2013 - 2014 Football Thread - Page 229

On September 06 2013 03:00 Sated wrote:

You should read my edits

Based on the information we have, the forward line is probably going to be:

          Lambert
Welbeck   Wilshere   Walcott
     Gerrard    Lampard

EDIT:

I actually think we have good competition in each position. The players we have are quite close in terms of skill. It's all a case of Hodgson stamping his style on the team and picking the best players for that style. In fact, I think that Hodgson's main mistake as England manager thus far is the fact that he hasn't cemented a definite style yet. At EURO 2012 it looked like we were going to be playing a hard-working 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 type of style, the type of style he's been known for favouring at club level, but we've started gravitating towards a more European 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 style recently. It's a bit annoying, because I think that consistency is something England have been missing for a long time (we second guess ourselves too much against superior opposition), much more so than quality players...

Anyway, assuming we play the latter, I think this is the layout I'd be looking at:

                               Rooney
           Young/Ox   Wilshere/Cleverly   Walcott/Lennon
                 Gerrard/Lampard    Carrick/Barry
A. Cole/Baines   Cahill/Smalling    Jones/Jagielka   Walker/Johnson
                                Hart

Rooney will continue to pick himself for quite a long time. I just don't see any England manager dropping Rooney in favour of another striker. You could argue that it's possible to play Rooney in the role Wilshere/Cleverly play, leaving room for a more physical striker like Welbeck, Crouch or Lambert. It's definitely something to think about because that would make our oft wing-centric play a lot stronger. I'd go with Rooney in this position.

On the wings we have a lot of options, so I've simply gone and listed the most obvious pace-merchants. Pace is definitely our strength down the wings. In games were we're playing against "superior" opposition, the more defensive Milner option is definitely a possibility, but it's not something you want to do every game. The wings are probably where we are strongest and any future England team needs to focus there with how many good, young wingers we have coming through the ranks. I would probably go with Walcott on the right and Young on the left, but Young is definitely a confidence player so you need to know when/when not to start him!

The number 10 role is where we're weakest. Neither Wilshere nor Cleverly are world-beaters, though they're both competent. I actually think that Wilshere is painfully over-rated, probably because he plays for Arsenal and so everyone assumes he's a really slick passer of the ball. Like I already said, you could play Rooney here if you wanted to open up the CF role for a more physical striker, and I'd probably do that if I didn't have to take reality into consideration... but I really can't see any England manager dropping Rooney out of his favoured CF role. I'd probably go with Wilshere in this position, at least until Cleverly learns how to fucking shoot >_<

In defensive midfield, I don't think you can play Lampard and Gerrard alongside each other. They both look for Hollywood passes a little too often, they both want to get forward a little too often, and they're both pretty naff defensively. Having one of them in there to look for killer passes and dictate play going forward is a definite, but I would never, ever, ever play them together in a holding role. If you want to play them together, one of them has to play the number 10 role, which I suppose is a possibility to think about (I'd favour either Cleverly or Wilshere because it's better for the future). I would personally pick Gerrard over Lampard because I think Gerrard has better leadership qualities, but the Chelsea fans are free to disagree. They're both pretty even in terms of ability, neither would be a bad choice. Whichever one gets picked is also picked as captain.

Alongside Lampard/Gerrard you need a defensive midfielder who's capable of doing the defensive work. The obvious choices in this type of role are Carrick (whose interception-based defensive play is heavily under-rated by people who don't actually watch United week-in-week-out) and Barry (who is oft labelled as boring precisely because of his defensive outlook). Wild-card options include Jones, Milner, Parker... As a United fan, I would obviously prefer to see Carrick being played in this role.

At left-back, I think that either Cole or Baines would be a fine choice. Full-backs need to be capable of attacking in modern football, and both of these players are capable of getting forwards and threatening the opponent's defensive line. I would probably play Cole because I still think he has an edge over Baines in terms of skill.

It is a similar story at right back, but I think that Walker has a defensive advantage over Johnson and so I'd choose Walker.

At centre-back, I think we need a quick defender capable of playing out (ala. Rio Ferdinand in his prime) and a physical defender capable of destroying people in the air (ala. John Terry in his prime). Ultimately, these two defenders need to be able to shore up each other's weaknesses. In terms of quick defenders capable of playing out, I feel that Cahill and Smalling are the best options that England have, and I feel that Cahill's superior first-team experience edges Smalling out of the picture. It's a similar story in the other centre-back position, where Jagielka's superior first-team experience edges Jones out of the picture. I definitely think that Jones/Smalling are the future for both United and England, but they're not the finished article yet. To anyone who even thinks about mentioning Lescott; a thousand times no because he's god-awful. Cahill and Jagielka get the nod due to their first-team experience and the fact that they've already been forging a decent partnership in England colours.

Hart has no competition.