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Jamie Carragher confident that England keeper Rob Green can come back from error at World Cup 2010
Mental strength is key for top professionals...
14 Jun 2010 12:31:00
By Zack Wilson
Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes that England goalkeeper Robert Green will have the mental strength to bounce back from his blunder against the United States on Saturday.
The centre-back, who made his first appearance of the tournament as a half-time substitute for Ledley King against the Americans, feels that Green will also have the support of the rest of the squad to call upon.
"We had a day off yesterday - I think he went to play golf. I've seen him this morning and he seems fine," Carragher told reporters at a press conference in Rustenburg on Monday.
"There's no problem. Everyone's talking about his situation obviously, but every player in the squad has been there when we've made a big mistake in a big game.
"But the reason you're playing for England and get to this level is because you've got a certain amount of mental strength.
"I'm sure he'll be fine and the rest of the lads will get round him because we've all been there ourselves."
Much has been made in the media of the reports that Fabio Capello only named his first-choice goalkeeper two hours ahead of kick-off on Saturday, with some speculating that nerves got the better of Green.
Carragher refutes such suggestions.
"I don't think so. I've played for Liverpool for 12 or 14 years now and the manager always tells us the team two hours before the game," he explained.
"It's no different. I'm not sure what other teams do. I think certain managers are also worried about the opposition knowing the team, which is understandable and I totally agree with that.
"So I've never known anything different. For myself that was pretty normal.
"Before the game if you'd asked me I'd have said Rob Green was playing. I think he's played every international in the last 12 months bar one or two.
"So I don't know what the situation is, whether he told him privately, but I always felt Rob Green was going to start because he's played that much - he was always the first choice pick.
"But that decision is the manager's and I'm not sure what he'll do next but I always felt if I was going to go on in the game or play then Rob Green would be behind me.
"You're all talking about naming the team two hours before the game, but I think we'd have all named eight or nine of that team wouldn't we?
"I don't think there was any major surprises. We all know roughly what the team will be. I think certain people come in the 23, me included, knowing that they're not first choice and hoping to get in the team.
"I think most of the substitutes on the bench woud have expected to be on the bench and hoping to play some part in the tournament."
With Ledley King sidelined for at least the rest of the group stage and possibly the whole tournament, Carragher is expected to be named as John Terry's partner at the heart of the England defence against Algeria on Friday.
Carragher is not taking his place in Capello's team for granted though.
"That's up to the manager. He picks the team," the Liverpool defender said.
"In ten years' time hopefully I might be a manager then and I'll decide but it's Fabio Capello's choice.
"I was doing that in the last game as well. You never know what's going to happen maybe in warm-up or in training the day before, like what's happened to Rio," he added.
"So it won't just be me, all the other defenders in the squad will be preparing right."
The Reds' defender is also confident that he can form a solid partnership with Terry.
"Yes, but if I'm given the opportunity then time will tell. We'll be able to assess that after the performances," he added.
"I think beforehand we've got to be confident of the ability both players have got.
"But, as I said, after the games we'll be able to judge that."
And 'Carra' is backing himself and Terry to cope with any pacy attacks against whom they may play later on in the tournament.
"We worry about that then," he said.
"I think we've just got to make sure that we win the next game. Getting through the group is the main thing. I don't think we should be looking too far ahead, we've just got to look at the next game and try and get three points."
The big tournament experience in the England squad should also prove invaluable as the competition progresses, according to the 32-year-old.
"I'm sure that'll help, it's always a big thing in football, experience," he mused.
"Hopefully that can help us from the last time. There's a lot of experienced players in the squad who've been to World Cups before.
"I think there's a lot of players here who I know from last time because I don't think the squad's changed that much from four years ago.
"Hopefully we can build on the experience we had there and obviously go looking to go one better."
The Reds' centre-back also had no concerns that his manager was able to cope with the mounting pressure.
"I'm sure Fabio Capello will be fine," Carragher smiled ruefully.
"He's been manager of Real Madrid, AC Milan and I know we top the pressure up in England but speaking to some of the Spanish players I think Real Madrid's a different topic altogether so having managed there I'm sure he'll be fine."
As for his own performance, Carragher was content with what he'd shown in the second half against the Americans.
