Overated England Players

I was intrigued to se that England boss Fabio Capello has demanded that player ratings website the Capello Index be removed from the internet.  I would have thought he would have wanted them engraved in tablets of stone.

The rankings, which score players on their performances in this summer’s World Cup, appeared online on Saturday.

“I did not authorise this and am angry it was published,” said Capello, while the Football Association claimed it was “satisfied” with the Italian’s actions.

The project was set for launch before the World Cup but, following a media outcry, it was postponed.

“The index was published without Mr Capello’s knowledge and his representatives have taken immediate steps to have the material taken down,” read an FA statement.

The website uses a statistical system devised by former Roma, Juventus and Real Madrid coach Capello to award players a score out of 100.

Not a single England international appears in the top 45 players from the tournament, following the team’s dismal showing in South Africa that ended with a 4-1 last-16 defeat to Germany.

Captain Steven Gerrard is the only member of the squad to be ranked in the top 100 performers of the group stages, coming in at a lowly 65.

Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe has the highest average score of Capello’s squad with 62.47, while goalkeeper Robert Green, who was dropped by Capello following his glaring handling error that gifted the USA an equaliser in the England’s opening 1-1 Group C draw, has the lowest score – 51.67.

Uruguay’s Diego Forlan, the Golden Ball winner in South Africa, top the ratings. Germany’s Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller are second and third respectively.

Tournament winners Spain occupy the next three spots with Andres Iniesta fourth, Xavi fifth and David Villa sixth.

Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, Dutch winger Arjen Robben, Germans midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer complete the top 10.

News of the project first emerged in early May, when Capello announced himself as a co-founder of the Index, alongside Chicco Merighi, the founder of an online gambling company.

“It’s not only about money, my interest is in football,” Capello said at the time.

A four-week trial of the index – limited to players from Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – rated Ledley King, Michael Dawson and Sol Campbell as the best English central defenders ahead of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.

However, following harsh media criticism of the idea as badly timed and potentially damaging to players’ confidence, Capello was forced to put World Cup ratings on hold after holding emergency talks with the FA.

But a message on the front page of the site reads: “We are finally able to satisfy the numerous request we have had by publishing the results of the evaluation of the players’ performance during the South African World Cup.

“Out of respect to the Football Association, who asked us to suspend the real-time publication, we decided to wait until the end of the tournament.”

The site also claims the analysis will next season be applied to “all games of the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Champions League”, with all the data to be published “within two hours of the end of the matches”.

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