England can't win

I’m not England’s most vehement supporter but recent events in the media have further encouraged a sense of injustice for the England national side. It seems negative stories about England are compulsory, regardless of how successful they are.

Having ensured qualification for the World Cup in Brazil next year, the British Press had every right to portray the England team with plenty of optimism.

All smiles for Hodgson

Failure to qualify would have been a wonderful outcome for the media, though. Stories of England’s demise and uncertainty over Hodgson’s position as manager would have undoubtedly dominated the back pages of newspapers and made for interesting reading.

Instead, England were to be briefly glorified after coming through two difficult challenges against Montenegro and Poland to guarantee their presence at the most illustrious competition in the sport at the home of arguably the greatest nation to have embraced football.

The England team are highly unlikely to win the World Cup. Quite simply, they don’t have sufficient quality to compete consistently at the top level. Whilst there are a large number of particularly talented individuals, who have the potential to be exceptional players, it’s currently unrealistic to make a comparison with the likes of Spain, Germany and Brazil.

This doesn’t mean we can’t support our nation, however. In fact, this provokes an incentive to increase England’s backing. They’ll need to be able to rely on committed supporters who can provide extra inspiration.

Unfortunately, the British media sometimes fails to gather this concept. After emphasising the significance of making it to Brazil ahead of those final two qualifiers, England would have felt the media owed them some praise after intensifying the pressure placed on them to deliver.

At the Olympics last year, the media made a substantial contribution to the feel-good factor within the UK through the positive representation of British athletes, who were performing so magnificently in London and achieving far beyond expectations.

Admittedly, British athletes work much harder than footballers for much less money so their success deserves to be emphasised. It will be challenging to ever replicate the mood of Britain during those Olympics with so much enthusiasm and excitement widespread throughout the country.

One factor that can be guaranteed is that the enthusiasm and excitement is contagious. People become infected sub-consciously.

If the media generated similar levels of hype when it comes to the England football team, there could be a considerable impact on the positivity and potential of the squad and would encourage an influential contingency of football supporters.

Yes, they’re paid unjustified amounts of money and should feel honoured to don the England shirt. Yes, pressure is part of the sport, increasingly so at international level, but there’s nothing to say they don’t deserve praise when they are victorious. Whilst the newspapers did give credit to the England side afterwards, the stories that followed the Poland match quickly extinguished the success.

This is where I get to the point I’m referring to when I say ‘England can’t win’. You may see this title as a reflection of their chances at the World Cup. That, although it may be true, is not the case. What I mean is that, even when England are successful, the media has a tendency to find a way of overshadowing times of celebration.

Townsend- centre of attention

This was demonstrated in the aftermath of the Poland match, which England had won 2-0 to finish top of their group. Andros Townsend, who has been the focus of attention in the footballing world after producing remarkable performances in his first two England games, has now become the centre of an apparent ‘racist’ incident during the half-time team talk of the Poland game. Roy Hodgson, the man who deserves credit for bravely selecting the young Tottenham Hotspur winger, used the expression ‘feed the monkey’  from the punch line of an old joke when instructing his players to look for Townsend to create more opportunities.


Toure was the subject of racist abuse in Russia

The term ‘monkey’ has been used to direct racial abuse at black players in football. There have been several cases of monkey chants inside stadiums and such despicable behaviour was evident in the recent Champions League Group D game between CSKA Moscow and Manchester City, where Yaya Toure was the subject of monkey chants from CSKA supporters. One of the most unfortunate ironies about this is that CSKA have black players themselves. The Russian club have since denied the allegations made by Toure, insisting that no racist behaviour took place, despite clear video evidence showing the monkey chants from supporters.  UEFA have now officially punished CSKA for the incident by proposing to close one section of the stadium for their Champions League tie against Bayern Munich in late November. Further punishment will be issued if the behaviour is repeated, with full stadium closure being a serious threat from Europe's football governing body, along with additional fines. There’s a theory that this incident has been exaggerated because we are bitter about the fact that Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup ahead of England. Of course we are bitter. Look at the level of racism and the standard of stadia in Russia compared to England. Why wouldn’t we be bitter?

