Criticism of England squad is bizarre

England manager Roy Hodgson
Photo: The Daily Mirror

Earlier this week Roy Hodgson announced his squad to face Lithuania and Italy later this month. And, like every time the England squad is announced, there has been a huge backlash on social media to the manager's selection.

But I'm really struggling to understand why.

There can be no denying that the squad is a strong one. We have some promising young defenders in there; in Nathaniel Clyne England may well have finally found a strong enough replacement for Gary Neville at right back. The midfield section boasts a wealth of talent, most notably of which has to be Jordan Henderson who's transformation in the last 18 months has been astounding. We have four strikers who can all give something different to the team. As for the goalkeepers, you just have to look at their respective performances against Barcelona and Chelsea in the last week to see how well Joe Hart and Fraser Forster are playing at the moment.

Although people might disagree with one or two of Roy's selections, there is literally no point in kicking up a fuss about it. What is it actually going to achieve?

We have this extremely bizarre tradition in this country of damning our players before they even play. Yes if we play poorly in our next two games, then criticise Roy's selection, but don't do it before a ball's been kicked.

Surely it's a good thing that there all these players that should feel unlucky not to have made the squad? It means that we have strength in depth and Roy clearly has a greater pool of talent to choose from then many may think.

I really respect what Roy Hodgson is trying to do at England. He's attempting to bring a club mentality to England by picking similar squads each time. And that's how it should be. You can't keep making wholesale changes to the squad because a handful of players have played well, or haven't played well in the last few months. These players only get about a week to train together; so if Roy was to make 5-10 changes to his squad then they simply wouldn't be able to gel.

So let's stop the whinging and the whining and get behind our boys.

COME ON ENGLAND!

Don't lay the blame at Pellegrini's door for the mess at City

After crashing out of the Champions League this week, many have been calling for the head of Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini.

Despite having a very successful season last year, winning the league and cup double, City currently find themselves six points behind league leaders Chelsea and out of all knock-out cup competitions.

Although you can't expect to win trophies every year, the Manchester City fans expect their team to be at the very least competitive, something which they haven't been at all this season.

Under pressure manager Manuel Pellegrini
Photo: London Evening Standard

In terms of their failings in the Champions League these past two years, yes Pellegrini must certainly take his fair share of the blame. His decision to play two in midfield in the first leg against Barcelona was incredibly naive and the fact that he didn't know that one more goal in that win in Munich would've seen them top the group was scandalous.


But instead I look at the guys who run the club. Their decision to sack Roberto Mancini in 2013 was shocking. He had built a strong squad and delivered trophies. He was also very close to signing a player who would've helped them retain the title in Robin Van Persie. But the chief exec. and the director of football faffed about trying to re-negotiate his agreed terms. This went on for months and in the end Fergie stepped in and offered Van Persie what he wanted. The Dutchman signed for United, scored bucket loads of goals that season and almost single handedly won them the title.

Former City boss Roberto Mancini waving goodbye after being sacked in 2013
Photo: The Daily Mirror

But this isn't the only example of the guys at the top cocking up the club's transfers. Mancini was close to bringing in Eden Hazard and Edison Cavani until the club's owners sacked him. Since then they've spent £327m on transfers. And how many of their signings are currently in the starting XI? Most weeks - just two! What an absolute joke.


They also didn't take control of the dressing room mutiny that was taking place. The players didn't like being forced out of their comfort zone by Mancini so they ganged up against him and begged the owners to get rid of him. The owners gave the players their wish and by doing so effectively put the players in charge of the club.

So City fans, don't take your anger out on your manager but instead on those upstairs who sacked his his successful predecessor, mucked around with his transfers and most likely won't back him when the players come calling for his head. 

Video technology MUST be brought in to help referees

One of the most debated topics in football is whether to have video technology in order to aid referees. 

It's clear to see why too; the amount of big decisions that have been called wrong by Premier League officials is off the scale.

And this weekend has been no different with referee Anthony Taylor incorrectly sending off two players in the  FA Cup quarter final between Aston Villa and West Brom. 

Referee Anthony Taylor incorrectly sends off West Brom's Claudio Yacob
Photo: Daily Mirror

For me, video technology in football is an absolute no brainer. A system whereby referees are given a second look at an incident before making a decision which will have a major impact on a game, i.e. giving a penalty or sending a player off, seems perfectly sensible, no? 

Well apparently not as we persist in reluctantly failing to give our refs any help. And instead decide to continue with this horrible culture where whenever there's a contentious decision in a game, straight away those in the press box, TV studios, watching at home and even fans in the crowds watching vines on their phones are able to instantly watch the incident again to reach a verdict. And yet the one person who actually makes the decision, the referee, is the least informed out of everyone. It's ridiculous.

 Thierry Henry and Graeme Souness watch replays of an incident in the Sky Sports studio
Photo: Daily Mail

In our other national sports which have video technology (cricket, rugby and tennis), we are seeing far fewer contentious decisions, so why can't it work in football?

And yet there are still those who are staunchly against the use of video technology in football, claiming that it would 'ruin the game'. But the simple fact is that the game is already being ruined by the amount of poor refereeing decisions that are happening at the top level. 

And to those who claim it would destroy the flow of the game, when you're watching a replay of an incident at home, how long does it take for you to reach a verdict? 10, 15 seconds? Maybe a little more? Not long enough to ever really disrupt a game's flow though.

Instead, by implementing video technology, far less games will be ruined by incorrect decisions and, perhaps even more importantly, we'll see the end of managers using refereeing decisions as a woeful excuse for their team's poor run of results. 

The Premier League are missing the bigger picture over Winter World Cup fury

Earlier in the week it was announced that the 2022 FIFA World Cup was going to be moved from the summer to the winter.


This has caused much anger from the major European league's, including the English Premier League, who will now have to re-organise their season come 2022.

Now I fully sympathise with the Premier League's predicament, but I have been amazed at the huge amount of reaction the change in date has produced, including many who have even branded it as a 'scandal'.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announcing the 2022 World Cup to be in Qatar
Photo: Qatar is Booming

But I disagree. In the summer the temperature in Qatar can sometimes be as high as 45 degrees Celsius which is definitely not a suitable condition for footballers running around a pitch for 90 minutes in.

And there's other reasons as to why the move to winter is sensible too:


It is worth remembering after all that a summer world cup messes up loads of leagues all over the world.  Despite the fact that many of the players play in the European leagues,  football shouldn't be run for the benefit of the most powerful. The tournament is called the 'World Cup' not the 'European Cup'.

As well as this, a winter world cup could also help the England national team.  How often have we seen English players looked tired at a world cup? A winter world cup would see our players full rested, having only played just a few months of football leading up to the competition. Surely anything which will give our national team a better chance HAS to be something worth considering.

Zurich protest against 2022 World Cup location Qatar last October
Photo: Revolution News

Finally, there is obviously more contentious issues surrounding this world cup than a rearrangement of the footballing calendar. There has been allegations of bribery by the Qatar football association and protest against the countries current treatment of women and homosexuals. But the most problematic factor concerning the World Cup being held in Qatar has to be the appalling situation with the migrant workers who are building the stadiums. Last year, Nepalese migrant workers were dying at a horrifying rate of 1 every two days. The fact that such a large amount of people are having their lives ended because they don't even have the basic human right to leave the country without their employer's permission, is simply diabolical. 

And that's the real scandal of the 2022 World Cup.