Roy Hodgson is at the start of his first tournament qualification experience with England. Having experienced a tournament proper without the burden of slugging through deepest darkest away days, he is sampling over the next five days the best and worst of international football.
On Friday night in front of a full house Wembley Stadium, Hodgson will be sending his team out to score goals goals goals against the feeble San Marino, who have not scored in four years and not won since their only international victory against Liechenstein in 2004. Along with Bhutan and the Turks & Caicos Islands, San Marino are the lowliest ranked country under the umbrella of FIFA.
Hodgson must send out a team who firstly will find the game a test and be motivated to compete against semi-professional footballers. Hopefully the home crowd can help suck the ball into the net. However, like any England manager, Hodgson has to contend with selection headaches. Already deprived of Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson through suspension; you can now add Frank Lampard (knee) and Ryan Bertrand (throat) to that list, as well as the ongoing furore surrounding Ashley Cole's supposed punishment for his tweeting against the FA last week.
Hodgson also lost captain John Terry to international retirement yet has gained newly installed captain, Wayne Rooney to the side after he missed the Macedonia/Ukraine games owing to the large gash he suffered on his left leg.
So what should Hodgson do with his formation? The loss of both Gerrard and Lampard has deprived Hodgson a chance to look at one without the other following on from another dismal performance together at home to Ukraine. This may give Tom Cleverley a chance to cement a position in the side, or alternatively allow Rooney himself to play off a front man such as Welbeck where he can gather the ball from clubmate Cleverley or Carrick and dictate play with his enthusiasm and zeal.
Who should play up front with Rooney, or in front of him? Club mate Danny Welbeck has a good partnership with Rooney as the start of last season showed, yet the purchase of Robin Van Persie at Old Trafford has meant less starts for Welbeck who often plays on the wing coming into play rather than an out and out forward meaning a dip in form. Perhaps Andy Carroll is the answer, returning from a hamstring injury, a 60 minute burst against the minnows of Marino where his height and strength will be overbearing may be the right result. Then just when they have seen the back of that man mountain on comes the wily Jermain Defoe who is scoring consistently for Tottenham, and is known for scoring late junk goals in one-sided defeats against tired defenders.
But what of the wings, should he play both Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott from the start to bomb down both wings and offer support alongside Welbeck/Carroll with Rooney sitting deeper. Personally, the sight of Carroll nodding headers down for free runners will be a good one and a certain amount of variety to proceedings.
As for the defence it picks itself right now owing to Terry's withdrawal, yet I would be prone to rest Ashley Cole and play the more in form, Leighton Baines of Everton who is in a rich vein of form and offers quality from set pieces and can get forward when necessary. As does his right back counterpart Kyle Walker who is full of attacking threat but does not refuse to defend, unlike Johnson.
Suggested starting XI: Hart - Walker, Lescott, Jagielka, Baines - Carrick, Cleverley, Rooney - Walcott, Carroll, Oxlaide-Chamberlain
Follow me on twitter: @JamieGarwood
Showing posts with label football preview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label football preview. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Norwich v Tottenham preview
On Boxing Day, it was the season of goodwill as the top teams (with the exception of Man United - who received their own present from referee, Phil Dowd) dropped points in the title charge.
Leaders Man.City drew goalless with West Brom who were disciplined and organised against the superstar line up as Jerome Thomas came closest to winning the game, the right back hitting the post that left Joe Hart beaten.
Liverpool's home form again put into question their Champions League aspirations as they again drew with a bottom half table team as they had to come from behind to gain a point from Blackburn, 1-1. A Charlie Adam (the walking liability) own goal on the stroke of half-time gave struggling Rovers the lead, but a quick response in the second half from Maxi Rodriguez led anticipation to the floodgates opening, yet even the return of Steven Gerrard could not prevent some fine saves from Mark Bunn, who came in for the injured Paul Robinson.
For Tottenham, the best result was the dropped points by Chelsea at home to Fulham in a West London derby. Chelsea took the lead through Juan Mata shortly after halftime, yet Fulham who were thumped 5-0 at home by Man.United before Christmas showed great character to equalise deservedly through Clint Dempsey. Chelsea were denied the win by a fine goalkeeping performance by David Stockdale, an England squad member in for the injured Mark Schwarzer. Stockdale showed he is good enough for a regular Premier League spot, if not at Fulham then anywhere.
