Buzzin Football

As the pre-tournament optimism fades into the mist after Saturday’s laboured and uninspiring 1-1 draw with the United States one can see it replaced by similarly enthusiastic criticisms. This tendency to view England as either the best or worst team in the world is born out of a nation’s unwillingness to accept that our team is not quite as good as we would like to believe.

It’s always difficult to look at England objectively, especially when many of the players they are up against are seen playing so rarely by the majority of us. If you take away the likes of Messi and Kaka, whose reputations precede them, then you are left with international opponents full of players that we know very little of. Taking a look at the current Brazil squad, there are the likes of Grafite, Nilmar, Kleberson and Ramires whom many of us will have only seen play in the occasional European fixture or international friendly. So the average fan comes into a World Cup not really knowing exactly what their team is up against.

This is, of course, one of the greatest aspects of any World Cup. Who can forget the likes of Henry, Zidane and Ronaldo lighting up France ’98? It is the greatest of stages upon which a relatively unknown player can become a worldwide star overnight.

Moving back to the current situation and this has a different effect. Seeing the England squad play week-in week-out for their clubs often leads us to overrate members of our national team. James Milner, Gareth Barry, Peter Crouch and Glen Johnson are just some of a number of players in the current squad who have had good seasons without being outstanding. Milner and Barry, in particular, build their trade on consistency and provide the focal point of their teams’ midfield. This is not to say they are not excellent footballers, but rather that there are players like this in every country.

Take Spain’s Marcos Senna, who was outstanding in the European Championships two years ago but has not even made it into the 23-man squad this time around. Obviously the Spanish midfield is unfathomably strong this year, but it is hard to argue that a player of Senna’s quality would not have at least made it into the English squad. Add to that the omissions of Ronaldinho, Pato, Cambiasso, Fernando Gago and Javier Zanetti from the Brazilian and Argentinian squads and you start to see the kind of quality and depth that England lack.

Another look at the USA game highlights some of England’s deficiencies. Emile Heskey did well for Steven Gerrard’s opener but his ineffectiveness in front of goal was brought to the fore when he missed a one-on-one chance with Tim Howard.  That kind of profligacy cannot be tolerated against the better sides who may only offer up one or two chances over 90 minutes.

Likewise, Jamie Carragher’s lack of pace was exposed by Jozy Altidore, who has failed to make any significant impact in the Premiership this season. He may have got away without any real problems on Saturday but one has to wonder how Carragher would deal with the pace and skill of Arjen Robben, Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria in the latter stages.

Furthermore, Jamie Carragher’s yellow card for a late challenge highlights yet another problem his lack of pace brings and England cannot afford to go a man down again in a knock-out game. On top of this, Glen Johnson, one of the best performers on the night, is stifled by Carragher’s tiring legs, having to track back and help out his team mate rather than pushing forward as he does best.

All of this is overshadowed by the oldest and largest problem that England have with this generation; how to accommodate Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. Alan Shearer and Alan Hansen have been singing the virtues of a 4-5-1 over the last few days and I agree with them. The formation essentially solves two of our largest problems in one fell swoop.

Firstly, our lack of a quality striker to partner Wayne Rooney is solved by allowing Gerrard to play off the lone front man, leaving both men in their favoured club positions and allowing Rooney the freedom to operate in the most dangerous positions.

On top of that, with Gareth Barry holding the midfield and having the discipline to sit back and cover the defence, Frank Lampard finds himself in a more familiar role in the centre, dictating the tempo of the game and making his renowned surges into the area at just the right moment.

I, like many England fans I have spoken to recently, would like to see Joe Cole operating from the left hand side to provide the imagination and unpredictability that is so often lacking in our attack. But this is an issue of selection rather than formation and with the 4-5-1 not only would we find that our 3 best attacking players are in their favoured positions but also that there is more of a link between midfield and attack.

This has been one of England’s biggest problems for a long time now and Saturday highlighted it once more. With the midfield dropping back the gap between the strikers and the midfielders widened, prompting Rooney to start coming deeper to get the ball and subsequently lessening his effect in the final third. With Barry covering the defence, Lampard dictating the centre and Gerrard in more of a free-role, there is a continuity running through defence, midfield and attack that is so often lacking.

So there are undoubtedly a few kinks to iron out before we enter the knock-out stages, which, after watching the abysmal Slovenia vs. Algeria game, we surely cannot fail to do.

Fabio Capello’s track record speaks for itself and he has certainly instilled the kind of authority and discipline necessary to win tournaments. Yet this does not hide the fact that as a 23-man squad we lack the kind of quality that Spain, Brazil and Argentina have at their disposal. The most feared scenario amongst English football fans is not that Saturday’s performance was a great team monumentally under-performing but rather an average one slightly off form. Every below par performance is vociferously attacked to help us believe that England really are that much better. But whilst great may be excessive, England are certainly good, and sometimes in a World Cup that is enough, just look at the defending champions if you don’t believe me.