By Myles Palmer
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Germany 1 England 5
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Jancker 6, Owen 12, Gerrard 45, Owen 48, Owen 66, Heskey 74.
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As a TV show it was compelling entertainment.
Especially when they showed that shot of Franz Beckenbauer in the middle of the second half.
The Kaiser had aged 20 years in 71 minutes!
England gave us good football and great finishing. And in time they might give us great football and great finishing.
But England will NEVER play a major nation who defend as badly as that again. Incredibly, Kahn was panicky, slapping the ball, diving on a backpass to give Beckham a free-kick from 12 yards.
One basic point has to be made:England were poor in the first 10 minutes of each half and fantastic in the other 70 minutes.
After 11 minutes of the first half Germany had 63% of possession.
And after 13 minutes of the second half Germany 78% of possession.
Which proves what I’ve always said.The Germans are pretty boring.They pass it backwards and sideways too much.
I watched this astonishing game unfold with wife Jan and best friend Doug and I thought the game divided itself into several distinct periods.
For the first ten 10 minutes they wouldn’t let us have the ball and I wondered, mutinously, whether Sven was the Kevin Keegan of Sweden.
After 6 minutes, a simple move. Sol Campbell was asleep, not reacting to danger, just as he had not reacted when Zola scored at Wembley in Hoddle’s Le Tissier game.
England’s back four parted like the Red Sea, Jancker scored the simplest centre forward goal for years.
Two things about that goal : If Martin Keown had been playing, Jancker would not have scored.He would have been tackled, or Keown would have got near enough to put him off. Also : Sol is better on the left side.
The next period was between Owen’s equaliser(12 minutes) and Gerrard’s cannonball to make it 2-1 (45 minutes).
I was so glad Sven picked Barmby, whose bright, sharp movement and quick brain are invaluable. His supercool cushion header set up Owen for a half-volleyed equaliser after 12 minutes.Typical Barmby, a touch player who sees things early.
After that it became a night where England, more than at any any time since Holland in Euro 96, played to their strengths.
They found a pattern of play and that pattern was firmly based on the pace of Owen, the passing of Gerrard and Beckham, and the power of Heskey, Ferdinand and Campbell.
For the first time in years they had THREE monsters in the spine of the team : Rio, Stevie G and Michael.
You need reliable spinal players to hold your team skeleton together.
That much is obvious. When England had Shilton, Butcher, Walker and Robson they were hard to beat.
The trouble is, of course, that if any of those three are injured the team cannot play the same devastating style of
football which crushed the Germans 5-1 in Munich.
Nobody else can finish like Owen, nobody else can win it and use it like Gerrard, and no defender has improved so much in this calendar year as Ferdinand has at Leeds.
So the team now depends on them, as well as on Beckham.
Basically, though, this England team is built from the front backwards, around Michael Owen, who has Shearer’s determination and Lineker’s pace.
In the 1986 World Cup Lineker got the England team re-arranged round him.Hateley was dropped, Beardsley came in to link the play, and Hodge, Hoddle and Steven all knew how to play to Lineker’s pace. As did Waddle later on.
Lineker wanted Beardsley with him, just as Shearer wanted Sheringham, just as Owen wants Heskey now because of his size and power and unselfishness.
If Owen goes on like this he will become our Batistuta.
As I said in the preview, Houllier has built round his strengths and Eriksson has done the same.
But the Swede has not improved the England team by magic. He has done it by applying commonsense. By being confident and consistent, he has made the team confident and consistent.
It’s now clear that, early on, Sven decided NOT to try to beat the continentals are their own game, as Venables and Hoddle had tried to do.
Instead,Sven saw certain virtues in our game and he decided to play 4-4-2.And he decided NOT to play split strikers, as everyone, especially myself, said he should.
His approach seeks to supply our most likely goalscorer : Michael Owen.
He decided Owen was special, so he got Gerrard to play to Owen, Heskey to play to Owen; also Beckham, Barmby.
Owen alone does not gives us an effective style of play. But those four players, by focusing on giving Owen the ball in places where he can have shots at goal, have created a style of play which is unique to England.
Sven risked a lot by building the whole team round Owen in this game, but it worked beyond his wildest dreams. If Owen is on form he will score a lot of goals. And even if he is off form he is still likely to score one goal.
Of course this style won’t work every time. And we will never beat the Germans 5-1 again, home or away, however bad they get.
The football was good, but the finishing was great.
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GERMANY: Kahn;Rehmer, Worns (Asamoah 46), Nowotny, Linke Bohme, Hamann, Deisler,Ballack (Klose 67),Jancker, Neuville (Kehl 78).
ENGLAND: Seaman;Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Campbell Ashley Cole, Beckham, Gerrard(Hargreaves 78), Scholes (Carragher 83), Barmby (McManaman 65), Owen, Heskey.
Referee: P Collina (Italy)
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2nd September 2001.