INTERVIEW
Monday, February 7, 10:31am London Time
Wise move should encourage Keegan
By Adrian Curtis
England coach Kevin Keegan must have left White Hart Lane content in the knowledge that despite the influx of foreign players into the Premiership, there is still a place for English grit.
Keegan fears the job of England coach will become impossible if there is no reduction in the foreign legion and his warning is hardly surprising when you consider that 19 of the players named for Saturday's game between Tottenham and Chelsea were imported.
Yet it was an Englishman who shone and surely Keegan must include him in his squad for the forthcoming international with Argentina. Chelsea skipper Dennis Wise has many critics, yet few of them can argue with his enthusiasm, his leadership qualities and yes, his ability.
On a field full of World Cup winners, Wise bettered them all and much of Chelsea's 10-match unbeaten run is due to his inspiration. His contribution to Chelsea is not lost on manager Gianluca Vialli, who credit for sticking with his temperamental captain.
He realised a long time ago that Wise is Chelsea's heartbeat, as Keegan saw for himself on Saturday.
It was Wise who conjured up Chelsea's winner with skill many of his foreign counterparts would have been proud of. Spotting Bernard Lambourde was unmarked, he curled the ball around Tottenham's defensive wall and the Frenchman chipped the advancing Ian Walker for the decider.
It is that kind if impish inspiration which makes Wise such an integral part of Vialli's plans. The manager said: "You can have ability and stature but personality is what makes you a great player.
"As a manager, there is nothing I can do from the bench. I need a player like Dennis who demands more from himself and from his team-mates.
"I am so happy Dennis is our leader. He is carrying the team at the moment. He loves the club and loves English football.
"It is not my job to pick the England squad but I would always have him in my side."
Including Wise in his England squad is something Keegan will almost certainly do against Argentina, along with Tottenham's Darren Anderton, whose solid yet unspectacular performance on Saturday will have encouraged Keegan.
Tottenham were comfortably outplayed in the first half but dominated the second without any reward. The result allowed Chelsea to increase the gap between the two clubs in the table and stretch their unbeaten run to 22 games in 10 years.
It was the lack of punch up front which contributed to Spurs' second successive home defeat and manager George Graham is sick of being reminded about it. He said: "There are no signings imminent. We'll just carry on as we are but I'll keep looking for the right man. I'm sick of answering questions about it.
"We've stretched a side with world-class players twice in a few weeks but we are short of a bit of luck lately."
With Steffen Iversen carried off in the second half, Graham's search for a striker could well increase this week.
But one look at the Chelsea bench emphasised Spurs' weakness. While they could not muster a single attacker in the dug-out, Vialli could call upon both Tore Andre Flo and Gianfranco Zola.