Here we look at performance data supplied by Castrol EDGE to assess what impact these bright young stars will make on the Saturday’s game.

Overall Jack Wilshere comes out ahead of Ramsey in one on one situations, while the Welsh midfielder is better around the box.

Comparing Ramsey’s 2009/10 campaign with Wilshere’s first full season with the Gunners, their stats tell a story. Ramsey thrives in attacking situations, scoring three goals in the league before his leg-break against Stoke, averaging at a very respectable rate of one every 260 minutes.

He also delivered three assists, all of which is more than Wilshere this season (one goal, two assists) and all the more telling since the England international has played more than double the time Ramsey spent on the pitch last season.

Wilshere’s importance lies in his capacity to beat his direct opponent and unleash his more attacking teammates. He boasts higher success rates than Ramsey in duels, dribbles and tackles. The effort he puts in can sometimes be “over-enthusiastic” as shown by the number of cards he’s picked up this season, 4 yellow’s and one red.

Finally, their impeccable delivery is highlighted by their passing accuracy. In the final third, both players complete more than three in every four passes.

Wilshere v Ramsey – Premier League

Wales main problem appears to be in scoring goals, they have so far managed to convert a ridiculous 3.6% of their shots in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, well below the 13% average in the competition.

Wales only goal in the competition so far came from Gareth Bale in the 4-1 defeat away to Switzerland, and with the Spurs wing back ruled out of the game with a hamstring injury it is hard to see where the goals are going to come from.

Wales currently have zero points from there three games played so far, and in their combined total of 408 minutes of action in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Wales’ strikers have mustered just six shots on target between them. With no goals to their names so far, the Welsh forward line will need find their shooting boots if they are to trouble Fabio Capello’s Three Lions.

Welsh Strikers In the UEFA EURO 2012™ Qualifiers

The Castrol EDGE Performance data makes a strong case for the inclusion of Liverpool striker Andy Carroll in the England starting line up, the player has notched up an impressive 11 Premier League goals in 1,712 minutes of action this season, only Darren Bent can compare, but the Aston Villa striker has played 717 minutes more.

While Rooney’s place in the Three Lions’ first 11 is set in stone under Capello, the second striking berth has yet to be claimed on a permanent basis. However, Carroll’s strike rate of a goal every 156 minutes in the league this season and a total of three assists, are both superior figures to those of his fellow England hopefuls.

Aston Villa’s Darren Bent comes closest to matching Carroll’s figures, and the striker has hit two goals in his last two appearances for England. However, the Liverpool man’s physical presence, along with his goals, makes him an ideal foil for the more creative Rooney.

English Strikers In Premier League 2010/11

Castrol prediction:

Wales win 15%
Draw 22%
England win 63%

Sports betting fans knew that the game had little meaning overall in the grand scheme of things but as friendlies go, the game was played at high tempo and though neither team were committed to 50-50 challenges, the game was a good test for both England and Denmark before their next European Championship qualifying matches against local opposition in Wales and Norway, respectively.

18-year-old Christian Eriksen used the game as a shop window for all Premier League teams to sit up and take notice of this teenager midfield general currently playing his football with Ajax; and after a magnificent performance I would be surprised if he doesn’t follow his former team-mate Luis Suarez with a move to England in the summer.

There were several Premier League players in the Denmark team including Stoke City goalkeeper Thomas Sorenson and Liverpool’s Christian Poulsen and Daniel Agger.  Agger opened the scoring with a great headed cross though it was helped by poor defending by Michael Dawson.

After falling behind 1-0 in the seventh minute, England quickly responded just three minutes later. Wayne Rooney crossed a great pass from left to right, finding Theo Walcott on the edge of the Denmark goal area.  Walcott’s determination to get a cross in left him with a cut eye from a flailing arm. The ball was drilled across the six yard line and met by Darren Bent in the 10th minute.

As with all international friendlies, Fabio Capello had agreed to use six substitutes and only play 45 minutes to certain key players. It was apparent that Capello was doing his best to keep on good terms with the teams in the Champions League as the substitutes were made.  Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney were all substituted.

