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.
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