ENGLAND went Route 1 against Paraguay and won with an o.g. and it was awful.
Against Trinidad and Tobago they went long every time again.They try to hit Crouch every time and they have to stop doing that.
How can Sven stop that? He does not have the courage to tell them.He is totally in awe of Beckham, Gerrard and Lampard
So he has to drop Crouch., who is a sub, not a starter. If Crouch starts, we always kick it long.
If you remove that option, as Arsene Wenger did when he sold John Hartson and never replaced him, your players have to pass the ball on the ground, and have to move around in ways that allow the ball to be passed on the ground.
RELUCTANTLY, although Owen is rubbish, you have to play Rooney and Owen.
Rooney and Lennon came on in 58, for Owen and Carragher, which meant that Lennon dribbled, and also gave Beckham more space.
England have qualified but they must beat Sweden to avoid Germany.
So Sven should drop Crouch and Lampard and he should tell Gerrard; “Don’t go Hollywood every time or you won’t be in my team, I’ll bring Frank back.”
ROONEY is four games away from match sharpness but that doesn’t matter.The players trust him, are galvanised by him, will give him a short pass on the deck.
It’s this simple : Wayne Rooney is the best player we’ve produced since Bobby Charlton because he makes the right decision every time.
In the whirlwind of a game, among a myriad of choices, a plethora of passing options, the Irish-scouse gladiator instinctively knows when to slow it down, when to play a one-two, when to turn, when to go for goal himself.
And Rooney was so cool. He did not charge around like a raging bull in a china shop, did not injure anyone or injure himself. He concentrated on one thing : getting the ball and playing football with it.
THE SENIOR PLAYERS (Beckham, Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand) have to go to Sven and say : “Frank and Stevie can’t play together, it’s not working, we must have a holding player. Every team has a holding player except us.”
The Czechs have Galasek, Argentina have Mascherano, France have Makelele, Sweden have Linderoth, Paraguay have Acuna.
The holding player could be Carrick, Carragher or Hargreaves.
Hargreaves is a short-ball man, Peter Reid with pace.
In the 1986 World Glenn Hoddle was brought in from the right wing after two games. He had Peter Reid, a short-ball man, alongside him, and Beardsley came in to replace Mark Hateley.
That was when England started to play football. Hoddle hit it long, Reid played it short, Beardsley foraged in the hole and linked the attacks, while Lineker and Steve Hodge made runs.
Hoddle needed runners and a short-ball man. At Spurs he had the busy Ardiles playing short balls to him and round him. Gerrard needs the same.
We have to play through Rooney in the next two games, not hit it over his head or try to find him from 50 yards away.
I JUST SAW John, my gambling greengrocer.
“This week I’ve won 200 quid every afternoon – and lost it every night. Last night I did more than three and a half goals in the England game.”
“Lampard alone missed three and a half goals,” I said.
SUNDAY SHOULD BE FUN.
France will beat South Korea if they play Saha with Henry, and bring Ribery on for Zidane.
Australia are the dirtiest team in the tournament and have the best coach, Guus Hiddink. Watching them kick Brazil will be glorious fun.