Bridge's Announcement Disguising Deeper Issues

Wayne Bridge’s declaration that he will effectively end his international career may have pulled the personal issue between himself and John Terry to the forefront of our minds again, but in truth its contributed to cover up a greater problem in the selection of England’s world cup squad.

While it seems likely that Stephen Warnock will join Ashley Cole in South Africa instead of Bridge, solutions to other areas of the pitch are more difficult to predict, with some unfilled spots in mid-field leaving some England fans and I’m sure Fabio Capello, scratch their heads.

However the progression of James Milner this season has been nothing short of fabulous.

He’s firmly broken into an Aston Villa side that looked full to the brim with wingers are the signing of Stuart Downing, but Milner hasn’t let the signing of the former Middleborough player trouble him.

His form, and the disappointing showing of some of his rivals for the position mean Milner, for me, is a sure starter for England against USA on 12^th June.

He’s overtaken Theo Walcott for the position, who after his hat-trick against Croatia in Zagreb, had all but secured his place at his second World Cup tournament, but his form of late has hardly been encouraging.

When everyone is fit at the Emirates Arsene Wenger uses Walcott sparingly, but that hasn’t been the case this season as injuries throughout the squad had meant his opportunities has been more frequent, but he’s hardly taken advantage of that break.

In some of Arsenal’s bigger games this season, particularly in the recent league encounter with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Walcott has gone missing, and with one league goal to his name this season it’s hardly been the ideal time for his form to drop off.

Some of Walcott’s inept displays might be blamed on tiredness after he was taken to the Under-21’s European Championships last summer, something Wenger was hugely against, but Milner, who captained the side in Sweden, has had no such problems this season.

Fatigue is liable to be a factor, and we can’t expect Milner to continue to produce the form of displays that we’ve been treated to this season all the way till May.

Elsewhere in this troublesome position we have Joe Cole, forever England’s solution to their left-sided problem under Sven Goran Eriksson, but now back in the blue of Chelsea he has failed to break back into the side, and when selected been unable to re-produce any of the magic we once enjoyed.

After such a long rehabilitation, has the World Cup come too soon for Cole? Capello’s squad selection for the friendly against Egypt will tell us all we need to know.

After Cole come Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon, who both, for different reason will do well to make it on the plane for England.

Wright-Philips, by his high standards hasn’t been at the top of his game for Manchester City and has, like he was at Chelsea, been a victim of their embarrassment of riches.

Yes, more often that not he plays, but too inconsistently to gather any momentum in his league form.

As for Aaron Lennon, well lets first not forget that he hasn’t kicked a football in 2010 yet, and as a result will miss out on selection for the friendly against Egypt.

Lennon has had a terrific first half of the season, but it’s painfully obvious that he lacks a final ball and amongst other things he looks short of a trick or two from a standing start, more often than not he needs help from a galloping full back to create space for him.

When I selected my own World Cup squad in October, I omitted both Wright-Phillips and Lennon, and I’ve seen nothing in the previous four months to suggest I should overturn that decision.

I did mention the name of Adam Johnson as the future for England, but that the World Cup had come just too soon for him, and not for the first time I may be wrong.

Although I was disappointed that he left Middleborough for City on deadline day, he’s given himself a chance to prove he belongs at the top level and with a few injuries around, I think he deserves a punt, in this squad at least.

There’s always one player who makes a late break and makes the squad, and now that Milner looks a certainty, Johnson will have his heart set on a World Cup spot.

In addition I also feel there is a spot unfilled for another central mid-field player, and given the way the England team is structured Michael Carrick seems primed for the spot, but Lee Catermole, another who traveled to Sweden last summer must also be considered.

So while fans might be fretting over who will replace Bridge in the squad, England fans might want to turn their attention to England's mid-field dilemma.

Decision Time for Title Rivals

During a week where attention has turned to Jose Mourinho’s clash with Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League, the Blues' title rivals, Manchester United, cut the gap at the top of the Premier League table to just a single point, with a comfortable 3-0 win over a home sick West Ham United.

Just one win on the road all season has contributed to the Hammers plight at the foot of the League and another defeat here came after the side more than held their own in the opening 30 minutes.

Gianfranco Zola’s team secured a vital win over Hull City at the weekend, meaning they could travel to Old Trafford and play an open, expansive game while knowing they had done the hard work at Upton Park last weekend.

As is always the way with visiting teams at Old Trafford, their game is raised to try and keep up with the home team's standards, and as a result many onlookers will admit that if West Ham can replicate the sort of form they showed in the opening half an hour at the Theatre of Dreams, they’ll comfortably retain their Premiership status.

Whereas most of the attention was on Wayne Rooney, whose brace all but put to bed this Premiership encounter before the hour mark, eagle eyed supporters would have acknowledged the defensive pairing at the heart of West ham’s back four.

Despite seeing three goals, and many other chances created against them, both James Tomkins and Matthew Upson can come away from this fixture with their heads held high with both being terrific from start to finish.

With Rio Ferdinand, now looking like a severe doubt for the World Cup this summer after a re-occurrence of a long standing back injury, questions will arise as to his replacement in the team, and with Upson effectively the third choice centre back, this performance shows England fans should have no worries about the ability of the former Arsenal defender.

United fans should however have reservations about the loss of Ferdinand, with the inept displays their second string defender have produced of late.

Jonny Evans was dropped to the bench for this one after being found out badly at the San Siro, the venue of his making as a United defender last season, and at Goodison Park on Saturday.

At the top of the pitch, Carlton Cole looked lively, but again lacked a goal or two to cap off a fine performance, a factor that will see him miss out on selection for England World Cup squad.