December 27th has two intriguing match ups and both can effect Tottenham, who play away at Norwich City in the evening kick-off. However, the afternoon kick-off between Arsenal and Wolves will see Arsenal go joint on points with their North London rivals if they win, leapfrogging Chelsea in fourth.
Tottenham are one point ahead of Chelsea, and so can extend that advantage to four points with a victory at Carrow Road.
However, the Canaries should not be under-estimated they are unbeaten in three games and worryingly have Grant Holt being his unplayable self as he was in the Championship last year and now scoring goals - the last game at Carrow Road was there performance of the season as they beat Newcastle 4-2, this has been followed by two solid away draws: 1-1 at Everton, 2-2 at Wolves, both games in which they dominated possession, territory and chances.
Norwich have a constant aerial threat in Holt and Steve Morison up front, they have scored the most headed goals this season - 11. Yet they have not kept a clean sheet all season in the League, which against the forward prowess of Tottenham is a worrying statistic.
Tottenham have only lost one game in the last 14 league games, Emmanuel Adebayor has scored six in six yet Tottenham are having a mini injury crisis with players falling down hurt and so consistency of selection is suffering. Expect Ledley King to be rested after he played two games in five days, his knee suffering in its swollen form. The hope is that Younes Kaboul's hamstring is not that hamstrung to partner William Gallas at the centre of defence. Other injury scares concern Rafael van der Vaart's own hamstring and Jermain Defoe.
Norwich lose Kyle Naughton to suspension, and Elliott Ward and James Vaughan remain out through injury.
My feeling is that Tottenham struggled (in the first half at least) at Stoke when the aerial bombardment from Peter Crouch and Jon Walters led to a 2-0 deficit they could not overcome. Expect Norwich to take heed of this weakness, admittedly King did not play that day and his dominance will be missed against the crafty Holt and Morison.
It should be an entertaining game full of end to end attacking and certainly some goal mouth action, yet a point for Tottenham should not be sniffed at. It seems to be the thing to do this Christmas.
Leaders Man.City drew goalless with West Brom who were disciplined and organised against the superstar line up as Jerome Thomas came closest to winning the game, the right back hitting the post that left Joe Hart beaten.
Liverpool's home form again put into question their Champions League aspirations as they again drew with a bottom half table team as they had to come from behind to gain a point from Blackburn, 1-1. A Charlie Adam (the walking liability) own goal on the stroke of half-time gave struggling Rovers the lead, but a quick response in the second half from Maxi Rodriguez led anticipation to the floodgates opening, yet even the return of Steven Gerrard could not prevent some fine saves from Mark Bunn, who came in for the injured Paul Robinson.
For Tottenham, the best result was the dropped points by Chelsea at home to Fulham in a West London derby. Chelsea took the lead through Juan Mata shortly after halftime, yet Fulham who were thumped 5-0 at home by Man.United before Christmas showed great character to equalise deservedly through Clint Dempsey. Chelsea were denied the win by a fine goalkeeping performance by David Stockdale, an England squad member in for the injured Mark Schwarzer. Stockdale showed he is good enough for a regular Premier League spot, if not at Fulham then anywhere.
December 27th has two intriguing match ups and both can effect Tottenham, who play away at Norwich City in the evening kick-off. However, the afternoon kick-off between Arsenal and Wolves will see Arsenal go joint on points with their North London rivals if they win, leapfrogging Chelsea in fourth.
Tottenham are one point ahead of Chelsea, and so can extend that advantage to four points with a victory at Carrow Road.
However, the Canaries should not be under-estimated they are unbeaten in three games and worryingly have Grant Holt being his unplayable self as he was in the Championship last year and now scoring goals - the last game at Carrow Road was there performance of the season as they beat Newcastle 4-2, this has been followed by two solid away draws: 1-1 at Everton, 2-2 at Wolves, both games in which they dominated possession, territory and chances.
Norwich have a constant aerial threat in Holt and Steve Morison up front, they have scored the most headed goals this season - 11. Yet they have not kept a clean sheet all season in the League, which against the forward prowess of Tottenham is a worrying statistic.
Tottenham have only lost one game in the last 14 league games, Emmanuel Adebayor has scored six in six yet Tottenham are having a mini injury crisis with players falling down hurt and so consistency of selection is suffering. Expect Ledley King to be rested after he played two games in five days, his knee suffering in its swollen form. The hope is that Younes Kaboul's hamstring is not that hamstrung to partner William Gallas at the centre of defence. Other injury scares concern Rafael van der Vaart's own hamstring and Jermain Defoe.
