England are playing Moldova tonight in Chisinau in what I am sure will be an enthralling match. I actually think that it is a shame that Andy Carroll is injured for this match as he seemed to have a new lease of life last weekend in a West Ham shirt and when he is in the right mood he can be unplayable, as demonstrated by that monster of a header against Sweden in the Euros. England have quite a few injuries and the likes of Carroll, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and Adam Johnson are all missing from the game and John Terry is not 100% fit (though I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing as I think Cahill and Lescott are the way forward for England). Up front England look a bit light with only Jermain Defoe, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge in the squad, but you would hope that they will still be too much for the Moldovan defence. I hope Oxlade-Chamberlain and/or Cleverley will be given a chance in central midfield to give England some dynamism which they will arguably be missing if Gerrard and Lampard start. The Gerrard/Lampard axis is tried and failed as far as I'm concerned and that was in the days that they were both more attacking and dynamic than they are now. The squad as a whole though is pretty uninspiring and only Ryan Bertrand is untried. I hope Roy gives the likes of Cleverley and Welbeck and Sturridge a chance to make England a bit more exciting than the usual dross we're used to but I'm not holding my breath.
Prediction: Moldova 0-2 England in a dour affair
Now we get to the tricky bit...if you're reading this hoping for a Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland prediction it's not going to happen sorry. Instead we're going to focus on a Football League weekend. This weekend if you usually go to a Premier League or Championship game then you should make the effort and go to a lower league club or non-league game and support the lower reaches of the game instead of moaning about the lack of football.
C&J are both doing a first ESDB Football day out (patent pending) and heading up to the glamorous Globe Arena to watch the Irish Sea derby between Morecambe and Fleetwood! The game should be a feisty affair as Sporcle in a recent quiz informed me these two clubs regard the other as their main rival (I'm not sure how true this is though!). Morecambe and Fleetwood have both started the season quite well and lie in or around the play-off places. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the battle up front for Fleetwood with Jon 'The Beast' Parkin going toe to toe with former Crewe defender Chris McCready. I am also looking forward to seeing the most unlikely looking winger in football Kevin Ellison weaving his magic for Morecambe. This should be a full blooded derby hopefully with both teams having little to lose at this stage of the season and I have no idea what the score will be but hopefully there will be goals!
Crewe are playing Tranmere this weekend armed with new recruit Chuks Aneke who was signed on loan from Arsenal to replace the departed former captain Ashley Westwood. Now to be honest I know nothing at all about Aneke and I'm sure not many other than Arsene Wenger will, but the fact he is at Arsenal says a lot for his ability. Steve Davis played with Arsenal coach Steve Bould at Stoke so hopefully his mate will have done him a favour and Davis has said he hopes Aneke will 'excite' fans and Saturday will tell us something about that. Tranmere have started the season really well and currently sit top of the table so it will be a tough test for the Alex.
Union Berlin travel to FC Ingolstadt on Saturday having not won in 3 games. They could really do with a result in this game having slipped to third bottom of 2.Bundesliga. Last time these teams met there was a 3-3 thriller and fans I'm sure will be hoping for a similarly exciting match!
Lastly, having heard the apparently false news about Samba Diakite's extended absence from QPR being due to depression (apparently he has personal issues to sort out and isn't suffering from depression) I'd just like to make a point that depression in football needs to be talked about more often so that the football community can understand it more. If you've never read it before Ronald Reng's book 'A Life Too Short: The Tragic Story of Robert Enke' is a superb narrative about Robert Enke's career and battle with depression. It's not a story that's designed to make you feel sorry for Enke just to understand what he and countless other footballers have gone through, so it is well worth a read.
Anyway, enjoy the international break everyone and we'll be back next week with a match review from the Morecambe v Fleetwood game as well as a recap of England etc.
J
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