Wenger Talks Sense - Nation In Shock

For me it's a very rare occasion that I find myself agreeing with Arsene Wenger, but today I completely agree with the Arsenal Manager.

Arsene states that the format of the Euro 2008 qualifying rounds contribute to dull and dour games because the larger nations find themselves facing the minnows whose only concern is preventing a thumping.

I've seen it first hand when England took on Andorra last year and the opposition felt it necessary to just pack the defence, play rough and utilise tactics to slow the game down. Fair enough you may say, but you may be forgetting that the underlying purpose of football is "entertainment". Without that ingredient, people wouldn't watch and sponsors wouldn't continue throwing money at the game.

Back to Wenger, he said in the Guardian:

"If you want to see a good game of football, then both teams have to play to win and that is not what happens," he said. "I feel very sorry for many national coaches because of this.

"In these games, they are expected to be 2-0 up in the first 20 minutes and if they are not, then they are booed. But the other team is only interested in 0-0 and that is all."

He was also correct in that we took 4 points from two away games and in the greater scheme of things we should be happy. But games need to be put into context of what happened before. Had we beat Macedonia in the previous game then we wouldn't have been too upset. Also had we had a decent display against Spain in the friendly 4 points from 6 wouldn't have been all that bad.

I just hope that the final game against Croatia at home proves to be a complete contrast to the games we saw in the recent away games.

Have the media not got anything else to write about?

You know what it's like when the rags don't have anything else to write about - they just go on ad nauseum.

I'm glad I've been away for a couple of days enjoying the delights of Amsterdam so have managed to remove myself from the hysteria that the the tabloids are spreading about the poor performances that the England team have had.

What annoys me the most is that the drivel they come out with is perpetuating the situation by making the fans angry which in turn puts the players on edge. I'm not even sure that the press want England to make it! It appears they're more concerned with slagging off the England team and management.

The Sun has come out with "Terry Left me Scared Shirtless" - does it matter if the England captain wasn't happy in exchanging pleasantries when the Andorran side were content in not playing in the spirit of the Game? I was at the game at Old Trafford and their players spent half the game on the field clutching phantom injuries. I was pissed off and I expect the England team were too.

The Mirror is harping on about the absence of Frank Lampard in the Andorra game. They've printed 20 questions they would have liked to ask but couldn't because Steve McLaren was only present at the post-match press conference. They go on like a spoiled teenage swat who tries to impress girls by trying to come over all clever without realising that he's just being a knob. So if it makes you feel better Oliver, yes you're harder and cleverer than anyone else now do some serious journalism that really would impress people!

What the press need to think about is the that their actions do affect the team indirectly and they're as bad as the managers that purposely try and play mindgames with the opposition. It's about time that the English Press get behind the team in the qualifying round as they would all do in the finals. If they don't we won't even get there.