Buzzin Football Blog

john terry

The John Terry affair, if you will excuse the pun, continues with the declaration from Wayne Bridge that he has chosen not to play for the England team at the World Cup this summer and many so called England fans calling for the former captain to be dropped from the World Cup squad.

I do not often agree with FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, but his comment along the lines of ‘this could only happen in England’, for me, ring very true.

Personally I feel that England will have enough problems with the quality of players available, to have a chance of winning the World Cup in South Africa and leaving out key players is not an option for Fabio Capello. The way things are we have a serious chance of losing before a ball is kicked!

Listening to radio phone in’s it is obvious to me that there is a lot of  hate amongst football fans towards Terry, something I can only put down to the fact that he plays for Chelsea who many still consider to have bought success.

When it comes to the England team, fans should be united in supporting the best players that are available for their country and as far as I can see along with Rio Ferdinand (injury permitting) Terry is the best choice in his position.

While Terry has never been quite the same player since his back injury a season or two ago, he is for me still currently the best Englishman available.

I have always been a fan of Wayne Bridge since I first saw him play for Southampton and considered  that until the arrival of Ashley Cole he was the best left back in the country.

Throughout his career though Bridge has suffered more than his fair share of injuries, while Cole has managed to produce his best football since leaving Arsenal over this past season.

So already Bridge is second choice and his ‘retirement’ from International football may open the door for other hopefuls, but leaves England relying on at least a third choice player with little or no experience at international level.

Capello has already used the versatile Milner in the left back position and maybe that is the way he will go, but whatever way you look at it to win the cup we will need our best available players.

Regarding Terry, he is a footballer not a celebrity, but I wonder what the master of adultery George Best would make of it all. Back in those days most of us would have considered him a lucky so and so and patted him on the back!

carling cup predictor

Carling are inviting football fans to take part in the Carling Cup Final Predictor Challenge ahead of the game on Sunday 28th February 2010.

Entry is free and fans can take part in the challenge up until 2pm on Cup Final day by registering on the Carling website and simply predicting the final score in the game featuring Aston Villa and Manchester United.

If you guess the score correctly you will stand a chance of winning a replica team shirt signed by the 2009/2010 Carling Cup winning squad.

The competition is open only to fans over the legal age limit. To take part first register on the Carling Cup Final Predictor Challenge website and follow the instructions, it is that simple.

Good Luck!

Fabio Capello led something of a charmed life at the start of his tenure as England manager. His side qualified from what could have been a testing World Cup qualifying group with ease and the off the field problems which had dogged the national team in the past seemed to have been laid to rest at long last.

However, following recent events Capello must now understand why his job is so often referred to as a poison chalice. Although the John Terry incident was no doubt a test of the manager’s PR and diplomatic skills the injury to Ashley Cole will be the bigger headache as the tournament approaches. Yes, the fact that Cole’s direct replacement is Wayne Bridge complicates matters a little, but the fact England could be missing one of their few truly world class players in South Africa is the real issue.

Oddly though, Capello might be slightly relieved that it is his left-back who been struck down rather than anyone else. Although Bridge isn’t quite as good as Cole, he will at least be able to cut it at the World Cup. Cover for other areas of the squad looks distinctly thin on the ground. Rio Ferdinand and Terry are likely to be the first choice centre back partnership in South Africa, but Ferdinand’s season has been plagued by injury and it’s doubtful the likes of Joleon Lescott would be able to cut it against side like Brazil and Italy.

In midfield England’s problems are underlined by the failure to find a replacement for David Beckham. Shaun Wright-Philips, Theo Walcott and Aaron Lennon have no end product and would be easily blunted. The emergence of Aston Villa’s James Milner is one of the few bright spots for Capello.

However, the biggest worry for the England manager will be the fitness of Wayne Rooney. The striker is in the form of his life and is the one truly irreplaceable player Capello has at his disposal. The name Rooney on its own will strike fear into defences, but if he is forced to miss the tournament then a paring of Defoe and Zamora just won’t have the same impact according to Football World Cup Betting experts.

Capello also faces a selection dilemma in goal. On form, Joe Hart would probably be first choice but his lack of international experience will no doubt count against him. But David James, first choice in the qualifying campaign, has struggled with injuries all season and it’s unclear who would replace him.

If Football World Cup betting odds are to back England to win the World Cup they will need their key players fully fit and at the top of their game. Sadly, after a tough Premier League season, it’s highly unlikely Capello will have this luxury.

This morning, I was half-way through my croissant and coffee when I noticed a whole article on Arséne Wenger in my newspaper.

“We are one of the ten best clubs in Europe and players who strengthen our team at that period of the season are not available, or at a price we cannot afford.” Arséne stated.

I nearly spat out my coffee. Not to offend fans of Arséne himself, but that’s truly a poor excuse for his lack of involvement in the recent transfer season.

He claims that the amount of money he is allowed to allocate his players is simply too low to attract any good footballers. But surely a £90k a week wage is enough to buy at least a decent striker?

Instead of trying to reason with his board, he’s been trying desperately to gain players like Maraouane Chamkh, and I have no doubt that he was heartbroken when, just hours ago, Chamakh himself said he was not prepared to move, at least not yet.

Many Arsenal fans, alongside non-supporters, are sceptical whether or not Arséne has performed well as manager this season.

