Live Thoughts: England vs Spain (Friendly)

I covered this match live. Here are my thoughts on the match between England and Spain

Hey everyone, welcome to another live thoughts post. Today England are going to try and take on the best team in world football at the moment, Spain. I love how the usual over-optimistic press are crapping in their pants over the thought of us going against Spain today. No one expects us to win. I don't expect us to win either. But it's so funny and nice to see the press actually be realistic for once. I don't think England are anywhere near Spain in terms of current national squad or development of youth. But so what, it's a one off match at Wembley! Let's go for it! I hope we win today, it's a win we really need in terms of boosting our confidence for the Euros. I don't think we'll win the Euros but let's give it a go, we can still compete with any team out there on our day, just not consistently, especially on paper, we're not on the same level. But throw it all out of the window today and let's go for it!

Here are the teams...

England: Hart, G Johnson, Jagielka, Lescott, Cole, Walcott, Jones, Parker, Lampard, Milner, Bent. Subs: Carson, Stockdale, Johnson, Cahill, Walker, Baines, Barry, A Johnson, Downing, Rodwell, Sturridge, Zamora.

A very interesting line up, it looks like we might be playing 4-3-3 today which is a nice, refreshing attacking line up. That being said it opens up wide gaps for Spain to attack if they have possession. Intriguing.

Spain: Casillas, Arbeloa, Ramos, Pique, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, Villa, Silva... Subs: Reina, Valdes, Puyol, Albiol, Monreal, Cazorla, Fabregas, Mata, Navas, Torres, Llorente.

Welcome back Arbeloa and Alonso! Nice to see our old Reds back and better than ever. This is such a strong team. I don't see a weakness anywhere really, we need to be on form today and not let them have possession otherwise we're going to really struggle today.

3' - A teasing game at the moment, both sides testing the other's mettle. We're not looking that bad at the moment but it's very very early.

5' - Spain starting to gain some more possession now, trying and failing so far to break the defence.

8' - Loads of possession for Spain, the way you'd expect them to be. Apart from one small moment earlier where Phil Jones was in a good area, we haven't done anything.

11' - David Villa takes the ball into the penalty are and shoots with his left foot, it's deflected by Phil Jagielka for a corner.

14' - Not much to report at the moment, just loads of Spain possession with no penetration of our defence. We're counter attacking when possible, which isn't often.

15' - A small spell on the cusp of the Spanish box for England dissolves but we're getting forward once in a while. And every time we do the crowd gets excited, it's quite funny being the underdogs for a change, we're giggling like little girls when we get the ball. Really funny!

18' - In all honesty, the game really hasn't opened up at the moment, it's quite boring, seeing Spain with the possession and getting nowhere. Naturally the second half will be a better spectacle but I was hoping for a little more from both sides than this.

21' - The commentators just said that England for the last two years have had 15 different central defence partnerships. That's an amazing statistic.

23' - A great Spanish move ends with Silva miscuing a shot. David Villa passes to Jordi Alba I think, who cuts the ball to Silva who just mistimed his shot. Very close.

26' - We're definitely defending well. We're not giving Spain much space in the final third although the levels of possession are concerning.

29' - We keep biting at Spain once in a while, we're like guard dogs at the moment, it's quite cool to see us being this rock in defence and a niggle going forward.

32' - Very little to report in this friendly for long spurts, we've just got a free kick about 40 yards out, Xabi Alonso on Darren Bent. A little harsh but nothing comes of the free kick anyway.

35' - Iniesta takes a shot and it deflects off Joleon Lescott. Silva set Iniesta up for that shot. Corner, and it comes to nothing.

38' - The game is slowly starting to open up on both sides. Not too much, but you can feel a change in the air.

40' - Walcott finds some space and takes on a few Spanish players! He takes on Sergio Ramos who blocks his path intentionally. If it wasn't a friendly that would be an instant ytellow card.

41' - James Milner gets a yellow card for a dirty tackle on Ramos. He clips his foot with both his legs. Ramos should have been booked earlier too, but this was also deserving of a yellow.

