Roy's England Squad

It's a bit belated, but I've decided to have a look at who Roy Hodgson has picked for his Euro 2012 squad amid much controversy. Nobody will ever agree on a starting XI never mind a 23-man squad to go to a tournament, one which if we are honest will be very happy if we make it through to the semi-final stage. 


That basis of being realistic and not getting ahead of ourselves is also the basis for some of the reasoning behind who I would and wouldn't have picked. If you never get these younger lads experience on the big stage, when the World Cup rolls around in 2016 people will be saying "you can't pick so-and-so cos he's never even played in the Euro's" and don't tell me that's not true because we hear it every World Cup year!! If we do get to the final stages of the Euro's and lose out due to a lack of experience then fair enough, we might then have a half decent crack at a World Cup.


Goalkeepers

Joe Hart - England's No1

The ones who have been selected behind Joe Hart are only there to make up the numbers. We all know Hart is a fantastic keeper and will certainly wear the Number 1 shirt in Poland & Ukraine. Rob Green can do a stand in job if required and Ruddy has had a good season but unless Hart gets injured they'll be carrying the drinks.


Defenders


With Rio being left out, and rightly so in my opinion, Terry was an obvious pick. Personally I'd have had neither in my squad. Both are getting on and neither has had a particularly good season. Cahill is going to be a future English centre back so I'd have certainly picked him and would have him in the starting XI. His partner would be Joleon Lescott, Premier League Champion and a unsung hero alongside Vincent Kompany. He isn't the quickest but has enough Premier League experience with Everton and Man City and Cahill's pace will compensate for his lack of. 

Gary Cahill

Phil Jagielka may have also been in with a shout of a spot, but his lack of games this season has cost him, and you can't knock Hodgson for that. The injury to Chris Smalling has cost him his chance of a crack at the squad, but his Manchester United team mate could always cover at centre half if needs be.


In the full back spots, a lot of people can't understand why Micah Richards hasn't been included, but I believe it's fairly obvious. What people see of him, he bulldozes past defenders and is great going forward. It's the other end of the pitch where he struggles, and it seems incomprehensible for a lad of his size and with his pace that he'd get caught out. Mancini rarely plays Richards when they are likely to be under the cosh, opting instead for Zabaleta who takes less risks. In the same way Kyle Walker does at Spurs, neither are particularly good defensively and pace often gets them out of a hole, and if those teams do concede goals it's often because the right back has switched off. Johnson is going to play at right back, and even as a Liverpool fan I think this is our weakest area of the team. Phil Jones hasn't set the world on fire at United but he makes the squad because of his versatility and will cover at right back. 


If Leighton Baines was a right back he might get a go, but unfortunately he is behind one of the best, if not the best left-back in the world in (C)Ashley Cole. One of very few to come back from South Africa with any credit.


Midfielders

Theo Walcott

Stewart Downing has obviously, and right so been a highly criticised inclusion of Roy Hodgson's squad. Having no league goals, and no league assists is simply not good enough from a winger. However, he's not even going to get a look in, so don't get your knickers in a twist too much. He will be behind Walcott, Young, Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner in the wide positions. People have been talking about Adam Johnson not being included in the squad, but he has hardly played a game this year. 


If there is one thing defenders don't like its pace, and England have got Walcott, Young and Chamerbrlain to get at the full backs, with the potential they have. The only thing is, when they pull on an England shirt, they don't really seem to do it. Walcott needs to do something to stop people talking about his hatrick in Croatia which was too long ago. All three would have been in my squad, Downing wouldn't have been, but like I say, he won't get a look in I don't think. All three a relatively young and are all good inclusions, all will be available for the World Cup and need the tournament experience. 


Daniel Sturridge has been unlucky to miss out after having a decent season at Chelsea. I can only imagine England won't play in the same way Chelsea do and therefore couldn't find him a place out wide, or one of a top two, as that's not where he has played for Chelsea.


In the middle, Gerrard is obviously on Hodgson's team sheet in marker pen, baring injury. Who partners him in midfield will depend on Hodgson's preference. Gareth Barry obviously does something right because Liverpool chased him, and then City paid a lot of money to acquire his services from Villa. He is also on Mancini's team sheet every week. Equally Scott Parker has been a shoe-in for Spurs and has done a good job in the engine room. Lampard makes up the four central midfielders, but probably won't play, it's a years old theory that Gerrard and Lampard can't play together, and unless we play with 5 in the midfield, it will be Gerrard plus Barry or Parker. Whether Parker recovers from his injury may decide who makes the first XI against France. I'd play 4-4-2 personally.


