A few points to dicsuss have come up from the international game at Wembley tonight, not all to do with the game either, with the Daily Mail (Yes, The Daily Mail got quoted in this blog, might as well stop writing now) saying England are not in "safe hands" anymore due to the two goalkeeping callups.
I'm not sure exactly who is the chief England writer for the paper, but the two call ups, Scott Loach, and Frankie Fielding, are both part of the England U21 set up, and thus didn't need to be released from their clubs, unlike if Capello had called up someone else (although who else did he really have to choose from!) who were still at their club. The ignorance also from from the ITV commentators tonight was just mental, I quote, "I hope someone can tell the difference between them, as I can't". The media utterly baffles me with their research, top media journalists? Get a grip.
On the subject of the game, there were some positives for England tonight, despite the booing which did occur for the majority of the starting XI before the game. Focusing on the positives, Walcott when he was on the ball looked dangerous and managed to drag defenders away from other threats. The second half saw other threats coming into the game, Ashley Young, despite not having played for England for over a year looked a threat down the left and made a good connection with the youngster Gibbs who has impressed on his debut.Up front, Rooney played alone for the first half, and looked slightly isolated with Gerrard playing off him, during the second half, Zamora came on and England began to look more threatening in front of goal, although not many chances were created in the area. One instance stands out where Zamora was on the byline in the area looking across the box, with no one to pass to. Zamora himself looked a threat with a great header saved by Kiraly in the last few minutes, and a strong left footed shot from 20 yards palmed over. His link up play with Adam Johnson was also looking good, and Zamora can look towards the qualifiers in September with the hope of being in the squad after tonight's performance.
Adam Johnson was another who came into his own tonight who looked promising particularly in the second half where he showed he can play across the whole of the midfield, and he was unlucky not to score tonight.
The other new boys were in defence, Jagielka who did what he had to, but could be outdone by a stronger front line in future if his performance was to be the same, and Michael Dawson who let nerves get to him making a few mistakes, one which was crucial to the first goal which England conceded, (Not over the line for what it is worth, someone remind FIFA goalline technology was very 2000's and we don't need it now anyway?) before making a few sloppy passes as well.Other positives to come from the night were that Steven Gerrard does actually exist when wearing a white shirt, and not a red one by scoring two very good goals. Hart for a good, if quite simple goalkeeping performance, and also Hungary for giving England an actual game and not rolling over.
England do have work left if they wish to improve and be sure to win the qualifying group for Euro 2012, however the signs are there that they can improve with youngsters blending their way into the team in the near future.
In other football news today, the first round of the Carling Cup was completed, with Hartlepool proving to be the only shock of the night winning 2-0 at home to Sheffield United, Reading were ran close but a last minute extra time winner saw them through 1-0 against Torquay, whilst Cardiff needed extra time also to beat Burton 4-1, with a brace from Ross McCormack. The draw for the second round has been completed with the "highlight" being Accrington hosting premier league Newcastle. Other notable things to have occurred today are the passing of Southampton owner Markus Liebherr, and also Stoke City's record signing of Kenwyne Jones for £8M.
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