43' - The referee is booed as Theo Walcott once again attempts to take on Ramos only for him to get knocked to the floor, the ref deemed the ball was kicked too far forward for it to affect play. It's debatable.

44' - Glen Johnson also gets forward and it takes Ramos and Jordi Alba to deal with him, he almost wins a corner but got the last touch and it goes for a goal kick. There's some problems for Spain down the England right wing, it's good news for the second half.

45' - One minute of added time.

45+1' - Half time.

It's been a boring match to watch in honesty. Spain have been quietly dominant of possession, but have failed to break England down in long periods. England have been little bull terriers for the most part, chomping at Spain's feet and stopping their obvious technical threat. We've made the most of the little possession we have had, and only for the last five minutes did we start to find a weakness in Spain, the Spanish left wing. Let's hope Walcott and Glen Johnson, who are both pacey on that right flank, can take advantage of this, but can also defend well enough for it not to be a problem for counter attacking.

45' - England Substition: Theo Walcott is off and Stewart Downing is on. I think that means that we're putting Milner on the right.

45' - Three Spain Substitutions: Liverpool legend Pepe Reina is on for Iker Casillas, David Silva and Xavi are off for Cesc Fabregas and Juan Mata. Straight swaps I'd say.

48' - GOAL! Frank Lampard! A James Milner free kick is headed by Darren Bent, Reina tries to save and it hits the post, Lampard, onside, heads the ball into an empty net before Reina can recover! Against the run of play!

50' - Poor Pepe Reina, on the pitch for less than four minutes and concedes. There's not much he could have done about that, although he wouldn't have got to Bent's header in the first place.

53' - Scott Parker gets called for a fowl on Juan Mata. He got the ball and the player, it was aggressive mind. Free leads to nothing.

55' - David Villa is free and past all the defenders, he turns past Joe Hart and shoots. Side netting. Relief. His run behind the England defence was world class.

56' - Two England Substitutions: Jack Rodwell comes on for his debut, replacing Phil Jones. Frank Lampard is replaced by Gareth Barry, who takes the captains armband.

57' - Both teams have used three substitutions, but there's a total of six in friendlies. I'm sure you knew that but just in case.

58' - Jack Rodwell makes an immediate impact by being released down the right wing, he tries to cross but it's too deep and goes for a goal kick.

59' - Sergio Ramos is yellow carded for a double footed challenge. That was woeful. He's so lucky, his block on Walcott was yellow card worthy and he gets nothing, that double footed challenge is red card worthy and he gets a yellow. Bad refereeing if you ask me.

61' - Danny Welbeck is about to come on, Bent is limping slightly.

62' - David Villa takes a dangerous free kick and it hits the England wall.

63' - England Substitution: Darren Bent's night is over and Danny Welbeck is on.

63' - Spain Substitution: Sergio Busquets is off for Fernando Torres.

65' - Rodwell is free and is pacing at Reina! His shot was tame and there was a whistle against England for a free kick anyway. Some good movement from Rodwell and Welbeck almost got a second then!

68' - They're advertising Brazil vs Egypt on ITV4. Wow. What a bizarre match to have on an English channel.

71' - England playing some good football for once. It looks like this game has been a tactical master-stroke for us. That being said we have twenty minutes left.

72' - VILLA! Hit the post! A lovely technique to chest the ball and volley, it beat Hart! So close! England counter attack and Welbeck storms forward but the pressure rises and the move dissolves.

75' - England Substitution: Adam Johnson comes on for James Milner. A direct swap I'd say.

77' - A few corners for Spain lead to nothing, although Torres had a sniff at one point.

80' - 10 minutes left. You know, if we win, I'd be really happy but you know what I'm not looking forward to? All the gloating and bragging and optimism from the press tomorrow. All the "Woo! we're one of the best teams in the world! We're amazing" crap.

81' - A scramble ensues in the England box and Fabregas tries to get the ball to Gerard Pique but Scott Parker slides to intercept. Great defending!

82' - Fabregas looks for a penalty on the cusp of the penalty box. Debatable, it did look like he was brought down but he was looking for it too.

83' - Scott Parker stops another Spain attack, the man is an industrial powerhorse when he's on form.