Michael Carrick has missed out, and rightly so. Manchester United struggled to make incisive balls between defenders and that's partly down to Carrick, he gives the ball to someone else and isn't as good as Parker or Barry in the defensive role and has rightly missed out. He has the highest pass completion record in the Premiership, not hard when you pass the ball backwards or sideways 5 yards. 


Strikers

Andy Carroll

With Wayne Rooney missing for the first two games due to his petulance, the forward line looks thin on the ground while he is unavailable. Welbeck has had a decent season for United, and his inclusion may have been due to the way he works with Rooney, but when isolated up on his own, he isn't the same player. He doesn't seem like a natural partner for Andy Carroll either. Carroll has looked more like the player he was at Newcastle towards the back end of the season, but has been lucky to get in. People have talked about Grant Holt, but he's 31. Is that the future of English centre forwards, no. Could Carroll? Possibly. 


Jermaine Defoe has a great goal scoring record for England and is a great inclusion in my mind. Rooney likes to drop deep and get on the ball, whereas Defoe is the complete opposite. These two would be my starting pair when Rooney becomes available. Leaving Welbeck and Carroll on the sidelines, both of which could make an impact from the bench. 


Darren Bent was unlucky to miss out I'm told. But I'm not a fan. He had 9 league goals last season, a terrible return for a centre forward. He needs several chances to get himself on the scoresheet and isn't clinical enough for the international stage. He is another who isn't the future of English football and needs to be cast aside. For good.


Those are my opinions on the side, and what Hodgson is thinking is anyone's guess. What I will guarentee is that the press will build up England's chances only to shoot them down once they struggle. There is also good odds on someone embarrassing the country on the field, losing their rag and getting sent off, or something of that ilk. 


My starting XI would be: (4-4-2) Hart, Johnson, Cahill, Lescott, Cole, Walcott, Gerrard, Parker (if fit, Barry if not), Young, Welbeck (Rooney when available), Defoe.


What I think Hodgson will play: (4-5-1 or 4-3-3): Hart, Johnson, Terry, Cahill, Cole, Walcott, Parker Parker (if fit, Barry if not), Lampard, Young, Welbeck (Rooney when available). 


As I said at the start, nobody will ever agree on the starting XI never mind the squad, but that's the beauty of football, "its a game of opinions".

Long Live the King

As bookies stopped taking bets on Tuesday night about the future of Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool manager, he may as well have been clearing his desk at Melwood and Anfield. The bookmakers are seldom wrong about these things and everyone could see Dalglish wouldn't be the Liverpool manager much longer. On Wednesday the news finally came through that the club and Dalglish had 'parted company'. 

While Sky Sports reported he had been sacked, others claimed it was a mutual split. The most likely scenario is that Fenway Sports Group (FSG) asked Dalglish to step down as they wanted someone else in charge. Key to their success with the Boston Red Sox, they know how to work their PR department. They have garnered the support of the Anfield faithful and have been very keen not to damage that bond. They did the same with the Red Sox, rebuilding their current stadium at Fenway Park as the fans wanted, rather than moving to a new site. If they'd have 'sacked' Dalglish and headlines were 'Dalglish Sacked' or 'Dalglish Kops It' it would have riled a lot of Liverpool fans up the wrong way, unable to see why they have treated a club legend so badly. The mutual split means Dalglish and FSG walk away with their reputations in tact, and the educated Liverpool fan probably realises it could be for the best.


Dalglish has been a stop gap, and while there is a good argument for giving Dalglish another season, to gel the group of players that he has bought together and see another season of progress from them players, is a very valid point. We all know Fergie was one game away from supposedly getting the boot and look what has happened there. 

Dalglish has copped a lot of stick for his signings, of which this year they haven't produced the results you would have wanted. Stewart Downing has no goals or assists (in the league!), Henderson has looked like a League 1 player at time, while showing signs of promise at rare intervals, Carroll hasn't looked overly interested until the back end of the season, and looked a real handful when he did. Charlie Adam hasn't shown the form he did at Blackpool, and struggled with his fitness and the tough ask of being asked to be more disciplined than he had to be at Blackpool. 


From what I understand, Damien Comolli is the one responsible for paying the prices. Dalglish identified who he wanted, and Comolli was the one who was sent out to do the business. Much like Harry and Daniel Levy at Spurs. That's why Comolli was shown the door long before, why spend £20m on Henderson, when you could have van der Vaart for £8m. What a lot of people don't realise is that it wasn't Dalglish writing the cheques. 


That said, the league results are what Dalglish has to take responsibility for. He has done with the ultimate price. The inability to beat teams at home has been a real thorn in Liverpool's season, I'm pretty sure it is the worst record at Anfield, possibly ever, if not, in a very, very long time. The league season was as good as over when the Carling Cup was won, and the Europa League place never became a necessity. Throw in the FA Cup run and players were resting during the league games ready for the cup matches, leading to defeats at home to WBA and Fulham. 


I'm not making excuses for Kenny, he has looked out of touch with the game and some of his selections have been strange. Results and the league table don't lie, and it hasn't been a good league season for the reds, it's been painful to watch at times.


While I agree that we needed a change at the helm, FSG and Dalglish have done a more important job that is more of an intangible benefit. The Suarez saga was a prime example, right or wrong the club went for a unified approach. Something that was badly missing with Hicks and Gillett. The fans hated the board, the board hated the fans, and the players and manager(s) were lost somewhere in between. That is no more, Liverpool are no longer airing their dirty laundry out in public, going back to the 'old' Liverpool way. While the results haven't reflected the 'old' Liverpool, there is no change in the way you should conduct your business and   Dalgish has re-instilled that in the club. He's done his part, and now it's time to step aside.

Don't forget in one season, Dalglish has delivered a trophy and a FA Cup final appearance. Something others haven't done, despite Liverpool having a bad season. 


Who will be the man to take over? Roberto Martinez, Rafa Benitez and Andre Villas-Boas are all possible candidates, and only time will tell who gets the job. Whoever does take over, I don't think there will be open cheque-book this close season for them to exploit. 


Finally, this poor league placing wont affect how Kenny Dalglish is viewed by Liverpool fans, an easy target for the 'chelpers' considering his reputation, I'm sure his reputation before he took over in January 2011, will remain and this wont have any affect on how Dalglish is viewed. He will still be revered, will still have been an integral part in the success of the club, and will always be the King.

Social Media Police

As I articulated during my two-hour examination to end my university career, social media is changing the way the world works. To be fair, you don't need a degree to work that out, but just about everyone has a Facebook or Twitter account. 


A quote which I'd revised was something on the lines of:

"If someone had a bad experience in years gone by, they'd go home and tell ten people. Now if someone has a bad experience they can go home and tell thousands"

It couldn't be more true, and that's why businesses and sports teams are so conscious about what people (especially staff) are saying about them or others on these sites. Joey Barton has been in hot water for his tweeting, as has Ryan Babel and various other footballers. Similarly, some of the public have been arrested for things said on social media. So it's a touchy world, a world which doesn't really have any rules.

Barton during his spell at Newcastle

My personal gripe with this 'policing' of social media is that is it a personal page, for expressing views which that person holds. It's not really any different to speaking to a group of people in the street or discussing something in the pub with friends I don't think. Essentially if you are friends with someone on Facebook you are subscribing to what they say and are interested in what they've got to say. You may not agree, but you are a consumer of that view. Equally, if you follow Joey Barton on Twitter, you know what you are going to get. If you don't like what he has got to say, why are you following him? Follow someone you want to hear from.


So then why are we finding people getting fined/suspended for what they write on a personal site? It happens in companies where employees can get into trouble for posting something about the people they work for. What's the difference between them being annoyed about something their employees have done and a customer being unhappy with the service they have received? Both could go home and express their feelings online, but only one would end up in any trouble. 

What is even more crazy is that I'm told, according to guidelines, other people can be held accountable for something someone else has said, on their personal account. A club or captain could be held as partly responsible for something one of their players has said on a website, despite having nothing to do with it. As I mentioned before, these accounts are personal and individual and who is anyone to stop someone saying whatever they want, about whatever they want? Nevermind roping someone else in who has nothing to do with it.


As a captain of a side, there is no way I can police my team from expressing their views. If they want to say something on their personal site, then who am I to challenge that? Equally if I am meant to be responsible for this, how am I meant to actually enforce it? I can ask them not to say something but I can't be round everyone's house stopping them saying whatever they like can I? 


It is impossible to regulate what is said on personal sites and if you did, you'd be trying to stop free-speech essentially. From a companies point of view, if people are going home and slagging you off online, maybe you should take a look what you are doing as a business and try to correct what is wrong, and then people wont be able to go home and complain to 1,000's of people online. 


* This blog is no way intended to pick out any person/company/team/league body/etc but only to highlight the problems with policing social media, and the debate around free speech on personal sites.