Insight and analysis: Was covering the England game last friday. Werent really convincing barring the scoreline, which was Emphatic. Huge smile on the face of Wayne Rooney, long time coming? But it was 3 points that stole the show for the 3 lions, and putting the Montenegrin defense to the sword. A opening 45 min stalemate greeted the magnificent Wembley that looked a bit spanish rather than a traditional Anglo-full seater. As the game progressed, Montenegro tired and England took full advantage of that. The visitors were rocked by injuries to key players such as Mirko Vucinic. Credits due where its due. England were the better side and fully deserved the win. More than the manner of the win, its their courage that impressed me. A team of Englands caliber should defeat these kinds of teams fairly easily, esp at home(qualifiers, make no difference). The gloss of the media makes every England game a worth to watch. Roy hodgson should be proud of their effort, esp during the week where Qpr boss Harry Redknapp openly criticised the FA and Hodgsons approach. A wembley double header, part one Accomplished and part two coming up. Small insight into the game with bits and pieces from the previous game: NO GROSS FROM ANDROS: A debut to remember for the young Tottenham hotspur star, scoring with his weaker foot and peculiarly, adding trickery to the lions wing play, something other than pace-only. He has had a terrific start to the premier lge campaign. Rising from the shadow of the worlds most expensive footballer, Gareth Bale. Talented, but his development seemed to have stalled until a loan move nearby Rangers, to reunite with Harry. When you play for England, its all about pressure but he showed no sign of that last fridae and should start todae as well. The only worry for him is the absence of his spurs teammate and a winger cum RB kyle warker, whos suspended for this tricky little encounter. As Glenn Johnson is recovering from an ankle injury, Cris Smalling is tipped to get the nod ahead of his Man utd colleague Phillip Jones. TALKING TACTICS: probable line-ups: ENGLAND: Hart; Smalling, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines; Gerrard, Lampard, Townsend, Welbeck; Rooney, Sturridge, POLAND: Boruc; Wojtkowiak, Jedrzejczyk, Szukala, Glik; M Lewandowski, Blaszczykowski, lich, Sobota, Krychowiak; Robert Lewandowski Currently, Daniel Sturridge is in the form of his life, scoring goals for fun, after his move from West London, and owes a thanks or two to B-Rod for playing him centrally. He converted a late penalty(Rooney wasnt too unhappy abt Daniel taking the kick). That should provide him a huge confidence booster ahead of todays clash. Playing behind him will be Wayne, always works his socks off. You cant fault him for his relentless energy. He has transformed himself into a capable attacking midfielder(bods well for the future, esp when his pace dries up, so that he could extend his career). Townsend, as i earlier said should start ahead of Milner, and Welbeck will start from the left. Danny has been a regular under Roy. The legendary duo of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard will sit in front of the back four and dictate play. Expect them to stroll forward when the opportunity arises. They are irreplaceable, they are capable of doing things differently. To me, what theyve done recently is helping out the fairly inexperienced(intnl level) center back pairing of Jagielka and Cahill. Jag-Hill isnt the best cb pairing youll ever see, but in hodgsons eyes, theyll provide you necessary insurance. Roys cautious tactics can be felt by the cb pairing. Jag isnt the best either when playing from the back(I can remember when Arsenal were linked with Phil, he came through Sheffield utd and grew up at Everton to establish himself as one of the best central defender. Wenger didnt sign him probably bcause he wasnt capable of playing from the back. Instead he went for Lorients Laurent Koscielny ). This pairing is very good at defending cautiously but sometimes can go to sleep as shown by the goal they conceded last friday. Ashley Cole is a major doubt for this game, he has been amazingly consistent for both club and country for the last decade, they will surely miss him. But lets not get too carried away, in Leighton Baines, they have thee best left back in the premier lge, esp when attacking. Plus he has a knack of scoring from free kicks, two in a game couple of weeks back. Ive seen Cole recover from injuries faster than any other players, but this game could be too soon for him. Aaand the custodian, Joe Hart is under huge pressure. He is Englands undisputed no1. But England dont need another Carson by replacing him for this crunch encounter. On the opposite side of things Artur Boruc is in the form of his life. Second coming, really. He was outstanding half a decade ago in Scotland with Celtic. Lost his way a little, but has had a terrific start to the campaign with a leaky Saints defence and has more clean sheets than any other else this season. POLISH LUST: As with the popularity level, all eyes will be on BvB forward Robert Lewandowski to lead the line for his team. his club teammate and captain kuba Blaszczykowski will be one to watch as well. Another dortmund star Lukasz Pisczek is injured though. Poland have a tendency of producing exceptional goalies unlike England. Arsenal pair Szczesny and Fabianski are expected to be on the bench. Lets not forget former Real Madrid and liverpool man Jerzy Dudek and former utd custodian Tomasz Kuszczak EXPECTATIONS: If you call your country, the home of Football, then youve got to win games, and at least qualify for the Wold cup finals. But theres no guarantee. Poland will have no fear and have nth to lose. They will want to make a statement. So, England have to be wary of the early energy from the Polish team. Its a must win encounter, if you win youre through, otherwise ull have to depend on the other results. WHATS BEEN GOING THROUGH ME? England will be the favorites, no doubt. 18k Polish fans have arrived for the game, so the atmosphere will be riveting.I just hope it will be a cracker. Ive a feeling England should get the job done tonite. If they dont, they will face the qualifiers scheduled for 15th and 19th of November. If they dont win today, then they may face the likes of Greece,Bosnia, Iceland,Turkey, Romania or Denmark... So theres no point in losing to Poland today and expect to win the qualifiers(as all these teams expected to be in the qualifiers are of the same stature of Poland) off topic: World assist day, todae? Happy Birthday Mesut Özil.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 07:32:38 +0000
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