Capello's Headaches Only Just Beginning

Casual followers of the England football team and their quest for global glory might have you believe that the passing of Sunday May 30th also indicated the end of the unenviable difficulties faced by the supreme leader, Fabio Capello. Yesterday saw the completion of the pre-selection encounters, which were navigated without any serious injury alarms, with Capello's declaration that he had now finalised the make-up of the 23-strong squad that will depart for the Rainbow Nation later this week following closely behind. However, those with their attention firmly focused on the constant rumblings and murmurings emanating from the England camp and its hangers-on know full well that the many problems besetting the Italian coach are only now thrusting themselves into the spotlight.

The most pressing concern, of course, must be whether Capello is set to cut the right players from his initial 30. Put another way, there are far more than 7 players who have shown themselves to be wholly undeserving of a place on the grandest stage. It would not be an exaggeration to claim that the defence and midfield as entire units have been spectacularly poor during the preparatory fixtures, though I do not include the goalkeepers in this, as the almost inevitable selection of all three appears to have given them a confidence that is sorely lacking in even the cream of the outfield crop. Lampard and Gerrard have put in reasonable performances, without threatening to come close to the standards expected at their respective clubs, but the supporting cast have been sloppy in possession and unimaginative in their creation. James Milner looked particularly out of sorts against Mexico, while Michael Carrick and Tom Huddlestone passed in a fashion more befitting of David Brent than David Beckham.

In defence, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry looked nervous in a rare appearance together at the heart of the back four against Japan, while Ledley King was average at best against the Mexican livewires, even if he did not deserve all of the criticism heaped upon his shoulders in the post-match analysis. It would be extremely harsh on Michael Dawson if he were not handed a place on the plane, as his failure to appear so far has merely highlighted how much England could do with his committed displays and calmness on the ball. Leighton Baines was awful against Mexico, Glen Johnson almost as poor against Japan, with Ashley Cole's contribution yesterday providing welcome respite.

The poor fare on show last week has opened the door to Capello's fringe players, and I would suggest that Capello's selection ought to reflect this in all departments, apart from at the head of the team. Darren Bent continues to prove that he cannot translate his Premiership exploits into international stardom, so the four forwards are pretty much nailed on. Only one of Lennon and Walcott will be picked, most likely the former after some toothless displays from the latter. Expect to see Joe Cole and Adam Johnson sneak into the 23, if only because they offer a rather more cultured brand of playmaking than the often predictable running of the aforementioned London-based fliers. Shaun Wright-Phillips is also likely to be dropped after a poor season, though he was lively enough against the Japanese.

England's struggles in the middle of the park against livelier opponents also served to remind observers of the one major injury doubt plaguing Capello's mind, the ever-impressive Gareth Barry. The 29 year old has matured into one of the most important players in the England squad, benefitting hugely from the glass knees of Owen Hargreaves and forcing himself onto the England teamsheet at every opportunity. The England boss has confessed that the City man is a crucial member of the side, with his nature as a true box-to-box player blessed with a certain versatility and a dynamic left foot elevating him far above the likes of Carrick and Huddlestone, who, though better passes and strikers of the ball, are too often one-dimensional in their play and lack the pace to worry the more technical midfielders that the top international opponents can boast. His failure to recover from ankle ligament damage (Capello has said that he must be fit for Algeria and Slovenia if he is to be selected) could prove terminal to England's chances of making the latter stages of the tournament.

Capello's final problem lies rather further east than our considerations thus far, in the minds of the Inter Milan president, Massimo Moratti. Stripped of the Nerazzurri's prize asset - the Special One having taken his prodigious talent to the Bernabeu - Moratti has decided that the newly-crowned European champions need the greatest footballing mind available for the defence of their Treble. With Pep Guardiola unlikely to turn his back on the dream job of managing the marvellous Catalans, who have recently added the brilliant hitman David Villa to their title-winning squad, Capello is seen as the man for the post, and a less-than-impressive start to the tournament could see the pressure to ditch England and head back to Italy mount. It would be a considerable surprise if the mind-games do not increase in their frequency and intensity as the World Cup gets underway, particularly if we consider the possible benefits to Italy's own chances in their own title defence. The Italians are currently enjoying their usual role as dark horses, despite their 2006 triumph.

Capello has an opportunity to send some of these many issues into retreat with a bold and imaginative announcement on Tuesday, and England must hope that as few of his remaining dilemmas as possible are not of his own making. Inter's interest will not go away, regardless of Capello's proclamations of dedication to his adopted cause, but the dearth of confidence on the pitch is a problem that the hugely-respected chief can, and must, rectify if the golden generation is to finally gleam as all are sure it can.

