Read and take note...

Love him or loathe him, Harry Redknapp has an undeniable ability to simplify what should be, in essence, a simple game. Commenting on last night's England match, Redknapp spelt out in the easiest possible way the importance of getting early balls in to the box. Redknapp wrote in The Sun this morning:

"What I like about Milner is he doesn't try to do too much of the fancy stuff but instead concentrates on what is bread and butter to strikers - getting his crosses in.

Every manager should show Jermain's goal to their players as it demonstrates you don't need to beat players on the wing to put in a match-winning cross.

David Beckham was a master at it. You rarely saw him take on players but you knew the quality of his delivery as he bent the ball in would be top class.

Milner does not have great pace, he does not possess fantastic skill but he does what Becks used to do so effectively, he makes a yard on a defender and in comes the ball.

There's nothing worse for strikers than seeing your winger constantly lose the ball when he tries to dribble past a full-back.

You don't have to beat people, you can cross effectively in front of a full-back instead of trying to get past him all the time."

If it's good enough for England's finest, and a top-four manager(!), it's got to be good enough for us...

Keep the faith!

Joe