“At every club he has managed Fabio (Capello) has won the league title and Sir Trevor Brooking and I were left in no doubt of his passion and commitment to bring that success to the England team.” At the time of Capello’s appointment as England manager, few would have disagreed with the FA Chief Executive’s words about him. With a proven track record and a reputation as one of the best managers in world football, surely he was the man to bring the England National team the success they were looking for?
Fast forward two years, and the marriage between perhaps the biggest underachievers in international football and the manager who would suddenly spark achievement from a team who failed to qualify for their last major tournament isn’t one which looks to be ending with the words ‘happily ever after’. Despite making easy work of the qualifications, England only reached the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup, their worst finish since USA ’98. There was obvious dis-rest in the England camp, and the blame seemed to lie with Fabio Capello for being ‘too strict’. England fans felt that Capello being paid £6 million a year in return for a 4-1 drubbing by Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup warranted his sacking or resignation.
Despite the calls for his head, Capello stayed on but confirmed he would be stepping down after the European Championships next summer. If confidence in him was to be at all restored, then England needed to breeze the qualification campaign for this tournament, especially when drawn against Bulgaria, Switzerland, Wales and Montenegro.
England’s 2012 European Championship qualification has been, to this point, fairly unconvincing despite recording 3 wins and 2 draws from their 5 matches played. Although they top their qualification group, England have never really hit the heights they did when Capello first took the helm, dispatching (albeit weaker) teams with relative ease.
Perhaps it was unreasonable to expect Fabio Capello to magically turn around England’s fortunes; the England team whose current crop of players have never performed on the big stage. For their countries, at least. All of Rooney (3), Ferdinand (3), Carrick (3), Gerrard (2), Terry, Lampard, J. Cole and A. Cole and have at least played in a European Cup Final for their clubs, the first 4 of them even emerging victorious once. All of these players can be accused of often punching below their weight when it comes to the international stage and the tournaments come along.
So if the manager cannot take all of the blame and experience isn’t the problem, just what is?
Maybe the biggest lesson to be learnt from England’s failures at the World Cup in recent years is by looking at the teams that have been successful (and reached the latter stages). The two teams that reached the Final at South Africa in 2010 were the Netherlands and Spain. What do those two teams have in common? Both played with 2 holding midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation. For Spain, those two players were Busquets and Alonso. For the Netherlands, de Jong and van Bommel.
In international football where possession is key, the key to keeping possession seems to be implementing the two holding midfielders. This is reinforced by Spain having an average of 62.4% possession in WC 2010, and the Netherlands had one of 52.9%.
Argentina also used the same formation, with Veron and Mascherano as the 2 holding players in midfield. At previous World Cups, this also seems to bear true. 2006 Finalists France also used a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their holding midfielders being Makelele and Toulalan.
Looking at the players at Fabio Capello’s disposal, is it worth implementing Michael Carrick and Steven Gerrard to this role, giving Lampard licence to attack through the middle? Would it help them retain possession better? Or is this formation not suited to the English game?
MUFC Talk 