EPL Talk » David James

David James and Fabio Capello: The Biggest NFL Fans in England

Dave Warner — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:00:39 +0000

Those of you living in America probably couldn’t stop hearing about last weekend’s big National Football League game in London, the third such contest in three years, in which the New England Patriots tonked Malcolm Glazer’s hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers — who have cut costs to the bone this season, and we can all have a guess as to why.

Despite the NFL’s talk of how quickly their showpiece sells out Wembley Stadium each year and how the league could add more London games in the future because of that success, the truth is that England doesn’t really care all that much. Far more sports fans in that country (and its press) were more concerned with Liverpool’s win over Manchester United and the swine flu scare at Stamford Bridge on Sunday than they were about two random NFL teams ripping up the sod in Wembley. As a sporting event, the London Bowl is mostly manufactured hype, an NFL specialty.

Two rather notable figures in English football, however, seem to believe their colleagues have quite a lot to learn from American football.

In his recent column for The Guardian, Portsmouth goalkeeper David James revealed that England manager Fabio Capello sat down last weekend with Mike Holmgren, a former NFL head coach who’s been to three Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks and won one of them, to discuss coaching ideas and techniques. Capello, James reveals, has borrowed several ideas from the NFL for the England squad — most notably increased film study of training sessions and opponents’ tendencies.

James in particular seems to be a big proponent of film study:

I’ve taken to doing my own video work with a psychologist. Video analysis highlights the gap between perception and reality – your awareness of space and time during a game can be so distorted you are unable to assess accurately every detail on the pitch, a problem that can affect managers as much as players.

James also admitted that his visits to several NFL teams in 2003 made “a huge impression” on him, and that he was stunned by how much emphasis was put on individual aspects of the game. He noted how much time players spent together studying in the film room and how closely Jim Zorn, then a quarterbacks coach for the Seahawks, worked with the team’s QBs to improve their skills. He went on to write that he’s never seen any English football club do anything similar:

I’ve never been at a club where we sit down as a formation – a defensive or offensive group – and spend time working out systems. That’s just not the culture in England, where we seem to have this idea that sitting in a video room for any amount of time is boring and the wrong thing to do.

James finished his column by stating that if he ever gets into management, he plans on borrowing even more ideas from NFL than Capello has — beginning with a more robust coaching staff:

Imagine if we had kicking coaches, heading coaches, attack coaches, defence coaches. Why not? We have keepers who can’t kick the ball properly, and strikers who can’t head. Why wouldn’t you want to give them additional coaching to improve their all-round game? … Whatever you would spend on these specialist coaches, it would be a drop in the ocean compared to players’ wages. Not investing in them seems a false economy.

What I would like to know is this — why haven’t most EPL clubs done this already? Or have they? Do the clubs that haven’t simply assume that this sort of training only works at the youth level, and that adult footballers no longer need it? Are players tasked with finding their own instruction outside of regular training? Are managers simply holding on to archaic traditions because they fear other coaches would attempt to usurp their authority? Or do they simply think that too many cooks will spoil the broth?

It seems almost abhorrent to suggest that the beautiful game would somehow be less beautiful if clubs paid more attention to details, group tactics and specific skills like heading and free kick accuracy. Perhaps the only question is which club will be first to invest in the heftier coaching staff and enhanced video suites necessary to focus on those details. Arsenal already has the latter at its London Colney facility, which Capello uses with the England team for film study. So perhaps Arsene Wenger is slightly ahead of the curve. On the other hand, Arsenal hasn’t won any trophies since 2005, and that’s the true measure of success, isn’t it?

Chances are little will change at the club level until one club that takes a chance on these ideas wins some real hardware. Perhaps it will be left to Capello and James to prove that the beautiful game might actually have something to learn from the gridiron game after all.

EPL Talk Meets Patrick Barclay

Paul Bestall — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:34:46 +0000

Patrick Barclay is one of Britain’s best known and respected football journalists. With a career of over 30 years working for a variety of publications and numerous appearances on television talking about the game, Patrick is always worthy of attention.Currently writing for the Times, Patrick has a wide knowledge of the beautiful game and many insights to the nuances of football

I was lucky enough to have the chance to speak with him on behalf of EPLTalk and discuss a variety football issues with him. It was a thoroughly interesting conversation covering a wide range of topics, so much so we ended up chatting for a lot longer than either of us probably imagined. Throughout the conversation he was polite, friendly and it was a really warm discussion. I hope you enjoy it.

