By Myles Palmer
Big Phil might use pressure marking against us on Friday.
What he calls pressure marking is what I call a powerplay, as in basketball.
Big Phil thinks that five or six Brazilians can attack the ball, or the area that the ball is in, win it, break, and score.
They can do that for ten minutes, take a rest, do it again.
He thinks they can do that four times in a match.If they do, England will be in big trouble.
BUT YOU CAN’T DO THAT WITHOUT A BACK FOUR, PHIL!
Pressing and offside go together like gin & tonic.
You can’t do that without two warriors in central midfield.You can’t do that without a Dunga,a young Mauro Silva,an Emerson.Gilberto can’t do it on his own.
Against Belgium, two things struck me.
(1)Ronaldo and Rivaldo don’t run about much.
And (2)the defenders defend the box, bunching together like a flock of sheep, when they should be racing out to tackle the opponent who has just beaten one man.
We can be sure that Sven won’t pull a stunt on Friday, won’t try anything fancy, won’t pull a stroke in his team selection.
But Big Phil,if he’s worried about England, might change his team.He might play Kleberson, or even Ricardinho.
Klebersen is a young defensive midfielder who is 23 today, June 19.
Juninho is a 29-year old attacking midfielder.
If Big Phil is smart he will play Juninho, who knows English football.
He’s quick and nimble and can run a lot.
In a side where the big R’s DON’T run about a lot, that is vital.
If Big Phil thinks Scholes-Butt is a very strong combo, he might play Klebersen to beef up his tackling and pressing.
But if he’s looking for jinking runs and quick passes forward, he will start Juninho.
The other midfielder is GILBERTO SILVA, the player English fans know least about.
GILBERTO plays for Atletico Mineiro, who provided Brazil’s
anchormen Cerezo and Elzo in previous World Cups.
Gilberto is 25 and a terrific athlete.
Tall and lightning over the first ten yards.He can get to you very quickly and he can intercept very quickly, so if there is a sloppy pass, Gilberto will eat it up before you can move.
But Gilberto is unproven at this level. I like the lad, but he is nothing special. Not yet anyway.He is not strategic like Dunga,not a goalscorer like Caesar Sampaio.
But he’s fast and he can get the ball and give it to Rivaldo, who is canny and dynamic,but slow.
RONALDINHO is revered as the best dribbler in the French
League.
His right foot is as quick as a cobra’s tongue.
After watching Ronaldinho in four games, I’d say he is the best swerver in this World Cup.He zigzags away from you, so there is an ever-present tempation to clatter him.
And he dribbles in the last third, not in midfield, so if it is a foul, it’s a free-kick in a dangerous area.
Free-kicks will be important in such a tight game.
Ronaldinho can win free-kicks – and sometimes take them.
But he is 22, a kid.
And England are a rough, tough, physical side.
Can Ronaldinho hurt England?
I just don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows.
England don’t know Ronaldinho and Ronaldinho doesn’t know England.
But he doesn’t look like one of life’s worriers.He smiles and plays is if it’s fun, as if he would be playing even if he wasn’t being paid,even if there was no crowd, no cameras.
A DAY WITHOUT FOOTBALL HAS BEEN FABULOUS, HASN’T IT?
No matches today and none on Thursday. Two days off! Please Mr Blatter, can I have another two days off?
I’m stale after 19 days of football starting at 7.30 a.m.
I feel so much fresher tonight having got up at 8.30 a.m. instead of seven.
I can’t read any more about the World Cup, can you?
The players’ quotes are such drivel.
90% of the articles are boring, and the other 10% I disagree with. So doing my homework is just a pain. I’m gonna stop doing it. I
I’m gonna stick to what I see and what I think of what I see.That’s mostly what I do anyway, as you’ve gathered.
Love,
M.
19th June 2002.