England 0 – 0 Montenegro

A strange one, this, and it really has to be seen as 2 points dropped for England. Having said that, it shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of qualifying for Euro 2012. Montenegro are a decent side, and despite being drawn into this group as the bottom seed they have now taken 10 points out of a possible 12 – a remarkable achievement. They look in good position to come second in the group, assuming England do manage to see the rest of the campaign out as they should and finish top.

England dominated possession in this game, but had very few clear sights of goal. A few half-chances fell to the striking duo of Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch, but they were feeding on scraps. Rooney did have two decent opportunities, one from a sumptuously weighted through-pass from Steven Gerrard, the other a rebound after a shot had been blocked inside the area. Both times Mladen Bozovic in the Montenegro goal pulled off smart saves.

In fact, it could have been a whole lot worse. In the 82nd minute, left-back Milan Jovanovic found himself presented with a bouncing ball on the edge of the England penalty area, and duly struck it with venom. The natural angle of the strike meant that it would dip, and it did so, leaving Joe Hart stranded and rebounding off the England crossbar. Hart stood no chance, and if the shot had dropped a few centimetres lower England would have lost this game.

As it was though, a draw was reasonably fair. Despite a clear penalty appeal in the 76th minute when Jovanovic handled inside the box, England never really did anything to state that they fully deserved to win. After all, they should not have to rely on a penalty to beat a side like Montenegro.

It was good to see Ashley Young and Adam Johnson started on the wings, but neither did anything spectacular. Young was eventually withdrawn for Shaun Wright-Phillips, who also failed to produce anything of note. Kevin Davies even came on for his first England cap, replacing Peter Crouch late on, and duly lived up to his reputation as the player who commits the most fouls in the Premier League by getting booked for an elbow on a Montenegrin defender. Davies almost certainly does not feature in Fabio Capello’s long-term plans, but he deserves his cap after years of effective performances in the Premier League.

This is far from a disastrous result, but it was pretty uninspiring stuff and will have done no favours to Capello in his attempts to restore optimism after the dismal performances at the World Cup last summer. England should still qualify from this group in first place; they will just have to ensure there are not too many more slip-ups like this one.

Scotland 2 – 3 Spain

After the dismal and rather embarrassing 1-0 defeat to the Czech Republic on Friday night, a game in which manager Craig Levein opted to play a 4-6-0 formation and forgo any kind of attacking football whatsoever, the Scots lined up with Kenny Miller as the lone striker tonight. They still didn’t attack an awful lot, but at least there was an attacker on the field this time.

To be fair to the Scots, they put in a resilient display and were rather unlucky not to nick a point against the reigning world and European champions. After it looked like they would make it to half time with the scores level at 0-0, Whittaker blocked a Sergio Ramos shot with his arm and the referee gave a penalty. Allan McGregor almost reached David Villa’s penalty, but the Spaniard squeezed it into the bottom corner to make it 1-0. Soon after the break, Iniesta doubled the advantage and it seemed to be game over.

The Scots fought back, though, much to everyone’s surprise. Stephen Naismith was on hand just 3 minutes after Iniesta’s goal to head in a Kenny Miller cross, and the game was back on. Seven minutes later, Pique put the ball into his own net to tie the scores. Hampden Park was in dreamland. They were rudely awakened by Fernando Llorente soon after, though, who swept in a cross from Capdevilla to secure the points for Spain. Heartbreak for the Scots, but they can be pleased with a promising performance here. They still have a chance of qualifying, and maybe Levein will begin to have a little more confidence in his players to actually play football and score goals from now on.

Other results:

• It’s worth noting that Switzerland beat Wales 4-1 tonight, ending Wales’ hopes of qualifying once and for all. Brian Flynn’s team are in a real mess after John Toshack’s departure, and whilst they are admittedly missing a raft of key players (including Craig Bellamy, Joe Ledley and Robert Earnshaw), this result is a disheartening one. The games against England will be big ones, and Flynn will be hoping his side raise their game due to the opposition, but they should be comfortably beaten both home and away on this evidence and seem almost certain to finish bottom of the group. This will adversely affect their FIFA ranking, and make it even harder to qualify in future.

• Northern Ireland could only manage a 1-1 draw in the Faroe Islands, and this has to go down as a huge missed opportunity for Nigel Worthington’s men. The Northern Irish are really struggling to score goals at the moment, especially away from home, but they need to beat the minnows if they want to have a shot at qualifying. This result does not help their chances, but they’re not out of it yet, still only two points behind the group leaders Italy.

• The Republic of Ireland could also only draw 1-1, but they were away to Slovakia. The Slovaks are a far stronger team than the Faroe Islanders, but the Republic also missed an opportunity to gain three vital points away from home. Robbie Keane missed a penalty when the scores were tied, and with Russia winning 1-0 away to Macedonia they have now fallen two points behind the leaders in Group B.

The Beckham “Problem”

So David Beckham has torn his achilles’ tendon and is now certain to miss the World Cup in South Africa. Some sections of the media have been painting this as a blow to England’s World Cup preparations. I actually think it’s the complete opposite.

Beckham, whilst certainly a fantastic player in his prime, does not really warrant a place on the plane to South Africa in the summer. He is nominally a right-sided midfield player, and Fabio Capello currently has a number of other options to consider in that position. First, Theo Walcott. Whilst Walcott has been incredibly inconsistent since he scored that remarkable hat-trick in Zagreb last year, he is probably still going to start on England’s right flank in the first game against the USA. His inconsistency can also be seen as unpredictability, and his lightning pace can trouble even the best defenders in the world. Walcott would have been assured of his place in the squad even if Beckham was fit.

