England-bashing is in fashion

BBC pundit Robbo, today wrote:

“Is it time to accept that England are a poor football team?”

Maybe I’m just an optimist–although I think I’m a realist–but I don’t believe England are as bad as everyone makes out. For years we have got our hopes up and we’ve been disappointed and bored and then suddenly rewarded with a glimpse of what England can really do when everything clicks. It’s just that the most recent one has been a while, and having (the pleasure) to watch the most exciting international competition in my lifetime this summer, only rubbed salt in the wound.

It’s hard to recall those games that are so few and far between: back-to-back 3-0 wins one year ago against Isreal and Russia; a thrilling come from behind 3-2 win against Argentina in November 2005; another 3-2 win against Colombia earlier that year; and the one you’ve all been waiting for, 5-1 defeat of Germany, all the way back in 2001.

(Interestingly, considering his omission from the current squad, of the 17 goals scored in what were the only 5 great performances in 7 years, Michael Owen has scored 11 of them.)

For reasons I’ll discuss shortly, England have consistently failed to disappoint a demanding fan base and it has resulted in the now fashionable conclusion that England just aren’t good enough – it’s time we faced the music. Well I’m not dancing to that tune.

It is undeniable that the Premiership is the strongest league in Europe. Last season 3 English teams played in the semi-finals of the champions league. In recent years the Italian game has faltered with the match-fixing scandal scattering the cards, and in Spain after a few years of holding a monopoly on attractive successful football, their flagship teams have fallen to pieces. For the last decade English teams have equaled, and recently surpassed, the success of any other nation in European Club competition. Why then are England so bad when it comes to the international stage?

Well it can be pointed out, and fairly, that the number of English players that feature in the top English sides is quite low, that young talents are being deprived of the opportunity for first team football. But this is xenophobia disguised as patriotism. It is all true but it has no baring on the quality of the England team – if an English trainee cannot force his way into a Premiership side’s first team, then he is not good enough for England.

The real problems, as I see them, are ones that have been identified for a long time, and one that I have seen recognised in the media for the first time.

Robbo wrote:

“Why is it that Rooney is a worse player now than when he was 17? Shrek is slowly but surely turning into the bloody donkey.”

This season, barring injuries, I suspect that Wayne Rooney will begin his transition to attacking midfielder in the Manchester United team. With the acquisition of Berbatov and the securing of Tevez on a long term contract, United will be forced to choose between dropping one of their three strikers or dropping Rooney into an attacking midfield role – and with the inevitable decline of Scholes and Giggs – that choice has been made simple.

The simple fact is that Rooneyhas lost that striker’s edge and instinct, whether it is through injury or vanity. Since his explosion on the international scene, Rooney has been lauded as the saviour of the England team – however this has only resulted in his over-confidence which leads him to seek the ball out anywhere on the field. He rarely recieves the ball facing the goal anymore, he tends to pick it up on the half way line and drop it back to a defender. Capello needs to recognise this and either drop Rooney, force him to stick to his attacking duties or play him in a deeper role.

The other dilemma is the Gerrard/Lampard conundrum. It is a conundrum why they cannot play together, but it is a fact that they cannot play together. And yet, every manager persists. England have played their best in recent games when Lampard has pulled out of the squad. It is clear that this allows Gerrard the freedom with the responsibility to control the midfield. But with Gerrard absent through injury, perhaps Lampard will be able to shine. I’m yet to be convinced.

The real drought for England has been in the striker department. In the last decade we have seen the emergence of the injury prone Michael Owen, degenerative Wayne Rooney, inconsistent Heskey, Defoe and Crouch. Other inadequate strikers have been drafted in on the off chance that they might save the day, but with the exception of Ashton, who is yet to be fit enough to get his chance, and Bent, who is still a couple of 20-goal-seasons off ready, they have all been found wanting.

We have also lacked a world class goalkeeper since David Seaman retired. Many pretenders have laid claim, but in the end we have had to settle for veteran choice James after a series of prospects tried and failed. I still hold out hope that Ben Foster will succeed Van der Sar at Man Utd and make the England number 1 his own also.

But it is not a lack of World Class players, as many pessimistic fans attest, (Gerrard and Ferdinand are among the greatest players in world football in their position. Terry, Barry, Lampard, J Cole, Bentley, Rooney, Owen are all world class players, also) the problem is in the motivation to perform and the team that is picked.

It is just too easy to pick the England team – and when a team picks itself, those players become complacent. J Cole was dropped by Capello and when given the chance showed how willing he was to fight for his place with a brace against Andorra. When did we last see Terry or A Cole or Lampard or Rooney show that drive?

