[Archived] New England Captain!

[USRoverME]

I think Hargreaves would be a decent shout for England captain, btu I'm not english!

I do have to ask this question though.... with the fact that every player can now apparently talk to the ref (although that may be changing), what's the point of a captain on the field? Motivation? A player putting on his countries shirt shouldn't need that in the least. Does skill factor in at all? On-field Organization? Problaby not since teh coach is still there to get his message across....

I've made this arguement before... I think the captaincy is becoming a hollow honor, a meaningless "victory" so to speak.

[mrsjansen]

Capello is simply trying out each of the likely candidates in the friendlies, to determine which player he feels would be the best man to be captain come the WC qualifiers in September. I personally don't care any more who is England captain, they are all a different breed of human now England footballers, your not gonna get a Bobby Moore figure again. Capello is interested in winning matches, and I would guess he couldn't care what his captain is like off the pitch as long as he does the job on the pitch.

And if Beckham starts tonight instead of Bentley, well that would be the earliest April Fool gag this year.

Beckham does start tonight.

[AlanK]

At the expense of Bents

Nothing changes

Same old faces

The circus just carries on

######

[Exiled_Rover]

How predictable. Well I've got no excuse to miss out on my run now, don't want to watch the same old wasters jog around in a friendly.

[den]

I think the opposite. I think it will do Bentley good to be reminded that there are more experienced players in the mix with him and that he definitely is not the first name on the teamsheet. It will help him improve.

It's more likely to make Bentley want to move to a bigger club - unfortunately.

[philipl]

Ferdinand has grown up a lot this season IMO and deserves a shot at the captaincy.

Perhaps he popped his cherry at the Man U Christmas Party? It does happen, you know.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Fair play to Rio, he performed well today, probably one of our better players, which says a lot about our performance.

[blue phil]

It's more likely to make Bentley want to move to a bigger club - unfortunately.

.....or it might inspire him to work even harder at Ewood

On second thoughts , maybe you're right ......

[neekoy]

You guys are kidding, take the blue and white specks of for a bit. Beckham has done so much for England, he has drops in form but always performs when the rest of team appear to be sitting on their lazy arses.

Whilst I know that Sir David will take the mantel one day but Beckham showed again tonight he is still class. He may have lost a bit of speed, but between the ears (on the football field) he is still sharp.

Bentley will have his day to shine and will be the number one on the right side come the next WC but he is definately not a walk up start as of yet when you still have Beckham around.

[1864roverite]

T'was a shocking match to watch.

England were poor.

Ferdinand did nothign to justify his selection as captain.

Bentley did enough to suggest he can create havoc in the English midfield whilst all Hargreaves did was show that he can alkso create havoc but in relation to him it was for his own defence.

[LeftWinger]

T'was a shocking match to watch.

England were poor.

Ferdinand did nothign to justify his selection as captain.

Bentley did enough to suggest he can create havoc in the English midfield whilst all Hargreaves did was show that he can alkso create havoc but in relation to him it was for his own defence.

Got to disagree with you there. I actually thought Hargreaves was one of the few English players to come out of the game with any credit.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I thought Hargreaves played not too bad, on a number of ocassions when Ribery moved from a flank into the center Hargreaves managed to get a tackle in or slow him down.

Bentley wasn't great, but it was also clear he wasn't happy. The media haven't mentioned it, but if you watched the game you can see Bentley with his arms wide open and shrugging his shoulders basically saying "who the hell can i pass this to". The forwards were static and not making runs, the central midfielders weren't making any forward runs, noone was trying to overlap him. Bentley tried to put some balls into the box, but with the forwards just standing still they were easilly intercepted.

[LeftWinger]

Bentley wasn't great, but it was also clear he wasn't happy. The media haven't mentioned it, but if you watched the game you can see Bentley with his arms wide open and shrugging his shoulders basically saying "who the hell can i pass this to".

Nail on the head there! Total lack of movement from England whenever we had the ball in the 2nd half. I mentioned it too while watching the game when Bentley just had no options. Owen was too deep as well - if you're going to get crosses into Crouch, Owen needs to be in there looking for knock-downs, not outside the box.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I was suprised to see Owen so deep, you really want him trying to make a run behind the defense with his pace and movement.

