So we drew 1 – 1 against the USA. It’s not the end of the world. Our opponents were an experienced side, well organised by Bob Bradley, and currently lie fourteenth in the world rankings.
And it’s unrealistic for a team to play quality football throughout an international tournament. In 2008, the Dutch played scintillating football before coming unstuck at the quarter-final stage against an Arshavin-inspired Russia. A disappointing result – and ours wasn’t even a defeat – gives a coach an opportunity to reflect on the game and remedy what went wrong.
That said, the notion of Capello as an infallible being was dealt a severe blow on Saturday. If I had the opportunity to bend Fabio’s ear I would make the following five suggestions to get us back on track:
GET RID OF EMILE: Heskey probably outplayed Rooney on Saturday but England’s forward line ain’t big enough for the both of them. Wayne has evolved as a footballer over the last couple of years with Ferguson honing him into a predator supreme, which explains his record of 34 goals in 44 games this season. Compare his run of excellent headed goals with his pathetic headed effort in the second half and you see how important it is to give him the platform to do what he’s been doing all season for United.
DISPENSE WITH STEVE’N’FRANK: How many times do you try something before you admit it doesn’t work? It seemed the first thing Capello accepted when he took the position of England manager was that these two can’t play together. And yet for the biggest game of his reign he changes his mind.
Lampard, the man who orchestrated Chelsea’s remarkable end to the season was reduced to babysitting Steven Gerrard, for whom the term ‘headless chicken’ – albeit one who’s good at football – springs to mind.
PLAY GERRARD ON THE LEFT OF MIDFIELD: Ah, the infamous Left Midfield. A position no Englishman dare tread. And yet Ronaldinho, Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo have all made a pretty good fist of it in recent years – so why not Gerrard? Perhaps the problem isn’t so much that Gerrard lacks the technique to play there, more that he doesn’t have the humility to give it a good go.
PLAY DAWSON: It may be that Capello’s World Cup defensive picks are his nadir as England manager. His decision to choose King has come back to haunt him; Ferdinand, clearly not 100% fit, was always going to be susceptible to another injury; and Carragher’s loss of pace was palpable against the USA.
The best defensive partnerships tend to follow the rule of one combative player combined with one who has pace – think Terry/Gallas, Hyppia/Henchoz, Toure/Campbell. Being the only player left with any pace to call upon Dawson could have the opportunity to stake a claim he never thought possible a few months ago.
GET RID OF 4-4-2: I would be interested to know how many sides in the World Cup are playing a Bore-4-2 system. I suspect very few, yet the English still do. It is an out-dated formation which asks far too much of your left and right midfield and often leaves your midfield vulnerable after your wide men have pushed forward.
A 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 offers both greater assurance in defence and would be far more effective going forward, with Rooney and Lampard benefiting in particular.
Look, I’m not entirely writing off England’s chances of winning the World Cup, and there were some useful performances at the weekend – Terry, Johnson, Cole, Lennon, for instance. It’s just a question of shifting the chess pieces around the board a little, and who knows what will happen.
So my chosen team to face Algeria next Friday would be as follows, in a 4-3-3 formation: James – Johnson, Terry, Dawson, Cole – Barry, Milner, Lampard – Gerrard, Rooney, Lennon.
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