Andrew Marr Vs The Blogosphere

Andrew Marr - BBC Political Presenter (Has the AM Show on a Sunday) has today launched a stinging attack on the many contributors on the Blogosphere, speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, Mr. Marr said that Bloggers (or Citizen Journalists) are mostly "socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting." Adding that "They are very angry people"

Now as you can imagine this has caused a bit of a backlash on the blogs as many bloggers feeling very offended have set out to attack Andrew for his views, personally it is not something I am about to do as despite Mr. Marr's assertions I am not single, living in my mother's basement or for that matter angry. There is a chance that this could be caused instead by the fact that I do not consider myself as a Citizen Journalist rather just someone who enjoys writing about stuff I care about and if someone wants to read it then that is great, but if not - oh well.

Anyway my view on this topic is that he is probably right in some of these cases, I have read a lot of blogs and many are very one sided and angry where the person has an axe to grind and they will grind it until they are left with just a stump, but on the other hand some blogs and bloggers are starting to invade the main stream Ian Dale springs to mind, this new type of journalism is responsive and exciting, blogs tend to break stories at a much greater speed than more conventional media and also operate outside many of the laws that hold our mainstream media firms back (Note I am not saying this is good, simply more exciting.) but again I agree with Mr. Marr when he states that these blogs are unlikely to replace older media companies as after all whilst blogs can be a great source, you still go to a recognised brand to get the facts.

Blogs are also often quite useful to a reporter on a deadline as I am sure most bloggers have has parts of their blogs used in print media as if they have given a quote directly to the press, it happened to me a few times whilst I was a local councillor, so I cannot help but wonder if the problem Andrew Marr has with blogs is due to a slightly embarrassing incident in which he lifted a story from a blog and finding it was less than true.

Hands off Harry

An interesting question was put to me earlier, ever since the match finished yesterday the press and commentators have been pushing for the FA to hire Harry Redknapp. Obviously as a Spurs fan currently experiencing the best time I have known since taking an interest in football, this is a suggestion I find less than exciting.

So the question that was put to me is: What would I prefer England to win the world cup, or Tottenham to win the Premier League? Now as the years pore by and my cynicism increases I am starting to doubt I will see either, but given the choice I would take the league.

As much as I love the World Cup to come home and despite my better judgement continue to get over excited at each competition I have taken too much abuse, too many false dawns and been the butt of too many jokes to turn down the chance of spurs winning the league.

So keep your world Cup and look elsewhere for your manager, were keeping Harry.

(Before anyone feels the need to point it out I know that neither things are likely to happen, with or without Mr. Redknapp)

They're coming home, they're coming England coming home

Well 9 minutes left to play and we are on our way out, tomorrow the headline writers will come out with the usual lazy accusation stories, blaming how much the players earn, or how many foreign players are in the premiership. However for my,money I will be,placing the blame firmly at the door of Fabio Capello. Whilst I often defend the managers who often take an unfair portion of the blame, throughout this tournament Capello has been unimaginative and cowardly with his selections and tactics.

When faced match after match with a sub-standard Rooney, and a frankly dismal Gerrard, instead of making the brave call and benching these "superstars" he instead withdraws Defoe to being in Hapless Heskey and sticking to 4-4-2 like it was the only possibility.

Had I been in charge (obviously I am saying this with the certainty that I will never be put to the test) I would have played a 4-5-1 Upsom would be out so I would play with James in goal, Johnson, Dawson, Terry and Cole in defence. Lennon, Lampard, Gerrard, Millner and Wright-Philips with Defoe up front on his own.

I think what the most interesting fact to remember is that Capello signed an extended contract before the tournament, so if we want to fire him it will cost millions.

Another fine mess.

Here we go again, one thing you can always be sure with England, is that it will not be easy. The draw with USA was one thing as I think that the United States are a good team, but we really should have beaten Algeria.

That said I have to agree with Rooney that this is a time we need to support the team, I have never understood booing your own team as it rarely makes them play with more confidence.

