blame the world cup. after a year long hiatus, i'm back. in all honestly, i couldn't resist: the ego, baited by the rising cacophony of ill-informed opinion that dominates the discourse of any world cup year, made me do it.
well, that isn't quite true. i'd been planning to restart this for a while, but what provoked me to begin now was the awkward, frankly embarrassing performance i witnessed live from graz earlier today.
ah, england... you never disappoint me.
full disclosure up front - i didn't catch monday's game against mexico (tv issues) - but what has stunned me across these two warm-up games is capello's refusal to properly prepare. now, the understandable reaction to this accusation would comprise two parts: one, that the italian needs time to decide upon his squad, and two, that there is an advantage to be derived from maintaining a sense of surprise come june 12th. both are utter bunk.
the first point is ostensibly more reasonable, but ignores the simple fact that if england are actually in a situation where darren bent or shaun wright-phillips have to play any sort of role, we won't win the world cup. the identity of the 7th or 8th choice centre back, 4th choice winger or 5th choice striker appears fundamental, especially when you begin to run through those worst case scenarios - what if gerrard is carrying an injury and rooney hasn't recovered and lennon isn't match fit and barry suffers a set-back and ashley cole breaks his foot again?! - but if this was to happen, if we are to suffer these injuries, it's effectively over for us, as it would for most of the major challengers. if brazil, for example, were down to kleberson, i'd be revising down their chances quite drastically.
the second is linked to the first. in international football, the lack of familiarity that defines the contest places a premium on experience. playing squads are inevitably going to be flawed - even spain have joan capdevila at left-back - so the teams that are successful are generally those that are able to rise above those limitations together, as a unit, and prey on the weaknesses of others. it's misleading to simply believe that singular talent will suffice, because the teamwork and understanding that invisibly promotes such talent at club level doesn't - and cannot - exist in the international sphere.
so although it sounds like a plain, redundant truism, the best teams in this world cup will be those most comfortable together. spain benefit from the heart of their presumed team being bound in parallel by both tenure and that barcelona philosophy, whilst brazil have spent the past few years under dunga learning and perfecting what is a quite stunningly effective system (see zonalmarking.net for an excellent breakdown). these systems haved worked not because they have been particularly surprising, but simply because they work a lot better than those of their opponents.
england, on the other hand, had a system - it was that 4411 - which has now been endangered by a run of injuries to key players and a remarkable loss of form to others (hello, emile heskey!). so in have shuffled a cast of bit part players in the last few friendlies - jermain defoe, wright phillips, carrick, walcott, baines, crouch - tinkering with that system in the vague hope that something better might emerge, or at least that a viable plan b could be established. the reality is, of course, that england's best chance must revolve around creating a system that emphasises their strengths rather than the need to conform to arbitrary tactical preferences, and that system must involve playing rooney as a "false nine", alone up front, simply because in that role for united this season the striker has been at times unplayable, not only scoring plentifully but more importantly encouraging a footballing fluidity that england will sorely require.
but it's more than that: heskey is out of form, and as creditably as he played in the qualifiers, rooney is now clearly more than capable of playing alone in that role, which itself liberates an attacking midfield spot behind for a more talented player. england would have a couple of options in that situation - a 4231, playing gerrard/j cole/lennon behind rooney, with lampard and the presumably recovered gareth barry in the base, or a 433, playing lennon and gerrard in advanced roles right and left (or adam johnson if you wanted the rather voguish "inverted wingers"), with lampard free to assume his chelsea position, breaking from a midfield trio containing himself, gareth barry and another, perhaps michael carrick. either of these systems would allow england to match up better against superior opponents (who will otherwise generally be able to play around or through england with an additional midfielder), but crucially also involve more of their most talented personnel.
this, therefore, has ultimately been the folly of their preparations. rather than answering the slightly superfluous question of whether theo walcott deserves a starting place, capello could've been getting much needed testing time for a superior system. and ultimately, england would benefit more from a honed system than ten or fifteen minutes of surprise in the first meaningful game.
already, i am depressed.
