England Football Team

There have been many debates and articles showing that there are two England football teams. We are a nation who find us having about 14 top class players, with around 10 of whom are club Captains or Vice Captains and yet we seem to not be able to transform our energies into a unit and a force which would rival the Dutch, South Americans or even our German counterparts.

 

Many England managers have come and gone but none have seemed to have been able to control, manipulate and mould our players as the latest candidate Fabio Capello has. Many managers have struggled with a centre midfield partnership and goal keepers who have contrived to contribute to our downfall.

 

We now find ourselves with a manager who isn't afraid to take the risk of failure and mass media massacre when dropping such names as David Beckham and Michael Owen but now we have a man with enough power and footballing intelligence to drop these names and challenge the critics to find errors in his methods.

 

As a force going forward England may have not been able to test the players and try a system which they want, with the unfortunate injury to Joe Cole, but a noticeable system in midfield which has seen Steven Gerrard being taken out of the central midfield partnership with Frank Lampard and redistributed into the left wing and second striker roles which the later has been very productive for his club. The choice to take Steven Gerrard out is one which many sectors are quick to criticize but the logical reasons are noticeable, a clear logic behind this is that with the nature of the modern game a centre midfield partnership of two men which has one sitting back to break up play and which gives one the freedom to go forward has resulted in the most prolific English midfielders, Frank Lampard, keep his position as the freedom central midfielder being paired with the defensive midfielder in form who is Gareth Barry being paid as the engine room in the England force. This has allowed Steven Gerrard to be redistributed in arguably his best position as the second striker which has been supported by the media as a result of his fine club form, providing a partnership and understanding can be developed with Wayne Rooney.

 

One opinion I have adopted is that although I still believe Michael Owen could spend a season fit and score more then 25 goals in the Premier League his injury has been a blessing for England as his style of play does not support the England system and as a result he has been left out of the England squad with noticeable similar players such as Jermain Defoe and Andrew Johnson being left out because these players like to have long balls played along the floor for them to run on to, which is evidently a system which Fabio Capello wants his England team to not adopt and explains why players like Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch have been called upon because, although they are not as tidy or prolific as the names mentioned, they do fit the system of play.

 

Another player who could be the main focus for the 2010 world cup is Gabriel Agbonlahor who's style of play is a player with impeccable pace which gives him the ability to collect the ball in a high area of the pitch to hold up the ball with the ability and awareness to turn and run past the oppositions players to allow supporting wingers, striker and midfielders to come into play and feed off of him but time will only tell if this sub plan will be tried and implemented.

 

The defensive side to England's game is also noticeably more Dutch which now has the two central defenders playing passes to the wing players or holding midfielders or the full backs pushing up to the final third of the pitch resulting in the oppositions wingers having to do a defensive job rather then an attacking job. This new style of defending can also be noticed in the goalkeepers tendencies, in the past four England games I have seen the England goal keeper roll the ball out to the full backs rather then kicking a long ball high and wide then I have in the past two years, also a sign of good, strong, defensive and confident play from a unit and not a group of misguided individuals.

 

There is a common main goal which seems evident in the mind of Fabio Capello and that is he wants a group of 23 players to take to the 2010 world cup who can all play his system, his style and get the results he wants. This need breed of England seems to be taking a route of an Italian back line, mixed with a Dutch style of passing, while working teams to push them back, mixed in with the British passion and pride which many England fans have been crying out for, for many years.

 

Sometimes the grass is not always greener and many argue that a team with an England manager, David Beckham, Michael Owen playing a good old fashion 4-4-2 with Gerrard and Lampard forming a partnership and a little and large partnership up front is the best way for England but in my opinion the grass is shining bright green with Fabio Capello's ideology and mix of the old hands who want to retain their place, mixed with a group of hungry talent who are desperate to snatch that place off them. For the first time in years I now hear talented players who are worthy of wearing the shirt such as Aaron Lennon and Mathew Upson talking publically about how they want to challenge old hands such as David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand for their shirt which in a national team, can only be a good thing.

 

On that final note the decision is yours which your opinions will form but in my opinion in the first time since Bobby Robson's England, we have a manager who is talented enough to take them far.