performing? Take Richardson for example. He cant play out wide because Pearce wanted Milner and Young on the wings, so where do you put him? We've had Reo-Coker and Huddlestone in the centre of midfield for a while now so no need to disturb them, which meant Pearce played Richardson behind a lone striker. Fair enough if that lone striker can hold up the ball for his team mates to join in the attack but the wide men didn’t get involved in the game, so much so even Milner had a crack at playing off the striker, without any luck.
It seems to me as with the senior squad that if there's a big name player that can play the manager will do anything to fit him in rather than set a balanced starting 11 with pace, technique and passing abilities. One way for an English team to beat any opposition, especially abroad, is to hit them with pace and a high tempo and I saw neither of those on Monday night.
Fair enough we didn’t get beat like the Italians did, but they dominated the game from start to finish and would have been very lucky to walk away with a point never mind the three that they stole. And the Dutch managed to scrape a 1-0 win as well. This tournament isn’t over just yet and with no side looking in dominant form any of the 8 sides could walk away with this trophy.
6 comments:
leroy litas penalty miss was shocking followed by the sitter he missed against italy but he scored a good goal but he reminds me of some players who needs too many chances to score. pearce still defends him though as he is a good player but not that good- when he scored he shushed the camera meant to be quiet to his critics but u cant do that unless u score a winner or a hat trick and italy equalised so he looked foolish. milner was mint on the wing again and looks good for england and newcastle- he was poor but does seem to be gettng better in that position hopefully! reo coker has had a good tournament but he has been carrying a slight injury. huddlestone is overated and he was stupidly sent off against serbia- the whole thign about young on the wing is stupid though as hes not a winger! but i do think that pearce had to play nugent and he took his goal well as well. tournament seems to be hollands though if u ask me as cant see england winning it.....probably get knockec out on penalties!
Leroy Lita = Andy Cole.
Discuss...
could be but lita will be a sh**ter version but cole did and still does need lots of chances to score but the bonus cle hd was newcastle always created these and so did man utd- reading on the other hand.........
i think you're both being a little harsh on Andy Cole. He did need a few chances to bang one in from time to time but this is the guy that was always getting himself into the positions to score. Lita has had one decent season and thats that. come back next year and we will discuss it when we really know if he can miss everything he's given. kinda like you then doug....
arse! at least i missed rather than diving! cheat!
anyway i wasnt the one who compared them i said lita was a sh*tter version of cole but u cant say andy cole didnt need a lot of chances to score- i thought he was great and because newcastle always made the chances and he was in position he scored so many goals but he could have scored a hell of a lot more if he hadnt have been like bellamy and sqaunder chance after chance before scoring...if u think about it he could have been a lot closer to shearers total. which by the way it will be a long time b4 anyone gets near to it now that coles not in prem and henrys gettin a litle older and fowlers over the hill
I wasn't being harsh on anybody, I think Cole was a top-class striker in his day and I think Lita has a lot of potential.
But clearly they're both the kind of player who...miss the odd chance, shall we say.
Lita seems to be a bit quicker than Cole was, but he certainly seems to have an eye for goal, and he's a bit of a poacher. That's 2 good seasons in a row he's had for Reading now, and he had that streak of about 8 goals in 10 games last season, not bad for a youngster in his first full Premiership season.
If he continues his improvement, and Reading continue rotating the likes of him, Doyle, Hunt & Kitson, it'd be interesting to see if he's talking about leaving this time next year.
As Doug said, Andy Cole was playing in teams that made loads of chances. If Lita had the same opportunities he might just become a hell of a player. I'd like to see Reading get a good creative midfielder to replace Sidwell. Then things would be interesting next season, we'd see how good Lita, Kitson and Doyle really are.
Post a Comment