Anyway, to the future and it is simple, win Wednesday and we are through, simples

Ledley out Injured?

Well it appears that Ledley may have played his first and last game in South Africa; He injured his knee and has therefore had to retire from the tournament. Now as a major Spurs fan I want nothing but the best for King but have to say a quick “Told you so” after what I predicted came true, my only hope is that it is nothing that will carry across to next season as if Tottenham are going to mix it with the Champions League teams we will need our captain firing on all cylinders.

From a Spurs point of view the good news, if there is any, is that the chances of Michael Dawson earning his first full England cap have just got much better, I just pray that nothing happens to Dawson, otherwise it could be a very short Champions League campaign for the Spurs.

Here we go

Well as I write I am on my way to watch the first match of the world cup. Somehow I have ended up agreeing to watch the game at liquid envy with a few of my former colleagues from the council. This will be the first time I have been into this club, and I have to admit that I had always been quite proud of that fact.

Anyway this is the 4th world cup I have really taken an interest in (as I only vaguely remember Italia 90 and we failed to qualify for 94) and I have to admit this is one of my favourite bits, all anticipation and anything can happen, unfortunately normally before reality plays a part as well, later on I will either be happy or sad, only at this very point am I simply full of dreams.

Come on England

Dawson off to South Africa

When the England team was announced I said I would prefer Dawson to Ferdinand, it looks now as though I will get my wish. Obviously this must be gutting for Rio, but I think Dawson deserves his shot and gives England a steelier defense, and to be honest he has simply played better this year. It will be interesting to see who will be captain now - I say give it back to Terry.

One final point, I make the team totals Tottenham 5 players in the squad, Arsenal 0

England Squad, Slimmed and ready to go.

The final 23 man squad is about to be announced for South Africa and the main shock is that after twice failing to impress in the warm up games Arsenal’s Theo Walcott is to be left home, I obviously feel very sorry for the lad who must be gutted but if you only have space on the plane for one nippy Right Winger you would have to think that Lennon is a better bet, slightly faster but with a much better final ball.

There were a lot of mixed messages with regards to Ledley King, as I said earlier from a purely selfish Spurs viewpoint I would have liked him to be excluded as he is so crucial to our team. But in the end he DID do enough in the warm ups to get a place.

Tom (The Tank) Huddlestone is also flying home as is Michael Dawson both of which are mistakes in my book as they offer something different, I honestly believe that Dawson should have got the nod ahead of Ferdinand but with Rio as Captain it never looked likely. The Tank for me gives England steel to midfield and a thunderous foot that could be a real game winner when we are up against it. However even as a Spurs fan I still can not be too unhappy at his exclusion against the likes of Gerrard and Lampard

Obviously the other Spurs players where automatic names on the team sheet so the mighty spurs will be represented by, not including King, Crouch, Defoe and Lennon.

The other players to be dropped were Parker, Baines, Bent and Adam Johnson. I don’t feel that any of these would constitute a surprise, whilst they may not be who I would have picked they are all peripheral players rather than England Regulars.
Adam Johnson, Theo Walcott and Tom Huddlestone shouldn’t be too disappointed as they have some world cups left in them; Bent, Baines and Dawson as well will only be 30 when they meet in Brazil so should have another chance. On the other hand Parker will probably not get another chance so this must be gutting. I have always rated Parker as a skilful player but much like Michael Carrick, who is included, he never seems to be able to fulfil his potential for England.

England's 23

As I mentioned in my post after the Mexico game England must drop 7 of the current 30 man squad after sunday's game against Japan.

My opinion is that the players who should go are:
Emile Heskey (Not going to happen as for some bizarre reason Capello loves him.)
Shaun Wright-Phillips (a good player but third in line for right midfield behind Lennon and Walcott)
Adam Johnson (no experience, will be ready for a world cup, just not this one.)
Michael Carrick (unless Barry is unfit, Carrick just looks to lazy these days.)
Matthew Upson (just not as good as other options.)
Ledley King (as much as I rate the spurs captain, you can't take injury risks in your world cup squad.)