Shaun Wright-Phillips is the other main contender for the right-midfield berth. A similar player to Walcott in many respects, Wright-Phillips has always been quick but has lacked a certain cutting edge in and around the penalty area. Whilst certainly a competent footballer, he does not seem to be of true international standard, and Walcott is surely just a better, more refined version of him.

Aaron Lennon is the third pacy winger who would have hoped for a place in the team, and on his form for Spurs earlier this season could perhaps have expected to start ahead of Walcott. The main problem for him is the fact that he is injured, and Harry Redknapp has recently stated that he doesn’t know when he will return. This is of far greater concern for England than Beckham’s injury, I think; Lennon can do far more damage to a defense than Becks can.

There are also a number of less pacy candidates for the position. James Milner, Stewart Downing, David Bentley, and Ashley Young could all potentially do an effective job there. Milner has been having perhaps the best season of his career at Aston Villa, and could comfortably play in any position across the midfield. Downing is an effective, if limited, winger, and Bentley has had something of a renaissance in the last month or two at Spurs. Bentley is probably the most naturally gifted footballer of anyone I have mentioned here, yet he doesn’t seem quite able to bring it all together into a complete package. Young seems to have been deemed not ready for senior international duty by Capello, and it has been reported that his temperament is not well-suited to the big occasion.

The other main thing to consider is a quality I have mentioned numerous times: that of pace. England do not have a great deal of fast players, and almost all of them seem to be right-sided midfield players. Thus, Capello will want to take the opportunity to use this position to inject some much-needed pace into the England line-up – Beckham cannot (and never did) provide this.

The argument can be made that Beckham could be an effective impact substitute, coming on when the opposition’s legs are tired and firing in some of his trademark set pieces to cause problems. Surely, though, this is not necessary. If players like Lampard and Gerrard cannot effectively take a free kick or a corner, then England are in serious trouble. Milner will probably not start for England; as an impact sub he would surely be just as effective (he takes a mean free kick too). The enigma that is Joe Cole should not be forgotten either. Although his form for Chelsea has dipped since returning from injury, he cannot be ruled out of the England squad and is another player who can inject creativity and unpredictability late on in games.

If this injury proves to be the end of David Beckham’s career, whether for club, country, or both, it will be a shame. He has always been a consummate professional, and has willingly accepted his reduced role in the England squad after being dropped by Steve McLaren. His time at the top of the game, though, has long since come to an end. In AC Milan’s recent Champions League tie against Manchester United, he looked thoroughly out of his depth in Milan’s 3-2 defeat at San Siro, and did nothing of note as a substitute in the second leg at Old Trafford. His star off the pitch may be as strong as ever, but on the pitch his best days are far behind him.

There is no “problem” for England’s World Cup preparations. The experience Beckham provides will still be present if, as reported, he travels with the squad to South Africa anyway, in an advisory role of some description. On the pitch, there are much more effective players in his position, who can better keep up with the modern game and supply everything Beckham could and more.

In the end, the big concerns are elsewhere: in all four position across England’s back line, the goalkeeper, and perhaps even who starts up front alongside Wayne Rooney. Thanks Beckham, but the time has come to move on at last.

Zamora for England?

Now wait… stop laughing. I know it sounds absurd, but I really think that Bobby Zamora should be a realistic candidate for the England squad in South Africa. I mean, just think about it. Fabio Capello seems to have decided that England’s best way to score goals is to have a Heskey-style “big man” in the team. Heskey is brilliant at holding up the ball and linking the play, and his movement drags defenders around, creating space for Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard (cutting in from the left) to move into. Capello’s formation has clearly been justified by the fact that England scored more goals in World Cup qualifying than any other country.

Yet, despite this, the decision to pay Heskey still seems counter-productive. Heskey’s goal return for his country (and in domestic football), is abysmal, and by playing him, Capello is effectively resigning himself to the fact that he expects one of his two strikers not to score a goal. The ideal solution, therefore, would be to find someone who can do Heskey’s job leading the line, but who also provides a goal threat. I believe Zamora might just be that man.

Or at least, he is becoming that man. His goal haul so far this season isn’t particularly remarkable, but 5 goals is a reasonable total considering the fact that he plays in what is essentially a solid mid-table team. 2 goals in his last 2 games, however, suggests he might be making progress. The second of those, scored this past weekend at Burnley, was a great finish into the bottom corner using his unfavoured right foot.

As for the hold-up play that Heskey provides, Zamora is certainly at least his equal in this regard. Zamora’s play leading the line for Fulham has been outstanding at times, and his performance in Fulham’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United at Craven Cottage last season was nothing short of magnificent. Zamora gave Vidic and Evans a torrid time, pulling them all over the place and creating chances galore. His tally for assists is also by far the highest of any player at Fulham. Heskey is a decent player, but surely Zamora is as good, if not better – and the statistics show that he produces goal-scoring chances for other players more often.

With a goal-scoring record better than Heskey’s, and the fact that Zamora is pretty much a guaranteed starter at Fulham these days (unlike Heskey at Villa, who competes with Jon Carew), why not give Zamora a chance in the England team? I think he could do very well. The other alternatives would seem to be Peter Crouch or Carlton Cole. Crouch is a different kind of “big man”, and whilst Cole has shown potential, he is currently playing in a struggling West Ham side and does not seem to be producing the form his form of last season when his team were competing for a place in Europe. So come on Fabio, give Bobby a go. It can’t hurt, can it?

EDIT: Since writing this post, Heskey has also just scored two goals in three games to somewhat undermine my argument. My point still stands though – if Heskey finishes the season with more goals than Zamora, I’ll eat my hat.