Two more Aston Villa forwards joined Darren Bent in the second half, Ashley Young and  Stewart Downing; and they combined with Glen Johnson for Ashley Young to score his first international goal and the winner for England in a good second half performance.

Jack Wilshere had an impressive 45 minutes before being substituted at half time, even though he was played as a holding midfielder.  Whether this was Capello’s plan to see if a young Wilshere who loves to go forward was disciplined enough to play simple passes and keep his position or just a way of fitting him in alongside more seasoned midfielders Frank Lampard, Theo Walcott and James Milner, it marked Jack Wilshere’s arrival as an England player.

Lineker went to Spain to see how they had turned around their own misfortunes.  It’s difficult to see how, now they are currently European & World Champions but before this latest wave of success, Spain had an even worse record than England for underachieving in the big competitions.

Comparisons were drawn to the way La Liga attracted some of the best players in the world in the 1980’s while ignoring the importance of nurturing home-grown Spanish talent.  Gary Lineker himself was a success at Barcelona, as was English manager Terry Venables; and though Spain have only conquered Europe and the rest of the world in the past four years, it was a revolution that allegedly started when Dutch maestro and former player, Johan Cruyff, returned to manage Barcelona in 1988.

Cruyff stated that the national side would be perennial underachievers if the top teams in La Liga continued looking to foreign players for short-term success. Cruyff’s model was to produce better quality indigenous players by a matter of inclusion and focus on a longer term strategy that started at grassroots and ended with national success.  This coupled with the fact that when boys are coached to play football at an early age, they should be learning the skill of playing with the ball, not simply competing to win.  A criticism levelled at English football.

Jurgen Klinsmann kick-started a German revolution after replacing Rudi Voller as manager of Germany in 2004.  Klinsmann initially attracted criticism from some quarters with some poor results leading up to the 2006 World Cup.  He had axed many aging stars and attempted to change the way Germany play.  He wanted Germany to be less rigid, offensive and less constrictive in their play.  For change to take place Klinsmann, like Cruyff at Barcelona, needed to think long term and have the backing of the German FA to see it through.

England wasn’t the only nation to have a poor World Cup in South Africa.  Italy and France had shockers too.  But England’s last and only glory was 44 years ago now; and the England crisis is far deeper than other nations.

While English Premier League teams continue to enjoy European Champions League success the England national team have become worse.  So, as Jose Mourinho said, look at the clubs that have done well in Europe over the past few years (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool & Manchester United) and count their English players.  That is definitely a factor in England’s demise.  But England was failing to qualify for the World Cup and European Championship finals long before the Premier League and English football was filled with top foreign players.

Another cause for England’s poor standing in European and world football is a more entrenched problem.  Boys are told to compete and win over learning to be skilful. I left secondary education in 1981 and I remember way back then we were being told the reason every Dutch football player looks so comfortable and skilful on the ball, is because he is; and England players hoof the ball around and get the ball into the opponents’ penalty area as quickly as possible because that’s what they are taught to do from an early age.

Italy and France relied on past glory and older players, and England juggled unrealistic hope and expectation once again.  All were found out in South Africa, while Spain and Germany, along with Holland, were the best and most exciting teams in the World Cup finals.

Tonight England host Montenegro in a Euro 2012 qualifying game at Wembley.  Look at their squad and ask yourself, how many of those players would get into the Spanish or German starting eleven?

Will England win the next World Cup?

The short answer to ‘will England win the next World Cup?’ is definitely not. Furthermore, they won’t win it again until these deep-rooted problems are addressed; and that can only be achieved with a long term plan and strategy in place. By appointing Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, the English FA has put its head in the sand and attempted to buy the World Cup in the same way as the Premier League buy the best players in the world. So, the only thing England fans can do right now is be grateful they’re not Scotland!

theo walcott

Maybe as a a consequence of missing out in the South Africa World Cup finals, Theo Walcott has started this Premier League season in sparkling form, easily the most dangerous of England’s wide men he has already bagged four goals in 187 minutes of football action.

He will surely have earned himself a starting place up in Fabio Capello’s team who take on Bulgaria this Friday in the first of the qualifiers for Euro 2012.

Castrol Performance analysis confirms that Walcott has compared very favourably to England’s alternative wide men, scoring more goals, mustering more shots, being more accurate with his crosses than all apart from Ashley Young and only behind James Milner in terms of successful dribbles.

