From the Blog at the OS...including a few words of criticism for McClueless:
It's not often we welcome the international break as it can upset a team's momentum and you lose your key players for 10 days leaving you to prepare as best possible for the next game with half of your squad missing. However this is one occasion when the break was most welcome as we needed some time to rehabilitate a serious number of players.
The good news is that Andy Reid showed his return to fitness with the Republic of Ireland and looked quite sharp for 70 minutes - and that will be good for us that he will have time to recover and work with us for the next few days.
A friend of mine at the FAI emailed me to say the 'our boy' was their best player; great news!
Looking around the international scene, it has to be said that England were disappointing. I have never had great faith in the 3-5-2 system ever since the modern game demanded more in terms of pace and fitness. Wing-backs have too much ground to cover and this is always expensive in terms of lasting the game, not getting forward enough to be effective or being caught forward out of position and exposing the back four.
Very few teams at the highest levels of club and international football now employ this system and it has been outmoded for so long in most clubs that the players asked to play it for England are probably too young to have had much or any experience of it.
A 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 exploding to 4-3-3 in attack is by far the most popular and successful international formation in modern football.
All is not lost for England though, there is a long way to go and a lot of fixtures to be played before Euro 2008 and it is not unusual for us to start poorly but finish strongly and I am sure we will this time.
A 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 exploding to 4-3-3 in attack is by far the most popular and successful international formation in modern football.
Steve [McClaren] needs support and faith as well as time so he has the ability to get on with the job the way he wants to. Like Charlton fans, I have always found England fans patient and supportive: Disappointed, yes, but always behind the team till the end.
I was surprised that Benty did not get on, especially as his scoring is consistent with last season's form, but it was great to see that Scott Carson qualified with the U21s for the UEFA European Championship finals next year. Having been to those finals myself (along with Luke Young and Scott Parker), I know it will be a great experience for him; unless of course he is England's number one by then, which is more than likely judging by his current form.
Talking of fans, I was scouting at the Denmark v Northern Ireland game and spent the day on Saturday mingling with the 'Norn Iron' supporters in the city centre. I was surprised to be recognised and reminded of my role with Northern Ireland in the win against England last year - 'coach Les' was made very welcome by the green and white army in Copenhagen!
Denmark set off at a real pace even without Dennis but the passion of the fans raised the players and gave them an edge, similarly to the game in Belfast against England; fans do make a big difference! Hermann and Thomas have not had the greatest of experiences whilst away, but Talal returned fit and looking sharp and Kish is playing in a very successful Bulgarian team at the moment too so let's hope that also rubs off!
And assuming all return this way we should have a much stronger squad to select from against Fulham than recently. There can be no doubt that the points are vitally important on Monday and nobody is aware of that more than the boys themselves. They have trained very professionally during the break and everyone is eager for the game to start.
I am sure the players believe that this will be the turning point for our season.
I would target 9 out of the next 15 points but realistically believe that could be 9 from 12 and then all to play for against Wigan and Reading to put a really great run together.
During this period we can look forward to the imminent return of Jerome Thomas, Souleymane Diawara, Amady Faye, Dennis Rommedahl and latterly Djimi Traore, 'Lalo' along with youngsters Myles Weston, Lloyd Sam and Kelly Youga.
The other squad lads are all fit and ready to go so I think the future is bright in red, black and white!
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Big Merv may have been twice as positively effective on the training ground, we wouldn't have a clue, we just by how they come across in public you form a different opinion.