Euro 2012: An Opportunity for England to Play Without Pressure?

Given the squad Roy Hodgson is taking to Poland and Ukraine it is perhaps just as well that there does not seem to be much expectation resting on the England Squad as they prepare for the Euro Championship.

Could this be an opportunity for them to eventually play to some of their potential in a major tournament? With some of the usual pressure seemingly off them, I am at least hoping to see some attacking intent and not the usual flat, dull football that is often in evidence when England play in big competitions. Comparisons, rightly-or-wrongly, will be made to the disaster of the World Cup in South Africa. However, with that as a benchmark we couldn’t do much worse!

Roy Hodgson is in a win-win situation as I see it. If we go out in the group stage and are generally rubbish then the argument will be he did not have enough time with the squad to prepare etc. If he gets them performing well then he will be hailed as being the right man for the job all along.

Given this situation I am slightly surprised he has not gone for some bolder selections in his squad. There seem to be too many weak or out-of-form players. Whilst Roy hasn’t had much time to prepare its not as if he is unaware of who is playing well at present and who isn’t. His overriding argument for the inclusion of Andy Carroll was his late season form for Liverpool after all.

There are several players who I would not have included. How Stuart Downing makes the squad when he has not contributed a single Premier League goal or Premier League assist for Liverpool this season is a complete mystery to me. James Milner as been poor for Man City on the rare occasions he has played for them and given the other midfield selections in the squad it is clear he is seen as a wide player by Hodgson. He doesn’t have the pace in my opinion and contributed one cross in the warm-up game against Norway last weekend. A cross that hit the first defender and went out for a throw-in. Theo Walcott is another who has been far to inconsistent for both Arsenal and England and Danny Welbeck is one of the most over-rated players to make the England Squad for some time.

I had hoped Roy would have taken the opportunity to produce more of a blend of young exciting players alongside the more established internationals. His inclusion of the uncapped Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suggests he is not totally conservative in his thinking. I appreciate that but for some injuries the squad would likely look quite different, with the likes of Darren Bent, Jack Wilshere and Kyle Walker all strong contenders for starting places.

It is a rare occasion that on the even of a major tournament the English media and public are not building the expectations of the team and the pressure to win. I hope that the players are able to respond to this in the Championship and produce some exciting and attacking football. Whilst I think there are a few weak links in the squad I will be watching with cautious optimism.

Good Luck England!

PS - How many of you would have included Grant Holt as a wildcard???

Ethics v Entertainment?

Its a shameless piece of profiteering from Frank Warren, but my god it should be an entertaining fight. He has just announced that David Haye will fight Dereck Chisora on 14^th July at West Ham Utd’s Upton Park stadium.

Neither fighter currently has a licence, with the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBOC) stripping Chisora of his following this pretty disgraceful behaviour in the build-up to and following his recent fight with Vitali Klitschko and Haye handing his back after announcing his retirement. Chisora has since appealed the decision and is awaiting a hearing, also scheduled for July.

The fight has been licensed by the Luxembourg Boxing Association, which begs the question..what is the point of the BBBOC‘s ruling? Warren, who manages Chisora, stated that there were a number of other boxing associations also willing to licence the fight.  It seems kind of pointless banning a boxer if it is still possible for him to continue to fight in that country. Surely there should be some sort of legislation preventing an association without any link to either fighter allowing a fight in another country. This effectively removes the authority from the Board who are meant to control the sport in Britain.

The biggest question, however, should be whether, ethically, the fight should go ahead in the first place. Chisora had his licence withdrawn and rightly so. The BBBOC cited him as being not fit or proper to hold a licence. His actions at the last fight cast a shadow over boxing and made British boxing in particular a bit of a laughing stock. If Haye had still had his licence then I imagine he would probably have lost it too given his part in the incidents at the post-fight press conference.

Warren stated that Chisora will not have boxed for 6 months and therefore not been paid for 6 months. He said that if Chisora were a footballer he would have missed the equivalent of 24 matches. The thing is, he isn’t a footballer! His behaviour and his behaviour alone has gotten him into this situation. Should he be allowed to profit from his unprofessional and disrespectful actions, because that is essentially what he will be doing. Would there be as much hype about the fight if there had not been such a public bust-up between the pair?

Warren claims that he will not be accepting a fee for promoting the fight. What he fails to mention is that he is the majority shareholder of BoxNation, the TV station that will be airing the fight. The ethics aside and taking the two fighters on their merits it should actually be a good fight, as long as Haye manages to avoid breaking his toe! Both went the distance with Klitschko’s and if they actually remember to box each other then it should be an interesting spectacle.

The intense dislike between these two will just add a bit more spice. The inevitable trash-talk, which I enjoy immensely due to its entertainment factor, should reach a whole new level. It never fails to amuse me how much the boxers get wound up by what is obviously a tactic to wind them up. Perhaps this time Chisora won’t just threaten to shoot Haye, he will turn up to the weigh-in with an Ak-47! Perhaps Haye will hire a London billboard and depict himself chopping off Chisora’s head with a sword! Apparently the fighters and their entourage were separated by a 7-foot steel fence at the press conference. Let the fun begin!

I don’t believe this fight should go ahead, but I think it will good entertainment when it does.