84' - England Substitution: A huge standing ovation for Scott Parker who goes off for Kyle Walker, who is also making his debut tonight. He's had a great season for Spurs, Walker.

87' - Another Spain attack is broken down, this time by Ashley Cole who storms forward and links with Adam Johnson, the move eventually stops for a Spain goal kick.

88' - Scott Parker wins the man of the match award. Well deserved.

88' - Torres 1-1 against his team mate Ashley Cole, he lays the ball off to Fabregas who shoots past all the defence and Hart sees it late, but saves last minute!

88' - FABREGAS! So close! He's free from the defence and takes a shot that goes to the left of Hart's post! Should have done better!

90' - Three minutes of added time. So close now.

90+2' - England are celebrating. Calm down calm down, it's not over yet!

90+3' - Full time!

This was a great win for England today. Absolutely amazing win. Yes it was a friendly. No, we didn't play very well. But we defended, brilliantly. I can't fault the defenders, Joe Hart, and in parts, Phil Jones and Scott Parker, who were all working like little bulldogs for anything upto 90 minutes today. We got the lucky goal, and it was just that, a lucky goal, and defended so so well. Does it matter? Who knows? We beat Spain, the best team in the world. It gives us confidence, the one major ingredient we have been lacking for so many years. We need confidence and not cockiness, and you know something, you never know, we could put a dent in this Euro competition! Let's remain optimistic but with our feet on the ground, and learn from our old mistakes! Come on you three lions! That's it from me today, have a good night.

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The Mercy Side: The Transfer Season and the Midfield Clutter

I haven’t written as much about football as I’d have liked to. The last article I wrote in fact was on my account on The Kop, (to avoid interruption with the Noughtie series) which you can find here. On this actual site my last football activity was part of my quick Bitesize update a few days before the new year. While I thoroughly enjoyed my Noughtie series the whole thing took me out of action for six months in terms of writing about other things. I mean, that’s a block that I made for myself, but I wanted to be committed to the music series that I was doing and doing random posts in between that project would have made my website a bit of a mess. So, here’s my first publically documented writing on football in around six months! Groundbreaking! Okay, enough sarcasm, let’s just get to the article.

I want to talk about the transfer window today, naturally. We’re around halfway through the transfer season now, and around this time of the window we tend to have little activity happen. You’ll see a signing here, and a signing there, but it doesn’t really build up until the second week in August time. But Liverpool hasn’t gone around their business in that fashion this time. In fact, according to King Kenny (who, as I haven’t written about his tenure on my site, has done a tremendous job back at the club where he belongs eternally) we’ve done most if not all our transfers already, as we have to sell to buy if we are going to get any more players.

We’ve reportedly spent around £50 million on four players in the past month or so, which is an incredible statistic when you round that up to on average £12.5 million per player. The four signings are intriguing in different ways. Here's a small bio on each of them.

Jordan Henderson
 

Sunderland born Henderson is only 21 years of age, and has been described by his previous manage Steve Bruce as “the best young British footballer there is”. Coming from Sunderland’s youth system. his career is quite young, and has only really started to gain major recognition in the past season. He can play on the right hand side of midfield, but has played centrally more often than not. He’s took the #14 number off Milan Jovanovic, which was also Xabi Alonso’s old jersey number. He doesn’t score too many goals as of yet, in fact he’s only scored 6 goals so far in 92 professional appearances (for Sunderland and Coventry) but he’s improving his trade, and he does contribute to a decent amount of assists. His progress so far has been at a decent pace and should be playing some games next season, whether or not he can become a regular player for us or not, will have to be seen. There is a lot of competition in the centre of the pitch, and he may find himself on the right more often that he may like, due to his versatility. He won the Young Player of the Year award for the two previous seasons for Sunderland, and also won his first England cap, where he played alongside our own Stevie G. To add to his obvious potential, FIFA placed him down on their list of “13 Young Players to Watch in 2011” alongside Manchester United’s new keeper David De Gea and Anderlecht’s highly rated Romelu Lukaku, calling him "composed, athletic and powerful".