Among these are many that also believe that Arsenal are in dire need of fresh new additions to their line-up, especially after Michael Ballack criticized Arsenal’s style of play, describing them as ‘predictable’.

At least Arsenal fans can rest assured that key player Cesc Fábregas, will not be transferring to Barcelona any time soon, despite recent rumours of his leave before the World Cup as Wenger has repeated stated that he still has ‘four years left on his contract’, and he is not prepared to sell him.

Although I deeply respect Arséne for the amount he’s done for Arsenal with so little money, I can’t help but think he’s only looking to buy stars, instead of looking for raw talent.

Arsenal have to adhere to their strict £90,000 a week rule, regardless of whoever the player may be. This means even their top players (Gallas, Arshavin), are on this.
Yet I think, although he might not be able to purchase a top-end player like Lionel Messi, he could definitely reel in some talent with that budget.

And besides, I think another small Arshavin-like player is not what Arsenal needs. What Arsenal needs is a large, powerful striker, to provide Arsenal with that muscle that the team sometimes lacks.

Even if his eyes are only on big names, surely he could sell some players that, frankly, just aren’t up to Arsenal standard (Walcott, Vela), and make an exception to bring in some world-class talent.

However, Arséne is adamant that his budget limit is necessary for the club to function healthily, and I think many people (including myself) respect the fact that he is cautious with his money, as we’ve all seen the effects of excessive spending with Portsmouth’s near-bankruptcy.

Anthony Duong
Guest Writer from GenXXL.com

I was very surprised to read several morning newspapers had adamantly expressed that Manchester City were about to play their last game under the management of Mark Hughes on Saturday. But the  pre-match build up on both Radio 5 Live and Sky Sports Soccer Saturday appeared to underline that this was indeed the case.

Manchester City won the game 4-3 against Sunderland in another exciting goalfest.  But on the final whistle Mark Hughes appeared subdued, and after congratulating each of his players he applauded the crowd and gave them telling goodbye wave.

Surprisingly, Mark Hughes claimed on Sunday that he had not been told until after the match that was to get the sack and be replaced with immediate effect by Roberto Mancini, who had been in the crowd at Eastlands.

Mark Hughes went on to say it was agreed at a pre-season meeting with the Manchester City owner, Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour, that  a top six finish or 70 points was a realistic target for the 2009/10 season. After Saturday’s win Manchester City was in sixth place and on target to reach 70 points this season.

Furthermore, they had only lost two games all season. One to a last minute injury time winner against the current Premier League champions Manchester United (4-3) and last week to an inform Tottenham Hotspur (3-0), the best record in the Premier League Chelsea have already lost three games, Manchester United have lost five games, Arsenal have lost three games and Liverpool a whopping seven games – none of which have sacked their manager, yet!

They are also in semi-final of the League Cup.  Manchester City’s first semi-final for 28 years!

The fact that Manchester City, not necessarily Mark Hughes, have spent £200 million of Sheikh Mansour’s money is apparently enough to sack a perfectly good young manager who I believe this season would have finished with a trophy and a very real possibility of guaranteed Champions League football next season, which in turn would have opened the door for some of the biggest names in world football to choose the blue half of Manchester over the red devils.

Too many draws and not enough wins was of course Mark Hughes’ problem. This I believe was caused by too many top quality attacking options and not a strong enough defence.

Panic buying led to inflated transfer fees for Jolean Lescott and Kolo Toure when the lure of money failed to capture John Terry’s signature in the summer.  And to rub salt into wounds, former captain Richard Dunne, who was hounded out of the club by someone, is having a great season for Aston Villa.

Whether Mancini will continue to look for proven players in the Premier League or use his Italian connections to bolster a very weak defence we will see in the coming January transfer window.

Certain players definitely appear to have been bought on the request of Mark Hughes.  Rocky Santa Cruz followed him from Blackburn Rovers and Craig Bellamy who had always been admired by Hughes since his days as manager of Wales I would be confident in saying had Mark Hughes stamp of approval.  But remember how both Hughes and Robinho looked dumbstruck the night  he was signed from Real Madrid?

Fitting then that in what appeared to be a final stand, Mark Hughes left Robinho and Emmanuel Adebeyor on the subs bench on Saturday and Rocky Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy both had a great game and scored three of Manchester City’s four goals.

Roberto Mancini has managed Fiorentina and Inter Milan, where he won three successive Italian League titles and two Italian Cups, before being dismissed in May 2008 and replaced by Jose Mourinho.

Mancini definitely has the right pedigree to take Manchester City to the next level, and with the astute appointment of Brian Kidd as first team coach maybe Manchester City are looking to emulate the successful Anglo-Italian  partnership of Jose Mourinho and Steve Clarke at Chelsea. But with several players – Rocky Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy, Shay Given, Gareth Barry, Kolo Toure, Nigel De Jong, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Ireland – already stating how unhappy they are with the sacking of Mark Hughes, Mancini faces a baptism of fire as he prepares to take over the reigns for three games in quick succession, starting with an awkward game against Stoke City on Boxing Day.

At the beginning of the season I wanted Manchester City to break into the top four but now there’s a part of me that wants them to finish mid-table and get thrashed by Manchester United in the forthcoming League Cup semi-final!