Put Your Foot on the Ball
While England's achievement in beating Spain shouldn't be downplayed too much it was apparent that Gary Neville's words of a couple of weeks previous were confirmed, i.e. England does not develop enough players who are comfortable in possession. Watching England I was reminded (as I often am) of my dad's saying - "they need someone who can put his foot on the ball". Someone to slow the pace, maintain possession.
This is very hard to do at any level of football.
Indeed, even the current experts in possession - Barca at the club level and Spain at the national level - maintain control by the tremendously high level of passing ability throughout the whole team rather than a single player (including Messi) who can dictate the pace of the game. It may be that with large squads and three-player substitutions that there is no longer enough space for the player who "puts his foot on the ball".
I still believe that Charlton would still be able to control the pace of the game today as he did in his prime. So, England produced Charlton, why not more? For one thing, as I've intimated, such talent is rare in any nation. I think that Neville is right, rather than hope that another Charlton appears it's a good strategy to raise the interpassing skills of English youth.

Scholes
Paul Scholes announced his retirement today. A great player and admirable person. When Zidane pronounces someone as the most complete midfielder (as he did in regard to Scholes) there's not a lot more to be said. The great puzzle about Scholes was his reckless tackling. I have a theory. I've read or heard many times "surely Sralex could have taught him to tackle better". Exactly. Ferguson chose not to interfere. I think that there are two interrelated reasons. First, Ferguson, like Busby, while devoted to playing real football knows that you can only do that if you also take care of business and that involves a certain amount of intimidation. It may seem strange to speak of a pint-sized and wondrously skilled player as intimidating but size in football counts for little. Scholes went in low and hard. The edge of wildness undoubtedly caused the more fainthearted to bail out of challenges. The related reason is that Scholes' tackling was a reflection of his football personality: he played full out. Never leave anything on the pitch was my Dad's motto and it was Scholes' credo. I think Ferguson, master psychologist that he is, knew that to interfere with Scholes' occasionally wild tackling would have diminished the core of what made him great. And if it scared a few opponents, wha' the hey.

Fred Titmus RIP
A few weeks ago one of boyhood heroes passed away, the English offspinner Fred Titmus. Fred wasn't a great player but he played with a great spirit. (He was a good player, though.) He always seemed to be having fun. Although picked for his bowling he was a useful bat and one of my enduring memories was seeing Fred come to the crease when England were in trouble. His jaunty air transmitted reassurance and, invariably, he would hold up his end while a recovery was built. He was great example of what can be achieved by knowledge of limitations, concentration and confidence. His technique wasn't so good but he got behind the line and was a gritty defender. He only had one real offensive stroke, a slash off the back foot that he would hit between cover and third man. But did he use it well!
As a bowler he didn't get a lot of turn but he had great flight and, of course, accuracy. His "arm ball" - the ball that drifts away to the off and keeps straight - was excellent and got many a wicket caught behind or at slip.
He was an olde stereotype - the Cockney "cheery chappie" - but he wore it well and endeared him to many fans of cricket, including those of the opposition.
In a very different way he was like Conrad Hunte, another of my favourites. Hunte was the antithesis of the received image of a West Indian batsman but that made him a very good opener. Like Fred, he seemed to love playing. He had this huge smile which he shared all the time when not concentrating ferociously. He was a brilliant fielder, right up there with the best, save the incomparable Lloyd and Bland. My favourite memory of him was when he caught a towering hit by Dexter a few yards in front of me on the boundary at Old Trafford. He looked down and checked what he must have felt - that his foot was on the rope. Without hesitating he signalled "six". Someone said something an he turned to look at the crowd. He had the biggest smile that you ever saw.

Playing the Officials
I was astonished when I got to see the sending off of Pepe in the Barca-Real match. If that was a foul then footballers won't be going in for 50-50 balls any more for fear of getting a red card. An incredibly bad decision. They both wnet for the ball, Pepe got it an some of the Barca player's foot who went down like he'd been shot. Not even a foul. Too bad to be legit, in fact. Even at an amateur level regular refs know what's going on. There's no way the ref didn't give the red to tilt to Barca.
Fearing this sort of shenanigans must of been why the Special One made such a deal of the choice of match official.
However, it's not over yet. EUFA is now on notice via Mourinho's considerable media machinery that it's credibility is on the line. Prediction: M will tell his guys to get into the box early and they'll get a penalty. Even stephen, kind of. How it goes from there I don't know but you heard it here first.

The All-time Red?

Recently the Man Utd fan magazine picked Ryan Giggs as the greatest ever Man U player. It’s a tough call. My dad always said that Edwards was the best he ever saw but his career was tragically short. Giggs has played for 19 great years. Perhaps some comparisons can’t be reduced to a commensurable set of considerations..
Yet, one way to think about it is to compare the two great Utd players that had the longest carers, viz. Giggs and Charlton. As much as I admire Giggs, this is not a comparison that favours him. Charlton was better in every respect except tackling. It’s interesting how the recency effect works. I really don’t think there’s an adequate appreciation of just how good Charlton was. He was lightning fast – but didn’t look it. He was completely two-footed. He could beat defenders. He had a thunderous shot – I’d love to have seen what he could do with the balls they use now - and he was cool in front of goal. He was the best crosser of a ball that I’ve seen, including Beckham. And we haven’t got to his best talents yet. He commanded midfield in a completely unique way. No-one could get the ball off him. He was a master passer using spin, again with either foot, in ways that I don’t think have been surpassed. (The player most comparable in the use of passing was the Spanish Luis Suarez who played in the 60s; not the guy just signed by Liverpool, who, by the way, looks really good from the little I’ve seen of him).
Having opened this line of inquiry, though, I’m now forced to confess that of Charlton, Best and Law I think that he was the least, although not by much. I’ve said in other posts that Best was the finest player that I’ve ever seen and I’m sticking to it. He dribbled better than Charlton, didn’t have as ferocious a shot but was deadlier, was a shade behind Charlton in passing, but was a much better tackler and header. Law is harder to evaluate. He was a better header than almost anyone but ranked behind Best and Charlton in everything else except tackling (he was Best's equal) and the vital area of goalscoring in which he was one of the best compared against anyone. Law was unique in that he was both a great midfielder and pure goalscorer: I really can’t think of anyone like him. Finally, both Best and Law had incredible courage: this isn’t to out down Bobby but to tip the hat to two amazingly brave players.
The only other contenders are Keane and Cantona, both wonderful players in their own right. Cantona, however, was a striker and must be ranked behind Law. Keane played a different role but, again, as much as I admired him I can’t rank him with Law, Best and Charlton. In fact, I think the fan magazine got it right in giving the edge to Giggs over both. Beckham ranks with the next tier of Utd greats – along with Robson, Scholes, Hughes, Stam, van Nistelrooy, Rooney.
Funnily enough my favourite player is none of these: Paddy Crerand. Crerand was the best pure footballer that I've seen and he was tough as nails, too. He would always make a pass no matter what the situation and a gilt-edge pass at that. For a pro footballer he was unvbelievably slow but he made up for his lack of spedd with an incredible vision and unsurpassed ball skills. In one respect he was similar to Giggs: he never gave in to the crowd. Like Giggs he had days when he couldn't find a red shirt but he kept on trying to make the telling pass - just like Giggs has always done. Possession play has its place but its players like Giggs and Crerand create far more moments of magic when their uncanny passes find their marks.