It's the Week that Club Teams Dread

International Friendlies, the Bane of Every Football Managers Life

It’s that time of year again, the Premier League season is closing in with what looks to be not only one of the closest title races in recent years, but almost certainly the closest relegation dog fight that the Premier League has ever witnessed. One from Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea still have a realistic chance of winning the league, whilst only three points separate the bottom eight teams in the league.

So I’m pretty sure everyone involved with these clubs would be absolutely delighted to hear that it’s international week! It’s just beautiful how whoever comes up with the football calendar, decides that it’s perfect to disrupt club football as it’s going into its final stages of the season. This isn’t what I’m going to focus on in this article, it’s just a mini rant, but couldn’t we have competitive international games sometime in January/February instead of friendlies, and then another lot just after the season ends? As an Arsenal fan I know for a fact that after this week is over, Robin Van Persie will come back with some sort of injury that will disrupt our title charge, this frustrates me.

Anyway, rant over, kind of. Fabio Capello’s England selection is hit and miss as always, nice to see Andy Carroll, Jack Wilshere and Kyle Walker in the squad, but then the rather odd selections of Matt Jarvis of Wolves and Joleon Lescott of Manchester City. Wolves may have been doing well recently, as may have Matt Jarvis, however it’s a bit of a surprising decision when you look at who else he could have picked, Adam Johnson is back and playing for City now, who in my opinion should be starting for both City and England. Or he could have called up the likes of Henderson of Sunderland or even Kevin Nolan of Newcastle, and picking an extra central midfielder as opposed to having five wingers in the squad.

As for Joleon Lescott, I just don’t think he’s good enough to play international football, I think Capello likes him for his versatility, a versatility that only Capello sees in him mind you. I think Shawcross, Smalling or even Jamie Carragher for his versatility, would have been a better choice, but with managers they always seem to have a favourite, and I believe Lescott is one of Capello’s.

Another choice of his that I don’t agree with is Leighton Baines, great footballer, definitely England’s second choice. There’s a problem though, he doesn’t like flying and apparently he gets home sick so much so that it affects his football. Surely you want consistency in your national squad, so picking a player that will only ever be able to perform at the top of his game when he’s in England seems a little bit stupid.

But this is what we come to expect from Capello, a man who I’ve found to be pretty inconsistent in his decision making whilst being England manager. When he became the England manager he said he would pick his squad based on form, he would not take into account who they were, but how they’d been playing. When the World Cup came around, he did not stick to this policy, the stand out exclusion was Darren Bent, a man who at the time was the second most prolific striker in the Premier League over the past two seasons, instead of Bent he chose Emile Heskey. Yes, you know 7 goals in 62 games for England, that Emile Heskey.

Best moment of his career, should have retired after this,

would have gone down as a legend.

Also, a man who bases his managerial style on discipline and integrity, the recent shambolic handling of the John Terry-Rio Ferdinand situation has not only been disrespectful, it’s been laughable, no matter what any England player says publicly, I believe he may be very close to losing the dressing room if he keeps alienating himself from his squad in the way that he does.

Now moving on slightly, England face Wales this weekend in what is a pretty important game, it’s a must win game for England if we are to have aspirations of finishing top of this qualifying group. It should be a walk in the park, but with Gareth Bale in the current form that he is, Glen Johnson will have to be on top of his game otherwise it could be a pretty embarrassing afternoon for England. Looking at the 26 man squad, I think Capello will start with Joe Hart in goal, Glen Johnson, John Terry, Joleon Lescott and Ashley Cole in defence, I think he’ll play Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard, Jack Wilshere, James Milner and Aaron Lennon in midfield, with Lampard playing just behind Rooney, a team capable of rolling over a below average Welsh side.

There’s also the pointless friendly against Ghana next week, it seems pointless because it’s another unnecessary game in what is already a crowded fixture list for English clubs. Players will want to impress but will be worried about getting injured for the final stages of the season, due to this I doubt we’ll see the players playing at 100%.

This week I wish for two things, the first of which is an England win against Wales, a good performance would be nice, but three points will do. Second of all, (here comes the biased journalism) for Jack Wilshere and any other Arsenal player to come back fully fit, most of players on international duty this week are playing one competitive match and one friendly, so I’m pretty sure I can speak for football fans across the world in saying that I hope my clubs players return without any injuries in order to remain competitive for the last stage of the season.