So the world cup qualification phase is over and England are through, I'm afraid I belong to the camp of reds that doesn't much care for the international team or international tournaments. That said, those last two matches, actually saw England produce two very watchable football, get two results and suggest that they may actually be evolving a recognisable style of football, that's exciting to watch to boot.
I have to admit I was a little dubious about the merits of Hodgson as a manager, no blame could be attached to him for the usual lethargic and uninspired football that was shown during the last Euro's in Poland and Ukraine, that was the squad he inherited. But for the majority of the world cup group stage, England had played some pretty uninspiring stuff and the team selection had, at times been fairly conservative.
But credit where it's due, for those last two games, he really went for it, selection wise and tactically. It was far from perfect and if Lewandowski had taken that first counter attacking chance, who knows how the game would have panned out. But the balance up front was very good, with the wide men giving both opposition teams a host of problems.I'll leave my thoughts on Rooney, i've been told, i'm not objective on the subject, i hate him too much, one thing i can't resist though, if he lights up the world cup in Brazil i will eat humble pie
Midfield and the back four are a different matter though, i can never understand how Carrick isn't one of the first names on the teamsheet, and he showed why that's excatly what he should be with his performance against Poland. Why he was took off with twenty minutes to go, was utterly baffling, even more so given Lampard's contribution once on the pitch.
Baines was excellent going forward, though not as solid as Cole at the back, i'd stick with Baines though. Despite Roy Keane apparently really rating Jagielka, i'm not so sure, i'm definitely no big fan of Cahill. Jones would be my centre back, but if he's not playing there fairly regularly for us, he won't get a sniff, i fear. The annoying thing for Jones will be that he should be playing there reasonably regularly.
The problem i see for England and for that matter most of the European teams, is how they will be able to produce an aggressive pace based game amidst the heat of Brazil. Even Spain will struggle, yes they keep possession, but to do that they press hard, will they be able to press that hard for 90 minutes, every three or four days for a month. I was pretty doubtful that Brazil would do much during the summer, even with home advantage, they're nowhere near the best eleven that country have ever produced, but having seen that mini tournament last season, they will be there or there abouts.
Anyway, thank fuck that's over, United on Saturday and who knows, januzaj's full home first team debut. With him being stuck back at the ranch, whilst others have been galivanting the continents, i wouldn't be at all surprised to see him start on Saturday.
Oh well back to international thoughts, some reds guffawed, when the chance of Januzaj playing for England was mentioned. All i'll say on the matter is, as long as Kosovo are denied international status, given his obvious lack of patriotic feeling for Belguim, nothing would surprise me less than him turning out in the white of England. Think of the commercial deals he would be able to command, turning out for United and England, let's face it he's going to be one of the best players in the world, they'll be throwing sponsorship deals at him. Depressing, but realistic i feel.
Music
Fick Buttons - Slow focus: Three albums in and they're still producing excellent driving techno that fans of noisy rock would probably be right at home with.
Martin Simpson - Vagrant Stanzas: This is his first album i have heard, i prseumed i would like his music, but was surprised by just how much i like it. It really is excellent stuff for anybody that likes the singer/songwriter stuff that leans towards folk.
Matias Aguayo - The vistor: It's surprising how many German based techno artists there are around, but one thing they seem to have in common is producing non generic progressive electronic music. This is pretty good, though there are a couple of iffy tracks to my mind.
The last skeptik - Thanks for trying: This is very good, experimental electronica, instrumental hip hop, very trippy, almost chilled out at others.
Ty Segall - Sleeper: The Californian based garage, psych, freak out guitarist turns it down, but it's not totally unplugged, he's not gone Americana, there's still an edge to the music. A qualified success, it doesn't hit the heights of his plugged in material.
Various artists - A rough guide to African disco: It's not really disco in the late 70's, 80's mode, but it's definitely foot tapping, funky booty shaking music, no filler at all and a couple of real killer tunes.
