Liverpool and England striker is a brilliant footballer but also an individualist who undermines himself with his apparent refusal to accept football is a team gameWatching Daniel Sturridge perform his critically panned one-man show against Slovenia on Tuesday, it was impossible not to picture his increasingly exasperated England team-mates as Alan Partridge in the car park. Dan! Dan! Dan! Over here! Look! I’m unmarked! Dan! Give me the ball! Dan! Don’t shoot! Dan! Stop trying to dribble past four defenders! Pass it! Pass it here! I’m in a much better position than you! Dan! Dan?Maybe Sturridge had a point, his selfishness a way of passing comment on his fellow attackers. Dele Alli managed one neat nutmeg but little of any...
How long will Gordon Strachan remain in charge of the Tartan Army after dire performances against Slovakia and Lithuania? Plus, new manager, same old problems for England; and previews of all the weekend’s games in the Premier League, including Liverpool v Manchester United Subscribe and review: iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, AcastOn today’s Football Weekly Extraaaaa, AC Jimbo is joined by James Horncastle, Gregg Bakowski and Michael Cox to wave goodbye to the international break, but not before riffing on the dross put on by England in Slovenia and – even worse – Scotland in Slovakia. Ewan Murray tells us why Gordon Strachan has to go, dagnammit. Continue reading...
After a gloomy international break Rooney returns to Manchester United unsure how many chances to shine he will get before England reconvene next monthGlacial is the word that springs to mind when contemplating international breaks these days. Every few weeks the hurly burly of the Premier League gives way to a version of the same sport that operates at a snail’s pace. That is not just watching England either. Time seems to stand still for the whole of the process, making Wayne Rooney losing his place a five-day drip-feed of suggestion, confirmation, reaction and then attempted rehabilitation, with the eventual match a bolted-on afterthought that leaves the landscape oddly unchanged, save for the somewhat surprising discovery that hardcore England fans...
The forward has apparently turned a corner at Arsenal, but his contribution against Malta and Slovenia was minimal and not good enough for a player deemed a ‘leader’ by Gareth SouthgateIt was the sense of anticlimax which was so dispiriting. The buildup had been brightened by all that encouraging talk of a “new Theo Walcott”, the assessments delivered by club manager and player himself and backed up most persuasively by resurgent form at Arsenal. Those eye-catching goals against Chelsea and Basel were plundered by a forward who had acknowledged recent failings and was determined to prove he had changed. Rivals lining up across the back for Malta and Slovenia would surely be quaking in their boots.And then reality clicked in...
English football loved the assassin‑faced baby but what we are left with now is a fading pro, approaching his 31st birthdayIt has all seemed so joyless at times, with so many long, difficult periods when it has seemed like a black drape could be placed over the entire team it might surprise you to learn that when Gareth Southgate took his seat in the Stadion Stozice and set out his reasons for dropping Wayne Rooney it was seven years to the day since England had lost a qualifying fixture.It can seem almost a trick of the mind to remind yourself that England are unbeaten in all qualifiers since a 2009 defeat in Ukraine when Rob Green was sent off and, losing...