France did defend well, The great Thuram was immense in my opinion and at 36 is still a class act. But we could have caused them more problems if we played with more movement up front.

[Hughesy]

Correct Ribble Valley - no offence to owen or Crouch but they dont have that same thinking as more technical strikers who know how to pick holes and find space, hence why Bents linked well with Rooney in the last game - he's much more aware than those two donkeys! Bentley plays with Roque and Benni - two very sound technical players, crouch is just a big lump and like every1 could see, Owen was too deep to give him a decent option.

[chocky]

Did anybody on this board as well as me go to the match?...Paris was a crap hole..dissaponted really..about one toilet for every ten thousand fans at the stadium so you can guess what that lead to...Oh and the game was pretty poor too...

[ABBEY]

Are you being sarcastic?

no i wasnt being sarcastic.

A missed drug test is the same as a postive one and im a strong believer that anyone caught using /failing/failing to do a test in whatever sport should be an automatic lifetime ban.In my sport i took 3 tests,one at the gym and two in comps.The one at the gym (rio style) they turned up unannounced and told me its test time and they wait until i had finished training or you go and pee and they go with you(no chance of forgetting) and at comps my coach told me i had to go pee,one was done at once and the other i had 6 fights in a day and was dehydrayted and couldnt pee for 4 hours and had to wait from 7pm until 11pm with the tester and they even watch you pee.

[1864roverite]

Firstly Choccy, Paris as a whole is one big French toilet. A very depressing hole despite the clearly obvious attractions and its history.

Secondly, in respect of Owen hargreaves. I accept members may have other views. It is my view that he had a very poor game. In the second half when he went into the middle he was simply awful.

He didnt creae anything but trouble for our back 4.

He couldnt handle Ribery.

He gave the ball away more than passing to a forward English player.

His overall play was nowhere near the standards he has set himself playing for the red scum.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Nail on the head there! Total lack of movement from England whenever we had the ball in the 2nd half. I mentioned it too while watching the game when Bentley just had no options. Owen was too deep as well - if you're going to get crosses into Crouch, Owen needs to be in there looking for knock-downs, not outside the box.

Or maybe it could be something to do with this as quoted on the BBC

Meanwhile, striker Michael Owen has said he was not clear about his role when he came on for England against France, and suggested journalists should ask Capello what he was trying to achieve if they wanted clarification. (Various)

Worrying but not surprising.

As for Hargreaves - personally I think he is a decent player but as I didn't see the game can't comment really and he hasn't really featured that much for UTD this season has he? - In addition is it really surprising the players can't get it together with the constant changing of the team/tactics etc.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Its probably true, Bentley kept waving his arms about wondering where to put the ball, and Owen was far too deep.

[philipl]

Massive humiliation for Capello's decision to play Beckham

[thenodrog]

Massive humiliation for Capello's decision to play Beckham

bit ott that statement Gunner. There are 11 in a team remember. Villa got stuffed 4-0 at OT yesterday but that won't reflect too badly on the international careers of Young, Agbonlahore and Barry will it?

[adopted scouser]

Awful game, Stevie G shuffling around and anonymous. It'll be a different player at four o clock this afternoon, although I'll be stuck in bloody Blackburn instead of a packed boozer down there.

[thenodrog]

Awful game, Stevie G shuffling around and anonymous. It'll be a different player at four o clock this afternoon, although I'll be stuck in bloody Blackburn instead of a packed boozer down there.

Thats funny but defintely not the best clip that you've ever used as.

err......... only in my opinion of course.

[philipl]

I wonder if Barwick did the sort of homework that is normally associated with hiring a top executive when the FA selected Capello.

Reading that, it would seem that Moggi gave Baldini the sort of gesture normally associated with mafia movies in Court yesterday and one might conclude that Capello's silence and memory lapses are somewhat strange.

Taken from the BBC website....

England coach Fabio Capello believes it might be easier for his players to learn Italian than him to speak English. (The Sun) (check the date...)