England’s Tactical Naivety

If there's one thing which has characterised recent World Cup winners its been a willingness to move away from the traditional 4-4-2 formation. Last time Brazil played what could be described as anything from 5-2-3 to 3-4-2-1. The key was having enough defensive presence to allow the attacking instincts of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Cafu to shine.

Crucial to their success was Big Phil Scolari's decision to replace the attacking midfielder Juninho with the defensive midfielder Kleberson. Although Juninho is a fine player in his own right, with the other attacking talent in the team, another defensive presence in midfield was more important. Similarly when France won the World Cup, they played a 4-5-1 or to be more precise a 4-2-3-1. This was because they had an abundance of quality midfielders but no world class strikers.

Fast forward to this World Cup and England have an abundance of talent. Unfortunately a lot of it is in the same positions. I don't think any other team has as much depth in central defence and Gerrard and Lampard are two of the finest box to box midfielders in Europe. So the key question is how to incorporate all these players into a cohesive team with the right balance.

Lets start with attack. When fit, Owen and Rooney have to play. As Rooney is still injured and Theo Walcott is irrelevant, do you play Owen on his own or Owen and Crouch. As Owen usually needs someone to run off, Owen and Crouch is probably the sensible option.

The Midfield is the crux of the problem. Firstly Gerrard and Lampard both play similar roles for their club sides, with holding midfielders allowing them the freedom to go forward. The first question is do you leave one of them out. I would say that that's a waste of talent and you have to play both of them. To meet the defensive presence I would say pick Carrick or Hargreaves to play in a central midfield triangle. David Beckham is automatic on the right and I think that Ashley Cole provides natural width and running on the left to give balance to the midfield. Joe Cole provides a fine attacking option to come off the bench.

This only leaves three people for defence. Fortunately England have an abundance of quality central defenders each of which can fulfill different roles. John Terry is a brilliant reader of the game and should be in the middle of the three. On the right, Jamie Carragher has established himself over the past couple of seasons as a fine player for Liverpool. He also has played right back so can cover for any of David Beckham's defensive deficiencies. Finally Rio Ferdinand has terrific pace and athleticism and would probably get any man to man duties. If any of the three is injured or out of form, Sol Campbell is a great person to have as a reserve.
Now for any team to win the World Cup you need a decent amount of luck. However this doesn't mean that tactical proficiency is irrelevant. When Greece won the European Championships, the shape and discipline with which they played was vital. Unfortunately I don't think that Sven has shown enough imagination with his team selection and I think that barring pieces of individual brilliance, England will pay the price.