By Myles Palmer
Greece 0 England 2
A year ago the England players were managed by Wenger,
Houllier and Ferguson, so they knew that Keegan was bluffing.
That he was unqualified to manage England. That is why Euro 2000 was always going to be a shambles.
Now it is different because the new manager has cleverly combined the main virtues of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Manchester United are confident and pass steadily.
Liverpool are strong in defence and patient.
Arsenal have pace and pass the ball forward, not sideways.
So Sven’s England have quickly become confident, solid, steady and patient. They try to use Owen’s pace too much, but they usually score two goals from few chances.
Eriksson has many virtues, including one I keep forgetting to mention.
He is much better than Robson, Venables or Hoddle at sussing out the mentality of the opposition.
Not just the tactical mentality, but the cultural mentality. He knows Italy and Portugal well. His clubs have played in every country for 20 years.
He can read the mood of the opposition in any given month or week or situation. So he can make small adjustments to England’s approach on that basis.
He is not English and not concerned with being English,so he is not so bogged down in preconceptions about what English players can do.
Eriksson is steady, low-key, logical, consistent, supportive – and the players have responded to that.(Keegan was shaky, hyper, illogical, inconsistent and supportive.)
He can see that Robbie Fowler is the most gifted player available to him. Not the best, but the most gifted. If Sven did not know that before Athens, he knows it now.
So he wants to find a way of using that talent, that two-footed skill, that vision, that subtlety, that unique flair.
In a way, Fowler’s current career is like McManaman’s.
Macca was a creative player at Liverpool, the mainspring of their attack for several years.
He went to Real Madrid where he found that everything
revolved round Raul and Roberto Carlos.
Then Figo joined and everything revolved round Raul and Figo and Roberto Carlos. So Macca had a choice : leave, or become a water-carrier for Raul and Roberto Carlos.
He thought about it and decided to stay and become a
water-carrier.
Likewise Fowler after Houllier signed Heskey,then Litmanen.
He had to decide whether to leave, or accept a subsidiary role to Owen.
Fowler was not happy about that.He had to ask himself a fundamantal question.
He asked himself: What do I want to do with my life? I’m 26 – what do I want to do in football?
And Fowler decided : I want to play for Liverpool and England. So I will do whatever I have to do to play for Liverpool and England.
Owen, Scholes and Fowler are small, and need a big man with them, so Sven plays Heskey wide on the left. It’s not quite 4-3-3 but it is almost 4-3-3.
But England can’t play 4-3-3 in Munich on September 1st. If they do, Germany will play 3-5-2 and we won’t get a kick.
If everybody is fit on September 1st (a big if), Sven-Goran Eriksson might still decide to go for a draw rather than a win. If so, he will have several vital decisions to make.
The England team has picked itself recently, but it could be time for Barmby to come back.He is better than Macca or Heskey, but small.
August’s friendly against Holland at White Hart Lane will be interesting. It’s just a shame that Liverpool are so busy in August – Charity Shield, Super Cup, two qualifying games in the Champions League.
Can Steve Gerrard play nine games in August?
Can Owen? Can anybody?
8th June 2001.