A reflection on England..

Lizo Johnson gives The Football Front his thoughts on England's recent form

A lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon that England have started poorly in their World Cup
qualifying campaign. I think its been alright. Not, in my opinion, anywhere near as bad as the British
media have been making out, but at the same time it’s hardly been an explosive start. The win at
Moldova was an early peak. It promised too much. Raised the expectation of fans, which was
already through the roof, to heights England could never have reached. An early goal set England
up for a demolition that was put into perspective by Ukraine’s 1-1 draw there a couple of weeks
back. This coupled with the friendly win over Italy set England up for the fall. Inconsistency has
been our Achilles heel for a while now, and it came back to haunt us at Wembley with Ukraine the
visitors. Ukraine aren’t a bad side, but especially at home England should be chewing up sides like
them and spitting them out. Instead we witnessed a very average performance and England were
eventually held to a 1-1 draw at home by a side ranked 42nd in the world. Whilst I don’t particularly
agree with many of the rankings (Portugal are currently ranked 3rd) I do feel that it is close to being
representative of the gap in quality between England and Ukraine. It was three points we should’ve
taken but didn’t, yet that point could be vital when it comes to the final reckoning.

Next up were San Marino. Lets be honest, they’re a bit of a joke. I’m genuinely surprised the
players can motivate themselves to go out and play a game of football when they haven’t scored an
international goal since 2008. Since then they’ve lost 10-0 (Poland) 7-0 (Slovakia and Czech Republic)
8-0 (Hungary and Finland) and the standout thrashing, 11-0 (Holland). Had England not beaten
San Marino it would have been an embarrassment of the biggest proportions imaginable but they
still had to go out and get a result, which they did. But then came worst performance of England’s
qualifying so far: a 1-1 draw away to Poland. However, let’s not get it confused, it was a poor almost
chanceless display from Hodgson’s men. But we must take heart from the fact that England got
a point when they didn’t really deserve one. A win for Poland would not have flattered them, yet
England ended up with a point towards their total.

We’re actually a lot better at getting results than we like to think, regardless of the performance.
We’ve won nine out of our last 13 matches, but every post match report seems to be filled with
pessimism. Do journalists not realise what is going on? Its a vicious circle, as Gary Neville eluded to
not so long ago: England players are lacking confidence because they’re scared of how they’ll look
in the public eye if they make a mistake. Players without confidence struggle to play well, its not
rocket science. Yet they are then continually slaughtered in newspapers after average matches. But
then everyone loves to brand England as ‘boring’ and ‘disappointing’, for some reason its infectious.
Everyone puts on a tone of mock surprise when England bring out a top performance. We love to
set the bar a bit higher than England are likely to be able to reach. It’s not that the media don’t want
England to do well, journalists just seem to encourage negative opinions of them too often, and
we wallow in it. Almost enjoy it. It’s almost as if so many journalists have taken the same approach
when writing on England that for the next it’s just easiest to take the same. Our attitude to England
is to always look for and exaggerate the negatives, something that’s only going to put more pressure
on players to succeed, its counterproductive. Players begin to feel like if they’re not on an eight out
of ten they’re going to be slaughtered in the press. This is proven every two years at international
competition; where England never seem to quite reach the expectation of fans. We’ve been there or
there abouts for at least ten years (Euro 2008 aside), but whenever it comes down to the business
end of the competition we fall and end up not seriously competing for the trophy.

This isn’t to say I think people shouldn’t discuss England’s performance if it is genuinely poor, I’m not
saying that they should be invincible from any criticism. But it seems that fans perception of what
constitutes a poor performance is altered once the international break comes around. If Manchester
United play a match against a team like Stoke, play poorly yet still manage to claim a point then they
are heralded champions because of their ability to produce points from unlikely situations. Yet when
you put England in the same position, the same fans have a completely different opinion.

The reality is England are top of their group, which is where they should be, and that’s where they
should finish. They have too much quality in their ranks to not finish there. But at the moment
they’re where they always are, apparently doing just a bit less than what is expected of them.

This article was written by Lizo Johnson. You can follow on Twitter: @LizoJohnson

Football Tweets of the week: 25/06

It's back! Ages and ages ago, you may remember we actually did have this feature running regularly a few months ago. But for one reason or another, we stopped, but it's back. Here are our best football tweets of this week! (Tweets are in no order, just randomly collected)

1.) Danny Murphy proves the idea of an intelligent footballer is a myth by signing for Blackburn. - @PickThatOneOut

2.) Papastathopoulos... Imagine having to pay for that on the back of your shirt. No wonder the Greeks are skint. - @pmblgz

3.) So Arsenal have signed Olivier Giroud? He's only 25. Why has he decided to end his career so early? - @FootballFunnys

4.) John Terry has asked if the 5th official [from the Ukraine -England game] can be a juror at his racism trial next month. Blind. - Opta_Joke

5.) Poor Van der Vaart. Once again, he finishes 4th and is sent packing from Europe! -@ShikharrC

6.) "Penalties are a lottery." Yes, if by that you mean England have a one in a million chance of winning. - @AltFootball

7.) Roy Hodgson is set for a test for drugs with UEFA. Officials became suspicious when they saw Milner was starting for England vs Italy. - @FootballFunnys 

8.) Steven must have had a sleepless night following England's defeat... - @RobCRoose

 9.) Against a tough Ukraine side, England will have to start ugly tonight... or Wayne Rooney as he's more commonly known. - @StupidFootball

10.) Where was this guy? (Tweeted after England's loss on penalties by Italy) - @AttackoftheKop

Be sure to follow all these guys on Twitter, you can follow us at @ReviewFootball

Football Tweets of the Week

This feature is about the brilliant football related Tweets of the past week. Some are funny, and some are simply good points. I was looking to add this feature on Thursday, but didn't get the chance. So here it goes..