EPLTalk: Firstly Patrick, thank you for taking the time to speak to us today, we really appreciate it.

Patrick Barclay: My pleasure, I’d much rather have a conversation than e-mail back and forth.

EPLTalk: You’re currently working at The Times, was it a wrench to leave to The Telegraph after 12 years?

Patrick Barclay: Yes, I think it was 13 years but I was very used to the Sunday newspaper rhythm, so I was kind of nervous moving away from that. It does suit me better though, having the opportunity to write daily. There’s such a quality of writers at the paper, I feel that I have to fight for a shirt so I understand how Carlos Tevez felt last season at Manchester United. I had had enough of the Telegraph, there was few things going on that I didn’t agree with, so it was nice to have the opportunity to go to the Times.

EPLTalk: Well I first became aware of your writing when you worked at the Observer.

Patrick Barclay: Yes, Oh gosh! That was a great break, that was the first time I’d worked on a Sunday newspaper and the Observer at that time had a great writing tradition. Many great writers were there, especially sports writers led by Hugh McIlvanney. If you can’t learn anything working alongside McIlvanney, then you haven’t got much chance. So that was a great experience, I loved it and we had a great sports editor there, Simon Kelner and it was great fun.

EPLTalk: The other work I know you best from is doing the Sunday Supplement show on Sky Sports on Sunday mornings. So do you get fed as well as given all the coffee and croissants?

Patrick Barclay: I love it, when you get the chance to talk football, for an hour and a half with people you enjoy talking with, it’s great. You get a fee and you also get the chance to eat as much as you want! The only complaint I’ve got is when I’m eating my oranges, whenever I finish one, someone comes over and takes the peel away! (laughs) Someone is always tidying up! It’s a great show though, I really enjoy doing it.

EPLTalk: So I’ve been reading that you’re a fan of Dundee, but I first saw it on Wikipedia, so I thought I’d better find a proper source!

Patrick Barclay: (laughs) Yes, I am very much a fan of Dundee Football Club. I started supporting the club in the 1950’s. My grandfather took me about 1955, when I was about 8 against Hibernian. I started going when I was old enough, about 11 or 12, to go on my own with friends. Within about 3 years we won the League, I went to the game that clinched it away at St. Johnstone in front of about 25-30,000 fans. I thought wow this is fantastic!! I doubt I’ll ever see them win the league again but I count myself very, very lucky to have seen that.

EPLTalk: Well I’m not holding my breath to see Tottenham win the league,the last time we managed it was 11 years before I was born!

Patrick Barclay: (laughs) Not another Yorkshire Spurs fan! Why do so many Yorkshire people support Spurs??

EPLTalk: I don’t know, my first game I really watched was the 81 Cup final and I was lucky enough to go to the F.A. Cup final the year after and it’s dogged me ever since.

Patrick Barclay: Spurs are a great club, there was a Dundee player who also played for Spurs who was a legend, but a little bit before your time, Alan Gilzean. Another one was John Duncan, the striker who went on to play for Derby.

EPLTalk: Ah, is that the John Duncan who managed Chesterfield?

Patrick Barclay: Yes, when they almost reached the cup final in 97, when they were denied by a strange refereeing decision.

EPLTalk: Ah yes, with the disallowed goal for a foul that no-one could work out what it was for.

Patrick Barclay: Exactly!I saw John the other day and he now works for the League Managers Association. He’s a lovely man. I still keep an eye out for Dundee’s results and I’m a member of a supporters club called the Dee’s Down South. In fact I’ve just renewed my membership but unfortunately I don’t get to see them much, the last time was probably about 3 years ago.

EPLtalk: I see you’ve a big game at the weekend against Annan Athletic in the cup?

Patrick Barclay: Yes, yes but they won on Saturday, 2-0 against Ross County with two goals from Leigh Griffiths and he scored the goal that also knocked Aberdeen out of the Co-op cup last week. So things are going well at the moment, though we’ve got Rangers in the next round. We’ve got a bit of money and the crowds are up to around 5,000 so it’s going well.

EPLtalk: Excellent, so I’ll be honest Patrick, I’ve only got one of your books, so please don’t think less of me! I’ve got the Mourinho one.

Patrick Barclay: Oh lovely, I’m glad you have. I’m currently writing one about Sir Alex Ferguson and that should be out this time next year. That’s what’s keeping me so busy at the moment.