Going back to the Townsend situation, any civilised football supporter will know Hodgson didn’t say the joke with any intention to cause offence racially. Surely the fact that Townsend has said Hodgson was paying him a compliment removes any suspicion of the England manager being a racist. A pressure group known as Race for Sport didn’t understand this, and decided that the apologies from Hodgson and the FA were unsatisfactory. Sending a complaint to the FA, they advised that all football managers should receive cultural intelligence on the matter. Up until this complaint, I didn’t think the matter could be taken further out of context. Up until this complaint, I had never heard of ‘Race for Sport’. Therefore, it seems that this was a desperate attempt to raise the awareness of an organisation that is in need of recognition and status.

Kick Racism out of Football, the established campaign committed to ending discrimination in British football, haven’t responded to the issue, reiterating the idea that Hodgson wasn’t being racist.

It will be interesting to see how the next 8 months go for England on and off the field.

Friendlies against Chile and Germany await them in November, marking the beginning of preparation for the 2014 World Cup.

Shrewsbury Town 2-2 Carlisle United

Three goals in 10 minutes provided an unexpectedly entertaining end to what had been a frustrating afternoon for Shrewsbury Town, who continued their winless run with a 2-2 draw against Carlisle United, and they were close to taking no points at all.

Town goal scorer Bradshaw

Tom Bradshaw gave Shrewsbury supporters something to cheer about in the first half with a goal in the 40^th minute. It seemed to come from nothing. Carlisle cleared the ball from a Town corner only for it to fall to Paul Parry, who managed to hook it back in to the opposite direction, finding Bradshaw clear and, crucially, onside. The Welshman executed the finish neatly to grab his second goal in as many games.

Carlisle had started brightly, whereas Town seemed to be  lacklustre and slightly off the pace at the beginning of the game. Amoo, in particular, looked a threat for the visitors. However, despite demonstrating good control, footwork and pace, his deliveries were frequently blocked by Joe Jacobson and the winger struggled to create opportunities for Carlisle’s attackers. On one rare occasion, Amoo found Matty Robson in the box, but he could only glance his header wide of the post.

Town enjoyed long periods of possession but, for the majority of the time, it was meaningless and the home side seemed to lack ambition to go forward and cause problems for their opponents. Jon Taylor looked promising on his return from suspension, and occasionally made darting runs on the left hand-side, leaving Carlisle’s comparatively slow defenders far behind. Adam Reach enjoyed similar success when running down the left and, like Taylor, managed to get in to good positions, allowing him to cross the ball in dangerously. It was pleasing to the eye, and there were some genuinely impressive movements of play, but Salop lacked a cutting edge, failing to create any clear cut chances.

Carlisle had a number of chances themselves. They struggled to utilise the height of striker Mark Beck to their full potential. Although Beck presented physical prowess and physique, the Carlisle attacker did not make as significant an impact as expected.

Bradshaw’s solitary goal separated the two sides going in to half-time. Though leading the game, Town had not been convincing and appeared to be reluctant to go for a more direct approach.

‘Frustrated’ best describes Shrewsbury supporters in the second half. Winning 1-0, the expectation was that Shrewsbury would attempt to kill the game off, particularly with them being at home. With all due respect to the visiting team, they were up against a Carlisle side that, for most of the first half, had looked average. There were no doubts that this was a winnable game.  Carlisle hadn’t threatened Shrewsbury as much as they would have hoped to.

Despite this, Shrewsbury came out and displayed a performance that implied they were playing for statistics instead of three points. Credit to them, they managed to play some close and tidy football at times, which was encouraging. Frequently, the defence and midfield used the wingers as outlets, finding Taylor and Reach in ideal positions to deliver the ball in to the box. Did they deliver though? No. Almost every time they were in these positions, the wingers decided to play it back to the defenders. The defenders would then often opt for goalkeeper Weale, taking the ball further back.

Having worked hard to get in to these productive areas, where they could cause Carlisle serious problems, they let the visitors off the hook. Not only did this largely negative style of play lead to a severe breakdown in momentum when they managed to gather some, it invited Carlisle to attack and pressure them.
Carlisle had already had a couple of chances in the second half. There wasn’t necessarily a need for an invitation. Amoo had come close 10 minutes in when his header was cleared by Aaron Wildig on the line. Just five minutes earlier, Dave Symington looked to have created a certain goal, but Robson volleyed Symington’s cross straight over the bar from close range.

