myBLOG-Online

Some Additional Sports Rambles…

England play their final and crucial qualifying match for Euro 2008 and their opponents, Croatia won’t be a pushover for McClaren’s men; even if the game is being played at Wembley! It’s a game that the English only need a draw from but I fear that we will get beaten if we play for a draw and judging by the team selection; lone striker up front, and a five man midfield; England will be sitting back and hoping for a scoreless draw. For me this has been England’s downfall in all previous tournaments; we attack to get a lead then sit back and usually concede goals and end up drawing or losing games we should have won. England need to keep attacking the opponents goal; attack is the best kind of defence for the English. Your opponent can’t score if the ball is constantly in their own half, England play a fast paced game compared to the rest of Europe; capitalise on that and we should win. Also short passes instead of the usual get the ball in defence and hoof it up the field and hope one of the midfielders or attackers get hold of the ball! McClaren says he is going to play for the win; but his formation doesn’t suggest an attacking selection. I guess we’ll find out if McClaren’s tactics work out tonight, a 2 – 0 win will mean we top the group; a draw will mean we finish second; if we lose then our fate is in the hands of Andorra who will need to either draw or win against Russia, which is unlikely; we were lucky with the Israel result!

I have been hearing rumours that Leicester City have Argyle manager Ian Holloway at the top of their list of preferred managers to replace Gary Megson at The Walkers Stadium. I don’t think that Ollie will leave Argyle but it’s worrying times for the Pilgrims as we haven’t had much luck with managers in the past few seasons. We really don’t want to lose Ollie as he is by far the best manager Argyle have had since Paul Sturrock back in 2004/05. Holloway has done so much to build the Argyle team up after the state ‘Judas’ Pulis left the club in. I would love to see Ollie take Argyle to the Premiership, he’s building up an excellent team at Home Park and he is one hell of a character. He’s completely mad; but you have to respect the man; he speaks his mind and usually comes up with some cracking comments. While referring to the FA Cup, he said “My record over the years has been shocking. I’m like a cheap tea bag – I don’t stay long in the Cup!” – absolute comedy genius! Argyle may have lost midfielder Akos Buzsaky to QPR (more like BFU – Bernie [Ecclestone] and Flavio [Briatore] United) but Plymouth’s veteran skipper Paul Wotton could be back in the centre of the park again very soon; that will be a great boost to everyone at Home Park!

The story has just been updated and it looks like Ian Holloway might be off to Leicester after all as he is reported to be keen on talks with the Leicester board. Which means that he desires a move away from Home Park. I am disappointed that he is even considering a move to the Walkers Stadium; I really believed that he was committed to Argyle, if this news is to be believed then it seems that isn’t the case! I hope these reports are inaccurate!

Have Something To Say About This Post? Please Comment Below!