Charlie Adam 

Charlie Adam was named after his father Charles Adam, who played for many Scottish teams in the eighties and nineties. He is a Dundee United youth, but spend the majority of his career at Rangers, six years of it in total. Adam is another central midfielder however, unlike Henderson above, Adam has a knack of finding the net, having done so a total of 63 times in 237 games in total, which is roughly one in four games. A lot of these goals have come from penalties, as Adam is an extremely clinical penalty taker, rivalling Gerrard and Kuyt for the spot takers next season. Like a lot of Rangers players, Adam spent a lot of time on loan I his career, finding mosts of his early success winning the Scottish Challenge Cup and First Division title with St. Mirren back in 2006. After finishing his loan at St. Mirren he started scored a hat-trick in a pre-season friendly, which helped him start to become a regular at Rangers. He scored 14 goals that season, which lead him to being crowned Young Player of the Year for Rangers. He eventually become part of the team that got to the UEFA Cup Final in 2008. Around 2009 he found himself falling out of favour at the club, and spent the second half of the 08/09 season at Blackpool, his first taste of football in England. A highlight that second half season was a goal he scored against Accrington Stanley reserves from the halfway line. He joined them permanently at the end of that season, and not long won the captains armband with the club. He was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year, before leading the team to playoff victory, also scoring from a freekick.

He spent his first season in the Premier League last season, scoring 13 goals in total, not bad for a team that eventually got relegated. Liverpool attempted to sign Adam back in January but the bid was rejected. Adam handed in a transfer request which was also rejected. His fantastic contribution last season for Blackpool got him nominated for a PFA Player of the Year award. We then signed him a few weeks ago, and he was given the #26 shirt, a shirt he often chooses as it’s the birthdate of his child. Jay Spearing was wearing the shirt at the time and let Adam have it (Spearing has since now starting wearing the #20 shirt).  Charlie Adam has been often compared to Xabi Alonso, due to his fantastic range of passing ability and also his fantastic accuracy from the penalty spot. Many Liverpool fans see him as Alonso’s long term successor, hopefully forming a nice partnership with Gerrard in the middle of the pitch. However, Adam’s Scotland career has had mixed results, he is yet to score for the team and isn’t often chosen. If his career continues to excel at Liverpool, it’ll be difficult for him not to be chosen on a regular basis for country.

Doni 

 
In the early part of the year, John Henry talked of us signing younger players on a long term basis. Naturally Doni, being 31, doesn’t fit that bell. However with Pepe Reina at 307 appearances and counting, it’s not going to be easy to knock the Spanish stopper off his perch as Liverpool’s goalie. Last season we signed Brad Jones, who’s in his late twenties, however Doni, gives us great experience between the sticks, having won multiple cups at Roma, and also is a Copa America winner.

Doni, born Doniéber Alexander Marangon, is an experienced and dependable Brazilian goalkeeper. He doesn’t often make mistakes, and enjoyed a good few seasons at Corinthians, before ending up in Roma in 2005. He was initially bought as an understudy to Gianluca Curci and was only used in UEFA Cup games but after impressing in that competition, he took over as the main keeper for Roma. A few years later he was in a three-way battle for the keeper’s jersey with Artur and Julio Sergio, after he let in 4 goals against Juventus. The end of his career at Roma ended badly as he wasn’t even on the bench for most of it. He signed for us on a free transfer and is likely to be the understudy for Reina, where as one or two of our goalkeepers are likely to go on loan for more experience.

Stewart Downing
 
Unless you're not familiar with the Premier League and/or the England national team, you'll already know more than enough about Downing. Born in Middlesbrough, Downing went through the youth ranks all the way to the first team. A natural left winger, he tried and failed to establish himself in the first team before going on loan to Sunderland, then in the first division. An injury crisis at the Boro was what made him find himself in the first team long term. In the 2004/05 season he really started to find himself becoming an integral part of the Middlesbrough first team, when scored six goals and starting using his great left foot to cross the ball and provide many assists. One of his best games for the Boro was in a UEFA cup game against Steaua Bucharest in the semi finals when he assisted three of the four goals scored. It was around this time he started to rack up appearances for England, he took part in the World Cup in 2006, mainly as a back up for now team-mate Joe Cole. He also started to take part in the Euro qualifiers, in Steve McClaren's torrid tenure as England manager, Downing became one of the scapegoats due to his attachment to McClaren at the Boro beforehand. In the 2008/09 season, Middlesbrough got relegated. It was a particular poor season for Downing too, as he looked the frustrated figure with the poor run of results that were occurring around him. He handed in a transfer request in the spring, which got rejected. At the end of that season, Downing was sold to Aston Villa.

