As the World Cup started I agreed on a (slightly bold and rushed) statement with my housemate: ‘if England don’t win the World Cup it’ll be down to the players and not the coach’ – that statement doesn’t stand so true anymore. After the USA game I attacked the England players individually with some player ratings. Post-Algeria I don’t see any point to individual assessment. Everyone was poor. The team must be examined as just that – a team.

Where to begin?!?

The strangest thing for me is that players are not playing in their preferred or their best positions/roles. Five of the front six are more effective in a different role:

Rooney – amongst the world’s best at playing alone having scored 34 goals this past season playing usually unsupported

Gerrard – is not a wide left player, but plays in a central midfield three where he consistently scores between 10 and 20 goals a season

Lampard – has scored 20 or more goals for the past five years playing centrally in a midfield three

Barry – anchors a midfield three

Lennon – is used to playing in a system where he is furthest forward hugging the wide right, he is not used to having a full back ahead of him so often

The Lennon point is fairly minor but the other four players deserve consideration – all of them would prefer to slot into a 4-3-3 or a 4-5-1 system. These are four very important players for England who are under performing in the current system.

Fair enough – Capello chose to play a 4-4-2 with Heskey supporting Rooney as he had done so often in the qualifiers with great success, but this time it was all a bit bizarre. Barry sat deep which in a two man central midfield is risky as it exposes space. This space was however frequently filled…by the ‘wingers’. Gerrard and Lennon both floated into the middle looking to open space for the full backs but also caused a problem. With Barry sitting deep and Lampard also relatively deep, there was often very little for Lennon or Gerrard to do other than to pass backwards in what became a congested central area.

England seemed to have very little shape. Johnson and Cole are great at pushing forward but when they do so and England have all four midfielders in the middle the last thing anyone wanted to see was Heskey peeling off wide. Too many times Heskey was popping up alongside Johnson on the right where it should have been Lennon. Why Heskey was in a position to cross a ball beats me.

Rooney cut a frustrated figure all evening. I think I can safely suggest that I can’t ever remember him having such a bad game. Regardless of his touch and his passing being so diabolical, as a striker, he had no service. England’s now congested central area was even more congested by the number of Algerian players back, meaning no ball could be intricately thread through the middle; and out wide the wingers had gone missing into the middle so there was rarely anyone to cross the ball in. England just could not create chances.

I find it weird that Capello had tinkered with the team so much. Bar Lennon this was the front six that helped England qualify for the World Cup with such consummate ease. One can argue that Capello changed player roles as a result of watching Algeria previously. However I might argue that he failed to notice some key aspects of the Algerian game and this was reflected in his substitutions.

The Algerian’s must be credited for their work rate, their speed, their ability to get men back quickly, their happiness to sit deep but also pressure the England players and their tackling (they gave very few fouls away in dangerous positions but gave lots of clever fouls away around the halfway line when England tried to break).

With Algeria sitting deep and not susceptible to pace – Capello’s substitutions were odd. Shaun Wright-Phillips on for Lennon was a like-for-like swap and saw no obvious tactical change. Defoe on for Heskey suggested England would try and keep the ball down and work it around but that failed to materialise and with Algeria sitting so deep, Defoe’s pace became irrelevant. Crouch on for Barry came too late for any impact and with no one on the pitch who could cross a ball.

Capello didn’t try to change the formation. He didn’t think his substitutions through. When Heskey and/or Crouch are on the pitch you need someone who can cross a ball on too. I believe the person who would have been suited to that would have been James Milner. Milner could have sat in a fairly deep wide role, finding space as the Algerian fullbacks had dropped so much and he could have put crosses in for Heskey/Crouch to attack. I found myself amazed Capello didn’t even try the Joe Cole option – one of the few technically creative players in the squad who can make things happen in flat games.

England played in such a way whereby the formation almost seemed irrelevant. It was as if because of the names in the England starting XI they should be able to beat Algeria regardless. To a point, this is true but this is also a World Cup, one off matches where anything can happen. Algeria were clearly happy with a draw whilst England didn’t look hungry for the win.

This is an international tournament so naturally a Manchester United player must follow in the footsteps of Beckham, P. Neville and Ronaldo in being the scapegoat (I joke…a little) – but Rooney will get the majority of the criticism, most of it fair, aimed in his direction. He’s the player everyone looks to for inspiration. He’s the player the media have hyped up after an incredible season. He’s also the player who does not look fully fit; who’s not playing in the formation that he likes; who’s not playing in a role that gets the most from him; who’s not getting any service; and who has the weight of a nation’s expectations on his shoulders. Rather than boo Rooney, I hope as I have suggested before, that Capello plays to his strengths and focuses on him.

The defence yesterday did ok. Terry was surprisingly shaky but there were few moments to concern England. Johnson and Cole are often England’s best attacking threats. Due to this, Capello must consider Joe Cole and James Milner for the wide positions – two players who would be happy to have a full back overlap and who are both adept at cutting inside. Having backed Lennon before, I am concerned that he seems to be struggling with nerves and forming an understanding with Johnson.

As a result I would move to a five man midfield of (from right to left) Milner, Lampard, Barry, Gerrard, Joe Cole; and have Rooney up front alone. The brief to Rooney would be simple – do what you do for Manchester United – hold the line, play on the shoulder of the defenders and find space in the box. With Joe Cole and Milner wide, the delivery in to Rooney would be better and with three in the middle both Gerrard and Lampard would be able to make forward runs more often knowing Barry is anchoring deep. Gerrard in particular would be able to push on and support Rooney.

The England performance was one to forget yesterday. England must move on quick and Capello must fix this quickly. He is a fantastic coach who showed signs of insanity yesterday. I always felt HE would get things right at this World Cup and if England failed it would be down to the players and not him. However, England failed to win as a team yesterday, as a result of tactics and as a result of non-reactionary substitutions. When the players are playing poorly it is down to the coach to be able to change it around – Capello did not do this. Capello must now select players in the positions/roles that they play best in. Capello must make some big decisions otherwise he may be to blame for a very disappointing England World Cup performance.

The task now is simple. Beat Slovenia and the last 16 awaits. If England can do that then Algeria can become a distant memory and we can all love Capello, Rooney and Co again.

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Tags: Capello, Doron, England, Fabio Capello, Rooney, SA 2010, South Africa 2010, WC 2010, World Cup, World Cup 2010

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 19th, 2010 at 12:03 pm and is filed under International, Managers, Opinion, Players, Premier League, South Africa 2010, World Cup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.