Liverpool man is the safe bet

Sep 10 2007 View From the Stands by Andy Proudfoot, Liverpool Daily Post

Peter Crouch celebrates his second goal against Galatasaray which sealed victory - Picture: MARTIN BIRCHALL (158)

HESKEY or Crouch? Even given the inevitable vicissitudes of life as the England manager, Steve McClaren can’t have envisaged this to be the main conundrum that would face him prior to the crucial match with Russia on Wednesday night.

While neither are likely to find themselves inducted into any footballing Hall of Fame, both can justifiably lay claim to an England starting spot, if only on the somewhat vicarious grounds that they can bring the best out of Michael Owen.

If McClaren truly did spot some weakness in the Israel defensive set-up that prompted him to recall Heskey then he deserves full credit, though this does beg the question as to why this particular ‘road to Damascus’ experience occurred after he announced his original squad for the game.

But justify his selection he did, Heskey providing the focal point for England attacks and bringing others into the game with an intelligent array of short passes and the occasional inspired flick. His chested through ball to Gerrard was superb, confirming my opinion that this is the most skilful part of his body – damning with faint praise maybe, but I often watched with wonder as he killed enormous punts from Sander Westerveld with those impressive pecs.

Alas for poor Emile, the shot he blazed over the bar in the first half on Saturday also conjured up memories of when he wore the red shirt of Liverpool.

The lack of composure when presented with clear opportunities has always limited his goal tally and this is what surely should give Crouch the edge for Wednesday against the Russians.

There’s a reason why one forward plays for Liverpool, and the other for Wigan.

City may rue Richards goal

A BREAK from the Premiership action this weekend gave us a chance to see the supposed ‘Golden Generation’ in action. Yes, it’s International week again and the chance for national journalists to again give old Steve McClaren a roasting.

England were expected to beat Israel and beat them they did. A 3-0 scoreline though makes it look really comprehensive, when in reality the game was rather tedious.

Steve McClaren’s brave new era saw Michael Owen and Emile Heskey leading the forward line again, a throwback to the Eriksson reign. Heskey has his doubters but to be fair he was the best available due to Rooney’s injury. I’m sure Everton fans would rather see Emile risk life and limb for his country rather than Andy Johnson who warmed the bench for the majority of the game.

It was in midfield though that England won the game and that was mainly due to Steven Gerrard. It had to be as he was in between Gareth Barry and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Wright-Phillips isn’t even a regular at his own club but his confidence would have been lifted by his well-taken goal.

Michael Owen got the second and the harshest critic (me included) would suggest he should have had a hat-trick.

Man City’s Richards got the third and put the icing on the cake. City have themselves a good player here, both adept at full-back and centre-half for his club. No doubt in 18 months time City fans will bemoan the fact he has had his head turned by members of the big four while away on England duty. Don’t worry City fans it happens to us all.