Will this be the year when England finally deliver?

We’re not convinced. Farewell 44 years of hurt, roll on 48!

This could well prove England’s best chance to win the World Cup in 20 years (we’re too scarred to wonder “what if” about the collapse against Brazil in 2002) but it still looks like they will come up short.

There’s no doubt that the Three Lions have the might coach in Fabio Capello, and for a second it looked like the team wasn’t too shabby either, but events so far this season haven’t been great preparation.

In goal, first-choice David James has been permanently crocked, second-choice Robert Green has endured a blip - his first since joining West Ham in 2006 - and third-choice Ben Foster has been awful.

Birmingham loanee Joe Hart has been the star performer but has just one cap, and if he took the number one jersey would be heading for the World

Posted: January 7th, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five stats about tonight’s Euro Under-21 Championship Final

Germany/England, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 1, Best Odds, Free Bets

Stuart Pearce is the 4/1 favourite to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager and tonight he can prove his credentials by guiding the Young Lions to their first trophy since 1984. To do so he will have to conquer Germany, who were a thorn in Psycho’s side throughout his playing career. However, at Under-21 level, England have a much better record against them:

1. There have been three occasions under the current format where two teams from the same group have met in the final and on two of those, the side who came second - in this case Germany - triumphed.

2. Germany have never previously won the competition but have - either as East or West - lost in the final four times, including a 1974 defeat to Hungary when it was still an Under-23 competition.

Posted: June 29th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Can Arsenal beat Manchester United without Adebayor and van Persie?

Do Arsenal stand a chance without their first-choice strikeforce?

Arsene Wenger was adamant last season that he had a big enough squad to challenge for the title only for it to be reported as a “crisis” and used as an excuse by the Arsenal boss when they picked up a few injuries in the final months of the season. Again this summer, Wenger insisted he had enough depth but ahead of their biggest game of the season so far they have a legitimate crisis with Robin van Persie suspended, Emmanuel Adebayor injured and Eduardo still out. Will they be able to get a result without the trio?

Arsenal without Adebayor and van Persie

» There has only been one league match this season that Adebayor hasn’t started - the away game against West Ham - and on that occasion he got them out of jail when he came on by creating the opener and scoring the second.

» As well as being the Gunners’ overall top-scorer with nine goals, Adebayor has made six league assists this season, a total that only Manchester United’s Dimitar Berbatov can match.

» It’s been over a year since Adebayor last missed a league game for Arsenal. The last two he missed were the first two games of last season - a 2-1 win against Fulham and a 1-1 draw at Blackburn. While Arsenal took points in both games, it’s worth noting that van Persie scored in both.

» Van Persie appeared in fifteen league games last season. Arsenal’s record with van Persie of 2.2 points a game was marginally better than their average of 2.17 without him, although they lost two of three league games against Big Four clubs with van Persie playing, compared to none of the three that he missed.

Posted: November 7th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment