Euros 2012 - England's Hopes

4^th June:

Called-up: Martin Kelly and Jordan Henderson

It’s fair to say that the much under-rated England squad is becoming much more belittled as they seem to be losing numbers by the day. Following the tournament defining injuries to John Ruddy, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and now Gary Cahill. England already have a list of players with niggly injuries, such as Scott Parker, John Terry, Glen Johnson and Danny Welbeck. But as seen in their last friendly against Belgium all of them featured but John Terry pulled up with a hamstring and Scott Parker seems to be continually getting injections for his Achilles. Roy Hodgeson is also unable to call up Michael Carrick, as he is reluctant to join the squad after being overlooked for the original team and not to forget Wayne Rooney suspended for the first two games.

All of these problems arose after me named his original squad for the Euros. But the pool that Hodgeson had to pick from was already minute as the players such as Jack Wilshere, Tom Cleverly and Darren Bent would have had a very good chance of making the squad. The players Roy has had to call-up to cover injuries have been players such as Phil Jakialka, Jordan Henderson and now Martin Kelly.

Funnily enough in the squad of 23 there seems to be 6 Liverpool players. From my point of view, I'm glad to see a high number of Liverpool players in the England team, I have never seen so much Liverpool players in the team. But even I have to wonder what Roy was thinking in picking the likes of players such as Downing and Henderson, both of whom have not had the best of seasons, especially Downing amazingly enough a winger with no league goals or assists to his name for the whole season. I've always had faith in Henderson even if he hasn't produced this season but showed glimpses of his great potential. I'm hoping he will gain a lot from being in the England squad and learn from Gerrard a lot more now and not be so scared from showing his stuff on the pitch. Martin Kelly unlike Henderson has always showed he is capable of performing whenever he has had a chance to impress in the absences of Glen Johnson or any of the other Liverpool defenders. With these two young players along with Andy Carroll, Liverpool’s future looks very promising now after a frustrating season.

But again looking at the England squad, even after the two narrow friendly victories over lesser sides like Norway and Belgium, surely expectations have not grown but instead declined to new low. So this injury-plagued England side should be playing without too much pressure more the first time in a major tournament. All this should all work in Roy Hodgeson’s favour to help England to achieve heights that they haven’t reached since the solitary world cup win.  

Brendan Rodgers The New King?

31st May 2012,

It looks like Brendan Rodgers is going to be the man to replace the king at helm of the Anfield hot seat. I personally have mixed feelings about this appointment. The positive side of this appointment is that I preferred him to Roberto Martinez, as his Swansea side play a good brand of football and have established themselves in the Premier league. This style of football would definitely help bring back the pass and move style that Liverpool were famous for and also play possession football at the same time. This is what excites me the most and to see what he can do with a more talented group of players (no offence to Swansea). He should have a bigger transfer budget than Swansea to attract some players, which would be very handy for him as he should (and hopefully) get better results.

While Martinez may also have good footballing philosophies, however his Wigan side only just escaped relegation again for second year running, is being hailed for this success. But I don’t see what the deal was as it was their own fault that they were in relegation zone in the first place. For that reason I didn’t understand the reason why he was the favourite for the Liverpool job for so long until a couple of days ago, when Rodgers came back into the fold.

But I feel that we may have missed out on bringing a big name manager to get Liverpool back on track, such as Guardiola or even Andres-Villa Boas. It would have also made the sacking of Daglish more justifiable.

However I do feel that Brendon Rodgers can do a good job at Liverpool, with the help and backing of the players, the fans and whoever else FSG decide to bring on board.

Bring on next season.

View on the Dethroning of a King and the possible future manager

For a Liverpool supporter, yesterday was a day of mixed emotions, as King Kenny got dethroned from the Anfield kingdom for a second time. But on the positive side, four of the Liverpool players were named in the England squad for the Euros. Those that were named were Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Stewart Downing and a surprise inclusion Andy Carroll, with Jordan Henderson named as a back-up and Gerrard given the honour of leading his country.

Firstly in my honest opinion I wanted to see Dalglish get sacked, even though I was hoping he would bring us back to the glory days. The results this side has been getting in the league has been very frustrating to watch this season, one game they will be thrashing a team like Chelsea then the next game they are hopeless to a lower team(eg, Swansea no disrespect to them). Also the lack of finishing from this side has been shocking for the amount of chances created. It was obvious for all to see that Kenny has lost his touch in the management, as he was given 100mil to spend in the last summer in which he chose to go out and buy British players, who have been inconsistent this whole season and definitely not worth the money spent. Also his tactics were also questionable at times, especially with the teams he keeps naming, such as naming the youngster Jordan Henderson for almost every and in most of the time he been in a position that he’s definitely not used. This was a big mistake as he had Kuyt and Maxi on the bench and unused, and these two are more known wingers and more experienced than Henderson.

There have already been a lot rumours on who will take the vacant hot seat at Anfield, with the following people being linked:

•  The Wigan boss Roberto Martinez heavily linked, in my opinion not suited for the Liverpool job as he would be similar to Roy Hodgson.
•  The former Reds boss Rafa Benitez, who I personally want to see back as I thought he was a master tactician and new the right players to buy. Most of his buys are still at Liverpool and are the key members of the squad now (Lucas, Agger, Skrtel, Johnson, Reina), he also brought the likes of Macherano, the legend Xabi Alonso and former Kop idol Fernando Torres. It would be perfect for him to return now.
• The recently sacked Chelsea manger Andres Villas Boas (AVB). Even before he was appointed at Chelsea we rumoured to be interested in him, before Kenny was given the full time role. I was hoping he would be our manager back then, but I wouldn’t mind if he was given the role at Liverpool now.

This is my first ever blog, I just thought I might try and give blogging a go. I really don’t know what I’m going to write about so, on this blog I might just write about the last day of the Premier League.

So the only thing that I was concerned about today was the finale to the most epic Barclays Premier League season ever. Even though the team I dearly support had its worst ever season in a long time, that being Liverpool. I was eagerly fixed on the tv screen, watching City against QPR, and rooting City on to clinch the title. I thought this title race could not get more excited but was I wrong, because United were almost into their celebrations at full-time in their game, as city were trailing QPR with only 5 added minutes left. But City pulled off the biggest heist in their history to record their title in 40-odd years. The funniest this thing I say was watching the local news, and seeing Fergie’s and Phil Jones (who was topless at the time in the middle of some early celebrations) just when City hit the winner. This is was especially satisfying because I’m a Liverpool supporter, and being that hate anything to do with Fergie and United. This was the only real positive from liverpool supporter’s perspective today.