Vondelpark - Seabed: It took me a few listens to appreciate this, it's a bit of a slow burner, but the more you listen to the electro pop for want of a better description of their music, the better it gets.
I have to admit I was a little dubious about the merits of Hodgson as a manager, no blame could be attached to him for the usual lethargic and uninspired football that was shown during the last Euro's in Poland and Ukraine, that was the squad he inherited. But for the majority of the world cup group stage, England had played some pretty uninspiring stuff and the team selection had, at times been fairly conservative.
But credit where it's due, for those last two games, he really went for it, selection wise and tactically. It was far from perfect and if Lewandowski had taken that first counter attacking chance, who knows how the game would have panned out. But the balance up front was very good, with the wide men giving both opposition teams a host of problems.I'll leave my thoughts on Rooney, i've been told, i'm not objective on the subject, i hate him too much, one thing i can't resist though, if he lights up the world cup in Brazil i will eat humble pie
Midfield and the back four are a different matter though, i can never understand how Carrick isn't one of the first names on the teamsheet, and he showed why that's excatly what he should be with his performance against Poland. Why he was took off with twenty minutes to go, was utterly baffling, even more so given Lampard's contribution once on the pitch.
Baines was excellent going forward, though not as solid as Cole at the back, i'd stick with Baines though. Despite Roy Keane apparently really rating Jagielka, i'm not so sure, i'm definitely no big fan of Cahill. Jones would be my centre back, but if he's not playing there fairly regularly for us, he won't get a sniff, i fear. The annoying thing for Jones will be that he should be playing there reasonably regularly.
The problem i see for England and for that matter most of the European teams, is how they will be able to produce an aggressive pace based game amidst the heat of Brazil. Even Spain will struggle, yes they keep possession, but to do that they press hard, will they be able to press that hard for 90 minutes, every three or four days for a month. I was pretty doubtful that Brazil would do much during the summer, even with home advantage, they're nowhere near the best eleven that country have ever produced, but having seen that mini tournament last season, they will be there or there abouts.
Anyway, thank fuck that's over, United on Saturday and who knows, januzaj's full home first team debut. With him being stuck back at the ranch, whilst others have been galivanting the continents, i wouldn't be at all surprised to see him start on Saturday.
Oh well back to international thoughts, some reds guffawed, when the chance of Januzaj playing for England was mentioned. All i'll say on the matter is, as long as Kosovo are denied international status, given his obvious lack of patriotic feeling for Belguim, nothing would surprise me less than him turning out in the white of England. Think of the commercial deals he would be able to command, turning out for United and England, let's face it he's going to be one of the best players in the world, they'll be throwing sponsorship deals at him. Depressing, but realistic i feel.
Music
Fick Buttons - Slow focus: Three albums in and they're still producing excellent driving techno that fans of noisy rock would probably be right at home with.
Martin Simpson - Vagrant Stanzas: This is his first album i have heard, i prseumed i would like his music, but was surprised by just how much i like it. It really is excellent stuff for anybody that likes the singer/songwriter stuff that leans towards folk.
Matias Aguayo - The vistor: It's surprising how many German based techno artists there are around, but one thing they seem to have in common is producing non generic progressive electronic music. This is pretty good, though there are a couple of iffy tracks to my mind.
The last skeptik - Thanks for trying: This is very good, experimental electronica, instrumental hip hop, very trippy, almost chilled out at others.
Ty Segall - Sleeper: The Californian based garage, psych, freak out guitarist turns it down, but it's not totally unplugged, he's not gone Americana, there's still an edge to the music. A qualified success, it doesn't hit the heights of his plugged in material.
Various artists - A rough guide to African disco: It's not really disco in the late 70's, 80's mode, but it's definitely foot tapping, funky booty shaking music, no filler at all and a couple of real killer tunes.
Vondelpark - Seabed: It took me a few listens to appreciate this, it's a bit of a slow burner, but the more you listen to the electro pop for want of a better description of their music, the better it gets.
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