EPLTalk: That’s great, I’ll look out for that one then. In the Mourinho book I just got a feeling of real admiration for him from yourself throughout it. Whenever I’ve read your articles or seen you on television when the conversation turns to Jose, you do seem to have a lot of time for him.

Patrick Barclay: Yes I do, but I hardly know him. I met him for only the second time recently the day before the Inter/Barcelona Champions league game. I rang him up because I wanted to talk to him about Ferguson for the book and he invited me over to spend a little time with him. That’s really kind of him, but when I was researching the book, I just kept getting anecdotes from people saying what a nice guy he was. I’d made a calculated decision to write the book, I was in a little bit of a hurry, I only had 5 months or so and I made a decision that I wouldn’t try and be clever about it and just write it based on other people’s experiences of the man and what I knew.

For example, I was Lisbon for a Sporting v Newcastle match a few years ago. I was checking out of the hotel and the guy at the counter must have seen something and said are you from England? So I answered yes, and he said Ah, the country of Mourinho. So we laughed and the man said I’m from Setubal, which is Mourinho’s home town. So I asked if he knew him and he said no, but that young lad does, pointing at chap working in the lobby.

So quick as a flash, I ran over to him and said “Do you know Mourinho” and he said yes, I was in his class when he was a teacher. He talked about him with such admiration and the way that he took such an interest in the boys lifestyles, encouraging them to concentrate on football and their studies and not spend all night partying. One particular boy had tremendous talent and Mourinho went out of his way to encourage the lad and kept on at him, but unfortunately, whilst he played for Portugal schoolboys, he didn’t quite make it.

Yet he continually put so much of his own time in to trying to help and develop everyone in his class, they all adored him. Then he said, Funnily enough I saw him last summer when I went home. The lad was in a chicken shop and you know how the Portuguese love their fried chicken. Imagine his surprise when Mourinho walked in. The lad walked over to him and said hello Mr Mourinho. Mourinho studied him and went I know you, you’re Andre and then spent the next 20 minutes asking about him, his family and how he was doing, wished him good luck shook hands at the end and off he went to get the chicken home for the family.

EPLTalk: That’s brilliant, that just shows what effect he has on people.

Patrick Barclay: When you hear stories like that about the guy, you can’t help but understand why players want to play for him. It was purely a chance encounter but it was very helpful. It did make me genuinely like him and I thought it was typical of him to give up his time to talk about Ferguson if I wanted to pop over and see him.The other side of him, and this is the thing I keep learning about football management is that it makes monsters out of you. It makes them do things you wouldn’t do to your family or friends, like all the hoohah in the Barcelona game with Franck Rijkaard and the referee. They can do and say some pretty nasty things that they probably regret, I’d say that about Mourinho and the same is probably true about Ferguson to some extent.

EPLTalk: Yes, just from my own perception as a fan looking in, when you hear those stories about his teaching career, it’s no wonder he seems to have an ability connect with people and get them to run through walls for him.

Patrick Barclay: Oh yes, very much so. He is a leader, no doubt.

EPLTalk: Now, this season’s Premiership. There seems to be goals flying in from everywhere at the moment, I was reading yesterday in either the Times or the Guardian that there have only been 4 games that have finished in a draw this season. Now I find that astounding.

Patrick Barclay: Yes, especially after, what are we, a sixth of the way through the season, it’s almost one every two rounds.

EPLTalk: What do you put it down to? It can’t surely just be bad defending?

Patrick Barclay: I knew you were going to ask me that, I knew you would. (laughs)I really don’t know. I think and it’s a guess, that progressively that the 3 points for a win has changed the psychology of football. It’s the simplest things make such a difference, I think it was the great Jimmy Hill that came up with the idea. I think ever since then, there has been less of a fear factor. I disagree with people who think teams are more fearful these days. The counter attack has become the main, teams try to defend against it but the counter attack is what everyone is trying to perfect.

There’s definitely less fear but that still doesn’t explain why there aren’t as many draws. After all, a lack of fear could mean a team battling for a draw away from home when they’re 2-1 down, there’s definitely a more go for it mentality. I also think that they ways teams are set up now, that may reflect why so many teams go for it now away from home and leave themselves open to late goals. The other thing and I think this is the more likely fact for it is that there is a general recognition of the arithmetic of the situation that a side can go a whole season unbeaten and still be relegated with 38 points.

