More on England then I’ll leave it.
In the process of reading Leo McKinstry’s excellent “Sir Alf”. One of the points that is coming through is that when the great man took over England it wasn’t all plain sailing. Ramsey wasn’t overwhelmed by the 4-2-4 that was en vogue at the time, and wasn’t convinced that he had the players to make it work. So in appropriate games he worked in a 4-3-3. It didn’t always work and the players weren’t sure that this was a positive move, but Ramsey became more and more sure that this would give him the best chance of success in 1966. Key messages there: tactical experimentation and patchy results. The conclusion to this, as you know, was a famous win at Wembley.
So perhaps we should give Steve McLaren a bit more time? I’m as disappointed as anyone, and I don’t think the signs look all that good, but consider what we’re asking. The assumption is that England need to be more attacking, more exciting. What are the press doing? They’re fostering an environment in which McLaren and the players are almost bound to play safe, knowing that if they fail by conventional means they’ll get stick, but not nearly as much as if they fail trying something new. It’s a tricky situation.
As for Fulham, it’s been a long time hasn’t it? Honestly, I’m dreading the Charlton game, which we should win but has banana-skin written all over it. Charlton are bottom of the league but have been playing much better than that, and with the international break behind them they’ll be raring to go on Monday. Coleman’s boys will have to be at their best (again) to take all the points, but I think the team is capable of doing the job. Routledge must start, and must get a lot of the ball. My fear is that Darren Bent will catch us on the break.. I can picture it really clearly, a long ball fired into the night sky that leaves Knight and Pearce half-turned, by which time Bent is away. Racing clear, he draws Niemi and fires home for a shocking late winner. Ah, paranoia, we’ll be fine. But lads, be careful out there.
In other news, there’s a really good piece on the Fulham fitness regime on the official site, which explains the transformation of Ian Pearce (who’s getting a lot of good press from within the club lately) into the almost-all-conquering centre-half we’ve enjoyed this year. Have a look.
