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Sturridge may have cried off, but it was both interesting (and depressing!) watching Cahill and Wilshere last night. Cahill has matured into a great CB and it's amazing how good he is when paired with another solid CB - in this case Allardyce transfer cock-up Jagielka who we could have snapped up for £1million in 2005 if Sam had seen his potential as a CB when we were briefly linked to him.
Cahill was rock solid and positionally sound, still pushing on as he did with us but not having to dive about making last ditch tackles and interceptions all the time. Put him in a solid back four and he's a diamond. Gutted when we sold him so cheaply instead of building around him at the back.
Wilshere still looks like a crock waiting to happen, but it didn't prevent him getting stuck in and playing with real class despite obviously being worried about his knee.
Moldova never got a look in up front and better teams (like Ukraine on Tuesday) will present more of a challenge in that respect, but watching them play last night gave the impression they now have the confidence to face anyone. They were both big fish in a small pond when they played for us, and a richer club would have done everything possible to keep them or in Sturridge and Wilshere's case, nick them on a permanent basis.
And wasn't Ricky Lambert great for a guy who's spent most of his career playing for the likes of Stockport, Macclesfield and Rochdale? Didn't look at all out of place.
I think the moral of this tale is that it's unlikely we'd ever get a child prodigy like Wilshere unless we spotted him first, but Sturridge was surplus to requirements at City and was doable, Cahill just needed a more stable defence around him, Jagielka was good as a midfielder but so much better as CB and there's still low cost talent in the lower divisions so in theory it's not impossible for a club of limited means to build a superb team if the manager has the nous and vision and the backing of the board.
Cahill was rock solid and positionally sound, still pushing on as he did with us but not having to dive about making last ditch tackles and interceptions all the time. Put him in a solid back four and he's a diamond. Gutted when we sold him so cheaply instead of building around him at the back.
Wilshere still looks like a crock waiting to happen, but it didn't prevent him getting stuck in and playing with real class despite obviously being worried about his knee.
Moldova never got a look in up front and better teams (like Ukraine on Tuesday) will present more of a challenge in that respect, but watching them play last night gave the impression they now have the confidence to face anyone. They were both big fish in a small pond when they played for us, and a richer club would have done everything possible to keep them or in Sturridge and Wilshere's case, nick them on a permanent basis.
And wasn't Ricky Lambert great for a guy who's spent most of his career playing for the likes of Stockport, Macclesfield and Rochdale? Didn't look at all out of place.
I think the moral of this tale is that it's unlikely we'd ever get a child prodigy like Wilshere unless we spotted him first, but Sturridge was surplus to requirements at City and was doable, Cahill just needed a more stable defence around him, Jagielka was good as a midfielder but so much better as CB and there's still low cost talent in the lower divisions so in theory it's not impossible for a club of limited means to build a superb team if the manager has the nous and vision and the backing of the board.
