So, England take on Bulgaria at Wembley this evening in the opening Euro 2012 qualifying campaign game. Fabiola Capello has been under pressure from the media following the England World Cup debacle. Can the three Lions bounce back with victory at Wembley this evening?
Certainly captain Steven Gerrard thinks so…
It has to be said that after the World Cup a new dawn for English football was promised. It seems that Theo Walcott has been put up as the new face of Capello’s England, and to be fair he has been in great form for his club Arsenal this season. However when you look at the side that is likely to start it is not much different than the old England. Of course Capello cannot call on the services of Lampard and Terry because of injury and Peter Crouch went home with a bad back (no jokes please) on Wednesday.
In fact the reality of the situation is that eight of the 11 which started for England in their humiliating defeat by Germany will line up to face Bulgaria. Joe Hart replaces David James in goal with Phil Jagielka and Theo Walcott coming in for Terry and Lampard. With the exception of the goalkeeping position you cannot help but think that was it not for injuries it would be the same team. Capello pleaded with the FA to keep his job on the basis of widespread changes and investment in the future. What a load of Buncombe! Once again the fans have been taken for fools.
So it is the England of old who line up against Bulgaria. The good news for Fabio Capello and co is that Bulgaria are rubbish. That said I will not be punting on this game in any shape or form. In fact I will not even be watching. England are nothing short of a joke. To pay a manager I reported £6 million a year, to fail so spectacularly on the world stage and to keep his job afterwards and then make a total buffoon of himself by announcing that David Beckham would no longer play for England, without first telling the man who has been capped for England more times than anyone else in history, is quite frankly outrageous. The England backroom team features an Italian general manager, an Italian coach, an Italian goalkeeping coach and Italian fitness coaches, as well as an Italian sports psychologist and a Swedish orthopaedic surgeon. To me it is no longer England. It is a highly paid very expensive white elephant. England are far too short to contemplate backing and Bulgaria are not good enough to even consider backing.
However here are the odds and the latest match betting…
England are 3/10 with Ladbrokes to get their European Championship qualification campaign off to a winning start at Wembley against Bulgaria, and 11/10 to win to nil without John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. Stilyan Petrov’s visitors are 10/1, with the draw 4/1. After ending his dry spell, Wayne Rooney is 11/4 favourite to score first, with captain Steven Gerrard at 4/1 and in-form Theo Walcott at 6/1.
David Williams of Ladbrokes said, “Punters have been slow to get excited about the match but we reckon they’ll wade into the Three Lions as kick off approaches.”
England 3/10, The Draw 4/1, Bulgaria 10/1
England to win to nil 11/10
England to keep a clean sheet 8/11
First Goalscorer
Rooney 11/4
Defoe 9/2
Bent 5/1
Carlton Cole 5/1
Gerrard 5/1
Walcott 6/1
Adam Johnson 8/1
Milner 12/1
Bojinov 12/1
Ivelin Popov 12/1
Martin Petrov 18/1
Stilyan Petrov 25/1
I cannot forgive the England team’s performance at the World Cup. Many people say that the manager was not to blame, however when you are paid such an astronomical sum to be the guru and the one who makes the difference then you simply have to deliver. Fabio Capello did not, in fact England were better under Sven Goran Eriksson than they were under Steve McClaren and are now with Fabio Capello in charge. I am disillusioned fan, I am England through and through but I think now we have a team of players who act in a way that dishonours the great tradition of England and certainly think they are much better than they are. Truly great players are the ones who perform on the international stage and are the ones who win championships. England will probably beat Bulgaria, but I would wager that it will not be either convincing or particularly entertaining.
However, I hope that I am eating my words this time tomorrow.
