Tuesday 19 June 2012

England v Ukraine Preview

Neeeeeeeeeeeigh
After the efficient 1-1 draw with the French and the comeback win against the Swedes, hopes are high for the final group match against the co-hosts Ukraine. Trying to predict or preview any England match is always a bit dodgy, the factor of unpredictability comes into play more in England games than any other. I mean who could have predicted that a horse (Andy Carroll) would head home England's opener against Sweden. 

Out of respect and not wanting to jinx any potential England victory by ignoring our hosts, I'll start by assessing Ukraine. I would expect them to stick with their 4-1-2-1-2 formation which can sometimes change into a  4-1-3-2 when defending with Nazarenko dropping deeper. They started the tournament in magnificent fashion with a 2-1 win over Sweden, despite falling behind they dominated the match with an impressive 57% of possession, interestingly more than England when they played the Swedes.

Sheva
That game saw the 2nd coming of Andriy Shevchenko who's brace showed he could still finish at the top level, even if he cant run. I will add that those headers came against a slack Swedish defence with no pace, although that same defence contains a Swedish defender in Olof Mellberg that twice scored against us - swings and roundabouts I suppose.

Yevhen Konoplyanka
In both their games the Ukrainians played with a certain style and swagger. The most impressive players for me were Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka, two tricky wingers with lots of pace and the ability to drift inside and cause more havoc. However for all there style and ability defensively is where the problems are for the Ukraine. 

Calamity Pyatov

Anatoly Tymoschuk, the Bayern Munich midfielder, sits in front of the defence as more of a protector of the back four than an enforcer. The worry is that the Ukrainian defence will switch off at key moments or as manager Oleg Blokhin puts it, 'We have problems related to both the central defenders and full-backs, figuratively speaking, our defenders do not even tackle properly'. So Tymoschuk is there too see danger and prevent it. If you have watched both Ukraine games it is easy to spot their main weakness, Andriy Pyatov. His erratic style of goalkeeping means he can produce world class saves and then throw one in. If you've yet to see him in action here he is (watch out for his brilliant attempt at jumping over Andres Iniesta's finish)






As regards England before the tournament it was, ' we are not favourites to win it, so maybe we will win it'. After the France game, ' we have drawn with one of the best teams in the world, so maybe we will win it'. After the Sweden game, ' WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS'. Whatever your aspirations for England, it cannot be denied that Roy Hodgson has moulded us into a hard to beat and well organized team.

Group Hug..........Go on then
The only decisions Roy has to make, is whether he should bring Wayne Rooney back into the team following his suspension and after his Man of the Match display against Sweden whether Theo Walcott should replace James Milner. I believe that Roy will bring Wayne Rooney back into the team for Andy Carroll, despite his impressive performance against the Swedish the prospect of linking up the Manchester United trio of Rooney, Young and Welbeck is just too mouthwatering. I also believe that James Milner with start ahead of Theo Walcott, simply for the fact that England's weak link (If they have one!) is Glen Johnson. Milner is there to fill in the hole Johnson leaves when he bombs forward. 

The vital cog in this England squad is the team spirit and it is vital it keeps turning. We have already seen a squad that is arguably better than England in the Dutch, go home following a lack of unity. Arjen Robben's greediness on the ball and Klass-Jan Hunterlaar thinking and saying his should start ahead of Robin Van Persie all lead to the the downfall of the Dutch team (it also may have had something to do with their naff defence). From Gary Neville to Jack Butland the squad have a harmonious team spirit, which was non-existence two years ago in South Africa. 




Whatever happens tonight in Donetsk, the main thing is England play for the win and don't sit on the draw as that can only lead to disaster. Also it would be nice to finish top of the group and play the Italians rather than the Spanish in the Quarters. COME ON ENGLAND  











England Team spirit








Dutch Team spirit






Irish Team spirit, 'You'll never beat the Irish'






Yes you can there shite!








