England Set Themselves Up To Play In No Man's Land

England started with a central midfield of two: Gerrard and Henderson. Sterling was at the top of a diamond with Welbeck, Sturridge and Rooney making up the attacking three.

From this formation it was clear England could not dominate a midfield battle against three midfielders unless Sterling was able to shuffle back and forth (hard in the heat and in his first competitive game). Therefore England had to counter attack. However, they only had one natural ball winner, in Henderson, and their back four was the weakest it had been in a decade. England had set themselves up with a no win strategy…They couldn’t keep the ball and they didn’t have enough defensive cover to play counter attack. They were in Hodgson's No Man Land. Is it any wonder they went down 1-0 in both games?

Why did they lose a goal? They offered no protection to the back four. The full backs were left exposed in a two on one each time the opposition full back combined with either front man or central midfielder who’d drifted out wide. This was heightened by the fact Rooney didn’t get back to help his full back but Rooney isn't that type of player. Under Sir Alex, Rooney played out wide in a three with Tevez and Ronaldo and did an exemplary job. So it must have been worked on in training for Henderson to cover Rooney and his full back, which meant Gerrard was left in the middle with his Alpha Romeo engine and adept positional quality to rely on. Henderson was left with two terrible choices that England had planned for. A crazy strategy. 

They lost the tactical battle and once a goal down the opposition backed off allowing England to play, and they did, but not because they were good. This false hope that England played well and so Hodgson keeps his job is just that, false. They were allowed to keep the ball once they were a goal down.

Of course it’s easy to point out flaws but what could Roy have done different? The answer. Play James Milner.

A midfield three of Milner, Henderson and Gerrard with Sterling at the top of a diamond would mean two industrious runners who could get out to the flanks to protect the full backs and help dominate possession when with the ball. These two unheralded players were the key to allow the defenders to defend and the attackers to attack.

Simple, so why didn’t Hodgson figure this out? After all he had been shown the blueprint by Brendan Rogers' Liverpool team, with Coutinho and Henderson doing the same job for Gerrard, Johnson and Flanagan? 

That is the question Greg Dyke should be asking Roy Hodgson.