Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
Fabio Capello has much to ponder. Though certain sections of the UK press appear to have an unhealthy obsession with an ageing bit-part midfielder and his quest for caps, the real question mark hangs over the structure of the England team. Capello has said that he will be taking this evening's friendly international against Slovakia as seriously as he would a competitive game, which means that by tomorrow, we'll all know a lot more about his tactics for Thursday morning's crunch game with Ukraine.
Capello inherited an England side only barely capable of playing the traditional 4-4-2 formation, usually with completely unsuitable players. The critical European Championships qualifying defeat in Moscow came after 90 minutes of punted long passes had sailed over the heads of tiny Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney. Plan B was a static 4-5-1 with the singular aim of wellying the ball up to Peter Crouch and hoping that he hadn't fallen over by the time reinforcements arrived. Failure to qualify for Euro08 was inevitable.
From his first game in charge, Capello seemed to focus more on the style of play than the structure, and rightly so. England were terrified of holding onto possession for more than three seconds without kicking it high into the air. Though the neantherthals who make up a significant proportion of England's support decided to boo this new-found composure within 30 minutes of the kick-off, the players got the message. Possession good, hopeless long ball bad.
With that elementary lesson learned, Capello gradually begun to tinker with the formation, taking the English gently by the hand and leading them into the 21st century. Though they began their match against Belarus in a 4-4-2 with Steven Gerrard on the left and cutting in, they soon shifted to 4-2-3-1 after Capello learned what Rafa Benitez could have told him for free. If you give Gerrard an inch of freedom, he'll take a mile and leave a Gerrard-shaped gap where he should have been. Far better to give him total autonomy and let him wreak havoc behind the striker. Frank Lampard proved in Minsk that he can be an excellent holding midfielder, especially with an intelligent, calm player like Gareth Barry alongside him.
England's greatest victory, the barnstorming 4-1 win over Croatia a month earlier, saw England in a daring 4-1-4-1, the same formation that won Spain the European Championships. Here, Lampard was pushed forward with Joe Cole, Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney to create a fearsome secondary bank of attacking midfielders behind Emile Heskey and we all saw how successful that was. However, Croatia had been reduced to ten men, which limited the threat of a counter-attack somewhat.
But Capello returned to a 4-4-2 for the friendlies with Spain and Germany, altering only as the game progressed. It is time now for him to push England on and leave that formation behind as the relic that it is in international football. Rooney's selfless running on the left was one of the principal reasons for Manchester United's dominance last season, let him do that for England. Gerrard is in the form of his life in the free role at Liverpool, Lampard's distribution is exceptional for Chelsea and Heskey can act as frontal pivot, holding the ball up and bringing more creative players into the game. With the pace of either Aaron Lennon or Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right, there's a whole bundle of threats for any opposing team to worry about and you can even fit an ageing set-piece specialist into the centre of midfield if you like.
It's time for England to go to the next level. It's time for 4-2-3-1 to become the default.
IAIN'S SELECTION
GK - James
RB - Johnson
LB - Cole
CB - Terry
CB - Ferdinand
MC - Barry
MC - Lampard
AML - Rooney
AMC - Gerrard
AMR - Lennon
ST - Heskey
Capello inherited an England side only barely capable of playing the traditional 4-4-2 formation, usually with completely unsuitable players. The critical European Championships qualifying defeat in Moscow came after 90 minutes of punted long passes had sailed over the heads of tiny Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney. Plan B was a static 4-5-1 with the singular aim of wellying the ball up to Peter Crouch and hoping that he hadn't fallen over by the time reinforcements arrived. Failure to qualify for Euro08 was inevitable.
From his first game in charge, Capello seemed to focus more on the style of play than the structure, and rightly so. England were terrified of holding onto possession for more than three seconds without kicking it high into the air. Though the neantherthals who make up a significant proportion of England's support decided to boo this new-found composure within 30 minutes of the kick-off, the players got the message. Possession good, hopeless long ball bad.
With that elementary lesson learned, Capello gradually begun to tinker with the formation, taking the English gently by the hand and leading them into the 21st century. Though they began their match against Belarus in a 4-4-2 with Steven Gerrard on the left and cutting in, they soon shifted to 4-2-3-1 after Capello learned what Rafa Benitez could have told him for free. If you give Gerrard an inch of freedom, he'll take a mile and leave a Gerrard-shaped gap where he should have been. Far better to give him total autonomy and let him wreak havoc behind the striker. Frank Lampard proved in Minsk that he can be an excellent holding midfielder, especially with an intelligent, calm player like Gareth Barry alongside him.
England's greatest victory, the barnstorming 4-1 win over Croatia a month earlier, saw England in a daring 4-1-4-1, the same formation that won Spain the European Championships. Here, Lampard was pushed forward with Joe Cole, Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney to create a fearsome secondary bank of attacking midfielders behind Emile Heskey and we all saw how successful that was. However, Croatia had been reduced to ten men, which limited the threat of a counter-attack somewhat.
But Capello returned to a 4-4-2 for the friendlies with Spain and Germany, altering only as the game progressed. It is time now for him to push England on and leave that formation behind as the relic that it is in international football. Rooney's selfless running on the left was one of the principal reasons for Manchester United's dominance last season, let him do that for England. Gerrard is in the form of his life in the free role at Liverpool, Lampard's distribution is exceptional for Chelsea and Heskey can act as frontal pivot, holding the ball up and bringing more creative players into the game. With the pace of either Aaron Lennon or Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right, there's a whole bundle of threats for any opposing team to worry about and you can even fit an ageing set-piece specialist into the centre of midfield if you like.
It's time for England to go to the next level. It's time for 4-2-3-1 to become the default.
IAIN'S SELECTION
GK - James
RB - Johnson
LB - Cole
CB - Terry
CB - Ferdinand
MC - Barry
MC - Lampard
AML - Rooney
AMC - Gerrard
AMR - Lennon
ST - Heskey