Also Walcott will feel he has a point to prove and where better to do that than at Wembley in an England shirt.

With the statistics showing that Bulgaria were at their most vulnerable during the first 15 minutes of their World Cup 2010 qualifiers, Walcott may never have such an opportunity to prove his ability at international level.

Walcott shows lightening pace at the start of any game and the Bulgarians will have their hands full contending with the nippy Arsenal player as he runs at their defence at speed, hopefully creating chances of an early goal or two for himself or his colleagues.

While the Castrol stats show that England were more potent later on in their World Cup qualifying games, Bulgaria will be mindful that four of England’s goals in the campaign were scored inside the first 15 minutes and three of those were scored at Wembley.

Bulgaria will have to be at their most focused if they are to get anything out of this game and England are massive favourites to get themselves off to a winning start on Friday.

castrol performance research

Castrol say England are 76% most likely to win, 15% for a draw and Bulgaria have a 9% of upsetting the odds and winning the match.

England started well with a fluent 4-3-3 system that gave Steven Gerrard a free roaming role, often dropping deep but always looking to push up to support of the loan striker, Wayne Rooney. But by half-time the initial enthusiasm and head of steam had run out, and England left the pitch to a chorus of boos.

Four changes were made by Fabio Capello at half-time.  Michael Dawson, Kieran Gibbs, Ashley Young and Bobby Zamora for Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Theo Walcott; and second-half substitutes saw Wayne Rooney replaced by James Milner and Steven Gerrard, after scoring England’s two goals for the 18 year old debutant, Jack Wilshere.

Wayne Rooney was substituted midway in the second-half while England was 1-0 down to the biggest boo of the night.  Rooney had become frustrated as England’s midfield increasingly left him isolated.

Phil Jagielka looked comfortable in central defence and of the debuts and young players on show for England, in what has been dubbed ‘the beginning of a new dawn’, Kieran Gibbs made a great impression in both defending and rushing forward when he replaced Ashley Cole.  And though he made a nuisance of himself with darting runs and a couple of decent crosses from the right-hand side, I still believe Theo Walcott shows naivety and immaturity by continually running into defenders or cul-de-sacs when he should have his head up, looking to pass the ball.

But like Fabio Capello, who didn’t once get out of his seat, let alone stand in the technical area, throughout the whole match, let’s not get over excited to see England looking to its passionate youth.  After all, this is only a meaningless friendly match.

Next month England will begin their Euro 2012 Qualifying campaign, and it is only then that we will see if Fabio Capello is ready to back younger players like Ashley Young, Adam Johnson, Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere. Though it looks likely he is going to make Joe Hart his first choice goalkeeper, as long as Manchester City is prepared to show similar faith. Hart had a good game and looked ready to pull on the vacant England gloves.

Yes it was clearly a goal, and yes it could have changed the course of the dismal England performance against Germany, and ultimately the game.  However, it cannot be used in an attempt to gloss over the fact that, apart from the first 10 minutes in their opening game against the USA England were not bad, they were shocking!

Capello should be slating his players for being absolutely crap in the same way fans and pundits have; and as a show of intent be addressing the issue by dropping more so-called ‘star players’, not just for this meaningless friendly, but by delivering a statement to all England’s young players – if you are playing regularly in the Premier League for your club, you will be considered for England!

Promoting the likes of Arsenal’s youngsters Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs from the Under-21 team is a start but doesn’t go far enough.  After England’s World Cup disappointment there should be a wholesale clearout of any disruptive personalities and prima donnas who feel it their right to play for England, rather than be proud to do so.

The international retirement of Paul Robinson and Wes Brown after their inclusion in the squad to face Hungary raises another issue.  This comes after Paul Scholes stated he may not have turned down the chance to come out of international retirement and go to the World Cup if only Fabio Capello had bothered to call him personally instead of leaving it to his assistant.

When Capello took charge of England he immediately brought a much needed air of discipline to the England camp and stated no one would be guaranteed a place in the team because of previous achievement or star factor, but that he would pick the team on merit.