So my squad for South Africa would be
GK: Hart, James and Green (in fact Paul Robinson would be my first choice.)
DF: Carragher, Cole, Dawson, Ferdinand, Johnson, Baines, Terry, Warnock
MF: Barry (if fit, otherwise Carrick), Cole, Gerrard, Huddlestone, Lampard, Milner, Parker, Walcott
FW: Crouch, Defoe, Bent, Rooney.

With my preferred starting line up:

GK: Green
LB: Cole
CB: Terry
CB: Dawson
RB: Johnson
LM: Cole
CM: Gerrard
DCM: Huddlestone
ACM: Lampard
RM: Aaron Lennon
ST: Rooney

Now obviously it is a risk playing the five man midfield and leaving out the club captain, However Rooney is good enough to play up front alone, Cole and Lennon give plenty of attacking support and options and Ferdinand has simply not been good enough. And I don't think he has done anything to deserve the armband anyway, I would give it Terry (or rather I wouldn't have taken it away from him.) After all what has someones private (or not so private) life got to do with their ability to captain a team, give him back the armband and let him prove he deserves it on the pitch, not in the newspapers.

England 3 - 1 Mexico

Well England have played their last home fixture before the world cup and I have to say – It really has not made anything any clearer.

It was an unusual England line up with Gerrard on the Left, which didn’t really work as he naturally drifts in field. Lampard, Terry and Cole were all absent so you can’t get a real feeling for the team without these three main members.

Ledley King played, last year King only played one game at a time (With a rest, not in the clichéd one game at a time saying way.) But with Spurs reaching for the champion’s league he was forced to play a lot more towards the end of the season and it started to show as he was looking very tired.

He did however score the first goal but was shown up and arguably at fault for the Mexico goal. The second Tottenham Scorer of the night was Crouch, As I have been only to happy to tell people I am not a fan of Crouch. Even though he has scored many vital goals for Spurs this year I have simply never liked the way we play with him on the pitch. Incredibly skill full players forget how to work the ball and switch instead to just always try to play the long ball to him. It is a shame as he is a great player in his own right; I can just assume that when people lookup he is always the one they see.

Goal of the Game went to Glen Johnson who for my 2 cents cemented his place on the plane next week. Tom (The Tank) Huddlestone came on for a short outing and looked capable, if I was Capello I would make sure he is on the plane as we need a bit of strength in an otherwise flimsy midfield.

So in summery the result was of cause good and gives us something to work on but until we get the full squad together we won’t have a clue how our summer will be.

Capello Rewards Spurs Heroes

Just seen the new England prelim squad, good results for the Spurs, reflecting a good season.

Dawson is in, who has been great all season.
King is in, not sure if I am happy about this as he is still not fit, but it shows how good a player he is that Capello doesn't want to leave him out.
Tom (The Tank) Huddlestone is also in, a great player to break up a physical game.
Aaron Lennon is in, a bit of a no brainer this one as he is turning into a real world class prospect
Peter Crouch - I have often made my feelings known about Crouch, he is a good player but he tends to make midfielders lazy and start to just knock balls into him.
Defoe, for me Defoe should be Englands starting striker with Rooney.

Other players

Hart, James and Green for Goal (why does Robinson not get picked anymore?)
Baines, Carragher, Cole, Ferdinand, Johnson, Terry, Upson, Warnock in defence
Barry, Carrick, Cole, Gerrard, Johnson, Lampard, Milner, Parker, Walcott, Philips in MF
And
Bent, Rooney and Heskey in attack.

My prefered line up of that squad

Hart

Cole
Terry
Dawson
Carragher

Lennon
Huddlestone
Lampard
Walcott

Defoe
Rooney

I would be sending Heskey home straight away, also I am sorry to say King who should spend the summer getting ready for next year and the champions league qualifiers.