tony adams analyzes england team

[quattro]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002 ... 77,00.html

would you rather have rooney playing lone striker and going 4-5-1 than have owen with a partner up front playing 4-4-2?

 

[pamilih]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2004210077,00.html

would you rather have rooney playing lone striker and going 4-5-1 than have owen with a partner up front playing 4-4-2?

Against France, the 4-5-1 makes a good sense. France strength is in the midfield, if you can crack them there, you hold them.

 

[Anonymous]

4-4-2, but midfield should be diamond shape as england dont have a wide left player. diamond shape midfield would allow gerrard,lampard,becks and scholes to play in the middle with gerrard helping back in defence, and scholes helping our weak attack by playing the attacking midfielder role. lampard,scholes,gerrard together in the middle, what a combination.

 

[pamilih]

4-4-2, but midfield should be diamond shape as england dont have a wide left player. diamond shape midfield would allow gerrard,lampard,becks and scholes to play in the middle with gerrard helping back in defence, and scholes helping our weak attack by playing the attacking midfielder role. lampard,scholes,gerrard together in the middle, what a combination.

This diamond shape is a confusion to Ashley Cole. He is always caught short in this formation.

 

[Sammer]

That midfield actually looks pretty f*cking good: lampard, scholes, gerrard and becks.

Wish we had a midfield like that in Germany :cry:

 

[Adam]

The problem in dropping Owen is for the rest of the tournament. What message does it send to him and his confidence for the rest of the tournament? And you need a goalscorer to win the tournament.

I am with Arsène - you need Owen and Rooney to perform as a partnership to have a chance. Midfield shpuld consist of Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, and Beckham.

 

[patrick42uk]

That midfield actually looks pretty f*cking good: lampard, scholes, gerrard and becks.

Wish we had a midfield like that in Germany :cry:

it lacks a certain spark, a flair player which i think adams pointed out. look at the favorites and their midfields, italy- fiore, del piero. spain- valeron, vicente france- zidane, czech republic- nedved, rosicky, portugal- figo ronaldo. that midfield offers solidity but not unpredictability. i'd drop scholes and play lampard central with j.cole wide right, the closest thing england have in midfield to an unpredictable flair player. as for dropping owen, completely disagree, except if you want to play for 0-0. you dont take that attitude if you want to win the tournament. i fancy it to be portugal's year in europe with a cl and euro championship double.

 

[Adam]

Patrick - you cannot create what you don't have. I say play to the strengths. In a few years, maybe England can play to technique, and Rooney being the chief instigator. Joe Cole lacks penetration, badly.

 

[patrick42uk]

Patrick - you cannot create what you don't have. I say play to the strengths. In a few years, maybe England can play to technique, and Rooney being the chief instigator. Joe Cole lacks penetration, badly.

yeah your right, which is why england are unlikely to win anything till then.

 

[Adam]

They really need an established ball carrier from midfield. In the past - McManaman, Gascoigne, Barnes, and heck Anderton in his prime have added that dimension.

 

[Mark]

Rooney is not the kind to play as a lone striker imo. I don't think it will work. A Rooney-Owen partnership is the best idea.

 

[Sammer]

That midfield actually looks pretty f*cking good: lampard, scholes, gerrard and becks.

Wish we had a midfield like that in Germany :cry:

it lacks a certain spark, a flair player which i think adams pointed out. look at the favorites and their midfields, italy- fiore, del piero. spain- valeron, vicente france- zidane, czech republic- nedved, rosicky, portugal- figo ronaldo. that midfield offers solidity but not unpredictability. i'd drop scholes and play lampard central with j.cole wide right, the closest thing england have in midfield to an unpredictable flair player. as for dropping owen, completely disagree, except if you want to play for 0-0. you dont take that attitude if you want to win the tournament. i fancy it to be portugal's year in europe with a cl and euro championship double.

Yes it does lack flair, but I don´t believe England (neither is Germany or any other "grit-style-football-country") will be able to create the midfield magic à la France or Czechoslovakia.

Be happy with what you have - it still is a good midfield and your chance is to do it "Chelsea-style" (like they played against us and in the 1st half yesterday).

On a perfect day, that might be enough for the so-called brilliant teams that spark.

 

[jc8gooner]

lampard, scholes, gerrard and becks.

Great, but no width whatsoever. The 'diamond' formation sounds good in theory and all of the above players are good, but none of them can really take players on, beat defenders and have pace.

This is England's major problem in my opinion. I would be tempted to drop Scholes cos he has underperformed for Engalnd recently and play Ashley and Wayne Bridge in tandem on the left. Makes much more sense. More balance.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

diamond shapes exposes the width..and Pires will eat you alive!!!! France is just too good..but they play so much like us(dah!!). But if you keep it very tight and they will struggle. They do have Zizou who can create chances with the smallest of spaces. England just need to do a "birmingham" on france.

 

[Sammer]

The combination of Zizou& Pires providing for Titi&Trez is absolutely lethal - and they are well-rehearsed, too.

You just cannot stop them, unless they catch a bad day.

 

[quattro]

^ i think thats exactly what tony adams thinks. stifling them for a draw and maybe looking for some breaks on the counter may be the logical way of taking on france. mind you, iirc in that article i dont think he meant for england to play defensively against all its opponents, just france.