It was a frustrating 90 minutes as England spent a lot of time without the ball, camped in their own half against France in their opening Euro 2012 fixture. It is a less than desirable tactic but one that is frequently proven to provide results. In an attempt to encourage the England team to become more forceful in possession Martin Keown suggested in The Daily Mail that Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker should rotate in the midfield in a similar manner to that with Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger did to devastating effect for Germany against Netherlands. But these are very different players and would it really be to England’s advantage to try and replicate this tactic?
Khedira and Schweinsteiger played as the deep-lying midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation for Joachim Low’s side but did not restrict their attacking movements. In fact, the Bayern Munich midfielder supplied the assists for both of Germany’s goals in the 2-1 wins. While it proved to be a success for Low’s team, Gerrard and Parker lack the dynamism of the German duo possessing a combined 11-years more.
Gerrard himself recently admitted in an interview with ITV that his years of bombing forward to join the attack are beyond him. Instead he must make his influence known from a deeper position, aiding the forward momentum with his wide array of passing.
In terms of his midfield partner, while Parker may have added the odd attacking injection during his time at Charlton Athletic, he lacks the finesse in the final third to make a telling contribution to the attack. He should not be encouraged to get forward simply because it worked for Germany. Even Khedira as a typically defensive player is a far better playmaker than the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder. That is not to disparage Parker, he is exceptionally good at what he does, so why change it?
We should not focus on emulating other countries and instead make the most of what he have in abundance: pace. Players such as Theo Walcott, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck all possess terrific acceleration, as does Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. England would benefit most from using this to stretch teams and get in behind. In the current 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 there is too much pressure on Gerrard and Parker to get forward with James Milner on the left it limits the options available when going forward.
The problem that comes with relying on speed however is that most teams defend against it by setting their defensive line deep, reducing the room for players to make the piercing run in behind. With the main complaint of England that they sit back too much and do not control the ball, the use of fast players in the wide areas could help over turn this.
By forcing the opposition to defend deep Steven Gerrard would be more readily able to help join the attack, adding an extra bit of class on the ball that is so frequently needed to forge the best of openings. In a 4-3-3 formation Scott Parker could sit and hold while the hard-working James Milner and Gerrard rotate in the responsibility of joining the attack.
In a 4-2-3-1 England could really make the most of their pace. When Wayne Rooney returns for the final fixture against Ukraine he could be used behind the striker as he so frequently likes to drop behind the play and pick up the ball. He could be supported from deep by Gerrard who would be required to attack less, enabling him to use his experience to pick the most opportune moments to venture forward.
While the excellent displays of Germany and Spain in the this round of fixtures have been particularly inspirational, England should not pretend to be something they are not. It is unwise of Keown to suggest so and instead we should make use of what is so readily available to us.. When you are trying to loosen a bolt you pick up the spanner, not the hammer.
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