EPL, England, Europe, Features, Ian John, Leagues, Regions, World Cup 2010 POSTS

Some tough decisions remain for Capello

Published by Ian John on July 22, 2010

England’s shambolic World Cup performance has created more questions than it answered and leaves manager Fabio Capello with much to ponder ahead of England’s qualifying campaign for the 2012 European Championship.

So if you were the Italian what would you do? Here are some steps I would be taking:

1. Facing the Axe
I’m afraid if I was England manager, John Terry would have played his last game for his country. As would have Ashley Cole and I will explain why. The first issue is Terry. There is the whole Wayne Bridge affair which JT supporters have cringingly stated is “not a football matter”, well, I’d argue that it is if you don’t trust your team mate. Secondly there was his public rant during the finals, which not only undermined Capello but put several of his fellow team mates on the gallows with him (when they had not asked him to be spokesperson for the group), thirdly he undermined the true captain of the team by adopting this role and tried to justify it by claiming “he just wanted England to win so much” and lastly his performances in the tournament were, frankly, abysmal, especially against Germany. So JT would be a thing of the past for me. Controversial? I don’t think so.
Ashley Cole too I would drop. If any player ‘hates’ representing his country so much he feels the need to twitter or text his ire to his friends or bring girls into his hotel room then no matter how good a player he is and Cole is very good indeed, then he would not get a place in my team.
Rio Ferdinand too would be on the wayside, as would Ledley King. No disrespect to either player but they deserve to see out the rest of their club careers without the excessive demands of England duty placed upon their fragile bodies. They just cannot cope with tournament football, so it is a folly to use them sparingly in the run up to 2012 and then expect them to be fit and ready for 3 games in 10 days in the finals, at the end of a long and tiring season.
David James too would be another to go. Not through any lack of performance for once but simply because England need to establish a number one goalkeeper and stick with them for the longer term. I believe the time to do that is now.

2. New Faces
I’d also be looking closely at several players to make the step up. I’d be looking at Adam Johnson of Manchester City, Jack Rodwell & Leighton Baines at Everton, Gabby Agbonlahor and Ashley Young at Aston Villa, Micah Richards, Joe Hart and Nedum Onuoha of Man City, Jack Wilshere & Theo Walcott at Arsenal, Manchester United new boy Chris Smalling, Liverpool’s Jonjo Shelvey, West Ham’s Scott Parker and Mark Noble, Tottenham’s Michael Dawson and Tom Huddlestone.

3. Tactics
A lot of nonsense is talked about England having to play 4-4-2 for whatever reason. This is just inane. Almost all England players have experience of playing many different ways for their clubs and to somehow think that without their foreign influence of players, these England stars are somehow incapable, defies belief. So my formation would be a change. It would be a 4-6 formation, which sounds mad but is what Brazil play and let me explain how they play it.
With Brazil you have two huge lumps of a centre back in Juan and Lucio and two other defenders in the full backs. Now Brazil have this back four, but only in name. During the game the full backs are allowed to move up the wing as often as possible to create overlaps. When they do, one or both the two holding midfielders, Silva and Melo, drop into cover , so Brazil maintain a back three or four at all times. Only it isn’t necessarily the two full backs defending.

So, I’d give England a chance to play this way. And my team would be.
Goalkeeper : Joe Hart
Attacking Wing Backs : Glen Johnson and Leighton Baines
Centre Backs : Michael Dawson & Matthew Upson
Holding midfielders : Gareth Barry & Tom Huddlestone
Attacking Midfielders : Adam Johnson (left), Steven Gerrard (Centre), Theo Walcott (Right)
Attacker : Wayne Rooney
Cue, Chelsea fans throwing their arms up into the air claiming anti-Stamford Bridge bias. It’s nothing of the sort. JT doesn’t deserve to play, Cole doesn’t want to play and Lampard isn’t as good as Gerrard and so doesn’t get in the team.
After witnessing how we were dismantled by Germany, nullified by Algeria and the US and struggled against Slovenia, surely it has to be worth a try?

***image courtesy of Jstyles on stockxchnge ***

Readers Rating: