Thursday, June 22, 2006

Football matters....well it does to me anyway.

BUHLERTAL, Germany (Reuters) - Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said on Thursday he had no regrets about his squad selection after Michael Owen's injury left him with only three World Cup strikers.

Owen's ruptured cruciate ligament has left England with Wayne Rooney, who broke his foot on April 29, Peter Crouch and teenage novice Theo Walcott for Sunday's second round game with Ecuador.


Well I bloody well regret the fact that we now have a strike force comprising an unfit Rooney, a totally unknown 17 year old Walcott, Crouch who seems destined to float around aimlessly in front of a five man mid-field with no partner to knock the ball on to, and erhh, there is no other 'And'.

I'd like to say that apart from that the England 2006 campaign is going well.

I'd really like to be able to say that.


Moving on.


In other sporting news the highlight of our (meaning the Cobblers) next season was always going to be playing Nottingham Forest. The stakes for those two matches was then massively increased when our former manager whose name totally escapes me deserted us in favour of said Forest. 'Oh' I think to myself, 'I do hope we do not get Nottingham Forest whilst I am on holiday.'The fixtures came out today, and naturally on the 36 Saturdays when we are not playing Nottingham Forest at home I am not on holiday. On the one Saturday when we ARE playing Nottingham Forest at home I am of course on holiday. Now why couldn't the fixtures have got me out of seeing us play Millwall in the Millwall end? It was bad enough when I saw Millwall play Luton...I still wake up in a cold sweat remembering that unfortunate incident back in March.

Meanwhile a flock of sheep have recorded a record in support of Our Boys, and we learn that the Equador manager motivates his side by telling them it is time to go out and kill their cow. And also they have used a witch doctor to put a spell on England. Normally I would dismiss that as superstitious rubbish...but in view of recent events I am seriously beginning to wonder..........

16 comments:

JoeinVegas said...

I still think you are all bonkers for being so enthralled with sports.

cookie monster said...

jane my dear, have you and reidski any plans for the 19th of august?

Lisa Rullsenberg said...

Damn, does that mean... shuck, are you like, out of the country or something?

Martin said...

I'd consider playing J.Cole,Lennon or even Jenas as a supporting striker if anything happened to Rooney or Walcott.Anything but Crouch on his own.

And those sheep bring out more cheesy singles than Kraft.

Spunky Trunks said...

Sven is clueless.

Lennon has to play for us to have some pace and danger.

Drop Beckham to the bench.

The idiot should never have taken Walcott. It was a PR stunt and with two potential crocks he should've played safe.

The Great Blandini said...

Come on, Ghana!

Nat said...

Yeeeeaaaa, Australia is through!

...Yipppeee!

Nat said...

...and that's all I'll say on that matter!
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...where is Blighty? I have no idea!


I hope they come second!! (to Aus of course!)

J.J said...

Joe, probably right there!

Cookie, see your e-mail but very much hope to be at Priestfield that day.

Lisa, sod it...one simply has to be in Barcelona doncha know...guess I can live with that!

Martin, completely agree with you on the strikers and also on the sheep.

And Spunky, completely agree about Sven.

And I think Lennon could be our saviour...in the unlikely event of him being given half a chance.

Alistair..yes, so long as they aren't playing England I'm happy with that sentiment.

And Nat, what a great game your adopted lot were involved in last night..were you up early enough to watch it?

And bloody hell. Even our English officials aren't performing now. Funny though!

Shooting Parrots said...

Personally I think the player they have really been missing is Neville and his overlapping runs with Beckham which is why the latter has been so crap.

Anonymous said...

'Lennon has to play for us to have some pace and danger.'

Righto -- & he's Spurs...made a huge difference in the regular season. The kid is really awesome.

Nat, feel your pain, sort of -- U.S. crashed out yesterday...didn't really belong there anyway & Ghana is a class side!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Saying farewell to Sven can't come soon enough - no matter how England do in the knockout phase. I think a player like Andy Johnson would have made an excellent striking foil for Crouch. When Owen twisted his knee that was the time that Walcott should have been brought on and the fact that he wasn't brought on proves that The Turnip has boobed - no matter how he pleads in his defence. I just hope Hull City don't sign this empty-headed Scandanavian lothario up as manager. He's got no idea.

The Great Blandini said...

At the moment, J, I would love Ghana to stuff rubbish old arrogant England.

England are boring me, and I honestly didn't feel elated by any of their wins.
Winning by fluke doesn't count.

themoy said...

I took a walk down Polk Street the other day, and every bar with a TV was packed and filled with people cheering or yelling at soccer matches. It's all Greek to me, just like baseball and basketball, but it's interesting to see a new kind of football catching on here. (American football I've loved since I was little because nobody explained to me until it was too late that the men were wearing padding. I thought they were actually shaped that way.)

The Fatalist said...

Just read your piece, and clicked to your link to that Millwall game. With mention of THAT infamous FA Cup game over twenty years ago. Brought back many...erm, memories. Despite being a Dulwich Hamlet fan I've always had a soft spot for the Lions, and they're not half as bad as people make out. But back to then. I actually paid to get in. I was gutted, as half the huge Millwall contingent later kicked the gates down. Luton deserved what they got for not making the game all ticket. How was it, all of South London knew it was going to kick off big time that night, but greedy 'lets count the pound notes' Luton never? I'm not condoning or condemning it. I was part of it that night. My brother said to once, a few years ago, that being a Dulwich Hamlet fans was the best thing that ever happened to me. I asked him why. He said if I was a Millwall fans like most of my old mates from school I'd have ended up in prison a long time ago.
The thing is...he was spot on.

J.J said...

S.P. Yes we are missing Neville.

Marc, Lennon's 7 or so minutes today were first class.He should have come on much sooner.

Y.P. If we do win it will be in spite of Sven. 4-1-4-1 with Rooney sole striker...for god's sake.I swear even I could do better. And I would definitely be a lot more animated in the dugout. As would a corpse.

Alistair, I still live in hope that we will start to live up to some of the pre-tournament hype.

The Moy, I love the thought of you thinking the players really were that shape! Sweet!

Fatalist...I have to agree that Millwall fans aren't so very bad. I really, have to or Reidski wouldn't like me anymore, and no one bottled me when I shouted'Come on Luton' so they must be good guys. And I am glad you support Dulwich Hamlet.(I got their name right that time!)