The management merry-go-round

Posted on 10/08/2010

Aston Villa are looking for a new manager and you get the impression the papers are not quite clear who is in the frame to succeed Martin O’Neill.

The Sun says: ‘O’Neill quits, now Villa look to [Slaven] Bilic and US boss [Bob Bradley]’

The Daily Star screams: ‘Villa want [David] Moyes’

The Daily Telegraph claims: ‘Aston Villa target Mark Hughes’

The season has not even started and the management merry-go-round is in full swing.

Zamora debut speaks volumes

England tackle Hungary in a friendly on Wednesday and there are a few new faces in the squad. Bobby Zamora, at 29, is one of them and the Daily Telegraph’s Kevin Garside feels handing a debut to a 29-year-old is a worry.

The finest footballers in the country today are more likely to be foreign than English, a feature that has driven the technique and intensity of club football higher than it is with England. Therefore when Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard step out for their country they are in effect stepping down a level because the spread of talent is thinner.

Emile Heskey could barely get a game for Aston Villa last season yet he went to South Africa as England’s first choice partner for Rooney. On Wednesday Bobby Zamora, of Fulham, is expected to make his debut at 29, which makes Wenger’s argument forcibly. If Zamora is good enough now, he was good enough five years ago. He hasn’t changed that much. Circumstances have.

The reduced talent pool is compounded by a wounded coach. Capello is clearly embarrassed by his own failings as much as the team’s. He was shocked by the South African experience, unnerved at having his certainties shredded.

Capello’s pride is hurt. He did not expect to have to prove himself all over again. Not many on his salary do. But that is his lot. Against Hungary on Wednesday Capello is on trial as much as his players.

Cook needs to get the message

Alastair Cook has been given support by England captain Andrew Strauss, but former skipper Nasser Hussain has written in his column in the Daily Mail that the selectors should make it clear to the struggling opener that his place in the team is hanging by a thread.

If I were an England selector I would now say to Alastair Cook, 'You have two more games to prove that you should still be our man to open the batting in Australia'.

Cook is totally out of sorts and there must be a temptation for the selectors to leave him out of the third Test against Pakistan at the Brit Oval next week.

It is a temptation I think they will resist, not least because Ian Bell is injured and not available for the last two Tests. I would resist it too and stick with Cook, but with him understanding that he is playing for his immediate future.

If Bell was fit there would be a strong case for bringing him in at No 3 and asking Jonathan Trott to open the batting with Andrew Strauss.

The pair of them looked really composed and good alongside each other yesterday and there's no reason why the Warwickshire man could not open as well as play at No 3.

Yes, I know there are in-form opening options in Michael Carberry and Adam Lyth whom England could bring in but I am not sure I would go down that road at this stage, not least because I am a firm believer in giving someone an extended, proper opportunity. Especially when that player has shown himself to be such an excellent performer at Test level, as Cook has.
But the fact that he has a very good record, is mentally strong, has a good temperament and is seen as a future England captain can only count for so much when Cook is so clearly out of form.
The one mitigating factor in Cook's poor form is that both Tests so far against Pakistan have been played in bowler-friendly conditions. It has not been easy for any batsman in this series and that has to be taken into account.

That's why the next two games, on good pitches at The Oval and Lord's against a good Pakistan attack, will be a much better indicator of whether Cook, who has a moderate record against Australia, should be in the Ashes squad. I am not sure sending him back to Essex to try to score county runs would really prove anything.