Norwich lose Kyle Naughton to suspension, and Elliott Ward and James Vaughan remain out through injury.
My feeling is that Tottenham struggled (in the first half at least) at Stoke when the aerial bombardment from Peter Crouch and Jon Walters led to a 2-0 deficit they could not overcome. Expect Norwich to take heed of this weakness, admittedly King did not play that day and his dominance will be missed against the crafty Holt and Morison.
It should be an entertaining game full of end to end attacking and certainly some goal mouth action, yet a point for Tottenham should not be sniffed at. It seems to be the thing to do this Christmas.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Spurs v Chelsea preview
Tottenham Hotspur are on a roll. Thanks to a tough 1-0 victory over Martin O'Neill's resurgent Sunderland on Sunday, they remain 3rd two points clear of Chelsea, who dropped two points away at Wigan where they could not convert dominance into goals. And five clear of Arsenal who suffered their 5th defeat of the season (4th to a Top 6 side) as they lost 1-0 at Manchester City.
Now the Christmas season is upon Tottenham and they (like everyone else) they have four fixtures in 12 days starting with a massive encounter with Chelsea at home on Thursday, then Norwich City away on the 27th (live on Sky Sports); Swansea away on New Years Eve then to finish off a home game against West Brom on January 3rd, before the FA Cup tie at home to Cheltenham Athletic of League Two.
Things have been going well at Tottenham, as I have noted previously, due to their levels of consistency in terms of selection policy allowing continuity and finesse to the line-up.
Brad Friedel is the anchor at the back, getting clean sheets in games that last season would leak goals by Heurilho Gomes, forcing the team to attack and win the game. On Sunday, Roman Pavyluchenko's goal won the game but the security of having Friedel being able to fend off Seb Larsson's free-kick mastery meant the clean sheet led to three points.
The defence has had a few changes to the usual foursome of Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto - due to injury to Ledley King and the suspension of Kaboul this week, luckily on both occasions the veteran William Gallas has been able to return from injury and do a solid job.
Owing to an ankle sprain sustained in training, Gareth Bale missed his first game of the season forcing Sandro to start meaning Spurs had to attack with a narrower midfield forcing Aaron Lennon to lead the counter-attacking purpose. Unfortunately, Lennon himself tore a hamstring after 27 minutes in the Sunderland match. Interestingly, Redknapp chose to bring on Super Pav instead of a natural winger like Steven Pienaar or Nico Krancjar; asking Pav to play with Van der Vaart off of Adebayor in a 4-3-2-1 formation.
This tactic led to Tottenham plahying some of their most negative football - the fluidity of having two talented wingers coupled with full backs Assou-Ekotto and Walker bombing past in overlaps, meant that Spurs have been difficult to contain and defend against. What happened Sunday was, Walker did a lot of running for balls that never came and against a stubborn Sunderland defence, this proved difficult until the goal game just after the hour. Of course, once the lead was obtained the victory was never really in doubt.
Hopefully, Bale will return from injury and be able to attack Boswinga, the problem for Redknapp will be which player to choose on the right wing to not only offer an attacking thrust but someone who is able to track back against Ashley Cole who can bomb down the left flank with the best of them. Although the team that finished the game, may well start on Thursday although another option may be to switch Bale to the right to combat Cole, and play the vibrant Danny Rose on the left.
However, the next week will bring many different episodes of injuries, suspensions and tactical hiccups - although after the Chelsea game, who themselves have injury concerns over John Terry, the tnext three games can be deemed winnable although Norwich and Swansea are better at home than away, whilst the visit of West Brom will be a welcome conclusion to the hectic period.
The loss of Lennon though is a bitter blow not just for his club, but for the player himself, a man who needs confidence and games under his belt to help his development and maybe earn a recall to the England fold ahead of the European Championships next summer. He was someway back on the list behind Walcott, Young and Milner anyway but his history of injuries and the time he takes to recuperate will worry many, especially such a delicate muscle like the hamstring and for a player who requires speed so much.
Again, considering the depth of the squad and the players missing - Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone - Spurs have done well to maintain a considerable title charge or at least be taken seriously in discussions whilst Arsenal and Chelsea have both false started this season. Tottenham went undefeated for 10 games between a defeat by Manchester City in August and last week's defeat at Stoke.