I believe, for whatever reason Fabio Capello lost the players after England qualified in style for the World Cup by a series of blunders.  Firstly, he went back on his words by enticing Jamie Carragher out of international retirement after Carragher played his worst season for Liverpool for several years.  He also decided to take the almost disabled Ledley King ahead of his Tottenham team-mate Michael Dawson.  Neither Carragher or King had played for Fabio Capello.  For me that suggested panic on his part, and also a wrong signal to other defenders who had already played for Capello’s England.  How did that make Mathew Upson feel?

Why take one-and-a-half old boys ahead of young talent like Michael Dawson and Phil Jagielka?

Furthermore, with the exclusion of both David James and Robert Green from this week’s squad, and the retirement of Paul Robinson, Capello has now given England a ‘real’ goalkeeping crisis.  Ben Foster’s move from Manchester United to Birmingham will give him the chance to stake his claim as England’s no.1 while it is still uncertain if Joe Hart will be first choice goalkeeper for Manchester City, ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s excellent Shay Given.

For me, time has run out for the England players who showed no commitment in the World Cup, and time will soon be up for Fabio Capello too, unless he makes some big changes and shows he is building an England team for the future. Capello needs to return to being strong and focussed.  Forget offering a golden ticket to old or unfit players like a FastPass at a Theme Park and go all out for youth.

Move over Rover and let Jack Wiltshire take over!

You Are The Ref: The Ultimate Illustrated Guide To The Laws Of Football

You Are The Ref: The Ultimate Illustrated Guide To The Laws Of Football by Paul Trevillion and Keith Hackett with a foreword by England goalkeeper David James

As a boy growing up in the 1970s my life was filled with two things: football and music.

Each week I would buy a copy of Shoot the football magazine for all the football news, photos of footballers leaning against flash cars or eating exotic food like corn-on-the-cob (Mick McGiven of Sunderland – why I remember that I don’t know!) and of course the weekly cartoon strip You Are The Ref.

Who can forget the cult classic comic strip from Roy of the Rovers artist Paul Trevillion.

You Are The Ref put you under the spotlight and ask the question: what would you decide?

Observer Books has published a beautiful book with six main sections, the first is an introduction to You Are The Ref including profiles of artist Paul Trevillion and former referee Keith Hackett, the voice of You Are The Ref since 1981.  The second and main section of just under 100 pages is actual You Are The Ref cartoon illustrations where a scenario is explained and you are asked to make a decision.  My favourites include:

“At half-time in a non-league game you notice one of the goalkeepers going into the ladies toilet. You approach the manager, who admits the keeper is female. The opposition manager demands you abandon the game.  What do you do?”

“As a player runs in to take a crucial penalty in blustery conditions, a carrier bag, caught by a gust of wind, wraps itself around his face.  He miskicks – but the keeper, in hysterics, makes no attempt to stop the ball.  It rolls into the net.  What do you award?”

The main section shows amazing illustrations by Paul Trevillion of current football superstars and Jimmy Bullard from all over the world along with player facts and information.  The You Are The Ref comic strips are interspersed with a great selection of 15 all-time World Cup icons chosen by Paul Trevillion.  These include facts and illustrations of great footballers from the 1960s onwards, the likes of Gordon Banks, Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Geoff Hurst, Bobby Charlton, Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne & Johan Cruyff.

In a short third section there are explanations of 18 laws of football including the offside rule.  Further sections include the official signals made by a linesman, or to give then their correct title Assistant Referees; followed by a few pages on how to become, and what it’s like being, a referee.

The last section of the book briefly explains how you can learn to draw like Paul Trevillion, though this is a bit ambitious in just four pages. Draw Like Trevillion uses the current England manager Fabio Capello, as an example.

Following a dismal World Cup where England fans have once again been let down by the so-called ‘golden generation’ You Are The Ref is the perfect book to rekindle some truly golden memories of when football boots were made of leather and football shirts were made of cotton.

The comic strip continues to this day in The Observer during the football season.

You Are The Ref: The Ultimate Illustrated Guide To The Laws Of Football by Paul Trevillion and Keith Hackett is published by Observer Books.

Emile Heskey

He has come in for more stick than many of the under performers in the England squad in recent times but unlike the others Emile Heskey has had the good grace to announce his retirement from international football today.

