A little inexpert buildup, if I may.
Basically, I'll be repeating what I said the other day, after England USA, but I'm seriously baffled by the press reaction to the USA game. It was very clear that several areas were not helped by the absence of Barry: the need to protect the back four meant that Lampard and Gerrard both stayed deeper than normal, and as a result were mostly missed up front; Gerrard should have stayed tighter on Dempsey for his goal; the lack of Gerrard on the left wing made us slightly more predictable, and meant Rooney wasn't able to do his usual "wander left and link with Gerrard" stuff. It's a sign of England's weakness that missing one, somewhat pedestrian, player in the shape of Barry causes us such a severe handicap, but it did.
However, the reason that the result seems so disappointing is that England's form under Capello, predominantly in qualifying, was so good. It is the results of the team in qualifying, particularly against Croatia home and away, that gave the media, in particular, cause to believe that England have the ability to challenge for the Cup (I don't believe this, incidentally, as I stated in my very first post: I want to get to the semi-final again, then I'll be happy). So it would be ridiculous, now that the first choice team that performed so well in qualifying (and I'd probably include Upson) back together, to not even try that line-up once.
Capello doesn't trust Rooney to play at centre forward with someone off him when it comes to competitive games. He wants Rooney playing off another striker. The other striker who gets the most out of Rooney is Heskey. He also wants Gerrard to start on the left, but have a free role to move inside and link with Rooney, especially as Rooney likes to drift into the inside left channel. To balance this, he wants pace on the right wing, in the form of Lennon.
This is an established system. This is the team that Capello should (and will) play on Friday. Anything else would be a sign that he is listening too much to the press, who know nothing, and a tragedy. Hopefully his nerve will hold.
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2 comments:
So, I'm sure you've seen/heard Campbell moaning that Capello didn't take him this afternoon. Your thoughts on that?
Dunno what to say about that performance - good luck posting about it dj. I suppose you can argue the various permutations re formations/selections etc but it was just strange - they looked knackered (altitude?) and, fuck me, what was wrong with Rooney? Never seen him like that before - proper touch of a rapist stuff.
Can't remember a worse performance in a tournament - summink's not right - this is basically the same team that ruined Croatia twice - is it pressure/expectations? Issues in the camp? Fuck it - it's easier if we go out now then we don't have to go through the traditional penalties farce against the Krauts/Argies etc.
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