Diamond In The Rough Gives Redknapp Plenty To Ponder

Ask any Portsmouth fan to nominate their low points from the current campaign, and the list would most likely fill a tome the size of a standard Tolstoy novel. A list of positives, on the other hand, could be detailed on one hand with three digits to spare: a run to the FA Cup semi-final (which has included a victory over hated Southampton), and the consistently fine form of midfielder Jamie O'Hara, on loan from this weekend's cup opponents Tottenham Hotspur. However, with the season drawing to a conclusion and Pompey all but certain to slip into the Championship, O'Hara will no doubt be allowing his thoughts to wander to his future, particularly with his absence from Portsmouth's biggest game of the season guaranteed by the terms of the loan.

Regular first-team football - not that Portsmouth could lay claim to any sort of regularity this season - has seen the young Englishman blossom into an all-action player capable of being classified using that most wonderful of descriptions, the 'complete midfielder'. Tenacious in his defensive play and with an engine more suited to an endurance racer than a 23 year old sportsman, O'Hara also possesses a dreamy left foot that provides deliveries capable of arousing the admiration of some of the league's premier left-footed players (Aston Villa's Stewart Downing and Man City's Adam Johnson are those that I primarily have in mind). Surprisingly, O'Hara has only contributed 4 assists in the league this season - to go with his 2 strikes - but in this regard he is still Portsmouth's most productive player in the current campaign.

One would - perhaps not unreasonably - expect Harry Redknapp to be rubbing his hands in gleeful anticipation at being able to include O'Hara in his Spurs squad in the near future. After all, while Redknapp is blessed with numerous talented midfielders, none can boast the mix of characteristics enjoyed by the Portsmouth star. Bentley, Modric, Huddlestone and Kranjcar are all capable of a pinpoint delivery and a 30 yard screamer, while Palacios is one of the Premier League's finest exponents of tough tackling and breaking up opposition attacks. Of these though, only Palacios could legitimately be described as approaching the status of the complete midfielder, and his work rarely includes assaulting the opposition goal in any case. Forgotten man Jermaine Jenas - currently keeping Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King company at the physio's - is well past his days of aspiring to be North London's answer to Steven Gerrard.

Strangely, however, wily Redknapp appears to have other ideas. The Spurs boss has not exactly been shouting O'Hara's praises from the rooftop, and recently irritated the youngster by refusing Portsmouth permission to include him in their threadbare squad for the weekend's FA Cup clash. This latter was perhaps in response to O'Hara's (possibly unwise) statement that he would not be supporting Tottenham in their quarter-final against Fulham, as he wished to prolong his own run in the competition; nevertheless, it would take a brave man to back Portsmouth against the top-four chasers even with O'Hara in the side, and the experience of a major semi-final could only be beneficial to the player's growth, so the harm in permitting his involvement would probably not be significant.

One must hope that both parties are able to see past these petty squabbles, as Harry's injury-prone midfield would certainly benefit from the presence of O'Hara. This would be an even more pertinent issue if European football was added to the fixture list when hostilities resume in August. The current campaign has proved that the young midfielder can impose himself on matches at the top level, and any short-sightedness on Redknapp's part would no doubt be swiftly punished by a Premier League rival. There will be no shortage of offers when O'Hara's loan expires next month, but the jugdment of the Tottenham management would require serious questioning if any were allowed to make headway.

Campbell's Departure Indicative Of The Times

Sol Campbell's hasty departure from League Two Notts County - five weeks into a lucrative five year contract - is a sad but unsurprising reminder that the modern footballer by and large deserves his reputation as a self-centred mercenary, unable to comprehend the eternal notion that the club is bigger than any player, especially one well past his best and with a history of bottling it.

Wednesday saw the astonishing about-turn fly onto the front pages of the nation's news sources, and the immediate reaction was one of disappointment (from County's perspective), tempered with the rapid realisation that the former England international really wasn't worth the 'hassle' - as Spurs chief Harry Redknapp chose to put it - and especially not the £45,000 weekly salary that he was reported to be receiving from the club's wealthy but mysterious owners. Campbell played a single game for the ambitious County outfit - a 2-1 defeat to Morecambe.

Today on skysports.com, director of football Sven-Goran Eriksson confirmed that Campbell had decided the club's long-term project was not one he could adapt to, and questioned the centre back's motives, claiming that Campbell had had five weeks in which to familiarise himself with the various facets of the programme. Let us interpret this in the way which is probably intended: Campbell simply couldn't be bothered to wait for County's climb to click into gear, and attempted to mask this with an excuse that attempted - poorly - to call into doubt the foundations of the five-year plan.

