Pointless Rio and other pointless people

How England can get good at football according to an Irish student.

Earlier this week Rio Ferdinand pulled out of the England squad to prolong his Manchester Utd career. Which is fair enough, but why was he called up in the first place?

The fact that he was selected for the countries' World Cup Qualifiers against San "postman XI" Marino and Montenegro is the main reason why the English National team are, putting it mildly, not very good .

In fairness to Ferdinand he has been playing well on a consistent basis and without Nemanja Vidic along side him. However his time with England has come and gone and he blew it.

Of course it wasn't entirely his fault that England faltered in all the tournaments that he was involved in but he must take some of the blame. 

Yet despite his failings at international level he was called up....AGAIN. By calling him up what are England as a team gaining? His experience? Well that wasn't useful when he was called up previously and his footballing ability hasn't been of international standard when he has been playing for England. 

Ferdinand will not be playing at the 2014 World Cup in Brasil and he was taking up a place in the squad that could have been occupied by someone who was actually going to be there. 

Time and time again players who have had their chance at international football and failed are given more and more opportunities when they don't deserve them. If you perform poorly for your club team then you are dropped and someone else steps in to fill that void so why not apply the same system at international level.

Build for 2014. Flood the squad at the beginning of the campaign with players who will be there in Brasil. Young players. Hungry players. Pick a system and stick to it. Teach the players the formation and let them adapt and get used to it. When they turn up for international matches they will be surrounded by the same faces and a team spirit will soon develop.

That's not to say that all experienced players should be ignored. One, two or maybe three accomplished players could be used to help the youngsters adjust to the pressures of international football but build the side around people who will be there for a long time to come.

Germany is the perfect example. They promote youngsters into the squad who are not only hungry but are of the highest quality. Reus, Gotze, Khedira, Draxler and others have all been fast tracked to the German senior team . The squad contains experience as well with the likes of Klose, (although he is missing from the most recent squad) Schweinsteiger and Lahm supplementing the young players. 

England need to learn, expect defeat and move on. Give other people a chance. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Rambo = or > than Cesc? Plus Wilshire call up

In the wake of Arsenal's excellent win over Manchester utd without captain Cesc Fabregas people have been quick to say things like "who needs Cesc, we've got Ramsey" and "Sell him now while we can" Which is just rash and stupid really. I mean don't get me wrong Rambo was excellent against utd and his best performance since coming back from having his leg broken, but there are a few things I think that means it's too early to say he can just step into the Cesc role and perform like the captain.

Firstly I don't think he was actually playing in the Cesc role I think he was playing in the position that Wilshire would normally occupy which meant that Jack played in the Fabregas position which I found surprising as he played there in the premier league game against Everon and didn't have much impact on the game due to Rodwell sitting on him for most of the game.

So Ramsey sat in midfield passing it to Wilshire, Walcott and Nasri/Arshavin and letting them try and unlock the utd defense then joining in late making it difficult for Carrik and the like to track his runs as was the case with his goal. So it was Wilshire replacing Cesc on Sunday not Rambo.

Also do you honestly believe that we're a better team WITHOUT Cesc Fabregas? The guy who scored the winning goal in the penalty shoot out against Italy in the Euro's and the guy who set up the winning goal in the world cup final? Thought not.

The fact that he's our captain is another factor. If you drop him who do you make captain? RVP? He's never fit so you can't rely on him and the same with Vermaelen. So if you drop him for Ramsey you cause a lot of problems within the squad both on and off the pitch. Anyway I don't think he'll pick him for the stoke (shudders) game as it may be a bit too much mentally for him in my opinion. I mean imagine if he had a chance to win it for us in the last minute and just as he goes to strike the ball Shawcross comes steaming in? He may pull out of the shot. I could be totally wrong and it could be the last step in his rehab.

Also a word on Jack Wilshire being called up by the U21's. All I would say is that is is Stuart Pearce's massive ego getting in the way of the progression of the player. How is playing in a meaningless tournament after a playing virtually every game this season for us beneficial? If England win it could you imagine the likes of Gibbs, Lansbury and others being promoted into the senior side? No, so whats the point.

At least if all goes to plan the same thing wont happen to Jack that happened to Theo as I think Arsene has learned from that experience and will give Jack 4-6 weeks rest even it means missing the first month or so of the season.

That'll be all.

You can follow me on twitter at @PiersArsenal

Champions league corruption but not Barca

After the dust and Mourinho have settled after last nights "el classico" I think I can give my opinion on Barcelona being this all conquering, all powerful corrupt team who don't win games by playing nice football but bribe officials and and give refs lots and lots of money to make Messi brilliant and such.

Anyway the main story of the match was the play acting by Sergio Busquets, Dani Alves and the like. Now being an Arsenal fan I'm not a massive barca fan but Mourinho's claims after the match are frankly embarrasing.

He clamis that Barcelona benefit from some refeering conspiracy. The stats seem to back him which is unfortunate. In the fourteen times Mourinho has faced Barca his side has recieved 7 reds! which is astonishing really. In the extrordinary outburst he names the refs that he felt "aided" barcelona, Anders Frisk, Tom Hening Ovrebo, Massimo Busacca and last nights official Wolfgang Stark.

First of all he is right in that some of the decisions that have favoured barcelona have been ludicrous to say the least. Last night for example, there is no way that was a red card for Pepe. It was a 50/50 challenge and he got the the ball then Alves decide to hold his leg like it has just been attacked by John Terry's dog. As if that wasn't enough he went off on a stretcher before coming on thirty seconds later.

Real Madrid have been quick to point this out. I shouldn't really feel sympathy for any Mourinho side loosing but on this occasion I do. However he has crossed the line here. I don't think you can believe that there is corruption at this level of the game. It just cant be true I refuse to believe that but....

Yes there is a but. I think you do have to question why Barcelona get so many decisions in their favour. I have my own view on this which is MY OWN view. I don't think that any individual team is corrupt but I think one maybe two organisations are corrupt.

I think the thought process at uefa is that before a game a uefa match delegate would tell the official to if the opportunity presents itself give a decision to the team who will "make us more money" If the final is to be between Manchester united and Barcelona this will generate the most money for uefa as barca will bring more neutrals as well as their own fans and man united will bring their fans and half of Asia.

So while Mourinho isn't totally mental his anger is misplaced. Maybe it was heat of the moment stuff who knows but when uefa are going to be the ones investigating corruption well that's like John Terry being Wayne Rooney's life coach or whatever...the point is I dont likt John Terry.

This is my first ever blog ever so in the unlikley event anyone reads this please go easy on me and I am sorry for any spelling mistakes.

You can follow me on twitter @PiersArsenal