The Anonymous Widower

ran Ramsey’s 1966 Team Compared To Capello’s 2010 One.

I’ve beem comparing these in my mind and feel that I want to put my fourpennyworth to the debate.

Goalkeeper

I think everyone agrees that the long line of good English goalkeepers, whilst it may not have come to an end, has been temporarily halted. Ramsey had the incomparable Gordon Banks and whilst David James is not bad at all and played quite well in South Africa, he is not in Bank’s class. Ramsey 1 – Capello 0

Full Backs

George Cohen and Ray Wilson were not spectacular attacking full-backs who scored goals, but theywere very reliable defenders, who did a solid job and could also overlap with some skill.  The pick would probably be Cohen and Cole. Ramsey 1 – Capello 1

Centre Backs

Jack Charlton should probably be compared to Terry, but he was definitely the better player, as he rarely made serious mistakes.  Perhaps though today, his robust style might have been a liability, but no more than Terry’s.  On the other hand, Bobby Moore, who was probably one of the best centre-backs that have ever played the game was much better than any of Terry’s three partners; King, Carragher or Upson. Ramsey 2 – Capello 0

Midfield

Ramsey’s midfield of Ball, Stiles, Charlton and Peters doesn’t compare directly with Capello’s first choice of Milner, Lampard, Barry and Gerard.  Capello lacked a destroyer like Stiles, someone who could pass like Martin Peters and anybody who could run for ninety minutes like Alan Ball.  There was also Bobby Charlton, who could score spectacular goals from midfield.So it has to be scored at least Ramsey 3 Capello 1

Strikers

Geoff Hurst and Roger Hunt were probably not that good.  I saw Hunt play a lot for Liverpool and he didn’t impress me and as a Spurs supporter, I thought him inferior to Jimmy Greaves.  But Greaves didn’t perform in the group matches and was dropped! In some ways Geoff Hurst was one of those guys, who end up in the right place at the right time, as he did  to score a hat trick in the final. Both Rooney and Defoe are better than he ever was. Ramsey 1 – Capello 1

So Ramsey gets it by eight to three! Does this give any credence to assertions that the players we have now, aren’t as they were in the past?

We also have to remember that Ramsey had the knack of taking eleven players and then fashioning them into a team.  He did that with the Ipswich Town side that won the First Division Championship (The Premier League Now!) in 1961-62.  by playing a system with deep-lying wingers, Roy Stephenson and Jimmy Leadbetter, accurately crossing for one of the most deadly goal-scoring partnerships ever seen in the English leagues of Ray Crawford and Ted Phillips. The 1966 World Cup winners played a system without wingers at all, but with athletic players, who ran and ran to fill every gap!

Ramsey was a truly great manager and this  illustrates how Capello is a man who doesn’t make the best of what he’s got.  Remember too, that Ramsey was not allowed substitues for any reason whatsoever, so he wasn’t allowed the luxury of a Plan B.  But then Capello didn’t have one of those at all!

July 6, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | Football, Ipswich Town