        

Monday 18 June 2012

The First Day of the Rest of our Season

Clive Platt
It was today when it really dawned on me that Coventry City were in the 3rd tier of English football. As the fixtures appeared at 9AM and it materialised that our first game would be against Yeovil Town at Huish Park, how far our 'mighty' club had fallen. You'd now expect me to say, 'however there are many reasons why the club can be confident of an automatic return to the Championship', what I'm actually going to say is the very opposite. Since the 4-0 thrashing by Southampton the City have been in a period of stagnation (if it wasn't already) so much so that even the tree that is Clive Platt has been uprooted and jumped ship to link up with former City boss and full-time long ball merchant Aidy Hoofroyd. The club doesn’t appear to know what direction there going in and as June 1st nears we look no closer to removing the transfer embargo, for me it is clear there are several big decisions to be made .

The defensive duo
Firstly the whole will they won’t they Richard Keogh and Martin Crainie saga, needs to be given some level of clarity. We are all aware that the club have offered both of them new contracts and that Steve Waggott is even taking sense on the matter, "I've told them that we aim to bounce back at the first attempt which is easy to say and hard to do, although we’d certainly stand a much better chance of realising that aim with players of their capability on board", with respect Mr Waggott - no shit, Keogh and Crainie are the only two players to come out of last season with any credibility, so of course they need to stay. Nevertheless with clubs like Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Cardiff City sniffing around it wouldn't come as a surprise if we were without them come the 18th of August.

Ah Freddy so many memories.........or just the one 
This leads me onto the others that have left already; Sammy Clingan, Freddy Eastwood, Herman Hreidarsson, Clive Platt and both James McPake and Roy O'Donovan looking increasingly likely to depart. There was a lot of dead wood left from last season and the club have at least made the decision to get rid of it. For me there are not many complaints about letting this lot go; only McPake could be missed if the aforementioned Keogh and Crainie leave. As regards the rest, Sammy severely underperformed last season and Conor Thomas, Bigi and Gary Deegan can do his defensive midfield role just as well if not better. Freddy promised so much and has delivered so little, he will always be remembered for the Hat-trick against Peterborough and not much else. Platt, Plattini, The Tree, that big donkey up front whatever you call him he was never good enough . Roy hasn't played and so as you'd expect seeks pastures new, personally I hope he finally starts to play some football as his career could go the same way as the City. With these players leaving the question remains who is coming in?


Transfer Target No.1 - Deadly Dele
Transfer Target No.2 - Cool Clinton (You get me bruv)
This business with the transfer embargo has gone on for far too long, it has already cost us two players in Bradford's Dave Syers and Shrewsbury's James Collins who have joined our league one rivals Doncaster and Swindon. The situation with SISU hasn't appeared to have changed and so Thorny won’t have much to work with if the embargo ever gets lifted. It is vital that it does and fast as even without money there are so many free agents out there that are so much better than what we've got. For example Danny Webber, Justin Hoyte, Mikael Forssell, James Harper, Paul Green, Dele Adebola (jokes), Simon Gillett, Giles Barnes, Clarke Carlisle, Lee Naylor, Tommy Milller, Brian Howard, James Beattie, David Cotterill, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Clinton Morrison, Lloyd Sam, George Boateng and Emile Heskey (Not a joke as Heskey jokes are not funny anymore) to name but a few. With wages being available following the exit of Sammy Clingan and Freddy Eastwood, why not try and sign a few of these. Many of them have that key attribute of PACE, that in the past ten years we have only ever had once in Marlon King and he despite leaving us for the Yam-Yams last year was quite good. 

Transfer Target No.3 - Georgey Boy
The situation with SISU has been well documented as has the situation with the takeover. As I see it between now and the start of the season action needs to take place. If Gary Hoffman is serious about a takeover, and I don't doubt that he is, he needs to enter into negotiations with SISU and place his cards firmly on the table. In recent weeks one of Hoffman's potential investors has been revealed as 57-year-old businessman Wang Jianlin, president of Wanda Group. He is the sixth richest man in China with a personal fortune of £4 billion, the maths is simple: Wang Jianlin = MONEY, SISU = NO MONEY. If this takeover is too happen it needs to take place before the start of the season, if it does not happen by then Gary and his investors may have to call it a day.

Wang Jianlin
So there it is, if by the start of the season Keogh and Crainie are City players, we have Adebola and Heskey up front and Wang Jianlin is the new owner we could have great season and dominate the league. However as it stands now the only change the club have made is to get rid of Steve Harrison

      

Bye bye Steve