Four-four-two doesn't work. Well, that's what all the 'experts' say anyway. Experts like ITV pundit Adrian Chiles, whp prides himself on not being able to differenciate between new goalkeepers Scott Loach and Frankie Fielding - just what you want from your pundit, eh? Why a man who was never anything more than a sofa warmer on the One Show could pretend to know about football for ITV is beyond me.
But hold on....don't Spain play with Torres and Villa? Brazil with Robinho and Fabiano? Didn't Tottenham clinch fourth last season by playing an adventurous two up front last season? Didn't Man Utd outclass Chelsea in the Community Shield with two up front? Is 4-5-1 that effective anyway? Is it much different to 4-3-3? Talk of 4-4-2 being a redundant system is futile - many argue their club operating such a system. The belief is often that a team must have a strong midfield in order to dominate a game an play possession 'tiki-taka' football.
But is this really the best style of football? It's one perfected by Barcelona and Arsenal, and Spain at the World Cup. However, it has been shown how easy it is to counter this type of football by any Mourinho-esque team - one that is well disciplined and organised. Such teams let the opposition pass pass pass pass all game long and then use their few chances to break quickly and score. They don't even have to be good teams to do this - as Switzerland proved in South Africa. Inter Milan proved to be ruthlessly effective against Barcelona in last year's Champions' League. Arsenal often complain that the likes of Stoke and Bolton get a result against them by playing defensive and aggresive football.
And unless a team is the best there is at passing football, why attempt it?Arsenal were torn to shreds against Barcelona for trying to play the same style as them. And doesn't pass pass pass get boring? Football is about scoring goals, and Spain scored eight in the entire World Cup, progressing through the kock out stages with four 1-0 victories. Personally, my favourite style of football is fast and direct - moving the ball into the attacking third and creating chances as quickly as possible. Chelsea and Man Utd perfected this to crush a naíve Arsenal last season. Germany perfected this art to cruch both England and Argentina, taking the lead and then providng ruthless on each counter attack. For all the excitement of adopting a 4-5-1, the commentators quickly highlighted that Wayne Rooney looked isolated with little support, a direct result of the new formation they were praising!
Anyway, that's how I'd like to see England play. But they didn't get on too badly last night. Though I won't get too carried away with a narrow win over a team ranked 62 in the world, it was pleasing to see the new team of Arsenal's 12 year olds get the result. It seems ironic that the North London team, who for so long seem to have acted as a front for French immigrants, is now supplying the new youth of the England team.
The pundits didn't hesitate to overblow the importance of the game - the black and white highlights of Hungary's 6-3 win in 1953 was becoming almost as tedious as hearing about North Korea's 1966 heroics when Eusebio inspired Portugal to come from three goals behind to beat the Asian country. But Hungary have since declined, though still never looked too troubled by what FIFA believes is the world's seventh best team in the first half.
After the break, England still looked complacent. It took a fluke of a goal by the visitors to inspire them. Ironic that they were awarded a goal that didn't cross the line after England exited the World Cup largely due to a goal that did cross the line going unrewarded. That goal made Steven Gerrard believe for five minutes that he had a Liver Bird on his breast instead of Three Lions, and two moments of brilliance inspired England to victory.
Of the players that came along, they at least looked promising. Though I wish this fans' attitude of 'as long as they play with heart it's okay' would end - I would play 'with heart' for England but I'd still be hopeless and most fans (I'd hope) wouldn't be happy. Yes we want heart, but skill is more important. All the wingers that played last night didn't look fantastic - too often to Ashley Young and Theo Walcott do a Wright-Phillips and run to the byline, look confused, then either hit a cross straight into the nearest defender or try and dribble it in and lose possession. We need another Beckham who can send in a pin point cross and create chances. Though I'm not sad to see his enforced retirement, a story gained from Capello mumbling an answer that looked like he didn't understand the question but felt obliged to answer rather than say 'pardon?'.
Bobby Zamora came close to capping a debut with a goal, and Rooney looked sharp to finish his early chance, albeit offside. And he had maintained his sense of sarcasm, clapping himself when substituted as nobody else in the 70,000 strong crowd would. Joe Hart made a good late save, but you know if that had been any other Engliash goalkeeper that ball would have deflected back to Zoltan Gera for an equaliser. The irony was that Gerrard, the player who said even he would have booed England, was the one to leave to raptorour applause. We also need to remember that players like the exiled Walcott and retired Wayne Bridge, Paul Robinson and Wes Brown aren't going to get any better now that they're not playing, as many players seem to improve in their absence.
Despite the large number of fans, there were still around 18,000 empty seats with the prawn-sandwich brigade always returning from half time after 60 minutes instead of 45. So some parts of Wembley seemed to resemble the DW Stadium when the 12 or so Wigan residents who couldn't get tickets to Old Trafford had to put up with the standard fare offered closer to home, where they toss a coin to see if they will witness their team beat the title challengers, get hammered by a mid table side or narrowly lose to gift one of the promoted sides their first and only away win of their season. Though despite the empty seats, there were still more England fans at Wembley than other teams' supporters at their friendlies - and the players say they need more support!
One problem for this performance is, how do we know if England are any good? We stormed through World Cup qualifying, humbling the 'mighty' Croatia - twice -before folding on the big stage. Even if we easy to Euro 2012, can we expect the team to perform there?
In my opinion, the main two problems were the lack of a creative midfielder and a defensive midfielder. Gerrard and Frank Lampard are both great at making surging runs, but neither can make those pin-point passes that Beckham could or have the support they do at club level. We need a Xavi, whose selfless passing sets others free. We also need a good defensive midfielder - Gareth Barry's positional sense gave Mesut Ozil acres of spaces in Bloemfontein. Owen Hargreaves filled that role, but his injury problems mean he may never play at the top level again. Another issue is the lack of total football - the players seem to have insufficient positional space to adopt to different formations and systems. Fans say Gerrard and Rooney, our 'World Class' stars, must play in their club positions. But real World Class players - David Villa, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo - adopt to any position and work effectively there to support their team.
Obviously we saw no passion from Capello when England equallised and went ahead - he looked like he'd just been told about Italy's score the day before. And of course, now he isn't untouchable, we care about these things. Some say we should have an English manager, but how quickly people forget how that turned out last time! We're stuck with Capello due to the bankrupt FA - now lets hope he can restore his reputation and turn England from a farce into a force.
(Picture - Reuters)
Keeping an eye on Premier League transfers, Stoke splashed a record £8 million signing Trinidad and Tabacco striker Kenwyne Jones from Sunderland. Also, Ricardo Carvalho will be able to fulfill his wish of 'swimming across the sea' to join old mentor Mourinho and his Real revolution.