1. 'I think Sam Allardyce is the right man to lead Egypt from this historical moment. Look at what he did with Bolton.He deserves a chance.' - James Corden - Corden reveals his ideal candidate for the Egyptian presidency after the overthrowing of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
   
2. 'Gattuso seems to have misunderstood Dwight Yorke’s anecdote about how great it was giving head to Jordan.' - MirrorFootball - Mirror Football reveal the motives behind Gattuso's actions.
   
3. 'For all the Chelsea fans who don't remember when they were shit ! Good news the old days are just around the corner !!' - Paul Turner - Gives an honest verdict about Chelsea's future after their defeat to Everton in the F.A Cup
   
4. 'West Ham ahead but poorer side. Will be interesting to see how Scott Parker changes things around at half-time.' Dan Silver - Cheeky little comment by Dan Silver, during half time between West Ham and Burnley. In West Ham's previous game against West Brom, Scott Parker gave an influential speech at half time, which inspired their 3-3 come back.
   
5. 'What do Arsenal, Spurs and Paul McCartney have in common.. They all get excited over one leg!' Gareth McKenna - Lovely little joke after the midweek victories for both London club's Arsenal and Tottenham!
   
6. 'We used to have a player called Zhirkov. Not that I would like him to come on but it would be nice to know if he was still alive.' Yasser - Tweeted during the Fulham and Chelsea match. But a good point really. What does he even do these days? Is he alive and well!?
7. 'Hold up...my mum just said one time when I was around 5yrs old she had to beat me up...what kinda parenting is that?! I might dead arm her!' - rioferdy5- Rio Ferdinand - The Man United and England captain discovers he was briefly victim the victim of child abuse. He reacts to the revelation, by getting revenge on his mum.
   
8. '@LucasLeiva87 You were always my favourite Lucas, you'd be captain next season under me.'- royhodgson_lma The Hodge (Parody of Roy Hodgson) - I'm sure the Liverpool fans would have viewed Roy Hodgson as an absolute legend if he ever did that..
9. Arshavin scores the winner, pull his shirt over his head. What's on his t-shirt? A pic of himself, celebrating a goal #genius' Dara O' Briain - Comedian Dara O' Briain on Andrey Arsharvin's antics after scoring the winner against Barcelona.
   
10. The Hodge is bored. This #LFC team isn't a patch on the team I had, we'd be battering this crap [Sparta Prague], especially away from home.' - royhodgson_lma The Hodge (Parody of Roy Hodgson) - The parody Hodgson on the dour Sparta v Liverpool game. The Real Hodgson must of watched this game and thought the exact same thing to be fair!

Why the appointment of King Kenny Dalglish is the right move by Liverpool

The appointment of Kenny Dalglish is probably the appointment most Liverpool fans would have wanted to see in the summer of 2010. This was fuelled by the fact Dalglish made it clear that he was seriously interested in taking the reigns left by Rafa Benitez. However, the board opted to pick the LMA manager of the year, Roy Hodgson. And in hindsight this saw the club take to another level of decline. Within 6 months, Hodgson was kindly shown the door.

To most fans Dalglish is the perfect appointment. He is a man who cares so dearly about the club. He is a man who has won virtually every trophy with the club. And a man who has and knows how to inspire both players and fans. Fenway Sports Group have made an incredibly logical decision in their appointment. The continuous chanting of ‘dalgish’ a chant which foreshadowed the beginning of the end of Roy Hodgsons stint as the Liverpool manager. However, the chant clearly showed John Henry and Thomas Werner what the Liverpool fans wanted. And that was King Kenny Dalglish. This was the right move by the owners. As the owners in various interviews have spoken of the importance to listen to the Liverpool fans. The appointment clearly shows to the Liverpool fans they are listening to the demands of the fans. Even though the owners reportedly feel Dalglish has been away from the game for too long. Kenny Dalglish symbolises to the Liverpool fans that they have their club back. After all the turmoil with the two fools of Hicks and Gillett and the failure of Hodgson’s tenure, the fans feel that the individual at the helm cares and will do anything to see the club being successful.

One word which sums up the last two years of Liverpool Football Club is ‘insecure.’ The tensional battles off the field regarding the debt leveraged against the club and the brittle displays shown by the team have seriously hurt the Liverpool fans. The fans felt they were losing grip on their club, as the club was becoming a shadow of its former self. However, the appointment of Kenny Dalglish makes the fans feel a sense of security. As they know that the club is in the right hands. Dalglish offers the Liverpool fans a certain expectation. The fans know Dalglish is deeply embedded in everything that was right during Liverpool’s glory days in the 70’s and 80’s. Dalgish is fully aware of the dna which makes Liverpool successful. He understands the club and the fans understand him. This will motivate fans, and get them behind the team.

The Fenway Sports Group (FSG) has gained a lot of credibility by their decision to appoint Dalglish. Ive discussed the idea of the owners listening to the fans demands, but the group have taken an intelligent gamble. If Dalglish actually improves the fortunes of the club it could pave the way for Dalglish to have a period as Liverpool boss. After all, Damien Comolli confirmed he is a candidate for the permant role. And it seems apparent the club are unwilling to spend this January. If Dalglish can get this underachieving squad to fulfil its potential, he surely has to be a strong contender for the job- for the long term. Which im sure the fans would be more than happy to back. However, if Dalglish is unable to progress the team the owners can look to appoint someone who they feel is suitable for the permanent role. The fans would be far more supportive than they were of Roy Hodgson’s tenure. As they know that their first choice was given the chance at the helm.