Alright,well there’s been some bemusement among us Fulham fans as to Bobby’s exclusion for England against Montenegro. The papers were full of exclusives that he was set to start, at last, some true recognition for a very good striker… only for Bent to be named ahead of him. Now I’m not too disappointed with that, look at how Rooney has been in form this calander year for United, behind Hernandez and Welbeck, two strikers with incredible pace and can get behind defenders, which as a consequence means Rooney has runs he can use or take advantage of and space infront of the back four because they can’t come out to close him down, plus England are not left without someone who’d really like to score goals. So, the Bent/Rooney thing made sense (although I think Welbeck is a better player than Bent, not only offers a threat in behind and can get some traditiona; ‘poachers’ goals but his link up play and touch is really, really impressive, plus the club connection, so I would have started him. Or Sturridge. Even Defoe’s in better form. I just wouldn’t start Bent. But there’s a justification for it, and he scored, so fair dos.)

And we dominate the first half only to concede with the last kick. And we suddenly lose all momentum and composure in the second half. The ball goes forward but it doesn’t stick; Bent provided a goal but is now a liability, we can’t keep the ball. We need someone who we know we can rely on to keep the ball up there. So up step’s the ideal man for the job, Fulham’s Bobb- oh, Lampard. That was a strange substitution. Really strange. And as a consequence of a lone Wayne Rooney he got more and more wound up, and frustrated, and eventually kicked out. Now he’ll miss at least one game at the Euros. It was an unjustifiable action for sure, but funny how things like that happen. The next sub was also a bit confusing for the same reasons. He played well Welbeck is not a lone front man either. Which begs the question, why didn’t Zamora come on?

It’s funny how these things work out. Zamora didn’t play, and there’s no garuntee but you’d like to think that he would have alleviated pressure on England’s defence and given Rooney something to work with which may have extended his temper long enough to the end of the game. But now Rooney’s been sent off, Capello’s hand has been forced and has said to the press:

“I have got a lot of forwards at this moment, really good forwards, and I need to find the best solution. It will be really interesting because two players I did not select are playing really well.

“I saw the game that Jermain Defoe played against Arsenal and he played really well, ran a lot, pressed a lot. Sturridge is the same. I need to find the solution for the first game, or two games, that Rooney will not play.

“I also wanted to see Zamora and Andy Carroll. This was Andy’s third or fourth time with us. Zamora is an interesting player and we need to see him play against some important teams. We will do that.”

So Zamora’s non substituion may have been an indirect cause of Rooney’s red card which in turn means Zamora will get more minutes than he would have done in the build up to the World Cup, and maybe more of an ppportunity to stake a place in the World Cup squad. Life is, and I know I’m using this word for the third time in two paragraphs, funny.

As a side note I was looking through the England squad that could be playing in four years time. It’s pretty good actually.

Hart

Walker – Smalling – Jones – Baines

Oxlade-Chamberlain – Wilshere – xx – Young

Rooney

Welbeck

Hmm.

~lork