PORTUGAL versus Holland will be a fascinating game, tactically.I can’t wait.
That game is top of the bill on Sunday at 8 p.m.
Warming us up for that thriller is England v Ecuador at 4 p.m, which everyone assumes we will win.
It’s a last 16 game, Ecuador is a small country, and we assume we will beat them, so we talk about Michael Carrick and 4-5-1.
We don’t want to consider a bananaskin.We don’t want to think about what a defeat would be like for the FA, for David Beckham, for English football fans.
It would be, in emotional terms, a plane crash.But if we don’t think about it, it can’t happen.
ECUADOR looked good against Poland, so I thought they would beat Costa Rica, which they did. But I did not have the bottle to bet on them. A good performance is not a good team, I thought.And I did not see that game, I only saw 20 minutes when I was on the bike with no wheels at the gym.
Third game against Germany, Ecuador rested five, including both strikers, so it was a false game.
They looked passionate, skilful, muscular, quite solid, willing to run for each other.But 50% of English fans reckon we will thrash over them and another 40% think we will win it it one or two goals.
WELL, I HAVE DOUBTS.
Paul Robinson looks dodgy. We missed Gary Neville terribly against Sweden, especially in the second half.
Heaven forbid that Sol Campbell has to come on for Rio Ferdinand again, as he was woeful when he did that against the Swedes.Ashley Cole is not what he was.
We need a right back, so cleverclogs Sven has decided to put Michael Carrick in a holding role, and switch Hargreaves to right back !
HOW INCREDIBLY STUPID and self-defeating that is !
Even if we win, that is the wrong thing to do.
How can I explain this in less than 5,000 words?
1. Our players aren’t good enough to play 4-5-1.
2. Sven isn’t good enough to tinker like this during a tournament like this.
If he thinks Hargreaves is a better right back than Carragher, he should have played Hargreaves at right back against Sweden.
If he thinks Carrick can tackle and can play short passes as well as long, Sven should have had Carrick in the team in 2005, not in this sudden death game, which could be his last.
An unfit Wayne Rooney cannot turn into Luca Vialli and make eight or nine decoy runs in 90 minutes, to drag markers out of the middle.
Rooney is a more exciting player than Vialli and he could be a belligerent Romario, but only if he was playing for Brazil or Portugal.
We don’t play that way and can’t play that way.
Figo, Petit,Tiago, Deco and Simao can rotate and interchange, play pass-and-move fluently, because they train that way, live that way, think that way.They grow up in a culture that encourages play round the ball.They often run towards the ball rather than away from the ball.
Their game is a team game, an unselfish game, an unselfish mindset.
It’s about being alert to the moment-to-moment needs of the team : he’s about to turn, he needs me over there ; if I run here, that guy will move towards me, and give my mate a bit more space, a better angle.
Portugal can play 4-5-1 in their sleep, and probably do.
BUT IT’S NOT OUR CULTURE ! You cannot switch to that now and expect it to work.You can’t beat the Latins at their own short-passing game.
People forget how radical it was for Venables to play 4-5-1 with Shearer up top.
It was seriously radical to deploy three dribblers in Euro ’96.But worked quite well with Gazza, Darren Anderton and McManaman, who linked with Teddy Sheringham, who dropped so deep he was virtually a midfield player.
It was the same short-passing game that Venables used at Crystal Palace in the late Seventies when he had Vince Hilaire and Mike Flanagan. In style, Flanagan was quite like Teddy.
But, like Palace, England lacked pace and took far too long to get the ball down to the other end of the field. As Shearer chugged towards the box, Gary Neville chugged down the right wing, and the five-man midfield eventually gave their sixth midfielder a ball to cross for Shearer
OK, the opposing defence was ready for them, but at least we had a lot of possession.
That is the eternal conundrum for coaches : How do I make one part of my team stronger without making another part weaker ?
Also, England were unfit in 1996. Gazza was a 60-minute player. So when Venables played Switzerland at Wembley he spent the whole of the second half making defensive substitutions, as we were outrun by the Swiss, and finished a drawn game hanging on, if memory serves.
THE CURRENT ENGLAND PLAYERS are one-dimensional.They are not two-footed and they don’t have the craftsmanship to play 4-5-1 and make it effective.
Without Gazza, is ain’t gonna work. It will stutter.
We should beat Ecuador on set-pieces, however.
As ever, watching England will be an ordeal. I’m not looking forward to it, but I hope we win.
Crikey, is that the time? Almost time for the Germany-Sweden kick-off
I’m sitting here in my office daydreaming as chatter floats up from downstairs. Jan and four friends have just ordered a people-carrier to take them over to Kenwood House, a stately home where they will picnic on rice salad, chicken, quiche, strawberries & cream and champagne.
Art Garfunkel comes on at 7.30, they reckon. It’s a warm and windless day and if Art has a classy band they should enjoy a good concert.
Yes, I was invited.
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PS
Sweden only lasted 12 minutes against Germany.Podolski scored in 4 and 12 and that was that.
Teddy Lucic was sent off very harshly in 35, another ridiculous decision by one of Blatter’s awful referees.
Larsson won a penalty that should never have been given and then blazed it over the bar.
Sweden gave up after that.
Lineker, Hansen and Martin O’Neill all slaughtered Sweden.
But not one of them mentioned that Sweden was the team England could not beat !