There is now a recognition that teams now say what the hell and go for it. If you go and win 13 or 14 games in a season, even if they lose the rest, you’ll probably stay up. The majority of teams in the Premierships main target at the start of a season is to get 40,41, 42 points so they go for it knowing if they win 14 games they’ll be safe. So for me, that’s the most likely factor, gradually the mathematics of the situation is coming to the fore.

EPLTalk: Yes, I watched the Sunderland v Wolves on Sunday and that was never a 5-2 game. Yet the fact that Wolves kept going at them desperately and managed to pull it back to 2-2 rather fortunately I thought, but they hadn’t had much luck in the first half. Yet, because they kept going for it, they got picked off everytime they lost the ball.

Patrick Barclay: It was smashing game, what we can find this season, last weekend most games went the way we expected apart from the Wigan Chelsea game yet even the one sided games were really good. Watching Liverpool mince Hull was quite good fun, but Burnley played some decent football even though they lost heavily at Spurs and but for an unfortunate rub of the green with the offside decision when it was 1-0, they may have equalised and made a real go of it. The 5-2 game was an outstanding thriller but someone will still complain about the defending! No doubt these people would have complained if they’d been at Hampden Park for the Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3 game. They’d have said Ah, terrible defending (laughs)

EPLTalk: Yes you saw that last season, with the Arsenal v Liverpool game at Anfield

Patrick Barclay: The one when Arshavin scored 4?

EPLTalk: Yes and people were complaining it wasn’t a classic, the defending was dreadful, it was woeful. I thought it was an astounding game of football.

Patrick Barclay: So did I, some of the play by Arshavin was unbelievable. One of his goals, when he bent the ball late. Reina thought the ball was about to lodge in his midriff and probably had half a mind on where he was going to throw the ball. Then it suddenly veered away from him and went in to the corner of the net, to beat a goalkeeper of that quality with sheer craft was something memorable. It was just a great, great game of football.

EPLTalk: There have certainly been some fantastic games this season already that I think will be up there at the end of the season in any list of the games of the season. The Manchester derby was a great match and even the Tottenham Liverpool match was a really great game.

Patrick Barclay: Yes, especially when you think how far we are in to the season, there have already been some great games.

EPLTalk: Now you’ve been very complementary about England under Fabio Capello. Originating from Scotland, you manage to avoid all the jingoism that seems to afflict all Englishmen during a World Cup (laughs), but surely they can have a good World Cup. I don’t mean to win it, but have a good tournament nonetheless.

Patrick Barclay: Well, I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t win it but I was talking to Gerard Houillier the other day and he said England wouldn’t win it unless they get a goalkeeper. I can understand that point of view, but my belief that they can win the World Cup is based on either James or Green or Ben Foster even who has had an impossibly patchy month will come good. You only need a goalie to have a good month. Brazil managed to win a World Cup with Tafferel who wasn’t brilliant or even Marcos who I’d never even heard of before 2002.

But they need avoid bad luck such as Robinson missing in Zagreb, or Carson letting one squirm under him at Wembley or even James messing up in that friendly in Denmark 4 years ago. It may go like that, but I still think England will win. They also have to find a right back, I’m not convinced about Glen Johnson, although he’s a wonderful attacking player, that he can defend and England will have to watch the space behind him.

So now you say, well if they need a right back and goalkeeper Patrick how on earth can England win the World Cup? The answer is that the other 9 positions pick themselves and you have really great back up players. Oh and one more thing, make sure that Rio Ferdinand’s injury problems are behind him, because I’m not convinced they are.

EPLTalk: Yes I agree, I think that’s one of the problems that Ben Foster has had. With both Vidic and Ferdinand struggling this season with injuries, that can’t have helped him. In fact, in the Manchester derby, that was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen Rio Ferdinand have.

Patrick Barclay: Yes, yes, in the two years before that he’d been virtually flawless

EPLTalk: Indeed, he was even scoring last season. (laughs) Ok, well last question for you Patrick.

Patrick Barclay: No problems, fire away

EPLTalk: Bobby Robson passed away last month, it’s something that has surprisingly affected me deeply. He was my England manager and I’ve grown up with him all my football watching life. I wasn’t surprised about the outpouring of emotion from the football community towards him, but I was absolutely astonished by the emotional response the public showed outside of Newcastle and Ipswich. Were you surprised?

