As I said on an earlier post, I remember all too acutely Bobby Moore's error in Katowice that catapulted us towards World Cup elimination. It would have been a catastrophe for me as an England fan, no matter who had made the mistake, but it was made a million times worse because it was the great man, my all time hero.
When we crashed out of the last Euros, the pain was almost as acute because I genuinely believe that in Ferdinand, Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard, we have four World Class players and that should be enough to win an international tournament. The mistakes that night were many fold but ultimately it boiled down to an incompetent manager picking the wrong players for the game. Scott Carson had a mare but he was not alone.
Tonight I worry that we may suffer a combination of the two, with a team capable of winning a World Cup losing a key game because of a mistake by a West Ham player. I have this dread that Green, like Carson, will be found wanting in a pressure cooker game and will drop a clanger - and corners and set pieces are the biggest danger because of his indecision on crosses. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen!
The other huge concern is Johnson. Bilic is cute enough to identify the £17m man as the weak link in the back four and will looking to exploit it. Barry is naturally left footed and so is more comfortable covering Cole and, if selected, Wright Phillips is not going to help out a lot defensively on the right hand side.
We should be strong enough to win this with something to spare, especially with Modric sidelined, but we do have this habit of shooting ourselves in the foot don't we? Please God, if we do lose, don't let it be because Green comes for and misses a corner!
2 comments:
The wish is father to the thought?
Now turning your attention to Green in an England jersey. Not content with spreading pessimism on West Ham matters alone?
I take it that motivational speaking is not your forte?
A large portion of Humble Pie for Mr. Fanno, please.
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