Following the thrilling game between Manchester City and Arsenal on Sunday, Thursday night promises to be just as exciting - for years Chelsea held a curse over Tottenham inflicting some heavy defeats at White Hart Lane, yet Chelsea have not won at 'Three Point Lane' in six years and the influence and play of Luka Modric, so touted by Chelsea in the summer, will be interesting. It is expected that Chelsea may well bid again for the Croat in the January transfer window, while Spurs look likely to stand firm his performance against the Juan Mata will be interesting.
Now the Christmas season is upon Tottenham and they (like everyone else) they have four fixtures in 12 days starting with a massive encounter with Chelsea at home on Thursday, then Norwich City away on the 27th (live on Sky Sports); Swansea away on New Years Eve then to finish off a home game against West Brom on January 3rd, before the FA Cup tie at home to Cheltenham Athletic of League Two.
Things have been going well at Tottenham, as I have noted previously, due to their levels of consistency in terms of selection policy allowing continuity and finesse to the line-up.
Brad Friedel is the anchor at the back, getting clean sheets in games that last season would leak goals by Heurilho Gomes, forcing the team to attack and win the game. On Sunday, Roman Pavyluchenko's goal won the game but the security of having Friedel being able to fend off Seb Larsson's free-kick mastery meant the clean sheet led to three points.
The defence has had a few changes to the usual foursome of Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto - due to injury to Ledley King and the suspension of Kaboul this week, luckily on both occasions the veteran William Gallas has been able to return from injury and do a solid job.
Owing to an ankle sprain sustained in training, Gareth Bale missed his first game of the season forcing Sandro to start meaning Spurs had to attack with a narrower midfield forcing Aaron Lennon to lead the counter-attacking purpose. Unfortunately, Lennon himself tore a hamstring after 27 minutes in the Sunderland match. Interestingly, Redknapp chose to bring on Super Pav instead of a natural winger like Steven Pienaar or Nico Krancjar; asking Pav to play with Van der Vaart off of Adebayor in a 4-3-2-1 formation.
This tactic led to Tottenham plahying some of their most negative football - the fluidity of having two talented wingers coupled with full backs Assou-Ekotto and Walker bombing past in overlaps, meant that Spurs have been difficult to contain and defend against. What happened Sunday was, Walker did a lot of running for balls that never came and against a stubborn Sunderland defence, this proved difficult until the goal game just after the hour. Of course, once the lead was obtained the victory was never really in doubt.
Hopefully, Bale will return from injury and be able to attack Boswinga, the problem for Redknapp will be which player to choose on the right wing to not only offer an attacking thrust but someone who is able to track back against Ashley Cole who can bomb down the left flank with the best of them. Although the team that finished the game, may well start on Thursday although another option may be to switch Bale to the right to combat Cole, and play the vibrant Danny Rose on the left.
However, the next week will bring many different episodes of injuries, suspensions and tactical hiccups - although after the Chelsea game, who themselves have injury concerns over John Terry, the tnext three games can be deemed winnable although Norwich and Swansea are better at home than away, whilst the visit of West Brom will be a welcome conclusion to the hectic period.
The loss of Lennon though is a bitter blow not just for his club, but for the player himself, a man who needs confidence and games under his belt to help his development and maybe earn a recall to the England fold ahead of the European Championships next summer. He was someway back on the list behind Walcott, Young and Milner anyway but his history of injuries and the time he takes to recuperate will worry many, especially such a delicate muscle like the hamstring and for a player who requires speed so much.
Again, considering the depth of the squad and the players missing - Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone - Spurs have done well to maintain a considerable title charge or at least be taken seriously in discussions whilst Arsenal and Chelsea have both false started this season. Tottenham went undefeated for 10 games between a defeat by Manchester City in August and last week's defeat at Stoke.
Following the thrilling game between Manchester City and Arsenal on Sunday, Thursday night promises to be just as exciting - for years Chelsea held a curse over Tottenham inflicting some heavy defeats at White Hart Lane, yet Chelsea have not won at 'Three Point Lane' in six years and the influence and play of Luka Modric, so touted by Chelsea in the summer, will be interesting. It is expected that Chelsea may well bid again for the Croat in the January transfer window, while Spurs look likely to stand firm his performance against the Juan Mata will be interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)