Patrick Barclay: I was actually, but I can tell even from talking to you for the first time, I’ve never spoken to you before today, that you are what I call a proper football fan.

EPLTalk: Well, thank you very much. (laughs)

Patrick Barclay: You obviously love the game and are curious about all the facets of it but so many football fans these days indulge in such childish and baby like behavior. They seem much more interested in hating rivals, such as Arsenal fans hate Tottenham and vice versa. You see people who bring their child up to indulge in offensive hand signals and swearing. There is a vindictiveness and a lack of dignity in the game so that said, I was very, very surprised that Bobby Robson seemed to bring out a latent unity in people. That they do actually like football and they respect humanity, I mean Bobby Robson was no angel but he was enormously charismatic and a lovable man.

I think so many memories were stirred by his passing, I kept thinking back to when he was treated as a punchbag when he was England manager. It wouldn’t surprise me if Steve Mclaren used the same pragmatism to rise above it as Bobby did. I’m not saying Steve Mclaren is comparable to Bobby Robson, in a managerial sense but maybe Bobby showed him how to rise above it, you know? I think he just proved to be an inspiration to everybody, a unifying force in the game which is mind-blowing. Not only in Barcelona and everywhere in Portugal, but I even think that if you had a service for him in Scotland or a minutes silence in Scotland, you’d have the same reaction.

To the footballer lover, these people are immortal really. It wasn’t his ability as a player either, though he won 20 caps for England, but he wasn’t as good as Haynes and the like or his abilities as a manager as he probably wouldn’t rank above Ferguson or Clough but just his sheer admirable qualities and presence. He made everyone smile and that’s always a good thing.

EPLTalk:Well that’s it. Thank you for your time Patrick, it’s been great. I was terrified you’d be bored to tears!

Patrick Barclay: No I’ve really enjoyed it, we’ll do it again sometime, thank you.

You can read Patrick’s column with the Times online and I personally can’t recommend him highly enough.

The Relegation Rumble: Portsmouth

tyduffy — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:22:45 +0000

Until late October, Portsmouth seemed destined for a mid-table season. After a rough August start against Chelsea and Man United, the trophy-winning club won four out of seven matches, looking frisky once again. Then Harry Redknapp left for the Tottenham and the seam exploded. Tony Adams had no perceivable managerial skill. Financial problems forced the sale of Defoe and Diarra. Fortune followed the clubs geography and they currently sit in 15^th place, just three points above water.

Form: Portsmouth have not played particularly well, winning just two out of eight and losing four. Though, all of the losses were to clubs in the top half of the table, and Pompey did hang with Liverpool and Chelsea. Had they been lucky they could have picked up a few more points. They scored a big victory over Everton. Jumping back on track isn’t inconceivable.

Schedule: Pompey have a rather benign squeaky bum journey ahead. They host Arsenal and travel away to Old Trafford, but the rest of the matches are winnable. West Brom, Bolton and Sunderland come to Fratton Park. Portsmouth play Hull City, Newcastle, Blackburn and Wigan away. They also have the game in hand, although it will be against a Manchester United team probably sorted by that point, so it will be irrelevant. If Portsmouth can pull things together, their schedule won’t stop them.

Injuries: Health could hinder Portsmouth a little bit. They need Crouch’s thigh injury to heal completely. He has 11 goals. No one else on the team has more than three. He’s essential. They also need Pennant and Traore back fit as well to provide some creativity in midfield.

Prognosis: Based on their ability, Portsmouth should not be in this position. On paper, they have decent, often above average, talent at every position. They have experience. Many of those players tasted success in the FA Cup last season. The team’s performance should reflect that. Tony Adams deserves the blame. Portsmouth has presumed leaders like Sol Campbell and David James. They should stay up.

Tuesday Premier League Television Schedule and Preview While Chelsea Say Title Race Isn’t Over

Johnathan Starling — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:59:36 +0000

Tuesday and Wednesday bring a full slate of Premier League action to us as the reverse fixtures of the opening weekend are played. Tonight I’ll preview Tuesday’s action, tomorrow night I’ll preview Wednesday’s action. Remember all times are Eastern.

