Nightmare Scenarios, Arsenal Are Better Than England & More

Martin O’Neill took Arsene’s words at the weekend too literally in resigning from Aston Villa yesterday. Forget the smokescreen of players leaving the club, the Irishman saw Wenger indicate that he had not yet decided if he was going to sign a new contract and has already submitted his CV to the Arsenal board. So now you know why I didn’t get much sleep last night. If Allardyce is a the ultimate nightmare, O’Neill isn’t far behind in my book.

The desperation for a new signing in the media is not just limited to Arsenal. Sir Alex Ferguson’s trip to Craven Cottage at the weekend might well have been partially guided by the desire to see Mesut Ozil in action but the principle reason of scouting Fulham, who are United’s opponents in their second game, has gone largely uncommented. Obviously it gets in the way but it also explains the desperation of those with column inches to sell, for a move of some kind for someone to a top four club.

It has been a very quiet transfer window. Aston Villa, I believe, has yet to acquire anyone new although with yesterday’s events the reasons for that became a little clearer whilst the only club to spend money of any note thus far are Manchester City. Their outlays are inflated by the knowledge that their backers do not apparently care how much they pay for journeymen from foreign shores. Or over-rated young English players as that can be the only reason that the club are apparently willing to pay the best part of £30m for James Milner.

The proximity of the match with Liverpool at the weekend, the internationals inbetween, mean that no new signings are likely this week. Even if Wenger did sign someone, it is unlikely that they would make their debut at Anfield since no time exists for them to get to know the other players. The usual suspects are still in the transfer ‘scope, Brad Friedel is apparently on his way to Fulham so that we can sign Mark Schwarzer. It was this move that tipped O’Neill over the edge, supposedly, and it is the sort of transfer rumour I like; the dots join together!

Ahead of the trip to Anfield, Arsene has once more observed that Cesc and RvP will probably not be ready for the starting line-up although he hinted that a good week’s training for the Dutchman might put him into contention for Liverpool. Once the midweek matches are out of the way, he will have a better idea of who will take the field but it would be no surprise to see RvP, Diaby and Song ready for action by the weekend.

England’s match with Hungary tomorrow has brought some caustic comments from ‘Appy ‘Arry. It seems that Redknapp Senior has as much trouble understanding football as he does with the tax laws, questioning why his players have been dropped en masse from the squad and youngsters called up in their place. His observation, “Are Arsenal better than England?” was so daft that I should not really stoop to answer it. But I will. Of course they are.

Against a backdrop of woeful underachievement in South Africa, England would struggle to get out of the group phase of the Champions League, definitely exiting the competition in the first knockout round. They are on a par with Everton in terms of Premier League clubs; punching above their weight on occasion, settling for a position just outside of ‘the big boys’ on a regular basis. And whilst Evertonians may find that comparison disparaging, it’s not meant to be. It merely sums up where England are in terms of the Premier League table.

There are positions where England have better options, Hart in goal for instance, centre back at this moment in time but largely, the squad choices for Capello are truly limited for world class players. And before any of the rampant xenophobes who appear around these times make a comment, it isn’t foreign players blocking the path of talented English players, the problem is that there are very few talented English players in the first place.

If Capello really wants to make this ludicrously scheduled friendly mean anything, he should only include three players who let him and the country down so badly at the World Cup. The other eight and the substitutes he uses, should come from the untested ranks. There is no benefit in him playing the failures; they will qualify for Euro2012 as per normal and then let everyone down once more, as per normal.

Let players like Wilshere and Gibbs take their places in the starting line-up. Put Walcott and Johnson on the flanks. If he doesn’t, this moment will join many others in the history of England FC, as a wasted opportunity strewn amongst the debris of underachievement.

’til Tomorrow.