It made me wince listening to Russia’s coach, Guus Hiddink, in his post match interview, explaining that he was happy when he saw the England team sheet, and there were four centre backs. It was harsh, but more or less true.
But I was smiling when he described the beating of England in Moscow as a tactical triumph. He went on to say how he had employed his two wingers to push England back and nullify their attacking game. This was achieved to such effect that according to Hiddink, Joe Cole was playing from the left back position, unable to get forward.
I thought that I had heard this before, and cast my mind back to England v Russia at Wembley. That day Hiddink’s team were on the wrong end of a sound 3-0 thrashing by a rejuvenated England team. And on that occasion it was England number two, Terry Venables, who accepted the plaudits of the nation for his very own tactical triumph. Apparently by pushing Joe Cole and SWP forward it nullified any threat of attack from Russia on that occasion.
The truth is Hiddink’s best tactical move in Moscow was to bring on striker Pavlyuchenko, who appeared to make England look uncomfortable as soon as he stepped onto the pitch. That and the tactical ineptitude of the England coaches, who appeared to have used up all of their own ideas at Wembley.
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