Portsmouth v Chelsea (2:45 pm live on Fox Soccer Channel). Portsmouth have had plenty of time to prepare for Chelsea after having a ten day break. Pompey will have seen Chelsea barely scrape by Juventus and Wigan Athletic. They will have heard Guus Hiddink say that Chelsea need to find a killer instinct. The last three Chelsea performances have proven that they can be had in the second half. The question is can Portsmouth take advantage? I don’t think so, but not for a lack of trying. Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 1

West Bromwich Albion v Arsenal (2:45 pm live on Setanta Xtra. On Setanta Sports 5:00 pm). The two sides who probably at present have the most in common. Plenty of ‘pretty passing’, but no goals to show for it. Arsenal have certainly had their chances, West Bromwich Albion not so much. Both sides are desperate for points for their own individual reason. The one thing that Arsenal have going for them is the fact West Brom leave massive gaps at the back. I just don’t think they can exploit them. Yes until Arsenal can prove they can score goal for two consecutive matches, my prediction for their matches set themselves. West Bromwich Albion 0 Arsenal 0

Liverpool v Sunderland (3:00 pm live on Setanta Sports). Liverpool will be without Fernando Torres and Alvaro Arbeloa, but will be looking to respond after their horrific performance against Middlesbrough. Sunderland have had plenty of time to prepare for Liverpool, but right now I don’t think it matters much. Liverpool will be looking to take out their bad performance against Boro on somebody, Sunderland will get to face the brunt of that revenge. This one won’t be pretty. Liverpool 3 Sunderland 0

Other Stories
So the story that seems to be getting the most legs tonight is Guus Hididnk’s pledge that he will chase Manchester United until the end of the season for the title. Well he’s right in one thing, it’ll be an uphill battle. As a Chelsea fan, I know this title race is over. There will be no repeat of what happened last season.

Sol Campbell feels that clubs that continue to see racial abuse towards players should see points deductions. That’s a start.

Brad Friedel is comparing Aston Villa’s remaining schedule as ‘11 cup finals‘. Talk about strong talk for a side just looking to get into the Champions League.

Cristiano Ronaldo is saying that Chris Foy wrongly booked him for diving in the Carling Cup Final. From my eyes watching the game, it sure looked like he got it right.

Speaking of the Carling Cup Final, Ben Foster will not have any action taken against him after it was revealed he used his video iPod to watch Tottenham players take penalties during the break between extra time and penalties.

And finally, David James warns there is still plenty of work to do in order for Portsmouth to avoid the drop.

What Now For Joe Hart?

Michael Timbury — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:05:30 +0000

When Manchester City signed Shay Given from Newcastle on Sunday, most at Eastlands will have been pleased by this capture. But not quite everyone. Given will instantly become City’s first choice goalkeeper, displacing Joe Hart. This in turn will leave the young goalkeeper as nothing more than a bench warmer, at least for the remainder of the season. He hasn’t been as impressive this season but who can blame him when he surely must have been unsettled for months at the prospect of losing his place to any of the big name keepers that were linked with City, not to mention the indifferent form of his teammates.

Hart could learn a lot from someone like Shay Given who is extremely experienced and more importantly, someone who has been a brilliant keeper for at least a decade now. But any mentoring from the Irishman would only go so far, as the best way for any player to learn is to be playing. The more games he accumulates at the tender of age of 21, the better he’ll be for it. There are also longer term repercussions for Hart too.

It has been well documented that Fabio Capello does not select players for the England squad that have not been playing regularly. Now he may feature in the squad for the friendly against Spain on February 11th but beyond that, it is difficult to see how Hart will gain a place in the squad for qualifiers later this season if he is not playing regular club football. There are a number of English keepers who play every game for their club and thus would be more deserving of a place in the squad.

David James currently has the England number one jersey locked down for now, but at his age Capello must also be looking towards the future as I doubt James will be around for the Euro 2012 campaign. Therefore, if Joe Hart has any aspirations of claiming the position, he needs to be playing week in week out, just to give himself the chance of being noticed. Yes, time is more than on his side but I feel that he is England’s most promising keeper and would personally have no objections to throwing him in as number one now. If he responded well to the challenge (unlike Scott Carson has previously), you could then easily have a keeper who would be first choice for his country for the next fifteen years.

It would be in Hart’s best interests to move on and find regular football elsewhere come the summer. There would be no shortage of Premiership clubs that would be interested in his services and could get him for a decent price. Even if he was to move to a smaller club, impressive form there wouldn’t hinder his international chances and could even land him a move to a side that regularly competes in Europe (with the smaller club making good profit on their investment). I hope that Hart has the ambition to be more than a number two and can go on to realise his potential, if not at City, then elsewhere.