…Of England playing champagne, sexy-time football on a regular basis. Sometimes I want them to win, sometimes I don’t, and quite often I’m pretty indifferent, but as a football fan in England, I would need to be living under a rock to avoid the hullabaloo every time they play. As such, with no vested interest in their performances beyond my appreciation of good football, the static, direct, unimaginative style of the last five years has been excruciating for me. If they weren’t world-beaters in the ‘90s, I could at least lend them my support for trying to play the game the right way. Sven’s canny approach may appeal when married with playmakers of Veron or Elano’s ilk, but since Paul Scholes retired, they have sorely lacked intelligence in midfield. McClaren has done little to change things since taking over and the football is now plodding and predictable. Gerrard is a battering ram – albeit a highly effective one – and well-organised defences often need to be unlocked rather than hammered down.
Until England have a Lippi, Hiddink, Klinsmann, Scolari or Dunga; i.e. a manager with a strong enough character and reputation to risk making tough decision, they are doomed to soft-touch coaches with rigid 4-4-2 tactics and obvious selections. However, I can always dream and have been thinking about what an ideal England side would look like for me:
Carson/Foster/Green
Richards Ferdinand Terry A.Cole
Carrick/Barry Hargreaves
Lennon/Bentley Lampard/Gerrard J.Cole/Young
Rooney
The Defence
No big surprises at the back, as England are blessed with an abundance of quality young keepers and a world-class back four.
Midfield and Attack
This is where things get interesting. Most likely inspired by the club sides I find most entertaining to watch (namely Manchester United, Arsenal, Roma and Real Madrid), I have gone for a lone striker closely supported by three forwards, with two holding players to allow more freedom for the attacking quartet. This is flexible as it can become anything from a 4-2-4 to a 4-5-1, 4-3-3 or even Ancelotti’s 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree, depending on the circumstances and choice of players.
As far as my selection goes, I would start Hargreaves, as I feel he is England’s best ball-winner, and partner him with either Barry, who has been solid in recent qualifiers, or Carrick, who I feel edges it due to his superior passing and positional sense (and possibly my status as a Man United fanboy).
In front of them, my main focus is on pace, intelligence and interchangeability, in hopes of seeing more clever off-the-ball runs and defence splitting passes. England has plenty of quick, young up-and-coming attacking players who I don’t feel McClaren has fully utilised. My choices in the wide positions provide pace, skill and plenty of assists at club level. I would drop Wright-Phillips as his ball control and crossing let him down, whereas only Beckham surpasses Bentley’s delivery and Lennon’s pace and touch make him a poor man’s Messi – that’s poorly worded, but intended as a compliment. In the absence of left-footed forwards, Joe Cole and Ashley Young are right-sided players more than capable of playing wide left and cutting in to dangerous effect. England also boasts the likes of Agbonlahor and Walcott, who will be pushing for places before long. Lampard and Gerrard I feel would fulfil the same role in my team and so I would only start one of them. Gerrard scored 19 goals playing as a support-striker during Liverpool’s Champions League winning season and Lampard’s eye for goal and late runs into the box guarantee goals, so I’d like to think either of them would flourish when freed of defensive responsibilities.
My confidence in Rooney as a lone-striker has grown since his first leg performance against Milan in last season’s Champions League semi-final and more so as this season has progressed. He possesses a great combination of pace, work-rate and technical ability and with his creativity is always as capable of laying on an assist as scoring a goal. Crouch would make a better target man, but lacks mobility and would slow down the attack. Also, the lack of a big man up front might discourage the centre backs from their infuriating habit of hoofing an aimless 60-yard pass whenever they run out of ideas.
After a last-minute reprieve courtesy of Israel, with England back on course to qualify for the Euros, there is little chance of me seeing total football, England-style, at least until after next summer’s tournament, but I will continue to burn the torch for a little more creativity from England.
