The mere fact that they did not rate Danny Simpson the right back, who plays for New Castle as a starter speaks volume regarding what their feelings are toward EPL ballers. It's as if they are saying, Simpson is not better than Virgo.
He actually said this? That is terrible.
I'm a Newcastle supporter and Simpson has been one of our most consistent players for the last two years. People were calling for him to be named in the England squad, and Jamaica are saying he's not good enough? SIMPSON WILL BE PLAYING EUROPA LEAGUE FOOTBALL NEXT SEASON!
Anyone playing in the Premier League or Championship HAS to be looked at, because they are playing at a quality that is higher than that of the countries they will be playing against in the WCQ and will therefore be well equipped to get Jamaica into the next stage.
Pratley should be a starter, Hoilett would probably be our best player, Simpson would add a huge amount of quality to the defense, Beckford would be our best striker etc. All these players would add a huge amount of quality to the team and we should be doing everything we can to convince them to join.
I think this would be a team capable of beating the US. In the middle you have two players that are capable of playing the ball onto the ground, getting it out to the wide players. Austin can sit infront of the defense and make sure Dempsey doesn't have too much space in the hole. And when attacking Hoilett and McAnuff can cut inside, onto their stronger feeet and play through balls to Mattocks, who will be making some great runs.
"Exelent observation Ric!, Tappa a player at the pinacle of JA. success, with a top selection of Brits and locals, could not have achieved without that balance!,so what is Tappa's major malfunction?. It is obvious that Tapparino has a problem selecting and utalizing the proper players for what ever reason! he didn't have a problem selecting Nugsy and Mariapa, wich seems to be the part of the puzzle thats been solved, i think there is definatley croonieism and politics involved on coach and management level. I give Tappaarino credit where credit is due and i am also critical of him, we need a better coach! i fear that these issues are not resolved we will be continueing this discussion for the next world cup like a broken record."
Mi can respond to both of your comments in one post...
Let mi expound on this local-baller situation a little more and how you see where the last matches before di WC qualifiers raises some serious questions about Tappa's coaching and football knowledge at the highest levels.
Jamaica played Cuba twice, Guyana once and NZ once,and Panama twice, before these qualifiers started; beating Cuba twice, Guyana and NZ...and losing to Panama twice...the clues we're looking for is in the teams that he picked to play these matches.
NZ was first up with a basic overseas squad of Jamaica regulars, with a recall for Peas and Claude...Jamaica won this match without seeming special or spectacular in any dept...I didn't see this as a starting WC side.
Jamaica then played Cuba and Guyana with basically a local team and beat them...again in no spectacular fashion...and with many questions about energy, tempo and competitiveness of the Jamaica team played in these matches...that was to be expected if you are playing a local Jamaican side against local Caribbean opposition..yes, Guyana as a country is on the S. American peninsula but could never be termed anything more than a Caribbean football side.
Now we come to the penultimate matches with Panama as the LAST warm-ups before the real thing...and we come up with the worse team selections, after ALL the players who were called up were in camp...and the the worst recent results...just BEFORE the WC qualifiers...and in neither match did Tappa's supposedly starting 11, the team that started against Guatemala, play on the pitch together.
Which freaking coach in world football is going to still be experimenting in the last 2 practice matches that he has available before WC qualifiers with players he has NO INTENTION of playing or did he not realise BEFORE those two Panama matches that those local favourites were SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH to be playing WC matches in a senior Jamaica side ?
Mi no ciaah how di ites dem love Tappa as a local guy, these questions cause me to have grave doubts about him being the right coach for Jamaica, period.
On the question of him not rating English ballas...on what qualification would he base those opinions ?
Tappa was Jamaica's most influential and potent midfielder in his prime as a member of Jamaica's WC side...and he delivered at the WC but...Tappa failed to break into the higher echelons of English football...could his views be influenced by that fact any at all ? If he was happy to select Nosworthy and Mariappa and they have delivered for him, its clear to see he has no problem using English players when it suits him to do so.
What this entire situation presents is a picture of a coach who cannot assess the quality of players and performances up to the necessary WC standards...and that is where Jamaica's weakness lies right now..if that is true.
Originally Posted By: Ric
What this entire situation presents is a picture of a coach who cannot assess the quality of players and performances up to the necessary WC standards...and that is where Jamaica's weakness lies right now..if that is true.
And this is the million dollar question Ric, is Tappa having issues with assessing talent and assessing talent for different positions?
We all want Tappa to succeed and we all hope this past 2 months will turn out to be a learning curve for him after all, and he will see what he did since Panama just won't work; we hope.
Well, we've heard Montesso said after Antigua that they may bring in new players, which at least they now know things not right. What that will translate into the jury is still out, but come September 7th if it's still Jason & Austin in our midfield then we can all conclude the worst. So for now we'll give Tappa some space fi correct his missteps and come again.
Tappa a respect you, however I just don't understand; Nathan Dyer & Scott Sinclair were on TV quite often for Swansea city in the EPL. Some of these games are shown in JA on cable. Any national coach watching these two players for any amount of time can't help but to be impress with both of them. I'm not saying both of them would accept our invite. I do believe Scott has realistic aspirations for England, but the same can't be said of Dyer, and he's quality nonetheless. Nobody from the JJF contacted them. Neither was contact made to Daniel Johnson or Raheem Stirling, all these central players.
As fans that love Jamaica & our football it makes absolutely no sense as to how these players goes unchecked. Burrel acquiescence and took a trip to the UK and spoke to Jobi rep and Hoilett's father by phone, and that was it. Hoilett is stalling for whatever reason and Jobi had to walk down the isles to the slaughter, and give up single life. And here we are months later still waiting.
We find it easy to locate and invite defenders but when it comes to the technical interior players it turns into just pure talk and more talk. Yet we keep on saying we need midfielders, we need midfielders.
For what it's worth here they are again:
We all know Jobi McAnuff, David Junior Hoilett, Darren Pratley, Raheem Stirling, Daniel Johnson; then there's Scott Sinclair, Nathan Dyer, Lewis McGugan & Gareth McCleary.
I think 8 out 9 plays in the EPL.
Scott & Raheem, especially Raheem may end up with England.
Raheem & Johnson were both born in JA, believe that.
Raheem is the most equipped as a central player out of all 9.
Dyer have a tendency to drift into the middle from out wide, and at times looks good floating centrally.
McGugan is slower ball possession holding midfielder type player with good skills.
We all know Sinclair & Jobi are death on the left flank.
Though we have depth on the flanks in our team, with one of these two on board, one or two of the flank players can move to the middle, as I've advocated.
Of all the talk from the JFF/Tappa, there are these 9 quality EPL/Championship ballaz, needing only a few of them, yet little action from our brass.
I wonder, what song will we be singing come February HEX, I wonder.