Although Heskey was prominent in England’s World Cup qualifying campaign the player hardly played a game for his club side Aston Villa last season.

Despite his lack of first team football Fabio Capello chose to ignore his own warning that players not playing regular football would not be considered for England and made the most awful decision to not only include Heskey in the squad but to include him in the starting line up for the first two qualifiers.

To his credit Heskey did what he does best and worked tirelessly for the team, even setting up the England goal scored by Steven Gerrard in the first few minutes of the opening match against USA.

But at 32 years old and lacking match fitness at club level Heskey soon became sluggish and England one dimensional as the game wore on.

I doubt there are many England fans who will be crying in their beer over Heskey’s decision to quit the international scene, but we should remember that he was at the World Cup out of the choice of Capello.

Capello is not the first England manager to see something in Heskey’s play that the general football fan cannot see and despite ‘experimenting’ with other players in his position, England invariably fall back on the player to hold up the ball for the livelier players in the team.

Seven goals in 62 England games for a big centre forward is not impressive, but Heskey can at least be honest and say he gave his best and wore the England shirt with pride.

This morning in stark contrast to the 1990 World Cup squad, the England team arrived at Heathrow and were taken away in blacked out taxis.  There was no fanfare, no flag waving, no vuvuzelas, and absolutely no cheering fans to welcome back our so-called ‘golden generation’.

England’s impeccable results in qualifying for the 2010 South Africa World Cup finals was impressive and heightened any expectations of how well England would fare.  And it wasn’t only madmen and their dogs that were blowing vuvuzela-style trumpets suggesting England could actually win the 2010 World Cup.  Respectable members of the media were serious in their support that England had a very good chance to show the world how to play football.

Not only did England fail to win the World Cup again, they were absolutely appalling in the process.  Four games, two goals and one player out of 23 that can honestly say he didn’t play shit!

Put it this way, if I had been asked as a Premier League football team scout to report on the England players I would have said only Ashley Cole was worth signing.  The others have absolutely no chance of making a dent in Blackpool’s squad.

So, what went wrong?  Whether it comes out that Fabio Capello’s strict regime that worked so well in the qualifying games and appeared to bring the superstars back down to earth, was not appropriate for a group of players on tour with egos as big and as soft as ostrich eggs; or the players are just not good enough will I’m sure be aired over the next few weeks.

What is clear is that when the pressure is on in a tournament situation, especially when England play teams with equal or better football ability they result to panicking, squabbling, selfish play and dysfunctional hoofing of the ball.

When Fabio Capello became England manager he inherited a squad of players that were picked on their names and reputations rather than their current form and ability.  Capello said no players were guaranteed a place in his England squad; and only fit players that were playing regularly and in form would be chosen to play for England.  Fabio Capello also put an end to sloppy dressing and bad manners.  Flip flops were banned, as were games consoles and leaving the dinner table before everyone had finished.

This, we all agreed was exactly what these overpaid prima donnas needed; and moreover it appeared to be working.  So why, just weeks before the 2010 South Africa World Cup did Fabio Capello coax Jamie Carragher out of international retirement after a poor season with Liverpool, and allegedly guarantee a place in the final 23 man squad to a virtual cripple, only for him to get injured after 30 minutes!?

Furthermore, why did he include three players in the initial 30 man squad that had an excellent Premier League season – Adam Johnson, Scott Parker and Michael Dawson – only to leave them out of the final squad, without even playing two of them?

I’m fully aware that England strikers praise Emille Heskey but hew-haw hee-haw hee always plays like a donkey; and Capello picked him even though Martin O’Neill doesn’t feel he’s good enough to be a first-team regular for Aston Villa.

The FA have said they will take two weeks to consider whether Fabio Capello should remain England manager or they should cut their losses and admit this was another expensive disaster.

So, if the FA sacked Fabio Capello who is there that is able to take England further than Capello and Sven Goran Erikkson before him? (Let’s just completely forget about the wally with a brolly!)

The usual suspects are going to line-up when the media backs the cry for an Englishman.  Harry Redknapp will allow the team to pick itself again and does anyone honestly want Sam Allardyce’s  toe-punting hit and run style of football?  I don’t think so.  So if not Capello, who is there?