Jon Taylor nearly doubled Town’s lead when his 25 yard drive was superbly saved by Gillespie on 71 minutes and Adam Reach should have given the Carlisle goalkeeper more to do when he cut in on to his left foot, 16 minutes from time, to release what proved to be a tame effort.

Shrewsbury paid the consequences of trying to close the game out at 1-0 when Amoo found his way in the box.  He managed to score on his second attempt when a neat cut back led him to smash it in to the roof of the net.

Carlisle weren’t finished there. In the space of five minutes, the game had completely turned around as Sean O’Hanlon rose from a corner to head Carlisle in to the lead in the 90^th minute.

Suddenly, Shrewsbury had gone from looking likely victors for the first time in over a month, to fighting for a draw.

Salop did fight back to rescue a point, bringing the temporarily delirious Carlisle supporters back to normality. A breakdown in Carlisle’s defence and concentration, probably due to the euphoria of taking the lead so dramatically, allowed Paul Parry through on goal to calmly slot home an equaliser.

Graham Turner had mixed feelings about Shrewsbury’s result after the match, saying "I don't think it was a bad performance by any means but overall it's two points lost and certainly not one that deserved a defeat.

"We have a reputation of conceding late goals and we need to stop that. But, when you go 2-1 down, you have to think it's a point gained.”

Turner’s side will look to bounce back from their recent disappointment with another crucial home match on Saturday, this time against 16^th placed Gillingham. The Gills are one place behind Shrewsbury and are currently on the same amount of points so this has the makings of a highly competitive League One fixture with large significance for both sides.

Bradford City 2-1 Shrewsbury Town

Newly promoted Bradford City came from a goal behind to clinch a 2-1 victory against Graham Turner’s Shrewsbury Town thanks to a last minute winner from James Hanson.  Victory for the Bantams sees them climb up to 5^th place in the League One table whilst Shrewsbury drop to 15^th after a second successive defeat.

Defeat was hard to imagine for Town after such a positive start to the game, with an early goal inside the opening two minutes. Tom Bradshaw gave the visitors the lead, meeting a Ryan Woods cross to head Town in front. However, as is said on so many occasions, it can be dangerous to score so early on, which is due to the fact that there is such a long time for the team to defend that lead.

Despite this, Shrewsbury managed to sustain their 1-0 advantage for the rest of the first half.

Although Salop started the second half resiliently, Bradford equalised with half an hour left of the match. Mark Yeates delivered an impressive cross and winger Kyel Reid equalised, intensifying the atmosphere at the Valley Parade Stadium, which has enjoyed a significant increase in match day attendance since the home side’s promotion to League One.

For the second game in a row, Shrewsbury were reduced to 10 men. After Jon Taylor’s dismissal against Wolverhampton Wanderers a week earlier, Dave Winfield received his marching orders with just three minutes of normal time remaining. Having already received a yellow card earlier in the game, which was for an incident in the 62^nd minute , Winfield was given a second yellow card for handball. He had actually taken Bradford striker Nahki Wells out of the game in the first half with a late challenge, forcing the player to be substituted. Winfield managed to escape with no punishment on that occasion.

With an extra man, the hosts gathered momentum and James Hanson picked up a loose ball on his way to executing a powerful strike with his right foot, that went past Shrewsbury goalkeeper Chris Weale, to grab victory in the 90^th minute.

Town manager Graham Turner said "It was a harsh red card for David Winfield. To pick out the incident and send him off is beyond my comprehension.

"But we should have been capable of holding on to 1-1. We are lacking the knowhow and mental toughness required to win these games - and find that second goal. We need to look at ourselves and ask the question of why we are losing games like this.”

Shrewsbury have two consecutive home games to look forward to as they look to bounce back from two disappointing league defeats and return to winning ways. Carlisle United travel to the Greenhous Meadow this Saturday and Town host Gillingham a week later.