"I thought I done well, I done okay," he said.
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The centre-back, who made his first appearance of the tournament as a half-time substitute for Ledley King against the Americans, feels that Green will also have the support of the rest of the squad to call upon.
"We had a day off yesterday - I think he went to play golf. I've seen him this morning and he seems fine," Carragher told reporters at a press conference in Rustenburg on Monday.
"There's no problem. Everyone's talking about his situation obviously, but every player in the squad has been there when we've made a big mistake in a big game.
"But the reason you're playing for England and get to this level is because you've got a certain amount of mental strength.
"I'm sure he'll be fine and the rest of the lads will get round him because we've all been there ourselves."
Much has been made in the media of the reports that Fabio Capello only named his first-choice goalkeeper two hours ahead of kick-off on Saturday, with some speculating that nerves got the better of Green.
Carragher refutes such suggestions.
"I don't think so. I've played for Liverpool for 12 or 14 years now and the manager always tells us the team two hours before the game," he explained.
"It's no different. I'm not sure what other teams do. I think certain managers are also worried about the opposition knowing the team, which is understandable and I totally agree with that.
"So I've never known anything different. For myself that was pretty normal.
"Before the game if you'd asked me I'd have said Rob Green was playing. I think he's played every international in the last 12 months bar one or two.
"So I don't know what the situation is, whether he told him privately, but I always felt Rob Green was going to start because he's played that much - he was always the first choice pick.
"But that decision is the manager's and I'm not sure what he'll do next but I always felt if I was going to go on in the game or play then Rob Green would be behind me.
"You're all talking about naming the team two hours before the game, but I think we'd have all named eight or nine of that team wouldn't we?
"I don't think there was any major surprises. We all know roughly what the team will be. I think certain people come in the 23, me included, knowing that they're not first choice and hoping to get in the team.
"I think most of the substitutes on the bench woud have expected to be on the bench and hoping to play some part in the tournament."
With Ledley King sidelined for at least the rest of the group stage and possibly the whole tournament, Carragher is expected to be named as John Terry's partner at the heart of the England defence against Algeria on Friday.
Carragher is not taking his place in Capello's team for granted though.
"That's up to the manager. He picks the team," the Liverpool defender said.
"In ten years' time hopefully I might be a manager then and I'll decide but it's Fabio Capello's choice.
"I was doing that in the last game as well. You never know what's going to happen maybe in warm-up or in training the day before, like what's happened to Rio," he added.
"So it won't just be me, all the other defenders in the squad will be preparing right."
The Reds' defender is also confident that he can form a solid partnership with Terry.
"Yes, but if I'm given the opportunity then time will tell. We'll be able to assess that after the performances," he added.
"I think beforehand we've got to be confident of the ability both players have got.
"But, as I said, after the games we'll be able to judge that."
And 'Carra' is backing himself and Terry to cope with any pacy attacks against whom they may play later on in the tournament.
"We worry about that then," he said.
"I think we've just got to make sure that we win the next game. Getting through the group is the main thing. I don't think we should be looking too far ahead, we've just got to look at the next game and try and get three points."
The big tournament experience in the England squad should also prove invaluable as the competition progresses, according to the 32-year-old.
"I'm sure that'll help, it's always a big thing in football, experience," he mused.
"Hopefully that can help us from the last time. There's a lot of experienced players in the squad who've been to World Cups before.
"I think there's a lot of players here who I know from last time because I don't think the squad's changed that much from four years ago.
"Hopefully we can build on the experience we had there and obviously go looking to go one better."
The Reds' centre-back also had no concerns that his manager was able to cope with the mounting pressure.
"I'm sure Fabio Capello will be fine," Carragher smiled ruefully.
"He's been manager of Real Madrid, AC Milan and I know we top the pressure up in England but speaking to some of the Spanish players I think Real Madrid's a different topic altogether so having managed there I'm sure he'll be fine."
As for his own performance, Carragher was content with what he'd shown in the second half against the Americans.
"I thought I done well, I done okay," he said.
No trip to South Africa is complete without a visit to its most beautiful and sunniest city. Durban offers much more than sandy beaches, safaris, casinos and the World Cup, for information on what to do and see, please click here.
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
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