It is time to mix up the England team, play players on merit and current form and not on reputation.

I expect that Capello will pick:

James

Brown – Terry – Ferdinand – A. Cole

Walcott – Barry – Lampard – J. Cole

Rooney – Heskey

and I expect that team to do the job against Croatia. I don’t think that’s the best team we even have available, it lacks a goalscorer and a creative force in the centre but with two hungry wingers, and a solid defense that shouldn’t have trouble shutting down a weakened Croatia attack we should be favourites (despite what John Terry says). Perhaps the lack of pressure, that is the one positive result from the pervading pessimism, will allow this team to give us another game to remember.

The Neo-4-3-3

For my first post I thought I’d discuss what has become one of the most successful formations of the modern game. It’s a little bit complicated to describe in the standard numerical format. It is a 4-3-3, but it’s also a 4-5-1 and a 4-1-2-2-1. I’ll refer to it as a 4-3-3 from now on.

Here you can see how the formation lines up.

This is the formation used by many of Europe’s top sides for the last 5 years or so.

Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona are very prominent examples, and in part Liverpool and Arsenal have followed suit. Spain also used this formation in the Euro final.

As you can see the defense is essentially a traditional flat-back-four. The full backs (2 & 3) however, are used in almost a wingback role, offering support to the attacking wingers (7 & 11). For this reason top sides who use this formation have paid lots of money in recent years to find very athletic fullbacks. The signing of Dani Alves to replace the ageing Thuram at Barcelona is a prime example. But also Cole and Bosingwa at Chelsea, Evra at Man Utd, Sagna at Arsenal fill this role. These players are among the fastest in their leagues and they need to be; during the transition from attack to defense, they must recover their defensive position from very high upfield.

This has traditionally worked with two fliers on the wings. Chelsea have tried and tried to find these players, Mourinho signed a rash of players in his time, none of whom really cut it. Duff, Wright-Phillips, Robben, J. Cole, Malouda. Ironically, it is the only player who lacks pace that has been successful in that position for Chelsea. At Utd Ronaldo has of course defined this role, but other players have had limited success, specifically Nani. Barca might have had the strongest side for this formation however, when Ronaldinho was at his peak playing the #11 role, and Messi on the opposite flank (7), both marauding down the wings, with the ability to go outside or cut in. It is role for pacey, tricky wingers, and they must love playing it as they get away with little contribution defensively.

The key to this formation is the central defensive midfield player (4). A role defined by Makelele, although he wasn’t the first, and certainly not the last. All major sides looking to use this formation have paid over the odds for their destroyer, but when you consider that he must do the work traditionally done by two players you can understand why. There is no room for a missed tackle when you are the sole player in that penultimate line of defense. This was a role held as I mentioned, by Makelele, but also Mascherano, Viera followed by Flamini, Yaya Toure. It could be to their extreme detriment that Arsenal did not replace Flamini in this year’s transfer window. Manchester United have known the importance and difficulty of finding this key player since Roy Keane retired. Currently they rotate Hargreaves, Carrick, Anderson and O’Shea in that role. It is a hard-working, no-nonsense job; break up attacks and keep possession with an easy pass.

This allows for more free reign from the attacking midfielders (8 & 10). And affords the luxury of one or two players who wait for the ball to come to them; a Riquelme type, someone who can make that killer pass for a lone striker, or perhaps round the corner for the pacey winger to latch on to. At Barca this was Deco, now succeeded by Iniesta. At Liverpool Gerrard linked up so well with Torres during his debut season. Fabregas is of course the Arsenal talisman, and Chelsea have used Lampard, who will now take on more responsibility after the arrival of Deco.

The other necessity is a strong front man, a player who can toil away on his own. Drogba, Eto’o and Torres have been the finest examples of this in recent years. Although Tevez has been very effective when used in that role also.

The true beauty of the formation, as I touched upon, is it’s flexibility. By dropping deep the two wingers can create a 5 man midfield. By pushing on they create a 3 man attack. You can rotate the forward line until you have a 4-4-2, the 7 or 11 dropping back and the 8 or 10 moving out wide.

I believe this formation is an innovative result of the superior athleticism in the modern game. Now that a few elite players exist who can dominate midfields single-handedly (such as Mascherano) players like Riquelme, who were in the past over-run, now have the free role to perform their artistry and it is making for some thrilling football. I don’t expect this trend to die out. Rather that it will gain steam, as teams like Spurs and Man City and Villa all look to transition into this formation.

Do you think there are any problems with this formation? Do you prefer a different formation? Let me know your thoughts and feel free to digress.