Personally I would like Fabio Capello to continue at the helm unless the FA can lure the only man I think that could win the World Cup as England manager – Guus Hiddink.   If Hiddink doesn’t want the job then tell Capello to go for youth rather than celebrity status millionaires; and have a clause added to his contract – no invalids, no old has-beens, no playing players out of position, and no flare players without flare – all for one and one for all!

There wasn’t one specific reason for the change in attitude, but it was a culmination of many reasons. James Milner was included at the expense of the ineffective Aaron Lennon which showed that just having pace isn’t enough to succeed at this level.

Milner provided an outstanding assist for Jermain Defoe’s goal which was followed by another sumptuous cross which was inches away from going in. Milner persevered by giving 100% through tracking back and producing a series of outstanding long passes to provide Defoe and co the opportunities to attack. Despite Milner not being the most technically gifted in our squad, he is vital to our chance of winning.

Jermain Defoe’s inclusion over Emille Heskey was the correct decision without a doubt. He provided a different outlet for Wayne Rooney and most significantly injected some needed pace. It was well noted throughout the BBC’s commentary that Defoe didn’t have any touches of the ball before the goal.

However as proven with Heskey, it’s not about how many touches you have, it’s what you do with it which matters. Sadly for Heskey, he hasn’t brought the best out of Rooney in this World Cup and Defoe has justified a starting place for the 2nd round tie. The 2nd round match wouldn’t be possible if it wouldn’t have been for the lion hearts who graced our defence.

David James wasn’t required to make any outstanding but kept his concentration with an album of routine saves which Robert Green may have let through. James has shown that it doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s the ability and the capabilities which you should be picked on and not their age. He should and will remain our number one for the continuation of our reign in this competition.

John Terry proved that even though you have indiscretions in your personal life, you can still perform to your top potential. He did this through placing his body, quite literally, on the line when needed.

Despite his controversial press conference on Sunday, he marshalled the defence brilliantly. He said what he said, Capello criticised him for it and you know what, he played like he does for Chelsea whilst posing a potent threat from set pieces. This was the theme throughout the game.

Every single player who is usually outstanding for their club, were outstanding for England. Players like John Terry, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, James Milner and Jermain Defoe all lived up to their potential.

The argument may rage on about John Terry being unfairly stripped of the captaincy but he is still our captain on the pitch, the difference is he isn’t wearing an armband.

The replacement for the suspended Jamie Carragher was a topic which wasn’t really discussed in much detail. Fabio Capello chose Matthew Upson over Michael Dawson which was a bold decision as Upson has no pace and is prone to a regular mistake. This was proven when he gave away a few sloppy passes in the first half. On the other hand, he justified his inclusion with a match saving tackle in the penalty area when Slovenia barricaded our penalty area with consecutive shots.

The midfield seemed to have a better balance to it thanks to the selection of the industrious and outstanding crosser of the ball, James Milner. This helped Wayne Rooney despite him still not being at his best.

There were glimpses of the Rooney that we have become used to with him running at defences but he still seemed reluctant to shoot from distance.

This should be put down to him not being match fit and not being outlandishly confident. Ironically this was his best performance and Capello took him off when he remained with him in the two previous dire showings.

The difference today was we were winning and he could take a risk. This showed Capello’s courage in taking one of our marquee players, the best is yet to come from him.

Capello silenced his critics and showed something more than passion on the sidelines. He showed his undeniable love for football and passion for our cause. His tactics were spot on in every department. He picked the correct players and let them express themselves. This is why the FA pay him £6million a year, to guide us through difficult stages of tournaments and to put some of the egos in the side in their place. I was wrong about what I said about him not being up to it. Four more gritty performances presided over by Capello would see him become a national treasure.

We’re through to the 2nd round, that’s good. We need to build on this now. Who cares whether we play Germany or not. We don’t fear them, we don’t fear anyone. We only beat them a year ago which shows our confidence against them. This is a different England.

We’ve struggled through the group stage, but the best teams usually start slowly. Under the passive Sven Goran Erikkson we always cruised through the group stages but that got us nowhere. Under Capello we’re different and we’ll grind out results if we have to.