Things started to turn round for Stewart Downing at Villa, he started to find the form that he found in his first few years in the first team at the Boro, racking up assists and a handful of goals. You could argue that last season at Villa, where he scored eight goals, was his best season yet. Now 27, arguably the peak age for a footballer, he has now joined Liverpool to face competition with Maxi Rodriguez, Milan Jovanovic and Joe Cole for the left wing berth.

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So what of these four players? Well signing two central midfielders is intriguing. Adam and Henderson above, now join Raul Meireles, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, Jay Spearing, Lucas Leiva, Christian Poulsen, Jonjo Shelvey and Alberto Aquilani, which total in NINE players all vying for two (or three) positions. While Joe Cole usually plays on the left for us (so can Meireles, and Gerrard can play left and right), he always maintains he wants to be in the middle. Something has to give. Nine players for two positions is quite frankly ridiculous. We need to sell some. But who? For me, Christian Poulsen by default gets sold. Not only is he 31 years old, he had a very poor debut season last year. He just didn't seem to gel with the team, and he didn't perform to the standard a Liverpool player should. But that leaves eight players, eight players quite frankly, I actually like. I can't say a bad thing really about any of the eight players who would then be left at the club. I mean yeah, Joe Cole had a disappointing campaign, but he was also injured a lot and didn't really get the best of opportunities. He can also as I said earlier, play on the left wing. I like him a lot. I always have. I want him to desperately be a success here. I think he deserves one more season. In honesty, if I were manager, I'd probably loan Jonjo Shelvey out to an ambitious team in the Championship, like Nottingham Forest or Cardiff, so he can get a good amount of experience in a decent quality side where he can shine. I think a season in the Championship will do him the world of good, he has bags of potential at the age of 19, and I reckon he could rack up at least half a dozen goals somewhere in that league if given the chance. It still leaves seven players though! It's really difficult, and while I have no problem with us signing Charlie Adam, who I think could be an incredible player for us at a decent transfer fee of around £9 million, or Jordan Henderson, who at 21 could be one of the best English midfielders of the next decade (I do think £15-20 million is a bit excessive though). But it does leave major question marks over the nine midfielders. Aquilani seems destined to go back on loan in Italy, which disappoints me as I think he has something to prove here at Liverpool, and deserves another chance. If he's going back on loan, why don't we just sell him? I've never understood the logic of loaning an established player presumably just to wind his contract down.


As for the other signings I think we've signed Stewart Downing at the right time. He had a great season last year for the Villa, and his crosses are imperative for Andy Carrol to head the ball into the back of the net. There are a few question marks over his consistency, but I think he answered those critics last season when he was one of Villa's best players. If he brings that form to the Reds, we have a very good left winger, who gives us a different option to the free-scoring Maxi Rodriguezz of the end of last season. For Doni, I thoroughly welcome him. He was a very good keeper at Roma, and has been the understudy for the Italian side and for Brazil in the past. I think he's a better keeper than Brad Jones, and I don't see where Jones fits in next season. That being said we have Péter Gulácsi on loan to Hull, so he's pretty much trying to make sure he's ahead of Doni for the backup shirt.


So what happens now? Well we need to sell more players, it's as simple as that. There are rumours of Aquilani, Lucas and Cole all being sold or loaned out. I like all three players, and they all offer us something different. But Kenny can't have nine central midfielders. I trust he'll sell or loan the right players, and make us as strong for next season as possible. It's definitely salivating stuff though, to have so many options for the midfield. We just need another backup striker and a left back now! Sell the right midfielders Kenny, and get some more depth in our squad.


What are your thoughts? Who should Kenny sell? Should we put out established players on loan? Comment below. Thanks for reading.