Sometimes, of course, impatience can be a virtue (this at any rate was the thinking behind the recent Samsung mobile phone advert); the qualification is that it must be expressed in the right way. That is, we can admire a singleness of focus in a sportsperson if they are able to channel this into dedication and commitment on and off the field. But when it is manifested as the individual's express belief that he is being let down or in some way betrayed by those around him, then it is much more difficult to call up some appreciation for his situation. Moreover, crossing one's management invariably ends badly; we need only recall the decline of David Beckham after his departure from Manchester United, or more recently the pariah status enjoyed by Nigel Reo-Coker after his training ground tussle with Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill.

A player who can use his frustration as a motivation for redoubled efforts on the training ground and increased application in the opportunities that he does get merits encouragement. But Campbell's early ditching of the project at Notts County, apparently because the facilities at Notts County do not rival those at Arsenal or Portsmouth, merely marks him out as a deserving recipient of further terrace ridicule. Sadly, it seems that we will have to wait until January before we can indulge in such behaviour. At least it gives us plenty of time to prepare our best material...

The Big Four: Will 2009/10 see the status quo maintained?

The weekend's Premier League fixtures gave the global audience the chance to see how the season's early frontrunners are shaping up, with the mania of the summer transfer window having died down and the fixture schedule beginning to bite as the cup competitions get into gear. Unfortunately for the fans of the pretenders to the crown shared by Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, the latest round of games gave a clear indication that the Big Four will be resisting expansion, until 2010 at least.

The Big Four all helped themselves to 3 goals or more, and that was after all four got off to a winning start in the Champions League, though not necessarily convincingly. Moreover, the quartet's most promising challengers were among the sides to be leaking goals, with Spurs shipping 3 at Stamford Bridge and Manchester City conceding 4 in a classic derby with United. Consolation may be sought in the fact that away fixtures at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge may be considered the toughest games of the domestic season, but the problems facing City and Spurs lie in a crucial, but familiar, area.

That area is the defence. White Hart Lane is notorious for being the home of many a defensive clanger, and 'Arry's efforts to consign defensive unreliability to the past will not be helped by possessing three horribly injury-prone central defenders. Woodgate and King in particular; though both fine footballers, they are all too often to be found in the treatment room, rather than the Tottenham penalty area. Michael Dawson showed signs of improvement last season but remains inconsistent, while Sebastian Bassong has started well and was fortunate to escape serious injury after a nasty fall against Chelsea. In the full-back positions, first choices Vedran Corluka and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are solid but hardly excellent, while back ups Alan Hutton and Gareth Bale are both average at best as defenders, though good attacking weapons. It comes as little surprise to learn that Spurs have not kept a clean sheet in their first 6 Premiership games.

City started the season in fine defensive form, but like Spurs have shipped 6 goals in their last two games - games played against members of the Big Four. Clean sheets in the earlier clashes suggest that their backline is in finer fettle than their North London compatriots, even if those games were against Blackburn, Portsmouth and Wolves. Indeed, their problems are less serious than those facing Redknapp; captain Kolo Toure seems more focused than in his last days at The Emirates, while Shay Given remains magnificent between the sticks. The jury remains out on Joleon Lescott, who was unimpressive against United. Perhaps the price tag is weighing him down, but he is still a weaker defender than his previous defensive partner, the colossal Phil Jagielka. City rely on Given to bail them out with worrying regularity - though he regularly proves equal to the task - and may miss Toure when he joins a number of Chelsea stars (and suspended hotshot Emmanuel Adebayor) at the African Cup of Nations in January.

Apologies for neglecting fans of last season's fifth and sixth placed sides, Everton and Aston Villa. I personally cannot see either overhauling Spurs and City, so this may be the battle for seventh. Villa are coming into form after a poor start to the season, having made some good additions to their backline and seen John Carew return to fitness. The rapid trio of Milner, Young and Agbonlahor have plenty of goals in them, and they look a good bet for seventh, especially as they have already completed their European commitments for the season. Everton have yet to settle into their stride, and still miss the talismanic Mikel Arteta, but the return of Nigerian frontman Yakubu from injury will ease the burden on the likes of Cahill and Saha (who himself is surely due another injury). Everton are well stocked in defence and midfield, and when Jagielka returns they should be strong. Expect a season-long struggle for seventh, with both pushing hard at City and Spurs above them.

But, barring further extravagant strengthening in January from City, I cannot see the Big Four being broken up this season, even though three of the pretenders have no European distractions. Regarding the order of the Big Four, I find it difficult to look past Chelsea and United for first and second, with Arsenal and Liverpool in hot pursuit. Not sure about the order yet, but I do know that January will go a long way to determining it...