Sven’s Threesome
‘SVEN Goran Eriksson has not exactly got a reputation for being adventurous on the football pitch or off it hell, he even loads the dishwasher before taking his lover to bed.
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| Lucky he’s not Spanish |
But the signs this morning are that the England coach is preparing the country for the football equivalent of making love with the lights on.
The papers all agree that England are likely to line up with three strikers in tomorrows crucial World Cup qualifier with Wales.
And that prompts the Sun to dust off its Sun Book Of Innuendo and tell its readers how Sven fancies a threesome.
The three in question, however, are not Ulrika, Faria and Nancy but Michael, Wayne and Jermain of the Owen, Rooney and Defoe variety.
The Telegraph says the attractions of playing Defoe and Owen up front with Rooney just behind are obvious.
Wales are vulnerable to pacey attacks, it says, while it would save the Swede having to make an awkward choice between Owen and Defoe for such an important World Cup qualifier.
Yet it is not a strategy devoid of danger. Owen and Defoe are single-minded predators who may collide making the same goal-obsessed runs for the ball.
The 4-3-1-2 formation would also allow Welsh wingers Ryan Giggs and Simon Davies space to run at the English full-backs, Ashley Cole and Gary Neville.
But no strategy is without risk and it would be a bold statement of intent by Eriksson if he were to go into such an eagerly awaited game with three strikers.
Indeed, substituting a fit again Steven Gerrard for Nicky Butt in midfield and this England XI looks a potent attacking force against any team in the world.
Whether or not it can keep the goals out is not so clear.
While the Sun does its best to keep the Luis Aragones row rumbling on today, the rest of the papers have already moved on.
And the question of doping in football is again to the fore, and not only because Rio Ferdinand is preparing to play his first England game since his ban.
The Independent has picked up on remarks by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to the effect that some of his foreign players may have been using performance-enhancing drugs prior to their arrival at Highbury.
We have had some players come to us at Arsenal from other clubs abroad, he said, and their red blood cell count has been abnormally high. That kind of thing makes you wonder.
Indeed, the surprise is not that some players are using EPO and other such drugs, but that anyone should be surprised by it in a sport awash with money and questionable ethics.
And so finally to cricket and all England fans who were beginning to detect symptoms of decline among the mighty Australians might need to think again.
Centuries from Michael Clarke (on debut) and Adam Gilchrist, fifties from Justin Langer and Simon Katich and three wickets from Glenn McGrath have put the Aussies in a great position in their first Test against India.
And theyve still got Ricky Ponting to come back into the side for the next match…’
Posted: 8th, October 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