The only way the 26-year old might force his way into the squad will be if Rooney endures an injury before the end of the season, a loss neither England nor United can afford.

While Rooney showed that he is potentially the best player on the world right now with two goals and a host of other nimble touches, he further proved how vital he is to the Red Devils chance of securing any one of the three trophies they crave this season.

On this occasion however, others did come to the party, Antonio Valencia, a player crudely dropped in recent week in place of Nani, provided both of Rooney’s goals, Paul Scholes looked at his brilliant best as he continues to benefit from a run in the team and Dimitar Berbatov looked more willing to contribute than he has in recent weeks.

As ever the close season run-in is crucial to the destiny of the Premiership title, as well as the European Cup, and it might be a case that United and Chelsea will have to pick their priority even at this stage of the season.

Chelsea travel to the San Siro to take on Inter Milan tonight, three days before taking on fifth placed Manchester City, who themselves face Stoke City in an FA Cup replay.

Carlo Ancelotti’s love affair with the Champions League, and Roman Abramovich’s infatuation with the competition means it’s possible domestic affairs will have to take a back seat as a challenge for Europe’s premier club competition takes precedence for the Blues.

In addition Sir Alex Ferguson’s obsession with usurping Liverpool as England’s most successful club side will mean surely the Premiership title will become the important entity for the Scot.

I stress this is just a theory, both managers are still winners after all, and neither will relent in their quest for either trophy, but in a modern era where teams play over sixty games a season, is it really possible to fight for trophies on three levels during a single season?

It highlights how great an achievement United’s treble triumph was in 1999, although Barcelona’s own treble last season shows it can be done, albeit with a winter break.

And although his love for the club is still strong, Mourinho will be first in line to attempt to throw a spanner in the works of Chelsea’s own treble ambitions, and as we know he’s never been one to turn down a challenge.

Beckham's Return a Reminder of What Could Have Been

Football fans of my generation will always look at Euro ’96 at being their first football experience.

The image of Alan Shearer’s near-post header against Germany, or Paul Gascoigne’s dazzling volley against Scotland are such distinctive moments of English football history than even the most forgetful among us couldn’t possibly overlook these iconic pictures.

However neither Shearer, nor Gascoigne, were characters that fans of the younger generation could really relate with.

Just 76 days from that infamous semi-final tie with Germany we were introduced to a man whose ability with the ball, as well as his boy band good looks and charismatic personality would capture our hearts in a way no footballer had since the late, great George Best.

David Beckham signed for Manchester United in 1993, and within three years had established himself as the Red Devils’ leading threat on the right hand side of mid-field.

Sir Alex Ferguson had so much faith in the mid-fielder that he sold Russian winger Andrei Kanchelskis to league rivals Everton, to make way for Beckham to have a run in the team during the 1995-96 season and the Scot’s gamble paid off immediately.

It wasn’t until after Euro ’96 though that Beckham came fully into the public spotlight, and a single kick from what was to become an iconic right foot in the closing minutes at Selhurst Park from fully 50 yards saw him etched into football folk law.

The rest as you say is history, and for millions of supporters across the world a new star was born and the eulogies for Beckham haven’t since relented, even as he reaches the twilight of his career.

Too often when players leave football clubs they are forever revered and ridiculed by supporters for being traitors, or being hopeless flops, Beckham however comes into a totally different league.

It’s sometimes very difficult to disagree with Sir Alex Ferguson, yes he may hurl abuse at referee’s like its going out of fashion, or he might make sarcastic quips at journalists because they’ve asked him a awkward question, but his decisions within the walls of Old Trafford have always been in the club’s best interests.

The sale of Beckham, a transfer completed in July 2003, was the one-day I almost fell out of love with football forever, and almost lost faith with our talismanic manager.

Everything that I felt United stood for, honest, hard-working and dam right committed was sold off like it was a bit of unwanted furniture, and all to fuel the ego of a Scotsman whose personally feelings had finally crossed over into his working life.

I never have, and never will forgive Ferguson for selling Beckham; a sale that he knew would impact on the team’s results as United went on to endure three seasons without the League Championship.

It wasn’t that barren run without a title success that hurt me and most of the fans the most, no; it was that a player who loved his club unrelentingly was shipped off without even a consideration, another in a long line of players who were more like commodities than actually people.

I was in-fact was party to the first cracks in the Ferguson-Beckham relationship, when the England International was left out of United’s crucial title decider against Leeds United after choosing to look after his poorly child Brooklyn rather than turn up for a training session.

The decision seemed vindicated at the time, with United stealing a 1-0 win at Elland Road, but you kind of felt that things wouldn’t be the same, it was as if Ferguson was waiting for Beckham to slip up so that he could ever so slowly force him out of Old Trafford.

He of course got his wish via a thrown boot and after lashing out at Beckham preceding a Champions League tie against Real Madrid the penny finally dropped.

On Tuesday evening Beckham will come face-to-face with the man who banished him from the club seven years ago, and despite the way he was treated, watch the 34-year old be the first to shake Ferguson’s hand before kick-off.

That’s something Beckham has always been able to show, a little bit of decorum when pressured the most, something the FA took into account when recruiting him to boost the countries 2018 World Cup bid.

The glory hunting United fans out there will argue Ferguson has vindicated his decision of ridding Beckham from Old Trafford, because of the major success he's provided since he departed.

But part of me will always wonder whether it could have been the other way around, and whether with Beckham at the helm United’s success could have been equally as prolific.

For me, and for many others he was the first footballer, and even when he retires, potentially after this summers World Cup, he will always be close to my heart.