STAN COLLYMORE
LA LIGA’ DANGER OF PREM
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport spoke to Martinez and Southgate in Moscow after the draw on Friday, and both were happy.
Martinez, the former Wigan and Swansea player who went on to manage both clubs as well as Everton before taking over Belgium, has lived in England and Wales for more than two decades, so he knows the flak will be flying.
Southgate was his usual pragmatic self. He knows we have a good young side, a promising side, but he wasn’t getting too carried away. He knows that if we pay Panama and Tunisia the respect they are due – but are at it 100 per cent and defend well – then we should beat them.
Although he also knows it would help to have an experienced head in the pack who could help us if either game started to go like the one against Iceland at the last Euros.
Even so, if Raheem Sterling continues to show the form he has done at the start of the season and the rest of the boys are firing, then we should be able to give them more trouble than they give us.
Clash
Can we finish in first in the group? Yes… but, please, let’s not leave it until the game against Belgium.
The one group that looks, on paper, to be far less straightforward is Group D, where our Icelandic nemeses have landed Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria.
If there is a Group of Death, or anything close, then it’s this one, where there will be a clash of styles and ideologies, in some ways.
Lionel Messi up against the graft of the Vikings, the physicality and youth of the Nigerian team and the technical brilliance we usually see from Croatia.
That’s the most exciting group by far and do not be surprised if Iceland get through.
The pick of the group stage games is obviously Spain versus Portugal in Group B – and Spain will win that comfortably, 2-0, 3-0.
I expect Germany and Brazil will coast through Groups F and E. In fact all the big boys should make the latter stages with one or two dark horses.
And let’s hope England will be one of them. MAURICIO POCHETTINO’S admission that Tottenham are out of the title race already is a sad state of affairs.
Not just for Spurs but for everyone involved in the Premier League.
It’s downright worrying, in fact, because it shines a light on the competitive malaise we’re witnessing in the top flight this season.
Yes, Manchester City are excelling, but I’ve said a couple of times now that only Manchester United have the squad depth to go toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola’s stars over the course of a full campaign.
Chelsea have struggled a little with the demands of domestic and European football, while the rest of the Big Six – Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool – have been nowhere near consistent enough to mount a credible title challenge.
I know Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool were still in the title race last week, but if you asked him and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger privately, I’m sure they’d say the same as Pochettino.
Creation
And what is troubling about this state of affairs is the fact that, team for team, the standard is one of the poorest I can remember since the Premier League started.
There is a danger now that the big boys have so much money we could soon see our feted division start to resemble La Liga, where some of the lesser lights are being gubbed by sixes and sevens on a regular basis.
That will make it much less appealing and it’s something the powers-that-be need to address.
The other problem the Premier League has is that teams, such as Spurs, are now looking at it and saying, “Well, it doesn’t matter if we don’t win the League – we win by finishing in the top four. And if we can’t get into the Champions League that way, then we’ll try to do it by winning the Europa League”. So that needs addressing as well. I’d love to see the creation of a Super Champions League – or the Champions League as it stands being solely for champions – so the cushion of a top-four finish is removed.
In that way, managers and players won’t be able to settle for a top-four or a top-six spot in May – let alone in November.