Galloping Ghost wrote:
Agreed. We have no real footballers in the midfield. By that I mean players who have a great touch and footballing brain. Gerrard and Lampard are okay, but they're players that'll bomb forward. Not players in the Iniesta, Cesc, Nasri mould. We're also awful up front. Rooney being a shadow of his former self, and this years version of Michael Ricketts isn't international standard.
We don't have players that can just slot into a team. The versatility of our players is quite awful, they basically have one 'role' they thrive in, if they aren't played in this role, they are very poor and they struggle without their foreign colleagues at their clubs. Steven Gerrard without Mascherano, Alonso and Torres (some may want to throw Lucas in there) isn't such a great player. It's obvious great players make others better, but at the same time, top players with 10+ years of experience should know how to play effectively without solely relying upon teammates to make up for deficiencies.
England, IMO, need to get back to the basics with the squad selection and tactics. Instead of trying to cram everybody in, or playing square pegs in round holes, we need to get basic role players in there. We need a ball winner with a fair amount of athleticism/strength. We need a passer in midfield to provide composure and accuracy. They aren't rare players, they aren't impossible to find, but we seem dead intent with asking players like Lampard and Gerrard to do this, when it has never worked. Wilshere, IMO, could well be the passing player in midfield; surely, amongst the rest of the league, there has to be a few ball winners in there? Cattermole? Reo-Coker? Parker? Rodwell? I mean, surely all of these industrious sides in the league have a player that can go and be a battler.
The big question then is: who, out of Gerrard, Lampard, Defoe and Rooney do you play off Carroll? IMO, a player of Carroll's size and attributes has to play, as we simply don't have another player capable of leading the line, whilst we can't really spare two/three places in the team for players that look to occupy similar positions. (Defoe being the exception, but playing Defoe would mean 4-4-2, which basically rules out Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard)
One last thing, and this is a problem that is often ignored by the media and pundits; our defence is poor. Part of it is down to the lack of proper 'cover' provided by those in front, but, at the same time, Terry has never looked good enough at this level IMO, whilst Rio's fitness woes put him in a Ledley King category IMO, by that I mean he'd be picked if he was fit, but the way his fitness has failed him recently, we should probably look to move on. Gary Cahill is a good player, Lescott would provide strength but is a little 'error-prone'. I'm unsure if Smalling is ready for the step up yet, but if we're to make a new partnership, Cahill and Smalling should be considered, or at least one of them considered. Martin Kelly may also force his way in there if he eventually moves to centre half. Kyle Walker at right back has to be considered over the inconsistent Johnson, whilst Ashley Cole's fading form may force him out of the side, with Gibbs and possibly Glen Johnson being options. (I know I said square pegs in round holes before, but Glen is probably a better left back than right back, as outlandish as it sounds)
Things aren't massively grim, (the next game it looks that way, though) but if we can get everybody fit, get a few youngsters settled and get Lennon playing well on the right (IMO, our best wide player) we could at least compete at this level. Problem is, if we have a manager who continues to stick with the old, we will never progress and the mythical golden age will waste about four international tournaments proving they can't do it. I like Capello, his record speaks for itself, but the problems with the England camp were evident at the last world cup and things haven't changed. His decision to reappoint Terry brings memories of McClaren bringing back Beckham after rightly dropping him. It's desperate, he's shown his decision making to be poor and strong figure he presented himself to be is shown to be false. Although I would happily retract that if Capello was forced to make those decisions by the FA above him, which is a possibility.
