By Myles Palmer
France 0 Denmark 2
Senegal 3 Uruguay 3
Ireland 3 Saudi Arabia 0
Germany 2 Cameroon 0
__________________________________
Zidane played 90 with his left leg strapped but France still could not score.
Why not?
Because Lemerre played 4-3-3.
Vieira and Zidane were outnumbered in the middle, even with Makelele supposedly backing them up.
4-3-3 does NOT work in World Cups. Not in a million years.
Look at Heskey-Vassell-Owen against Sweden! A disaster.
Denmark play two wingers and a striker, but you cannot play three strikers.
The Danish moves are very precise, geometric, planned out, rehearsed again and again – and they stretch defences.
Denmark’s style is different but it works. It works because they are the only ones doing it. And it suits their players.
You cannot play Heskey-Owen-Vassell and you cannot play Dugarry-Trezeguet-Wiltord.
People forget what Aime Jacquet did on the right wing in 1998.
He played Karembeu in his hard games and Henry in his easy games.
Karembeu was a strong half-back who could play wide and get up and down.
Henry was a quick, young, skilful winger who could murder weak teams with counter-attacking pace.
Jacquet changed his side according to the calibre of the opposition.It was an intelligent, practical, pragmatic thing to do. There were games when he needed Karembeu’s tackling and games when he didn’t.
Jacquet thought that once you start conceding goals you are starting to climb a slippery slope.
He said to himself : “I’m not gonna go there. If I think a team might score against us, I’ll play Karembeu. He ain’t a great player, but he does a job for me.”
Lemerre has signally failed to copy that approach.
Pragmatic coaches like Sven and Morten Olsen are doing OK. Stubborn coaches like Lemerre and Trapattoni are struggling.
MOST OF THE GOALS in this World Cup are being created from wide positions because traffic down the middle is like the M1 at 4.30 on Friday nights.
Perceptive flank play is crucial : early passes and crosses are the name of the game in Korea/Japan2002- and will continue to win games for the rest of this tournament.
Denmark showed that in their first game. And again today.
Trezeguet should have set up Wiltord before the Danes scored the first goal, then hit the underside late on when Wiltord put him up from the left.
Willy Sagnol should have played right back, not Candela- easy to say that now. But football is all about angles and positions and if you have played left back all season, you will be unfamiliar with the angles at right back, and two yards out of position, you will be helpless as he was on the Rommedahl goal.
Tomasson tugged the shirt of Desailly in the box before tapping in Gronkjaer’s low cross for the second goal- and got away with it.
Wiltord worked his socks off but never looked like scoring -what else is new?
When Vieira was taken off after 70, Micoud coming on, I
switched over to ITV2 and saw a hectic finale in the
Senegal-Uruguay game as they almost lost after leading 3-0 at half-time.
The French FA should hire younger coach who can build a
younger French team – Bruno Metsu is the man. They should
snap him up now before a big club does.
ROBBIE KEANE scored a fabulous early goal to take the pressure off the Irish.
First half was dull but Ireland played well in the second,led by Damian Duff, a skilful,gutsy powerhouse who deserved his goal.
Duff had switched wide after Niall Quinn came on for Ian Harte at half-time.
GARY BREEN volleyed the second goal at the near post off a Steve Staunton free-kick as the Saudis worried about big Quinny spinning off towards the far post.
RUDI VOLLER also made a change at half time and it worked immediately. Rudi would have started Cisse if he had been managing France
MARCO BODE came on for Jancker at half time and scored for Germany after 50, even though they were down to ten men after Ramelow got a second yellow for a foul on Eto’o.
Shambolic defending by Cameroon, giving the ball away to Klose, who played Bode in for a clinical finish.
Kahn did well in goal, again, and Klose scored again, heading in an early cross from Ballack.
ENGLAND v NIGERIA?
Can’t get psyched up for it, somehow, so I haven’t considered the game in any detail.
Danny Mills will have to run beyond Babayaro and Beckham to give England width on that side.
Baba is an agile,sharp competitor who always gives Beckham problems, even when DB is fit and playing well.
Human projectile Julius Aghahowa may get on the end of a a cross and score. Or Rio and Sol may blot him out. The latter scenario seems more likely.
The four days between Sweden and Argentian were productive. Sven taught his team the alphabet of football, which they had forgotten.
The alphabet is this : If you have three strikers you have one less in midrfield, so you hit it long-and it comes straight back.
If you have two strikers, you have four in the mniddle and you can mix it up.
You can hit one in five balls long. The others you can play sideways or backwards. Or sideways,then backwards,then sideways and THEN forwards – or variations thereof.
From that alphabet you can make words, phrases, paragraphs and stories.
There were no words, phrases or paragraphs against Sweden.
England’s passing was like the morse code : …–.–…-… Crude. Simplistic.
And don’t give me all that tosh about England being poor in the second half against Sweden.
England were ABYSMAL in the first half as well. It’s just that Sweden were even worse.
Despite that, I fancy Sweden to beat Argentina.
Kily Gonzalez agrees with me. He said, “We were too static.”
Bielsa may be the most stubborn coach of all. He may stick with his precious system of 3-3-1-3. If he does, he is doomed.
The stubborn have committed suicide at this World Cup.He might be the next kamikaze coach.
ARSENAL: LATEST RUMOURS
In the recent days I’ve heard three stories.
Inamato was on loan for a year with an option to buy him for £4 million.
Lee Bowyer is desperate to join Arsenal, who have offered £10 million.
Wenger wants a Lens defender.
Only Coly, the Senegal right back, is good enough to get into the Arsenal team, so it must be him.
Goodnight!
11th June 2002